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Over many years, the family members of President Garfield spoke proudly about his impressive career but rarely mentioned his violent end. We were aware what had happened, that he was gunned down in a railway depot,” explains one of his modern descendants. “We read about the story in publications but, for various reasons, we just glanced over it.”

Fresh Curiosity in a Forgotten President

This transformed in 2011 with the issuing of a presidential biography, which sparked curiosity in Garfield's cut-short presidency. This work has now led to a streaming series titled the presidential series, including an acclaimed actor as the commander-in-chief and Matthew Macfadyen as the unstable individual who gunned him down.

The series aims to illuminate Garfield, who rose from poverty to the highest office during the historical period only to become a casualty to its bitter partisan conflicts. His tenure was cut short after only 200 days not only by the killer's weapon but by medical malpractice – an event now largely forgotten while the killings of Abraham Lincoln and JFK continue to captivate the public.

“It's impossible not to respect what he did. He was a true polymath: he was a legal professional, he was a minister, he was a farmer. He was all of these things which also formed his character and his behavior and everything that we know about him the descendants preserve with us.”

Starting from Nothing to the White House

Garfield was the last president born in a log cabin in Cuyahoga County in 1831. His dad perished when he was very young, leaving his mother, Eliza, to care for multiple kids in challenging conditions. An voracious learner, Garfield labored on waterways to earn money for an schooling.

He learned legal principles, was entered the clergy, became president of Hiram College in Ohio and was a government official. In 1858 he entered matrimony with a former classmate, Lucretia Rudolph, with whom he would have seven children. An dedicated federalist, Garfield viewed the civil war as a holy crusade against forced servitude and progressed to the military position.

“As I studied his life, I found it incredible. He was exceptionally intelligent. He was fearless. He was very progressive for the era. He was caring. He was a decent human being and would have been one of our great presidents had he lived.”

Public Life and Shocking Selection

Garfield was persuaded by the wartime leader to depart military life when he was selected to the House of Representatives, where he would function as a party member for nearly two decades. He was ardent advocate of black suffrage, viewing it as a question of fairness and the realization of a military promise.

“The speech he gave on the legislative arena will tear your heart out. He was an impressive communicator and this matter was very important to him.”

At the party gathering in Chicago the party was deeply divided between the “Stalwarts”, led by a powerful politician, who supported a continued leadership for military hero, and the “Half-Breeds”, who supported James G Blaine. Garfield attended as a backer of his state colleague John Sherman.

When the massive gathering was deadlocked between Grant and Blaine, representatives began looking for a solution. Garfield's powerful oration proposing Sherman won them over. During the speech, he reportedly exclaimed, “And now, representatives, what do we want?” to which a audience member unexpectedly replied, “We want Garfield!”

On the 36th ballot, a wave of backers made Garfield the unexpected candidate. To placate the Stalwart faction, Chester Arthur, a Conkling loyalist from New York, was chosen as his second in command. In the national vote Garfield overcame the opposing candidate to become the only sitting member of the House ever to be elected president.

Truncated Term and Government Conflicts

“Garfield's potential greatness and what is very unusual and maybe unique to the American presidency is he wasn't seeking the position. It's not that he had completely dismissed it but he was forced into the role.”

The major battle of Garfield's limited administration was his disagreement with Conkling over the “patronage network”. Conkling required power over political positions in New York, particularly the powerful and lucrative post of port authority. Garfield refused, stating the issue was “whether the president is registering clerk of the senate or the presidential authority”. He proposed a rival of Conkling to the post.

The dispute turned into a visible struggle but Garfield outmaneuvered Conkling in the Senate. Facing a public failure, Conkling and his junior senator left their positions in protest. The next day, Garfield's candidate was confirmed. It was a historic triumph for the presidential control over the faction system and for the improvement efforts over “political control”.

The Gunman and His Mental Illness

But even as Garfield fought powerful figures of his party, he was being stalked by a psychologically troubled person who embodied the dark side of the political appointment process. The gunman was a wanderer with a record of occupational setbacks, psychological problems and early life difficulties. He had been unsuccessful as a lawyer, debt recovery agent, minister and member of a unconventional group.

“He was emotionally unstable and his specific type of insanity was fantasy. He always believed that God had chosen him for significance. He actually had more privileged beginning than Garfield but where Garfield achieved and rose, Guiteau was unsuccessful in all endeavors.”

But Guiteau believed he had at last discovered a pathway to success: politics. Carried away in the events of the 1880 election, he wrote and delivered an unimportant address, and became persuaded internally that he was personally instrumental for Garfield's victory.

Under this reasoning, Guiteau calculated he had deserved a high-level government job. He went to the capital and constantly harassed Garfield, Blaine and other leaders, insisting to be made the diplomatic representative — a position for which he had zero qualifications. He became such a annoyance that he was eventually banned from the White House.

The Assassination and Doctor Errors

On the tragic date, just four months into his presidency, Garfield was leaving Washington for his educational gathering. As he passed through the transportation center, Guiteau stepped from the shadows, withdrew an weapon from his jacket and shot the president twice in the back.

Garfield cried out: “My God, what is this?” and dropped on the waiting area. When a {police officer|law