Ask anyone to name a United States president that was assassinated while in office and most will likely answer Abraham Lincoln or John F. Kennedy. Hardly anyone remembers James Garfield, who was shot in the back by a deranged assailant at a train station in Washington, D.C. just four months into his first term in office. Sadly, Garfield did not die instantly but lived on for several weeks before succumbing to infection stemming from his wound. Like Kennedy, Garfield was cut down in the prime of his life and we are left only to speculate what might have been had he lived. It is probable that Garfield's presidency would have been worth remembering given his track record. He was a remarkable man. Born into abject poverty, he rose to become a wunderkind scholar, a Civil War hero, and a renowned and admired reformist congressman.
Millard's Destiny of the Republic is a wonderful account of Garfield's murder and the efforts to save him.
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