Chester A. Arthur: Surprisingly Good

01VOA Learning English presents America's Presidents.

02Today we are talking about Chester A.

03Arthur.

04The letter A is for Alan, his middle name.

05Arthur took office because of an unexpected event.

06He was sworn in as Vice President in March 1881 under James Garfield.

07But only 100 days into Garfield's term, the President was shot.

08He suffered for months.

09Arthur was not close to Garfield.

10The two men belonged to the same party, but they had different ideas on the issues of the day.

11They publicly disagreed on a number of subjects.

12If Garfield lived, Arthur would probably not have much power in his administration.

13But Garfield eventually died.

14By this time, it was well established that if the President of the United States dies in office, the Vice President becomes the President.

15So, in September 1881, Arthur became the country's chief executive.

16He served the remaining three and a half years of Garfield's term.

17Historians say that, for the most part, Arthur performed ably and well.

18Chester Arthur was raised in the northeastern states of Vermont and New York.

19He was one of eight children in his family.

20Their father was a religious leader and anti-slavery activist.

21Arthur attended college in New York, then taught school and studied law.

22But he never wanted to stay in a small town and live modestly.

23He wanted to live in New York City, work as a lawyer and public official, become wealthy, and enjoy the lifestyle of a gentleman.

24And that is what he did.

25Arthur advanced from an entry-level job in a law office to a leadership position in the military during the Civil War.

26After the fighting stopped, he worked in a good-paying job as a lawyer, and then accepted a top position in the government.

27For seven years, Arthur served as the collector of the Port of New York.

28His job involved supervising 1,300 people.

29They collected large amounts of money that came from taxes on imported goods.

30The job had a political element, too.

31It was under the control of a U.S.

32senator from New York, Roscoe Conkling.

33Conkling was known as a Republican Party chief who traded political support for financial and other benefits.

34Arthur was never found guilty of accepting money or gifts in exchange for the help of his office.

35But he was closely linked to Conkling's political machine.

36Arthur's position as the collector of the Port of New York was one of the issues in the election of 1880.

37President Hayes had suspended Arthur from the job.

38To get it back, Arthur and Conkling supported an effort to re-elect former president Ulysses S.

39Grant.

40But another candidate won the Republican Party's presidential nomination, James Garfield.

41Garfield and Arthur were not natural allies.

42Although they were both Republicans, they represented different points of view.

43Political leaders hoped to unite the party.

44So, when Garfield was chosen as the presidential candidate, they added Arthur as the vice presidential nominee.

45The effort to unite the party worked well enough to win the election.

46But relations between the two men were uneasy.

47One of Garfield's first acts was to appoint someone for Arthur's old job in New York.

48The new president wanted someone who was not loyal to Conkling.

49So, he gave the position to one of his supporters instead.

50In protest, Conkling resigned from the Senate.

51But then events took an unexpected turn.

52Garfield was shot by a mentally unbalanced man who believed the president owed him a government job.

53And Chester A.

54Arthur became president.

55The New York Times When Arthur took office, he had the public image of being an experienced political operator.

56Most people believed he cared only about supporting the aims of a small part of the Republican Party.

57Instead, President Arthur took an independent position on several issues.

58In opposition to most of his party, Arthur supported legislation to reform the country's civil service.

59It aimed to clean up corruption in government and took away some of the ability of politicians to give government jobs to their supporters.

60To be fair, in the short term, the act helped Arthur's party.

61Arthur also broke with the Republican Party leadership to support a reduction in tariffs.

62And he strongly argued to limit spending federal money on projects that helped only a few areas or businesses.

63Instead, he wanted to cut taxes so more people would profit from the government's surplus.

64Finally, Arthur vetoed an anti-immigration act from Congress.

65The measure proposed banning Chinese immigrants for 20 years.

66Arthur argued that the Chinese had improved the American economy by helping build a railroad across the country.

67He also did not want to hurt potential trade with China.

68However, when Congress offered to ban Chinese immigrants for only 10 years, Arthur agreed.

69In addition, his administration banned immigrants who were considered poor, criminal, or mentally insane.

70Perhaps Arthur's most memorable act as president, however, was to redecorate the White House.

71He did not like its appearance inside.

72So he asked one of New York's top designers, Louis Tiffany, to make the home brighter and more stylish.

73In the newly remodeled rooms, Arthur held parties with fine food and drink for elite guests.

74He was known as the Gentleman Boss.

75Observers then and now say that Arthur served well as president.

76He was a solid leader after the difficult years of the Civil War and Reconstruction.

77But Arthur did not live much beyond his presidency.

78Shortly into his term, he learned he had a serious kidney disease that would likely kill him.

79As a result, he did not try hard to get re-elected.

80Instead, after finishing his term, he returned to his home in New York.

81Arthur tried to work as a lawyer, but he soon became too sick.

82His wife had died of malaria before he became president, and he liked to spend his free time fishing or with friends instead of with his children.

83But in his last months, he could not enjoy those activities either.

84He died at home at the age of 57.

85I'm Kelli Jean Kelley.

86I'm Kelli Jean Kelley.

87I'm Kelli Jean Kelley.

88I'm Kelli Jean Kelley.

89I'm Kelli Jean Kelley.

90I'm Kelli Jean Kelley.

91I'm Kelli Jean Kelley.

92I'm Kelli Jean Kelley.