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James Garfield Becomes President
Garfield’s went into office with a couple of goals – protective tariffs, equality for African-Americans, and to reform the Civil Service. As it turns out, his greatest legacy was that his assassination heightened awareness for ending the corruption of the Spoils System. MORE -
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James A. Garfield Administration
Garfield’s went into office with a couple of goals – protective tariffs, equality for African-Americans, and to reform the Civil Service. As it turns out, his greatest legacy was that his assassination heightened awareness for ending the corruption of the Spoils System. -
The Assassination
Charles Guiteau, after being denied a patronage job in the State Department, stalked and shot President Garfield. Oddly, the assassin had supported the President in the election, but became disgruntled when he was not awarded a job. Mentally unstable, he was found guilty and hanged. Read MORE -
President Garfield dies
Garfield could have survived the bullet - but the unsanitary conditions of the medical attention he received caused serious infection, which was technically his cause of death. Garfield became the second president to be assassinated, and he became a martyr for Civil Service reform. MORE
