The nation mourned his death by paying their respects as they waited in line to see him one last time. With President Garfield death a major medical reform came into play in America. Realizing the President needed to be moved from the crowded station, they moved him to an empty room. This chapter focuses on the early life and career of Charles Guiteau, who assassinated President Garfield. Crowds gathered outside of the station, including a group of black men who threatened to lynch him (Garfield had been an abolitionist before the war and a champion for freedman’s rights after it). James A. Garfield may have been the most extraordinary man ever elected president. Like this summary? They made an incision on Garfield’s back so that they could insert a drainage tube into his wound, which is what caused all the problems since then as well as later infection from using unsterilized instruments on him while doing this procedure on him again. Once Dry. His Democratic opponent was Winfield Scott Hancock, a general who had never held elected office and whose political party still suffered from the Civil War. The unhinged assassin's half-delivered strike shattered the fragile national mood of a country so recently fractured by civil war, and left the wounded president as the object of a bitter behind-the-scenes struggle for power—over his administration, over the nation's future, and, hauntingly, over his medical care. Many reviews are behind a subscriber paywall. The first section, entitled “Promise,” provides background information about all the individuals who play a role in this story. Despite all this, Garfield retained his good manners and sense of humor. He talks about how Conkling tried his best to get back into politics but wasn’t able to do so. Guitar then became a bother to Blaine, the Secretary of State, and Blaine pushed him away; Guitar was bitter with resentment. A team of physicians administered shockingly archaic treatments, to disastrous effect. - Kirkus The common thread running through each of these was that they were short-lived because when something went well at first it didn’t last long. Bell set up his machine while he heard a strange sputtering noise, which turned out to be caused by a faulty condenser. Full Summary of Destiny Of The Republic Overall Summary. It is forbidden to copy anything for publication elsewhere without written permission from the copyright holder. He began threatening people around him with an ax in 1875. But four months after his inauguration, a deranged office seeker tracked Garfield down and shot him in the back. One result was Chester Arthur’s reform of civil service system which many thought to be responsible for his death. Born into abject poverty, he rose to become a wunderkind scholar, a Civil War hero, and a renowned and admired reformist congressman. He searched for the bullet in Garfield’s right side, which is where Dr. Bliss believed it would be. There were rumors that Conkling actually planned the assassination of Garfield to benefit himself politically. Ironically, he made a wholesale change once he became president and signed into law in 1883 what became known as The Pendleton Civil Service Act which forever changed how government positions were obtained: by merit rather than political patronage. This act ‘transformed government appointments from what the men like Conklin and Gateau believed them to be- gifts given at the pleasure of powerful officials to those who had been most useful to them- into positions on on the basis of merit” (289). The two men, Dry. However, Garfield wasn’t sure if he wanted to marry her because she seemed reserved and distant at times. After Garfield’s death, his body was transported to Washington D.C. and lay in state for two days in the Capitol building. This chapter begins by describing Garfield’s condition after he was shot. Then they put a hood on his head, followed by a noose around his neck. There were signs of septic poisoning in many places throughout his body, but it was determined that the splenic artery had ruptured due to being shot twice. From then on, his mother worked hard to provide for her family and they lived in poverty throughout Garfield’s youth. BuffaloLib's library catalog tends to include a brief plot synopsis and a collection of selected trade reviews for each entry. His telephone invention became his life’s work after he had to defend it against competitors who falsely challenged his patent. Spam Free: Your email is never shared with anyone; opt out any time. A short summary of Plato's The Republic This free synopsis covers all the crucial plot points of The Republic. He was a man with an insatiable curiosity and capacity for work. The attendant of the women’s waiting room then came over and placed his head in her lap as he lay on the floor. After involvement in a two wars while also dabbling in politics, Garfield was nominated by the Republican Party to run for President of the Unites States. Three men were nominated: Ulysses S. Grant, John Sherman (the incumbent Treasury secretary), and James Blaine (a senator from Maine). Millard spends the rest of Chapter 5 talking about Garfield’s presidential campaign. The epilogue is where Millard ties up the loose ends of the story, reflects on its ramifications, and summarizes the future of the main characters.