Includes bibliographical references (p. 457-467) and index
The great contest, 1880: Chicago; The hero; Bosses; First volley; The break; Compromise; Chance of a lifetime -- Candidate: The bargain; The narrowest margin -- President-elect: Garfield "doesn't sleep excellently well" -- President: The appointment; The senate; Stalwart of the stalwarts -- Calamity: Bulletins; Arthur
In this book Kenneth Ackerman re-creates an American political landscape where fierce battles for power unfolded against a chivalrous code of honor in a country struggling to emerge from the long shadow of recent war. He casts familiar Civil War figures like Ulysses S. Grant and Winfield Scott Hancock in unfamiliar roles as politicos alongside feuding machine bosses like senators Roscoe Conkling and James G. Blaine and backroom string-puller Chester A. Arthur, Garfield's unlikely vice-presidential running mate. The journey through political backrooms, dazzling convention floors, and intrigue-filled congressional and White House chambers, reveals the era's decency and humanity as well as the sharp partisanship that exploded in the pistol shots of assassin Charles Guiteau, the weak-minded political camp follower and patronage seeker eager to replace the elected commander-in-chief with one of his own choosing. Garfield's path from a seat in the House of Representatives to the White House to martyred hero changed the tone of politics for generations to come

Kenneth D. Ackerman

Avalon Publishing Group

Da Capo Press

Basic Books

United States, United States of America

1st Carroll & Graf ed, New York, c2003

First, 2003

Includes bibliographical references (p. 457-467) and index.

A close-up look at post-Civil War American politics describes the narrow election of President James A. Garfield, his murder by assassin Charles Guiteau, and the machinations of the political power-brokers of the era.

2023-06-28