Dark Horse: The Surprise Election and Political Murder of President James A. Garfield

I have for some time been interested in James A. Garfield, one of the most intelligent people to have held the office of President of the United States. He was a distinguished academic (who created an original proof of the Pythagorean Theorem, though that gets no mention in this book), a successful Civil War General, and an equally successful politician. But although this book only covers a period of less than two years, from Garfield's nomination by a Republican convention deadlocked between supporters of Ulysses S. Grant and James G. Blaine to his assassination by a mentally-deranged office-seeker, Charles Guiteau, it told me a lot that I did not know about Garfield and about 1880s-era politics. The book is rather thick, given the short chronological span that it covers. But it's all fascinating reading; I couldn't put the book down at night when it was time to go to bed. The author does some things that I am very happy about: when he describes something, whether the geography of Washington, D. C. or the inner workings of the U. S. Senate, that was very different in 1880 from now, he gives a good description of the differences, helping the reader understand the context in which things are happening in the book. His description of the feud between the two factions of the Republican Party -- the U. S. Grant/Roscoe Conkling "Stalwarts" and the Blaine "Half-Breeds," provides a major explanation of the political happenings of that era. And following the political maneuverings between Garfield, once elected President, and Roscoe Conkling (the powerful Senator from New York and leader of New York's Republican Party) gives me a great appreciation for how politically savvy Garfield must have been. He could have been a great President, I believe, if he'd been allowed to live. Ackerman makes a good case for the thesis that medical malpractice, not Guiteau's gun, was the cause of Garfield's death. His claim that, even with the rudimentary state of medicine in 1881, Garfield would have survived if the doctors had treated him differently, is hard to dispute. This is enough to give one some reason to think. This is a very good book, and I echo the other reviewers' recommendations.

Dark Horse: The surprise election and Political Murder of President James A. Garfield, by Kenneth D. Ackerman, is an extremely well written book about an era frequently bypassed by today's historians.The Gilded Age has been largely ignored it seems by historians, but this book is a tremendous addition to the literature available on the political history of the era.Ackerman has provided us with a book that truly chronicles Garfield's rise from semi-obscurity to the Presidency and then his assassination by a deranged man that claimed he was "removing" the President for the good of the Republican party and the country.Starting with the Republican national convention of 1880, where Garfield was truly the "dark horse" candidate (U.S. Grant, James Blaine, and John Sherman were the leading contenders for the nomination), Ackerman has given us a fantastic political history of what transpired at the convention to earn Garfield the nomination. He then proceeds to the national campaign against the Democratic nominee (General Winfield Hancock) and Garfield's "front porch" campaign. His description of the national race that ended in Garfield winning the Presidency is unmatched in writing today.Ackerman intermixes Charles Guiteau into the history in appropriate places, and finally brings Guiteau to the forefront when he shoots Garfield in the railway station as Garfield was preparing for vacation. The subsequent trial and execution of Guiteau are also covered in the book.I must commend Ackerman for ending with the elevation of Chester Arthur to the Presidency - other books might go into detail on how Arthur's Presidency was similar to and different than Garfield's, but Ackerman holds true to his title and stops with the ascendancy of Chester Arthur.I would highly recommend this book to anyone that has an interest in 19th century American politics, the Garfield administration (as short as it may have been), or to better understand the reasons Guiteau assassinated the President. It's an easy read, very well researched, and an oustanding addition to the available books on the subject.

I bought a copy of Kenneth Ackerman's new book recently while visiting "Lawnfield", the Mentor, Ohio home of our twentieth president, James Abram Garfield. A bit dubious about a 400-plus page offering on a man who was president for only six months or so, I nonetheless sat down to read it and was both surprised and pleased by the terrific way that the author relates the intertwined lives of Garfield, his vice-president, Chester Alan Arthur and the two most powerful senators of their times, James G. Blaine and Roscoe Conkling.Ackerman, at his best, is a good storyteller. Like a tug-of-war unfolding, he tells of the immense and bitter rivalry between Blaine and Conkling, with Garfield siding with the former and Arthur the latter. The real power in the post-Civil War years lay in the hands of the Congress and while this book is centered around Garfield, it's really more about the "play" that went on among these four men. And always looming in the background was former president, Ulysses S. Grant.It is amazing to think that so much of a president's time could have been spent dealing with office-seekers, but Garfield's short administration was largely about that (and his trying to please both factions of the Republican party....the Half-Breeds, led by Blaine and the Stalwarts, led by Conkling.) Garfield's assassination was, indeed, about as darkly political as an event can get. The author occasionally slips into being too enamored of his subject although what I've read about Garfield in other books leads me to believe he was a decent enough man. Unfortunately, because of his short tenure in the White House most historians don't bother rating him with our other presidents. There are a couple of minor factual errors in the book (Arthur died twenty months after leaving office, not seven) but Ackerman is good at the few conclusions he draws, most notably the passage of the 1883 Civil Service Act. He reminds us that this was not a time of great men in our nation's political history, but rather a time of pettiness, accompanied by large egos. I couldn't help but think that the same thing is occurring in the Washington D.C. of 2003.One has to wonder what would have happened if Garfield had lived. Visiting the president's enormous memorial and burial site in Cleveland, Garfield's large presence is felt. Kenneth Ackerman's book is an important addition to our presidential history, wonderfully told, and I highly recommend it.

Let me first issue this advisory: To truly enjoy Kenneth D. Ackerman's book, "The Dark Horse" you have to love reading about politics. Ackerman is a Washington type, and his love of the political game and all of its intricaces is very much evident in his writing. Fortunately, he is such a good writer that he can make even the most mundane and obscure political manuevering as compelling as any suspense thriller."The Dark Horse," as the subtitle indicates, tells the tragic tale of President James A. Garfield, who was the surprise Republican nominee in 1880 and won a razor thin victory that Novemeber. Garfield had not desired the Presidency, and was only beginning to become comfortable in the office when he was felled by an assasssin's bullet four months into his term. He died a slow, agonizing death, and in the process became a martyred hero to the country.Ackerman argues that Garflied's killing, remembered (if at all) for being perpetrated by a "disappointed office seeker" was a residual effect of the wars going on within the Republican Party between two competing factions: the Stalwarts and the Half Breeds. Though the Stalwarts, led by irascible New York Senator Roscoe Conkling, were not directly complicit in Garfield's murder, their strident rhetoric helped set the political climate that made it possible. Ackerman tells his story in great detail (the narrative portion of the book runs to well over 400 pages). The is a decent illustrations section and a number of helpful charts for the reader. Overall, this is an excellently well written book that will appeal most strongly to American History and politics buffs.