Grant’s support remained solid until the end, while Blaine’s melted away; but neither got the nomination. Grant, rejecting his wife’s entreaties that he appear at the convention, failed to reach the numerical threshold for the nomination. The Republicans picked a dark horse, James Garfield of Ohio, on the twenty-sixth ballot. He had a reputation for indecision. Tarred by the Crédit Mobilier scandal, he could, in the party of Grant, Blaine, and Conkling, still appear to walk among the righteous.
