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Garfield of Ohio,: The available man
WRITTEN BY JOHN M TAYLOR- ILLUSTRATED WITH PHOTOGRAPHS AND PICTURES-A GREAT HHISTORICAL NARRATIVE OF A PRESIDENT ASSASSINATED ONLY FOUR MONTHS AFTER ASSUMING THE PRESIDENCY
336 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1970
About the author
John M. Taylor
9 books1 followerLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
John M. Taylor (1930- )
John M. Taylor (1930- )
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 26, 2019
Our second assassinated president and our second shortest presidency are embodied in the same person James A. Garfield. He's also the second youngest president to die, he was two months short
of his 50th birthday. He was succeeded in that dubious distinction by another assassinated president,
John F. Kennedy.
Like that first assassinated president Garfield was born to most humble circumstances the last one to be born in a log cabin in 1831. Unlike Abraham LIncoln, Garfield did have the benefit of higher education going and graduating from Williams College. He read law and got himself elected as a
Republican to the Ohio State Senate and then the Civil War came and Garfield gave up politics and
joined the army.
Garfield was an evangelical Christian, a member of the Disciples of Church Christ which was fervently
anti-slavery as was Garfield. He served in the Kentucky-Tennessee theater of the war and eventually became a Brigadier General. That propelled him to Congress and he was elected to the
House of Representatives in 1862. He served the first of 9 terms in the House, eventually becoming
unofficially at least the minority floor leader in the Hayes administration years.
By all accounts he was a fairly orthodox type Republican, a hail fellow well met type liked by his
colleagues even a few Democrats among them. He was peripherally involved in the Credit Mobilier
scandal taking some stock in that company which financed the Union Pacific Railroad and its
greatest accomplishment the Transcontinental Railroad. It didn't hurt him any or at least too much when he was running for president
Therein lies the title of the book, The Available Man. In 1880 the Republican convention was deadlocked as Ulysses S. Grant after four years out of office wanted back in and James G. Blaine of
Maine narrowly defeated in 1876 for the nomination was also a candidate. There were others in
the field including John Sherman of Ohio the Secretary of the Treasury of whom Garfield was the
campaign manager and gave the nominating speech.
The deadlock went on for multiple ballots and the party bosses settled it in the proverbial smoke
filled room and Garfield was the compromise nominee with Chester A. Arthur of New York for
Vice President. In a close election Garfield won and became our 20th president. All because he
happened to be most available at the right time.
Inaugurated on March 4, Garfield was shot down in Union station in Washington, DC by one Charles
Guiteau, described in most history books as a disappointed office seeker. There's far more to that
story though. We had operated for 50 years under the 'spoils system' where the smallest government jobs were subject to the political winds. Civil Service such as they had in Great Britain
for instance was proposed. Guiteau was this nut case who imagined he'd like to be Minister to the
Austro-Hungarian Empire or maybe consul in Paris. He shot Garfield after trying to plead his
case, unsuccessful in even getting an appointment.
In fact the spoils system and civil service reform was uppermost in everyone's mind during Garfield's brief presidency. It's hard to imagine this today though the current administration was
also hard to imagine way back when. But the main thing Garfield was occupied with was the
appointment of the Collector of the Port of New York. New York State's GOP boss was Senator
Roscoe Conkling a figure most arrogant and most powerful. The Collectorship was the most valuable patronage slot in the state with its control of customs and duties fees and enforcement of
tariff. Garfield gave the appointment to a man named William Robertson a supporter of Conkling's
arch enemy James G. Blaine who had become Garfield's Secretary of State. Using his Senatorial
privilege Conkling held up all the business of government until this appointment was withdrawn.
Garfield didn't back down and Robertson got confirmed.
From being held up because of a patronage spat to being paralyzed in the two and a half months
that Garfield lingered from his two bullet wounds in the back and arm is a story we can hardly
fathom today. Good thing there was no foreign war going on or we might have had serious problems. Guiteau in his trial did make the claim that medical malpractice was the cause of Garfield's death. He might have been half right there. If such aid was available to Garfield as was
for Ronald Reagan he might have lived.
Garfield's death got a sort of meaning when in the Arthur administration the Pendleton Act was
passed establishing the beginnings of Federal civil service. As for what kind of president he might
have made with a decent length of service, who knows.
I'd read John M. Taylor's book and come to your own conclusions about this Available Man.
of his 50th birthday. He was succeeded in that dubious distinction by another assassinated president,
John F. Kennedy.
Like that first assassinated president Garfield was born to most humble circumstances the last one to be born in a log cabin in 1831. Unlike Abraham LIncoln, Garfield did have the benefit of higher education going and graduating from Williams College. He read law and got himself elected as a
Republican to the Ohio State Senate and then the Civil War came and Garfield gave up politics and
joined the army.
