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Throughout history, the descendants of James Garfield discussed openly about his impressive career but seldom discussed his untimely death. “We knew what had happened, that he was shot in a train station,” reflects one of his modern descendants. “We learned about the story in publications but, in one way or another, we just glanced over it.”

Renewed Attention in a Forgotten President

This changed in 2011 with the issuing of a historical book, which revived interest in Garfield's unfinished life. The publication has now led to a streaming series titled the historical drama, featuring an acclaimed actor as the president and another skilled actor as the drifter who gunned him down.

The series aims to highlight Garfield, who rose from poverty to the presidency during the Gilded Age only to succumb to its deep political rifts. His tenure was truncated after only several months not only by the killer's weapon but by medical malpractice – an event now mostly overlooked while the assassinations of Abraham Lincoln and JFK continue to captivate the public.

“It's impossible not to respect what he did. He was a true polymath: he was a lawyer, he was a religious leader, he was a land worker. He was all of these things which also shaped who he was and how he was and the complete story about him the family carries down with us.”

Starting from Nothing to the White House

Garfield was the final national leader coming from pioneer roots in Ohio in 1831. His parent passed away when he was very young, leaving his parent, Eliza, to support a large family in challenging conditions. An insatiable reader, Garfield worked on canal boats to earn money for an formal learning.

He pursued jurisprudence, was became a preacher, became head of a school in Ohio and was a political representative. In 1858 he wed a former classmate, Lucretia Rudolph, with whom he would have multiple offspring. An passionate nationalist, Garfield viewed the civil war as a moral battle against forced servitude and progressed to the officer status.

“As I studied his life, I was astonished. He was absolutely brilliant. He was extremely courageous. He was innovative for the time. He was kind. He was a good person and would have been one of our great presidents had he survived.”

Public Life and Shocking Selection

Garfield was convinced by the wartime leader to leave army service when he was selected to the Congress, where he would work as a political representative for nearly two decades. He was ardent advocate of African American voting rights, viewing it as a issue of rights and the completion of a wartime covenant.

“The address he delivered on the House chamber will affect you emotionally. He was an incredibly powerful orator and this issue was deeply meaningful to him.”

At the party gathering in Chicago the faction was deeply divided between the “faction members”, led by a powerful politician, who supported a continued leadership for Ulysses S Grant, and the “opposing faction”, who supported James G Blaine. Garfield attended as a advocate of his friend and fellow Ohioan John Sherman.

When the massive gathering was gridlocked between Grant and Blaine, delegates began seeking a middle ground. Garfield's powerful oration nominating Sherman won them over. 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 36th ballot, a wave of backers made Garfield the unexpected candidate. To satisfy the Stalwart faction, Chester Arthur, a faction member from New York, was chosen as his running mate. In the general election Garfield overcame the Democratic nominee to become the only sitting member of the House ever to be elected president.

Short Presidency and Government Conflicts

“Garfield's potential greatness and what is very unusual and maybe unique to the American presidency is he didn't want the job. It's not that he had entirely ignored the possibility but he was thrust into it.”

The central struggle of Garfield's limited administration was his clash with Conkling over the “spoils system”. Conkling insisted on authority over federal patronage in New York, particularly the powerful and lucrative post of Collector of the Port of New York. Garfield rejected, stating the issue was “concerning if the national leader becomes registering clerk of the senate or the presidential authority”. He proposed a political foe of Conkling to the post.

The dispute turned into a open fight but Garfield defeated Conkling in the Senate. Facing a humiliating public defeat, Conkling and his colleague left their positions in protest. The next day, Garfield's candidate was approved. It was a landmark victory for the power of the presidency over the political organization and for the change movement over “boss rule”.

The Killer and His Psychological Issues

But even as Garfield battled the titans of his party, he was being stalked by a mentally unstable individual who exemplified the dark side of the spoils network. Charles Guiteau was a wanderer with a background of career disappointments, emotional issues and childhood trauma. He had been unsuccessful as a lawyer, debt recovery agent, preacher and member of a free-love commune.

“He was mentally ill and his particular brand of madness was delusion. He always believed that God had chosen him for importance. He actually had financially a better start than Garfield but where Garfield achieved and rose, Guiteau was unsuccessful in all endeavors.”

But Guiteau believed he had eventually located a pathway to success: politics. Carried away in the excitement of the 1880 election, he created and presented an unimportant address, and became certain in his thoughts that he was single-handedly responsible for Garfield's victory.

Under this thinking, Guiteau calculated he had earned a high-level government job. He went to the capital and relentlessly pestered Garfield, Blaine and other officials, demanding to be made the diplomatic representative — a role for which he had inadequate skills. He became such a annoyance that he was eventually excluded from the White House.

The Shooting and Medical Malpractice

On 2 July 1881, just four months into his presidency, Garfield was leaving Washington for his college reunion. As he moved through the Baltimore & Potomac Railroad station, Guiteau appeared suddenly, pulled an ivory-handled British Bull Dog revolver from his clothing and assassinated the leader in the back.

Garfield shouted: “My God, what is this?” and fell on the depot ground. When a {police officer|law