20 James A. Garfield

Dead Presidents Podcast

James A. Garfield rose from humble beginnings to become a well-respected scholar, war hero, and Republican party leader who spent 18 years in the House of Representatives. In 1880, against his own protests, he was chosen as the dark horse compromise candidate for the Republican presidential nomination. He entered the White House with an ambitious agenda on education, civil rights, foreign policy, and civil service reform--and unflinchingly faced down the country's most powerful political machine boss. His presidency--one of American history's great What Ifs--was cut tragically short by the bullet of a lunatic assassin and the incompetent treatment of his arrogant doctors.

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