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Throughout history, the family members of President Garfield shared stories about his impressive career but rarely mentioned his violent end. We were aware what had happened, that he was assassinated in a railway depot,” reflects one of his modern descendants. “We read about the story in books but, somehow, we just skimmed through it.”

Revived Interest in a Overlooked Leader

This transformed in 2011 with the publication of a presidential biography, which revived interest in Garfield's unfinished life. This work has now led to a Netflix drama titled the presidential series, featuring an acclaimed actor as the president and his co-star as the drifter who shot him.

The series aims to highlight Garfield, who emerged from difficult circumstances to the White House during the historical period only to become a casualty to its toxic political divisions. His tenure was truncated after only 200 days not only by the assassin's bullet but by medical malpractice – an event now largely forgotten while the deaths of Abraham Lincoln and President Kennedy continue to intrigue the public.

“One cannot help but admire what he did. He was like a multi-threat: he was a attorney, he was a minister, he was a land worker. He was multiple professions which also formed his character and his behavior and the complete story about him the descendants preserve with us.”

Starting from Nothing to the Highest Office

Garfield was the last president raised in rustic conditions in Cuyahoga County in 1831. His parent passed away when he was just a toddler, leaving his mother, Eliza, to support a large family in difficult circumstances. An voracious learner, Garfield found employment on vessels to earn money for an schooling.

He studied law, was became a preacher, became head of a school in Ohio and was a state senator. In 1858 he married a educational contemporary, Lucretia Rudolph, with whom he would have seven children. An dedicated federalist, Garfield viewed the national conflict as a holy crusade against forced servitude and progressed to the rank of major general.

“When I started researching him, I was astonished. He was remarkably smart. He was fearless. He was ahead of his time for the period. He was caring. He was a decent human being and would have been a remarkable commander-in-chief had he remained alive.”

Government Service and Surprise Candidacy

Garfield was persuaded by President Lincoln to depart military life when he was elected to the Congress, where he would function as a party member for nearly two decades. He was ardent advocate of African American voting rights, viewing it as a question of fairness and the completion of a military promise.

“The address he delivered on the legislative arena will tear your heart out. He was an incredibly powerful orator and this issue was very important to him.”

At the party gathering in Chicago the political organization was deeply divided between the “faction members”, led by Senator Roscoe Conkling, who supported a additional presidency for military hero, and the “opposing faction”, who supported political contender. Garfield attended as a supporter of his friend and fellow Ohioan John Sherman.

When the 15,000-person convention was stalled between Grant and Blaine, party members began searching for a solution. Garfield's impassioned speech proposing Sherman impressed them. During the speech, he reportedly exclaimed, “And now, representatives, what do we want?” to which a voice from the crowd unexpectedly replied, “We want Garfield!”

On the 36th ballot, a rush of supporters made Garfield the unexpected candidate. To placate the Stalwart faction, the vice presidential pick, a faction member from New York, was chosen as his vice president. In the national vote Garfield beat the rival politician to become the sole representative of the House ever to be chosen as leader.

Short Presidency and Government Conflicts

“What would have made Garfield great and what is remarkably uncommon and maybe unique to the American presidency is he didn't want the job. It's not that he had completely dismissed it but he was forced into the role.”

The defining conflict of Garfield's brief term was his clash with Conkling over the “patronage network”. Conkling demanded control over government appointments in New York, particularly the prestigious role of Collector of the Port of New York. Garfield declined, stating the issue was “concerning if the national leader becomes registering clerk of the senate or the presidential authority”. He nominated a opponent of Conkling to the post.

The conflict escalated into a visible struggle but Garfield outmaneuvered Conkling in the Senate. Experiencing a public failure, Conkling and his colleague quit Congress in protest. The next day, Garfield's candidate was ratified. It was a historic triumph for the executive authority over the party machine and for the change movement over “political control”.

The Assassin and His Disturbed Mind

But even as Garfield confronted influential people of his party, he was being pursued by a psychologically troubled person who represented the dark side of the patronage system. Charles Guiteau was a wanderer with a history of professional failures, psychological problems and physical and psychological abuse. He had been unsuccessful as a legal professional, bill collector, minister and member of a unconventional group.

“He was mentally ill and his specific type of insanity was fantasy. He always believed that divine selection for significance. He actually had more privileged beginning than Garfield but where Garfield succeeded and advanced, Guiteau could not accomplish anything.”

But Guiteau believed he had at last discovered a pathway to success: politics. Carried away in the events of the 1880 election, he wrote and delivered an minor oration, and became certain in his thoughts that he was personally instrumental for Garfield's victory.

Under this thinking, Guiteau reckoned he had merited a prestigious position. He went to the capital and relentlessly pestered Garfield, Blaine and other officials, insisting to be made the US consul in Paris — a position for which he had zero qualifications. He became such a problem that he was eventually excluded from the White House.

The Attack and Physician Mistakes

On 2 July 1881, just four months into his presidency, Garfield was leaving Washington for his college reunion. As he passed through the Baltimore & Potomac Railroad station, Guiteau stepped from the shadows, produced an ivory-handled British Bull Dog revolver from his coat pocket and fired multiple rounds in the back.

Garfield shouted: “Why is this occurring?” and fell on the station floor. When a {police officer|law