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At the Campaign of 1880, Rutherford Hayes was out; he did not want anything else to do with the Presidency. The Republicans chose James Garfield. Again it was a close race but James Garfield won the Presidency and became the twentieth president of the United States.
James Garfield was born in Orange, Ohio on November 19, 1831. He was raised by his mother and father, a farmer and very successful. He attended West Point and graduated at the top of his class. He married Lucretia Rudolph and they had seven children.
When Garfield took office in 1881, the people thought that Garfield’s administration would be another Grant’s with all the scandals. The people made these assumptions due to the deal he had made with Roscoe Conkling. Garfield had told Conkling if he had his support that he would consult Conkling when he made federal civil service appointments. As a result of this Garfield obtained all the New York electoral votes which got him the Presidency.
But during Garfield’s first week in office he had turned on Roscoe Conkling, he had promised to consult Conkling but when it was time to make the appointments he ignored Conkling. This made the people of the United States change their minds about him. But, James Garfield would not be long in office.
On July 2, 1881 in Elberton, N.J. he was shot by Charles Guiteau, this man was a mentally ill office seeker. He had supported Garfield during the campaign and he had expected to receive a reward as being appointed Minister to Europe, but the State department had refused him.
So Guiteau decided that Garfield had to die. Garfield did not actually die from the gunshot wound; his official cause of death was blood poisoning brought on by the physicians that had treated him. He died September 19, 1881.
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