In 1884 Republican James G. Blaine came within 1,047 votes of becoming the President of the United States. This was the margin by which he lost New York State--and thus the election--to Grover Cleveland in what has been called the dirtiest campaign in American history. Yet his career--arguably the most sensational of any American politician of the so-called Gilded Age--did not end there. He was twice U.S. secretary of state, credited with having started...