He was the 20th president, whose short time in office was cut even shorter by an assassin’s bullet.  President James A. Garfield has long been forgotten and ignored — until now.  A four-part Netflix series has brought him back to life or at last back into public view.  Garfield was the second president to be assassinated in 16 years, after Abraham Lincoln’s death in 1865.  Twenty years later, William McKinley would also die from an assassin’s bullet, completing the trifecta for presidents whose terms were ended early by assassins. These occasions would bring not only outpourings of national grief and mourning but also instant memorabilia commemorating our “three martyred presidents.”

Much Lincoln memorial material appeared in the immediate aftermath of his assassination on April 14, 1865.  Unlike Lincoln who sought the presidency,  Garfield didn’t want the job.  A Civil War general, lawyer and nine-term Ohio congressman, he reluctantly allowed himself to be nominated and won on the 36th ballot of the 1880 Republican National Convention in Chicago. The candidate then narrowly defeated Democrat William S. Hancock in November. Garfield proposed civil service reforms to eliminate political appointments.  But fate intervened when he was shot by the delusional job-seeker Charles Guiteau at the Baltimore & Potomac Railroad Station where the National Gallery now stands.

If he could not achieve policy success in life, Garfield became an instant commercial success in death. America’s entrepreneurial spirit kicked into gear to cash in on the martyred president.

Garfield memorabilia…

For years I’ve been collecting political memorabilia, including a few Garfield items. The Netflix series “Death by Lightning” has inspired me to revisit the four Garfield memorial biographies I’d forgotten I had in a bookcase devoted to presidents, as well as to unearth a glass Garfield memorial dish.  This treasure gives the dates of his birth and death with the words “We Mourn Our Nation’s Loss.”

Gunned down July 2, 1881, Garfield lingered for 79 days, finally succumbing on September 19 to sepsis, possibly due to the unsanitary practices of the White House physician.  At first, he rallied. For some time he seemed in good spirits with a hoped for recovery.  But one bullet had lodged above a rib and ultimately led to his death after the wound became infected.

Garfield’s daily “pulse, temperature & respiration” were duly charted on an advertising card that is one of my oddest political items. Produced by the B & O Railroad, it is testimony to Garfield’s health–and to the ability of American business to mine opportunity from distress. It looks a lot like a stock market table with its unpredictable ups and downs and the eventual crash.

Then there is this book written “for boys of this time,” as the author had done a similar book after Lincoln’s death 16 years before. It appears to have begun as a campaign biography for young readers. “From Log-Cabin to White House” is “Sincerely and Affectionately Dedicated… to the BOYS OF THE UNITED STATES… portraying the industry, courage, decision, energy, perseverance, and NOBLE CHARACTER of THE GREATEST OF LIVING STATESMEN, IN HIS EARLY STRUGGLES FOR A LIVELIHOOD AND EDUCATION.” Copyright 1880, before his March 1881 inauguration, it contains an added chapter about his assassination and death. The book describes in poignant detail his final days and his removal from “the malaria of Washington” to Elberton, New Jersey (near Long Branch), where his wife had earlier traveled for her health, and where he died.  The Netflix showrunner could easily adapt the drama from the true history contained in “From Log-Cabin to White House,” as well as from Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President , the 2011 book by Candice Millard.

“Everywhere throngs at the stations stood with uncovercd heads as the presidential car swept by,” wrote author William M. Thayer. “He bore the fatigue remarkably, and seemed at once to to feel the invigoration of pure air and new surroundings.., and hope increased as the days passed and his physicians announced improvement. But at the end of ten days chronic blood-poisoning was no longer to be denied. Saturday, September 17, brought another crisis. Just before midday, a severe and ominous chill set in… Monday, September 19th the president grew steadily worse. ..”  At 10:35 p.m., “the suffering hero passed away forever beyond pan and weariness…

“On the still night air the tolling bells , from sea to sea, carried the sorrowful tidings, and the expressions of personal loss and grief were heard everywhere, from the the child to the aged sire.. All people, all classes and parties and sections alike  mourned their loss…”

In conclusion…

In the last scene of the Netflix series, Lucretia Garfield, the president’s widow, visits Guiteau in his cell and tells him that history will forget him but also her husband, whom she had assured as he lay dying would be remembered. “In reality, I know history won’t remember him at all. A minor footnote at best. A minor piece of trivia. America may mourn him today, but as the years pass, they will forget in no time. He’ll be another face on the wall lost to history.”  Lost to history, until now.

As the screen shows his successor, it informs viewers that it was he who implemented Garfield’s desired legislation:  “Chester A. Arthur passed landmark civil service reforms that shape our government to this day.”   To which might be added, until now.