James Garfield: Assassinated

01VOA Learning English presents America's Presidents.

02Today we are talking about James Garfield.

03He was the 20th President of the United States.

04Garfield is not one of the best-known presidents.

05He served only 100 days before he was shot.

06Eleven weeks later, he died from his wounds.

07But even during Garfield's short time in office, historians say his presidency had problems.

08Like the president before him, Rutherford B.

09Hayes, Garfield was from the state of Ohio.

10Garfield's father died when he was very young.

11The future president was raised largely by his mother, two older sisters, and a brother.

12Among all the presidents, Garfield probably was the most poor in his early years.

13Growing up, he worked as a farmer, a sailor, a carpenter, a teacher, and a janitor.

14Finally, he earned a position as a student at Williams College in Western Massachusetts.

15Garfield loved learning.

16He eventually taught at a school called the Eclectic Institute.

17Later, he became its president.

18Garfield married one of his students at the Eclectic Institute, Lucretia Rudolph.

19She became a teacher, too.

20The future president and his wife went on to have seven children.

21Four sons and a daughter survived to adulthood.

22In time, Garfield moved out of education and into law and politics.

23He was an anti-slavery activist who did not think the southern states had a right to withdraw from the Union.

24When the Civil War came, Garfield welcomed it.

25During the war, Garfield served in the military as an officer.

26He won awards for his bravery.

27While still a young man, he was appointed to the position of Major General.

28His image as a war hero was so great that Garfield did not have to campaign for a seat in the U.S.

29House of Representatives.

30He was elected on his name alone.

31Garfield's way of thinking changed while he was in Congress.

32He began as one of the most extreme, radical Republicans.

33He wanted to punish former Confederate officers severely.

34But in time, Garfield softened his positions.

35He learned to compromise with other groups in order to achieve results for his state.

36But he did not always represent the interests of workers or farmers in Ohio.

37Garfield supported business interests that wanted to limit the country's money supply.

38He opposed labor unions and cooperative farm programs, called the Grange.

39Garfield also became linked to a corruption case.

40He accepted stock shares in a company that was building a railroad across the country.

41In exchange, Garfield and other top officials eased government rules so businessmen could earn higher profits for their work.

42Although Garfield's political career sometimes drew criticism, he continued to rise in government.

43Garfield's political career sometimes drew the He did not have what Americans call a mandate, the approval of a large part of the population.

44Instead, he needed to make compromises with lawmakers to help win their support.

45Garfield also clashed with a powerful senator from New York State.

46The senator wanted to continue the tradition of permitting senators to choose who got government jobs in their states.

47But President Garfield wanted to put someone who shared his own beliefs in some of the top positions in New York.

48Finally, the senator resigned in protest.

49But the issue set the tone for Garfield's short time in office.

50Elected officials battled each other for advantages and financial gain.

51Officials in Garfield's party were accused of corruption and wrongdoing.

52And before Garfield could really suggest any ideas for government reform, he was shot by someone seeking a government job in exchange for his political support.

53On July 2nd, 1881, fewer than four months after he took office, Garfield was leaving for a short trip with two of his sons.

54They were going to take a train to Williams, the college Garfield had attended and loved.

55The president was supposed to give a speech there.

56But as he walked through the train station, a man with a gun stepped behind Garfield and shot the president twice.

57One bullet touched Garfield's arm.

58The other went into his lower back.

59Garfield did not die immediately.

60Instead, he was taken back to the White House, where doctors tried to remove the bullet.

61One of the men who tried was Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone.

62Bell tried to find the bullet by using a device like a metal detector that he had invented.

63But the springs on Garfield's bed interfered.

64Neither Bell nor the doctors were able to remove the bullet.

65And, some historians say, their efforts may have made the situation worse.

66Garfield suffered for more than two months.

67At one point, he seemed to be recovering.

68But on September 19th, he finally died.

69He was 49 years old.

70As for the gunman, he was captured shortly after the shooting.

71His name was Charles Guiteau.

72Guiteau was a lawyer with little money, but many mental problems.

73During the election of 1880, he had first supported the candidacy of former President Ulysses S.

74Grant.

75When Garfield won the Republican nomination instead, Guiteau supported him.

76Guiteau did not have an official role in the election campaign, and Garfield did not know him.

77But over time, Guiteau came to believe that he was responsible for Garfield winning the presidency.

78As a result, Guiteau thought Garfield owed him a government job.

79Guiteau wrote the president several letters requesting positions as a diplomat in Europe.

80When Garfield did not write back, Guiteau grew angry.

81He believed Garfield was ruining the Republican Party and destroying the country.

82For weeks, Guiteau followed the president and plotted to kill him.

83When he succeeded in shooting Garfield, Guiteau believed he had performed a great service.

84At his trial, a jury decided that Guiteau was sane.

85In other words, he was not too mentally unbalanced to be responsible for his crime.

86Almost a year after he shot the president, Guiteau himself was hanged.

87Thus, the most dramatic event in James Garfield's presidency came to an end.

88I'm Kelly Jean Kelly.

89I'm Kelly Jean Kelly.

90I'm Kelly Jean Kelly.

91I'm Kelly Jean Kelly.

92I'm Kelly Jean Kelly.

93I'm Kelly Jean Kelly.