Garfield was an evangelical Christian, a member of the Disciples of Church Christ which was fervently
anti-slavery as was Garfield. He served in the Kentucky-Tennessee theater of the war and eventually became a Brigadier General. That propelled him to Congress and he was elected to the
House of Representatives in 1862. He served the first of 9 terms in the House, eventually becoming
unofficially at least the minority floor leader in the Hayes administration years.
By all accounts he was a fairly orthodox type Republican, a hail fellow well met type liked by his
colleagues even a few Democrats among them. He was peripherally involved in the Credit Mobilier
scandal taking some stock in that company which financed the Union Pacific Railroad and its
greatest accomplishment the Transcontinental Railroad. It didn't hurt him any or at least too much when he was running for president
Therein lies the title of the book, The Available Man. In 1880 the Republican convention was deadlocked as Ulysses S. Grant after four years out of office wanted back in and James G. Blaine of
Maine narrowly defeated in 1876 for the nomination was also a candidate. There were others in
the field including John Sherman of Ohio the Secretary of the Treasury of whom Garfield was the
campaign manager and gave the nominating speech.
The deadlock went on for multiple ballots and the party bosses settled it in the proverbial smoke
filled room and Garfield was the compromise nominee with Chester A. Arthur of New York for
Vice President. In a close election Garfield won and became our 20th president. All because he
happened to be most available at the right time.
Inaugurated on March 4, Garfield was shot down in Union station in Washington, DC by one Charles
Guiteau, described in most history books as a disappointed office seeker. There's far more to that
story though. We had operated for 50 years under the 'spoils system' where the smallest government jobs were subject to the political winds. Civil Service such as they had in Great Britain
for instance was proposed. Guiteau was this nut case who imagined he'd like to be Minister to the
Austro-Hungarian Empire or maybe consul in Paris. He shot Garfield after trying to plead his
case, unsuccessful in even getting an appointment.
In fact the spoils system and civil service reform was uppermost in everyone's mind during Garfield's brief presidency. It's hard to imagine this today though the current administration was
also hard to imagine way back when. But the main thing Garfield was occupied with was the
appointment of the Collector of the Port of New York. New York State's GOP boss was Senator
Roscoe Conkling a figure most arrogant and most powerful. The Collectorship was the most valuable patronage slot in the state with its control of customs and duties fees and enforcement of
tariff. Garfield gave the appointment to a man named William Robertson a supporter of Conkling's
arch enemy James G. Blaine who had become Garfield's Secretary of State. Using his Senatorial
privilege Conkling held up all the business of government until this appointment was withdrawn.
Garfield didn't back down and Robertson got confirmed.
From being held up because of a patronage spat to being paralyzed in the two and a half months
that Garfield lingered from his two bullet wounds in the back and arm is a story we can hardly
fathom today. Good thing there was no foreign war going on or we might have had serious problems. Guiteau in his trial did make the claim that medical malpractice was the cause of Garfield's death. He might have been half right there. If such aid was available to Garfield as was
for Ronald Reagan he might have lived.
Garfield's death got a sort of meaning when in the Arthur administration the Pendleton Act was
passed establishing the beginnings of Federal civil service. As for what kind of president he might
have made with a decent length of service, who knows.
I'd read John M. Taylor's book and come to your own conclusions about this Available Man.
March 13, 2023
A brief life of the 20th U.S. President. Garfield was shot and lived over a month before dying from infection. I knew next to nothing about Garfield as President or his time as a general in the U.S. Army during the Civil War. The biography, even though already short, focused a lot on the political temperature of the times. I would have liked to learn more about Garfield and his life in and out of politics. This reading was part of my project to read a biography of every U.S. President.
March 9, 2014
This is a whole-life biography of the 20th president, James Garfield. Includes bibliography, notes, and index. Also, two appendices: an article Garfield wrote about Congress for the centennial celebration and his inaugural address.
Garfield is pretty much forgotten now. He served as a General in the Civil War, then in the House of Representatives before running for president in 1880. He was marginally involved in the Credit Mobilier scandal. He was shot by an assassin four months into his term and died two months later. At the time, the nation mourned him more than they had for Lincoln, but within a generation was mostly forgotten.
Garfield is pretty much forgotten now. He served as a General in the Civil War, then in the House of Representatives before running for president in 1880. He was marginally involved in the Credit Mobilier scandal. He was shot by an assassin four months into his term and died two months later. At the time, the nation mourned him more than they had for Lincoln, but within a generation was mostly forgotten.
April 15, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews