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Throughout history, the heirs of James Garfield spoke proudly about his remarkable life but seldom discussed his tragic assassination. “We knew what had happened, that he was assassinated in a train station,” explains one of his modern descendants. “We studied the story in historical accounts but, for various reasons, we just skimmed through it.”

Fresh Curiosity in a Overlooked Leader

This transformed in 2011 with the release of a presidential biography, which sparked curiosity in Garfield's cut-short presidency. This work has now inspired a television production titled the historical drama, featuring Michael Shannon as the commander-in-chief and Matthew Macfadyen as the unstable individual who gunned him down.

The series promises to shine a light on Garfield, who emerged from difficult circumstances to the highest office during the Gilded Age only to succumb to its deep political rifts. His time in office was truncated after only 200 days not only by the gunman's shot but by physician mistakes – an event now largely forgotten while the killings of the Civil War president and JFK continue to fascinate the public.

“One cannot help but admire what he did. He was like a multi-threat: he was a lawyer, he was a minister, he was a agriculturalist. He was all of these things which also shaped who he was and his behavior and everything that we know about him the descendants preserve with us.”

Rising from Poverty to the Presidency

Garfield was the last president coming from pioneer roots in the Midwest in 1831. His parent passed away when he was 18 months old, leaving his mom, Eliza, to raise five children in hard times. An insatiable reader, Garfield labored on waterways to generate income for an formal learning.

He studied law, was became a preacher, became leader of an institution in Ohio and was a state senator. In 1858 he entered matrimony with a former classmate, his partner, with whom he would have seven children. An passionate nationalist, Garfield viewed the internal struggle as a moral battle against forced servitude and rose to the rank of major general.

“During my investigation, I couldn't believe it. He was exceptionally intelligent. He was extremely courageous. He was ahead of his time for the time. He was caring. He was a decent human being and would have been an outstanding leader had he survived.”

Political Career and Surprise Candidacy

Garfield was persuaded by the wartime leader to resign his military commission when he was chosen to the Congress, where he would work as a Republican for nearly two decades. He was strong supporter of black suffrage, viewing it as a issue of rights and the fulfillment of a wartime covenant.

“The address he delivered on the legislative arena will move you deeply. He was an incredibly powerful orator and this issue was very important to him.”

At the party gathering in Chicago the party was fundamentally fractured between the “Stalwarts”, led by a powerful politician, who supported a third term for military hero, and the “opposing faction”, who supported James G Blaine. Garfield attended as a backer of his state colleague John Sherman.

When the massive gathering was stalled between Grant and Blaine, party members began looking for a solution. Garfield's emotional address proposing Sherman impressed them. During the speech, he reportedly shouted, “And now, representatives, what do we want?” to which a voice from the crowd unexpectedly replied, “We want Garfield!”

On the multiple voting round, a wave of backers made Garfield the unexpected candidate. To appease the Stalwart faction, Chester Arthur, a political ally from New York, was chosen as his running mate. In the general election Garfield beat the Democratic nominee to become the only sitting member of the House ever to be elected president.

Brief Administration and Political Battles

“Garfield's potential greatness and what is extremely rare and maybe special for the American presidency is he didn't want the job. It's not that he had never thought about it but he was thrust into it.”

The central struggle of Garfield's short presidency was his confrontation with Conkling over the “political favors”. Conkling required power over political positions in New York, particularly the influential position of Collector of the Port of New York. Garfield declined, stating the issue was “whether the president is registering clerk of the senate or the nation's leader”. He nominated a opponent of Conkling to the post.

The dispute became a public battle but Garfield defeated Conkling in the Senate. Confronting a embarrassing loss, Conkling and his junior senator left their positions in protest. The next day, Garfield's nominee was ratified. It was a historic triumph for the executive authority over the faction system and for the cause of reform over “political control”.

The Assassin and His Psychological Issues

But even as Garfield battled the titans of his party, he was being stalked by a mentally unstable individual who represented the negative aspect of the patronage system. The gunman was a wanderer with a record of career disappointments, mental instability and childhood trauma. He had failed as a attorney, bill collector, preacher and member of a unconventional group.

“He was psychologically disturbed and his unique form of delusion was fantasy. He always believed that God had chosen him for greatness. He actually had financially a better start than Garfield but where Garfield achieved and rose, Guiteau failed at everything.”

But Guiteau believed he had finally found a pathway to success: politics. Carried away in the events of the presidential race, he wrote and delivered an insignificant speech, and became certain in his thoughts that he was solely accountable for Garfield's victory.

Under this logic, Guiteau calculated he had earned a high-level government job. He went to the capital and constantly harassed Garfield, Blaine and other leaders, demanding to be made the US consul in Paris — a role for which he had no experience. He became such a nuisance that he was eventually prohibited from the White House.

The Attack and Medical Malpractice

On the tragic date, just four months into his presidency, Garfield was traveling from DC for his alumni event. As he walked through the Baltimore & Potomac Railroad station, Guiteau stepped from the shadows, produced an weapon from his jacket and fired multiple rounds in the back.

Garfield cried out: “Why is this occurring?” and collapsed on the waiting area. When a {police officer|law