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For generations, the heirs of the 20th US president spoke proudly about his impressive career but seldom discussed his violent end. “We knew what had happened, that he was gunned down in a transportation hub,” explains one of his living relatives. “We read about the story in publications but, somehow, we just passed over it quickly.”

Fresh Curiosity in a Overlooked Leader

This transformed in 2011 with the issuing of a presidential biography, which sparked curiosity in Garfield's unfinished life. This work has now inspired a Netflix drama titled the presidential series, including an acclaimed actor as the commander-in-chief and another skilled actor as the drifter who assassinated him.

The series promises to shine a light on Garfield, who emerged from difficult circumstances to the presidency during the Gilded Age only to become a casualty to its bitter partisan conflicts. His tenure was ended prematurely after only several months not only by the assassin's bullet but by medical malpractice – an tragedy now largely forgotten while the deaths of President Lincoln and President Kennedy continue to captivate the public.

“You can't help but be proud what he did. He was incredibly versatile: he was a attorney, he was a preacher, he was a land worker. He was multiple professions which also formed his character and how he was and everything that we know about him the descendants preserve with us.”

Rising from Poverty to the Highest Office

Garfield was the last president born in a log cabin in the Midwest in 1831. His parent passed away when he was very young, leaving his parent, Eliza, to support a large family in hard times. An insatiable reader, Garfield worked on canal boats to earn money for an education.

He pursued jurisprudence, was ordained as minister, became head of a school in Ohio and was a state senator. In 1858 he entered matrimony with a educational contemporary, Lucretia Rudolph, with whom he would have seven children. An dedicated federalist, Garfield viewed the internal struggle as a moral battle against forced servitude and rose to the military position.

“As I studied his life, I couldn't believe it. He was remarkably smart. He was extremely courageous. He was very progressive for the era. He was compassionate. He was a decent human being and would have been a remarkable commander-in-chief had he survived.”

Government Service and Unexpected Nomination

Garfield was convinced by the wartime leader to resign his military commission when he was elected to the Congress, where he would function as a Republican for 17 years. He was strong supporter of black suffrage, viewing it as a question of fairness and the completion of a wartime covenant.

“The address he delivered on the House chamber will affect you emotionally. He was an remarkable speaker and this topic was deeply meaningful to him.”

At the party gathering in Chicago the party was fundamentally fractured between the “Stalwarts”, led by a powerful politician, who supported a third term for military hero, and the “opposing faction”, who supported James G Blaine. Garfield attended as a supporter of his state colleague John Sherman.

When the 15,000-person convention was stalled between Grant and Blaine, party members began seeking a solution. Garfield's powerful oration nominating Sherman won them over. During the speech, he reportedly exclaimed, “And now, representatives, what do we want?” to which a attendee unexpectedly replied, “We want Garfield!”

On the 36th ballot, a wave of backers made Garfield the shocking choice. To satisfy the Stalwart faction, another politician, a faction member from New York, was chosen as his vice president. In the national vote Garfield defeated the opposing candidate to become the sole representative of the House ever to be chosen as leader.

Brief Administration and Political Battles

“His possible achievements and what is remarkably uncommon 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 forced into the role.”

The central struggle of Garfield's limited administration was his confrontation with Conkling over the “patronage network”. Conkling insisted on authority over political positions in New York, particularly the powerful and lucrative post of Collector of the Port of New York. Garfield refused, stating the issue was “if the commander-in-chief should be registering clerk of the senate or the nation's leader”. He selected a opponent of Conkling to the post.

The conflict became a visible struggle but Garfield outsmarted Conkling in the Senate. Facing a humiliating public defeat, Conkling and his colleague quit Congress in protest. The next day, Garfield's candidate was ratified. It was a significant win for the power of the presidency over the party machine and for the improvement efforts over “machine politics”.

The Assassin and His Disturbed Mind

But even as Garfield confronted influential people of his party, he was being stalked by a mentally unstable individual who embodied the dark side of the patronage system. The assassin was a drifter with a history of occupational setbacks, emotional issues and physical and psychological abuse. He had failed as a attorney, bill collector, religious figure and member of a free-love commune.

“He was mentally ill and his unique form of delusion was delusion. He always believed that God had chosen him for importance. He actually had superior economic background than Garfield but where Garfield succeeded and advanced, Guiteau failed at everything.”

But Guiteau believed he had eventually located a way to accomplishment: politics. Swept up in the events of the presidential race, he wrote and delivered an unimportant address, and became convinced in his own mind that he was personally instrumental for Garfield's victory.

Under this logic, Guiteau calculated he had earned a high-level government job. He journeyed to DC and constantly harassed Garfield, Blaine and other officials, insisting to be made the US consul in Paris — a role for which he had inadequate skills. He became such a nuisance that he was eventually prohibited from the White House.

The Attack and Medical Malpractice

On 2 July 1881, just four months into his presidency, Garfield was leaving Washington for his college reunion. As he walked through the transportation center, Guiteau emerged from hiding, pulled an ivory-handled British Bull Dog revolver from his jacket and shot the president twice in the back.

Garfield cried out: “Why is this occurring?” and dropped on the station floor. When a {police officer|law