Later, when concern about the quality of the president’s medical care began to grow, journalists would ask how Bliss came to be in charge of the case. “He just took charge of it,” one doctor would say. “He happened to be the first man called after the shooting, and he stuck to it, shoving everybody else aside. Neither the President nor Mrs. Garfield ever asked him to take charge.” Outraged by this accusation, Bliss would insist that, in a private meeting, both Garfield and the first lady had asked him to be the president’s principal doctor and to “select such counsel as you may think best.” To
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