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  Garfield, James A.
CANDIDATE DETAILS
AffiliationRepublican  
<-  1881-01-01  
 
NameJames A. Garfield
Address8095 Mentor Ave
Mentor, Ohio , United States
EmailNone
Websitehttp://www.nps.gov/jaga/
Born November 19, 1831
DiedSeptember 19, 1881 (49 years)
Contributor411 Name Removed
Last ModifedJuan Croniqueur
Nov 06, 2023 04:01pm
Tags English - Assassinated - Freemason -
InfoAs the last of the log cabin Presidents, James A. Garfield attacked political corruption and won back for the Presidency a measure of prestige it had lost during the Reconstruction period.

He was born in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, in 1831. Fatherless at two, he later drove canal boat teams, somehow earning enough money for an education. He was graduated from Williams College in Massachusetts in 1856, and he returned to the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute (later Hiram College) in Ohio as a classics professor. Within a year he was made its president.

Garfield was elected to the Ohio Senate in 1859 as a Republican. During the secession crisis, he advocated coercing the seceding states back into the Union.

In 1862, when Union military victories had been few, he successfully led a brigade at Middle Creek, Kentucky, against Confederate troops. At 31, Garfield became a brigadier general, two years later a major general of volunteers.

Meanwhile, in 1862, Ohioans elected him to Congress. President Lincoln persuaded him to resign his commission: It was easier to find major generals than to obtain effective Republicans for Congress. Garfield repeatedly won re-election for 18 years, and became the leading Republican in the House.

At the 1880 Republican Convention, Garfield failed to win the Presidential nomination for his friend John Sherman. Finally, on the 36th ballot, Garfield himself became the “dark horse” nominee.

By a margin of only 10,000 popular votes, Garfield defeated the Democratic nominee, Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock.

As President, Garfield strengthened Federal authority over the New York Customs House, stronghold of Senator Roscoe Conkling, who was leader of the Stalwart Republicans and dispenser of patronage in New York. When Garfield submitted to the Senate a list of appointments including many of Conkling’s friends, he named Conkling’s arch-rival William H. Robertson to run the Customs House. Conkling contested the nomination, tried to persuade the Senate to block it, and appealed to the Republican caucus to compel its withdrawal.

But Garfield would not submit: “This…will settle the question whether the President is registering clerk of the Senate or the Executive of the United States…. shall the principal port of entry … be under the control of the administration or under the local control of a factional senator.”

Conkling maneuvered to have the Senate confirm Garfield’s uncontested nominations and adjourn without acting on Robertson. Garfield countered by withdrawing all nominations except Robertson’s; the Senators would have to confirm him or sacrifice all the appointments of Conkling’s friends.

In a final desperate move, Conkling and his fellow-Senator from New York resigned, confident that their legislature would vindicate their stand and re-elect them. Instead, the legislature elected two other men; the Senate confirmed Robertson. Garfield’s victory was complete.

In foreign affairs, Garfield’s Secretary of State invited all American republics to a conference to meet in Washington in 1882. But the conference never took place. On July 2, 1881, in a Washington railroad station, an embittered attorney who had sought a consular post shot the President.

Mortally wounded, Garfield lay in the White House for weeks. Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, tried unsuccessfully to find the bullet with an induction-balance electrical device which he had designed. On September 6, Garfield was taken to the New Jersey seaside. For a few days he seemed to be recuperating, but on September 19, 1881, he died from an infection and internal hemorrhage.

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JOB APPROVAL POLLS
DateFirmApproveDisapproveDon't Know
06/13/2007-06/24/2007 Rasmussen Reports 42.00% ( 0.0) 16.00% ( 0.0) 32.00% ( 0.0)

BOOKS
Title Purchase Contributor

EVENTS
Start Date End Date Type Title Contributor
Jul 02, 1881 05:00pm Sep 19, 1881 05:00pm Assassination Assassination of Pres. Garfield  Chronicler 

NEWS
Date Category Headline Article Contributor

DISCUSSION
Importance? 10.00000 Average

FAMILY
Wife Lucretia Rudolph Garfield 00, 1858-Sep 19, 1881
Daughter Eliza Arabella "Trot" Garfield 1860-1863
Son Harry Augustus "Hal" Garfield 1863-1942
Son James R. Garfield 1865-1950
Daughter Mary "Mollie" Garfield Stanley-Brown 1867-1947
Son Irvin McDowell Garfield 1870-1951
Son Abram Garfield 1872-1958
Son Edward Garfield 1874-1876

INFORMATION LINKS
President James Garfield Inaugural Address March 4, 1881  Discuss
RACES
  12/01/1880 US President Won 57.99% (+15.99%)
  11/02/1880 NH US President Won 51.94% (+4.70%)
  11/02/1880 MD US President Lost 45.37% (-8.78%)
  11/02/1880 GA US President Lost 34.32% (-31.06%)
  11/02/1880 NJ US President Lost 49.02% (-0.82%)
  11/02/1880 TN US President Lost 44.26% (-9.00%)
  11/02/1880 NV US President Lost 47.60% (-4.79%)
  11/02/1880 ME US President Won 51.47% (+6.16%)
  11/02/1880 FL US President Lost 45.82% (-8.35%)
  11/02/1880 NY US President Won 50.32% (+1.91%)
  11/02/1880 TX US President Lost 21.49% (-45.28%)
  11/02/1880 NE US President Won 62.92% (+30.28%)
  11/02/1880 LA US President Lost 37.31% (-24.96%)
  11/02/1880 DE US President Lost 48.03% (-3.51%)
  11/02/1880 NC US President Lost 47.98% (-3.56%)
  11/02/1880 VT US President Won 70.00% (+41.86%)
  11/02/1880 MO US President Lost 38.67% (-13.83%)
  11/02/1880 KY US President Lost 39.87% (-15.87%)
  11/02/1880 CT US President Won 50.51% (+2.00%)
  11/02/1880 OH US President Won 51.73% (+4.71%)
  11/02/1880 VA US President Lost 39.47% (-21.05%)
  11/02/1880 MS US President Lost 29.53% (-35.39%)
  11/02/1880 KS US President Won 60.44% (+30.70%)
  11/02/1880 CO US President Won 51.26% (+5.23%)
  11/02/1880 OR US President Won 50.49% (+1.63%)
  11/02/1880 WV US President Lost 41.05% (-9.90%)
  11/02/1880 MN US President Won 62.29% (+26.94%)
  11/02/1880 IA US President Won 56.91% (+24.16%)
  11/02/1880 CA US President Lost 48.89% (-0.09%)
  11/02/1880 PA US President Won 50.84% (+4.26%)
  11/02/1880 WI US President Won 54.04% (+11.14%)
  11/02/1880 MI US President Won 52.49% (+15.22%)
  11/02/1880 IN US President Won 49.32% (+1.41%)
  11/02/1880 AR US President Lost 38.66% (-17.47%)
  11/02/1880 RI US President Won 62.24% (+25.37%)
  11/02/1880 MA US President Won 58.48% (+18.85%)
  11/02/1880 IL US President Won 51.11% (+6.54%)
  11/02/1880 AL US President Lost 37.10% (-22.90%)
  11/02/1880 SC US President Lost 34.13% (-31.38%)
  11/02/1880 US President National Vote Won 48.27% (+0.02%)
  06/08/1880 US President - R Convention Won 32.95% (+7.10%)
  01/13/1880 OH US Senate Won 60.14% (+20.28%)
  03/18/1879 US House Speaker Lost 44.33% (-6.38%)
  10/08/1878 OH District 19 Won 61.38% (+34.38%)
  10/15/1877 US House Speaker Lost 46.98% (-6.05%)
  12/04/1876 US House Speaker - Special Election Lost 33.74% (-32.51%)
  10/10/1876 OH District 19 Won 63.76% (+27.59%)
  10/13/1874 OH District 19 Won 55.58% (+28.01%)
  10/08/1872 OH District 19 Won 69.41% (+39.56%)
  10/11/1870 OH District 19 Won 65.08% (+30.17%)
  10/13/1868 OH District 19 Won 67.41% (+34.82%)
  10/09/1866 OH District 19 Won 71.34% (+42.68%)
  10/10/1864 OH District 19 Won 74.41% (+48.82%)
  10/14/1862 OH District 19 Won 66.27% (+32.54%)
ENDORSEMENTS
US President - R Convention - Jun 08, 1880 R John Sherman