On this day in 1881, President James A Garfield died. He was the 20th president of the United States, in the year of 1881. President Garfield attended two colleges Hiram and Williams College; he graduated in1856 Garfield was married to Lucretia Rudolph from the year 1858 till his death; also they had seven children together. President Garfield before becoming president was a teacher. This is significant because he was an average man, he had a wife and a family and before becoming president he was a schoolteacher. [1]
During Garfield’s term he created two policies theses policies was one of his short-term accomplishments. The domestic policy which was “Garfield’s federal appointments suggested an independent reformist leader, James went head to head with New York senator Roscoe Conkling who had expected to name the federal jobs available in his state. Boss Conkling resigned in protest over Garfield’s choices to run the customhouse, fully expecting that his state legislature would re-instate him; they did not. [2] Another policy that he has tried to accomplish was the foreign policy was Garfield’s second policy. Garfield’s organized, with his Secretary of State James Blaine, Pan-American conference. His untimely death precluded any such meeting until 1889.
James A. Garfield died at the age of 49, he was assassinated by Charles j. Guiteau. On July 2,1881 Garfield was going to take a brake from the conflicts of the presidency so he took a vacation.[3] Since when does a president get to take a brake? He was in a good mood that morning. As Garfield went to the train station every thing seemed fine an observer in the station would haven’t notice any thing unusual. It was a normal day people reading newspapers waiting for there train people buying tickets, Then from out of the crowd, a small man approached Garfield from behind and quickly fired two shots at the president. The bullet hit him shattering bones and punching threw vessels, and arteries before coming to rest somewhere deep inside the internal organs. Garfield body dropped to the floor the shooter scattered back into the crowds of witnesses. Everyone started running and shouting for help, as people got close to see what the commotion was all about. The short man that had shoot Garfield was seen by one of the guards, and grab him, and the guard was surprised the man didn’t put up a fight. Garfield was carried out of the station, and the shooter was sent to jail. Garfield spent 2 and half months in the hospital, and died on September 19, 1881.[4]
Charles Julius Guiteau was a murderer, he had an illness of insanity. His only murder occurred on July 2nd 1881, his victim was the 20th president James Garfield.His method for killing president Garfield was shooting him with a .44 Webley British Bulldog revolver. Charles was arrested the same day as his first murder, he was held in the Washington District of Columbia, USA. So what proved that he was truly insane was he had a delusional thought that if he killed the president then he would become president himself. Charles believed that god was commanding him to kill the president so he got fifteen dollars bought 44 Webley British Bulldog revolver and then attended target practice to ensure his plan to kill the president. Not only did he believe god wanted him to do this he had the thought of becoming famous, Charles said he wanted the gun to look nice in a museum. His plan for the revolver being in a museum wasn’t successful in the end because the revolver has been lost. President Garfield lived after Charles shot him, but became very ill due to the doctor DW Bliss’s mistake of getting the medal prop stuck between his 11th rib and the bullet fragment. Doctor DW Bliss then messed up again by sticking his fingers into the wound, which widened the wound , come to find out the doctor never found the bullet and it ended up traveling to his spinal cord. This caused the president to have numbness in his legs and feet. Over time his temperature began to elevate so the doctors reopened the wound hoping to find the bullet. Unfortunately they were unsuccessful, they turned a 3 inch harmless wound into a 20 inch long infected gash. The night of September 19th gripping his chest he muttered this pain , this pain while suffering from a major heart attack that only lasted a few minutes causing his death.[5]
- Devon T. and Ezekiel V.
[1] “American president, James a. Garfeild”, Miller Center University of Virginia , September 13 2013, http://millercenter.org/president/garfield.
[2] “President James Garfield dies”, History, September 13 2013, http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/president-james-garfield-dies.
[3] “President James a. Garfield”, Find the Data, September 13 2013, http://us-http://presidents.findthedata.org/l/28/James-A-Garfield.
[4] “Charles J Guiteau”, Crime library, September 13 2013, http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/terrorists_spies/assassins/charles_guiteau/index.html.
[5] “Charles Julius Guiteau”, Murderpedia, Septemeber 18 2013, http://murderpedia.org/male.G/g/guiteau-charles.htm.
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