I'm left once again hoping that my children get a history teacher like you one day, and hoping that the leaders of our time have some Julia Sands in their lives.
I read “Destiny of the Republic” several years ago. Wonderful biography on Garfield. Your essay is a well written synopsis of the book. James Garfield was a helluva man.
I was going to write the same thing! Got that book as a birthday present, and really found it fascinating.
Something I do wonder, from time to time, is what exactly "civil service reform" WAS, and what role, if any, it plays in our current problem of having unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats running everything. I gather that the bill Arthur signed took away the President's ability to fire and appointed civil servants, but I could be mistaken, and I'm unfamiliar with the details
“Upon discovering that he was now in charge, Arthur broke down in tears, wholly overwhelmed by the scope of the job he now had, which everyone, including himself, believed he was totally unfit for at all.” We find ourselves at similar - though not exactly the same- crossroads today. Do you think our VP would have the same introspection?
Reading this essay I'm also reading a Teddy Roosevelt biography, The Lion's Pride.
I'd just read therein about Grant's 1876 scandals and Theodore Sr., Teddy's daddy, becoming active along with Henry Adams Bryant Peter Cooper and others in politics and reforming Republican government. The text notes; "Republican government that was (Democratic graft, said Adams , was as natural as the tide and just as impossible to repress despite all the best efforts of Theodore's brother Barnwell.)"
Well done! I hold a firm belief that in the United States, Heroes arise when needed. Washington. Lincoln. Reagan. I had not considered Garfield and Arthur in their class but this story shows how it can happen.
Will a Hero arise in the 2020s? We can pray. I’m hopeful that Trump can start the reform and Vance or Ramaswamy can kill the corruption of our current system.
I came to the verge of tears as I finished reading. I’m not sure I could give a greater compliment.
Your ability to call forth pathos is a true joy to experience. As a Western New York native, with a family history that goes back to the Revolution, I am sad to say I did not know our connection to this era’s tragedy and hope. Our area, including Oneida, has been a spiritually darkened place since the early days of the Republic. Now I know that that spiritual darkness reached all the way to one of our nation’s greatest men, and left a wicked stain on our collective conscience and memory. I am touched, moreover, by the profound impact that a small act of kindness and encouragement had and in many ways we will never know has had an all of us.
Shared with a bunch of my church men from this area.
I will need to read that longer biography of Garfield you mentioned in another comment. The thought of him dying slowly and needlessly—a great and warm man whom our nation barely deserved—will haunt me.
I knew nothing about Garfield except that he was shot -- making him a footnote to history. He deserved better, as did Chester Arthur. And Julia Sand, the most obscure of all! Thank you for this fascinating time travel into the 19th century, with its stark differences and strange similarities to our own era.
I'm left once again hoping that my children get a history teacher like you one day, and hoping that the leaders of our time have some Julia Sands in their lives.
Superbly researched and written, Librarian! An absolute pleasure to read, and un-put-downable.
I read “Destiny of the Republic” several years ago. Wonderful biography on Garfield. Your essay is a well written synopsis of the book. James Garfield was a helluva man.
That book, and the recent and more comprehensive President Garfield, were my main sources.
President Garfield: From Radical to Unifier https://a.co/d/2vC47Cq
I was going to write the same thing! Got that book as a birthday present, and really found it fascinating.
Something I do wonder, from time to time, is what exactly "civil service reform" WAS, and what role, if any, it plays in our current problem of having unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats running everything. I gather that the bill Arthur signed took away the President's ability to fire and appointed civil servants, but I could be mistaken, and I'm unfamiliar with the details
You Sir are an artist. Your medium is in all the colours of human thought. Thank you
Really terrific stuff. Thank you. It's sad they don't make men like these anymore.
They do. As Sands pointed out, they are rare. As the Librarian pointed out, they can't do it on their own.
“Upon discovering that he was now in charge, Arthur broke down in tears, wholly overwhelmed by the scope of the job he now had, which everyone, including himself, believed he was totally unfit for at all.” We find ourselves at similar - though not exactly the same- crossroads today. Do you think our VP would have the same introspection?
Brilliant essay. Thanks.🙏
Imagine Kamala making a turn like Arthur's.
It is nice to dream.
This is one of the most inspiring things I have ever read. Thank you infinitely
BTW, if you've never heard them, there are songs about Garfield and McKinley in Steven Sondheims "Assassins." They are historically quite accurate.
This is the song about McKinley (starts part way through the song): https://youtu.be/1LOtbrPN-KY?si=tEOwjjH1CqRXFjJB&t=273
This is about Garfield. https://youtu.be/9nC0OQJihzo?si=IEivuJwVQ2W7kWJz
Well actually, they're both about the assassins, not about the Presidents!
Reading this essay I'm also reading a Teddy Roosevelt biography, The Lion's Pride.
I'd just read therein about Grant's 1876 scandals and Theodore Sr., Teddy's daddy, becoming active along with Henry Adams Bryant Peter Cooper and others in politics and reforming Republican government. The text notes; "Republican government that was (Democratic graft, said Adams , was as natural as the tide and just as impossible to repress despite all the best efforts of Theodore's brother Barnwell.)"
Interesting times, then, now, always.
Absolutely great, Librarian! Thanks for this really interesting and inspiring history
Beautiful post. I did not know the story.
Brilliantly compelling writing, thanks!
Well done! I hold a firm belief that in the United States, Heroes arise when needed. Washington. Lincoln. Reagan. I had not considered Garfield and Arthur in their class but this story shows how it can happen.
Will a Hero arise in the 2020s? We can pray. I’m hopeful that Trump can start the reform and Vance or Ramaswamy can kill the corruption of our current system.
Just wow. What an incredible story, and a much appreciated breath of hope in our troubled time. History is well worth the trouble of learning.
Taking a break from the current madness is probably a great idea.
I came to the verge of tears as I finished reading. I’m not sure I could give a greater compliment.
Your ability to call forth pathos is a true joy to experience. As a Western New York native, with a family history that goes back to the Revolution, I am sad to say I did not know our connection to this era’s tragedy and hope. Our area, including Oneida, has been a spiritually darkened place since the early days of the Republic. Now I know that that spiritual darkness reached all the way to one of our nation’s greatest men, and left a wicked stain on our collective conscience and memory. I am touched, moreover, by the profound impact that a small act of kindness and encouragement had and in many ways we will never know has had an all of us.
Thank you so much for your kind words.
Shared with a bunch of my church men from this area.
I will need to read that longer biography of Garfield you mentioned in another comment. The thought of him dying slowly and needlessly—a great and warm man whom our nation barely deserved—will haunt me.
President Garfield: From Radical to Unifier https://a.co/d/gjMswSK
I knew nothing about Garfield except that he was shot -- making him a footnote to history. He deserved better, as did Chester Arthur. And Julia Sand, the most obscure of all! Thank you for this fascinating time travel into the 19th century, with its stark differences and strange similarities to our own era.