20. GARFIELD

    1. NAME –   James Abram Garfield                                            Library of Congress
  2. NICKNAME(S) –  Preacher President  /  Boatman Jim  /  The Dark Horse  /  The Martyr  /  The Horseshoe Pitcher 
  3. BIRTH / DEATH –  Moreland Hills, Ohio  /  Elberon, New Jersey
  4. FATHER –  canal builder / farmer 
  5. MOTHER –  housewife
  6. COLLEGE –  Western Reserve Eclectic Institute  /  Williams College
  7. WIFE –  Lucretia (Garfield called her Crete) Rudolph
  8. KIDS –  7  (5 boys)
  9. PETS –  dog (Veto);  fish 
  10. RELIGION –  Disciples of Christ
  11. ANCESTRY –  English
  12. AGE – 49

FIRSTS: 

–  first whose mother attended his Inauguration

–  first left-handed

–  first elected while serving in the House of Representatives

MA AND PA:  He was born in a log cabin.  His father built canals and then farmed.  They moved to Ohio and the cabin he built was the first home he owned.  When a forest fire threatened the cabin, he exhausted himself fighting it off and died from a severe cold.  He was only 33 years old.  His mother lived another 55 years.  James was only two years old when his father died.  An older brother who had died before he was born was also named James.  His mother was left to raise four kids under age ten by herself in the wilderness.  She used her $17 in savings to put him in seminary college.  Parents

BACKGROUND:

–  youngest of five children

–  father died when he was a toddler

–  raised by mom who taught him to read

–  worked briefly on a canal boat, but then returned to school

–  after graduating from Western Reserve Eclectic Institute, he became a professor there and later President of the college

–  elected to Ohio state Senate as an anti-slavery candidate

–  became a lawyer

–  served in the Civil War and rose to Major General

–  was elected to Congress during the war and served 18 years in the House of Representatives

TRIVIA:

–  he was ambidexterous – if you gave him a sentence, he could translate it into Greek and Latin and write each phrase with a different hand at the same time

–  when he campaigned, he would give speeches in either English or German

–  at age 26, he became President of Hiram College, which had five faculty members

–  as a kid, he loved hunting and reading sea stories

–  he survived malaria as a boy

–  he was accused of taking a $329 bribe from Credit Mobilier and although he was cleared, the number 329 appeared on sidewalks, doors, hats, napkins, etc. to taunt him

–  his daughter Mollie walked several blocks to school with no security  Sadler 192

ANECDOTES:

Dickens’ Dog –  When Charles Dickens toured America, Pres. Garfield attended one of his lectures.  When the author read from his “A Christmas Carol” and said the line: “Bless my heart, it’s Fezziwig again!”, a dog started barking, much to the amusement of Dickens and the audience.  After that, whenever Garfield ran into someone who had been at the lecture, he would say “bow wow wow!”  Boller pp. 171-2

Bell’s Metal Detector –  Garfield was shot in a railway station.  His medical care was poor from the start.  The first doctor gave him brandy and spirits of ammonia, which caused him to vomit.  The next doctor tried to locate the bullet using a “Nelaton Probe” which was a metal rod that was inserted in the wound to trace the path of the bullet.  Unfortunately, not only did it not find the path but it got stuck in a rib resulting in a rather painful removal.  Another doctor tried probing with his finger, which may have caused an infection that later took the President’s life.  The whole country followed the efforts, including Alexander Graham Bell.  Bell figured a specially adapted telephone receiver  might detect metal in Garfield’s body and thus reveal the location of the bullet so doctors could remove it.  He was allowed to bring the machine into the room and by passing it under the bed, he detected a hum which he assumed was the bullet.  The problem was the hum placed the bullet much deeper than the doctors had estimated.  It was decided it would be too risky to attempt the operation.  However, several days later when the President’s temperature spiked, they went in but did not find the bullet.  Garfield died one month later.  The autopsy found the bullet a good ten inches away from where Bell’s machine detected it.  And removal of the President’s body from the bed revealed the mattress rested on metal bed-springs which would have thrown off Bell’s machine!  Shenkman 153-4

THE ZERO THEORY –  Starting in 1840, every President elected in a year ending in 0 died in office.

                –  1840  William Henry Harrison died after contracting an illness at his inauguration

                –  1860  Lincoln was assassinated

                –  1880  Garfield was assassinated

                –  1900  McKinley was assassinated

                –  1920  Harding died from heart problems

                –  1940  FDR died from a stroke

                –  1960  Kennedy was assassinated

The creators of the theory attributed it to a curse placed on Presidents by the Indian chief Tecumseh’s brother The Prophet.  It was revenge for losing the Battle of Tippecanoe.  As proof, the first President to die in a zero year was the victor at Tippecanoe – William Henry Harrison.  However, the first President elected in a zero year after the battle was James Monroe in 1820.  Nothing happened to him.