Secretary Blaine rode to the train station with Garfield that morning, and the two were walking through the lobby when Charles Guiteau approached from behind and, from a distance of about four or five feet, fired two. They would then travel back to their Ohio farm before finally returning to Washington. They would then head to New England, where the President would speak at his alma mater, Williams College, and the Garfields would vacation at the Maine home of Secretary of State James G. He left the White House and made his way to Washington, D.C.’s Baltimore and Potomac train station, where he was due to travel to meet the First Lady, who had been recovering at the New Jersey seashore. Conkling was defeated and out of the Senate, his wife’s health was restored, and he was going on vacation. More concerning than any of this, however, was the health of First Lady Lucretia Garfield, who was near death with malaria for several weeks in the spring of 1881.īy July 2, though, Garfield was ebullient. Arthur, worked against Garfield by supporting Conkling. He battled members of his own party over patronage appointments and had a very public squabble with New York Senator Roscoe Conkling, one of the nation’s most powerful Republicans and a man who had already told the new president that “your administration will only be as successful as I wish it to be.” Garfield’s own vice president, Chester A. Garfield’s term as twentieth President of the United States were a nightmare. As horrific as Charles Guiteau’s attack was, the tragedy of the President’s death is compounded by the knowledge-known to many even then-that he did not have to die. The book and film both demonstrate that while Garfield’s wounds were certainly serious, it was nineteenth century American medical hubris and ignorance that killed him. The film is based on author Candice Millard’s 2011 bestseller Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President. On Tuesday, February 2, PBS’s American Experience will air “Murder of a President,” a two-hour documentary about the 1881 assassination of President James A.

James garfield destiny of the republic