Candice Millard - Destiny of the Republic (2)

Candice Millard – Destiny of the Republic

This is a most enjoyable book, a great example of narrative history by a great story teller.

James Garfield had a rough upbringing on the Ohio frontier. He showed promise from the beginning, rose to Brigadier General in the Civil War, graduated from Williams College, and became a college president at the ripe age of 27. As an Ohio congressman he was the surprise Republican nominee for President in 1880 and was elected. The Republican Party was split between the Stalwarts (reactionaries) and the Half-Breeds (progressives). Garfield was firmly in the progressive camp. He seemingly had great potential as chief executive but was gunned down by a “crazy” man shortly after taking office.

“James A. Garfield sprung from the people,” a reporter marveled. P. 78

For President Garfield the presidency was untenable because he didn’t have time to read and think. P. 88

“When Dr. Johnson defined patriotism as the last refuge of a scoundrel, he was unconscious of the then undeveloped capabilities and uses of the word ‘Reform.’” (Roscoe Conkling) P. 89

Despite the assassination of Lincoln, which was attributed to the exigencies of war, Americans did not take the threat of a President being murdered seriously. P. 90

The barbaric medical procedures used on the wounded President Garfield---this in 1881---before X-rays and MRIs are truly horrifying. Shortly after the shooting, a Dr. Bliss is probing into Garfield’s wound with his fingers and long unsterilized probes that only make the situation worse. P. 142

“It is one of the precious mysteries of sorrow that it finds solace in unselfish thought.” President Garfield P. 143

The President was taken from the train station back to the White House. There were no hospitals in those days. P. 146

In 1881 thousands of homes had telephones, but the phone was not yet part of the everyday life of the nation. P. 150

The city of Washington D.C. was in chaos after the shooting. P. 150-51

Alexander Graham Bell knew it was barbaric to search for the bullet with fingers and probes. Science had to find a better way. P. 151

It is fascinating to read how AGB fits into the story. Bell figured out how to use his telephone invention to determine the location of the bullet in President Garfield’s body via an induction method which I do not understand. P. 162

Garfield lived for weeks after being shot and for a time there was genuine hope that he would recover. P. 192

It is likely that Garfield’s doctors caused his death. The international medical community condemned Dr. Bliss’s methods. Specifically they condemned the repeated, unsterilized probing of the Presidents wounds. The resulting infection is what killed Garfield, who might have lived if the doctors had just left him alone. Dr. Bliss never recovered his reputation. P. 253-54

Shot on July 2, the President died on September 19.

Alexander Graham Bell had an unbelievably productive life. I did not know this before reading this book. His induction balance invention did not help Garfield because he was forced to examine the wrong side of Garfield’s body. Joseph Lister would live to see his discovery of antiseptic surgery widely accepted. It came much too late to help James Garfield. The 20th President’s children were all successful. Civil service reform, called the Pendleton Act, came shortly after Garfield’s death. Chester Arthur shed his association with Roscoe Conklin and became a respected President. The American people were briefly united in mourning the chief executive’s brutal death. His killer was hanged.