Review of Destiny of the Republic (James A. Garfield bio)

The time you won your town the race,
We chaired you through the market-place;
Man and boy stood cheering by,
And home we brought you shoulder-high.

To-day, the road all runners come,
Shoulder-high we bring you home,
And set you at your threshold down,
Townsman of a stiller town.

Smart lad, to slip betimes away
From fields where glory does not stay
And early though the laurel grows
It withers quicker than the rose.

Eyes the shady night has shut
Cannot see the record cut,
And silence sounds no worse than cheers
After earth has stopped the ears:

Now you will not swell the rout
Of lads that wore their honours out,
Runners whom renown outran
And the name died before the man.

So set, before its echoes fade,
The fleet foot on the sill of shade,
And hold to the low lintel up
The still-defended challenge-cup.

And round that early-laurelled head
Will flock to gaze the strengthless dead,
And find unwithered on its curls
The garland briefer than a girl's.

- A. E. Housman, "To An Athlete Dying Young"

tl;dr:

"You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain." - Batman, The Dark Knight

As a child, I loved reading about the presidents. In second grade, I had a book that provided a two or three page description of each president. There was also a wonderful series of books that covered each president separately, though our school library only had Jefferson, Jackson, and a couple others. I memorized the terms and order of the presidents, and knew who died in office and was assassinated. The only thing I knew about James A. Garfield was that he was assassinated by an office seeker, followed Hayes, and was followed by Arthur.

He was shot four months into his presidency, and died two months later. Can we be blamed? He appears in that interregnum between Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt, where we suspect the presidents were crappy and America was particularly corrupt.

I just finished Candice Millard's book, Destiny of the Republic, and I can safely say that, with the possible exception of William Seward, he might be the most amazing American that history forgot. At least, he's one of the more remarkable and brilliant American Presidents. Theodore Roosevelt might have been more flashy, and perhaps rightfully has a stronger legacy. But Garfield might be more brilliant and, well, good.

Briefly, let me go over some of the amazing things Garfield did in his abbreviated, yet full, life.

His father died when James was two, leaving his mother and siblings to eke out a living on a tiny farm in Ohio. He was the younger brother, which oddly enough meant that it fell to him to go to school. (His older brother was needed on the farm.) He dropped out, became a canal man, and nearly died when he fell overboard one night. He decided it was a sign from Providence that he was meant for more. He returned home, and, with the family's entire savings of $17, went to a local, tiny, poor school known as the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute.

He paid his tuition by being the school janitor, and, admirably, didn't give a crap about who knew he was poor. He studied so hard, and so comprehensively, that he was promoted to assistant professor the next year. He ended up teaching classes in languages, philosophy, and mathematics, and was popular enough as a teacher that he expanded his teaching load. He went on to graduate from Williams College, and returned to teach at Western Reserve. He became its president at 26. He became a state senator, but then joined the Ohio milita.

With no military training, no artillery, and commanding an inferior force, he won a decisive victory against a seasoned Confederate general, who had graduated from West Point. This victory kept Kentucky in the Union. He recognized the need to be more aggressive well before the Union leadership.

He became a Congressman, and became known as an honest broker and an unmatched orator. While a member of the US Congress, he penned an original mathematical proof.

There's a lot more. I recommend a read. Although I found myself occasionally wishing for something a bit less, well, emotionally manipulative (or maybe just stylistically like Edmund Morris or Doris Kearns Goodwin), Millard's book left me absolutely fuming at the medical malpractice of Dr. Bliss. (Spoiler: Garfield dies!)

*Postscript: I had started, and never finished, this review. Finishing it now in response to my recent post on McKinley.