President Garfield: From Radical to Unifier by C.W. Goodyear

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


C.W. Goodyear has given us an insightful look at James A. Garfield, the twentieth President of the United States. Garfield is a President that I had no real knowledge of, which I suspect may be true for many. His Presidency was cut short by an assassins bullet but his career, and importance, entailed so much more than his short Presidency.

James Garfield was born into poverty, the last President born in a log cabin. He raised himself, through hard work and an innate intelligence, to great heights even before he entered politics. He became a teacher, a College President, a Union general in the Civil War, and finally a Representative in the U.S. House at a time of severe divisions in the country. From my perspective the book really shines during the House of Representatives tenure of Garfield. Reconstruction of the defeated Confederacy was underway, and the attacks on the attempts to create rights and real citizenship for the black citizens of the South were well underway. Garfield was present in the House through this turbulence, and he was counted amongst those looking to grant real rights to southern blacks. He was absent from the House when it impeached President Andrew Johnson but came to have sympathy for that effort. The politics of the era were not limited to Reconstruction, and the author gives us a great view of those politics, and the political maneuverings of some of the giants of the era.

Those giants included U.S. Grant, who most certainly comes away from this effort somewhat diminished. James G. Blaine and Roscoe Conkling play major roles, as does Chester A. Arthur, who became Garfield’s Vice President. Garfield was a political conciliator by disposition and understanding, never looking to achieve political ends which he thought unattainable or that would cause political wreckage even if achieved.

“‘It is the business of statesmanship to wield the political forces so as not to destroy the end to be gained,’ Garfield told a friend.”

“President Garfield: From Radical to Unifier” C.W. Goodyear, pg. 325

Garfield’s road to the Presidency was quite fascinating, with the political backdrop provided by the book making it a truly unique and fascinating story. He was nominated at a Republican convention that he entered not as a candidate, but as a supporter of another candidacy. After 36 ballots of deadlock, and with U.S. Grant one of the candidates, looking to reclaim the Presidency, Garfield was turned to as the “compromise candidate.” In securing the nomination Garfield managed to out-maneuver both Conkling (a Grant supporter) and Blaine. His nature as a conciliator continued after he won the presidency, as he looked to bridge the very large divisions within his own party. Many of the divisions were attributable to patronage, and control of some very lucrative job plums. Conkling desired to have his control of the Port of New York restored, and though Garfield made real attempts to conciliate with Conkling his naming of William Robertson to that post set Conkling into a rage. Garfield’s earlier designation of many Conkling allies to scores of New York jobs failed to placate Conkling, and the fight was on.
Garfield’s desire for harmony through compromise was put to the test, as Conkling thought he could roll the new President on the issue. But Garfield had a tough side as well, and he drew the line on Conkling right here. Conkling was destroyed politically by Garfield, and some of that was due to his own overreach, but Garfield’s tenacity, and willingness to dig in and fight, carried the day. Garfield could only be pushed so far.

Garfield’s assassination, at the hands of a disgruntled job seeker, was a true tragedy, as the nation had suffered through the Lincoln assassination only sixteen years earlier. The shoddy and unsanitary treatment given to Garfield sealed his fate, likely as fatal to him as the gunshot wound suffered. We will never know what type of success he might have had as President as his tenure was so short but it is fair to say that the nation would have benefitted greatly had he been able to serve his full term.

I count this book as one of my favorites of 2023 and would highly recommend it.

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