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Over many years, the descendants of James Garfield spoke proudly about his impressive career but seldom discussed his untimely death. We understood what had happened, that he was gunned down in a train station,” notes one of his modern descendants. “We learned about the story in publications but, for various reasons, we just skimmed through it.”

Fresh Curiosity in a Forgotten President

This transformed in 2011 with the publication of Destiny of the Republic, which generated attention in Garfield's truncated career. The publication has now inspired a streaming series titled Death by Lightning, featuring a talented performer as the president and Matthew Macfadyen as the wanderer who gunned him down.

The series promises to highlight Garfield, who emerged from difficult circumstances to the highest office during the Gilded Age only to become a casualty to its bitter partisan conflicts. His presidency was truncated after only half a year not only by the gunman's shot but by medical malpractice – an event now frequently ignored while the deaths of Abraham Lincoln and President Kennedy continue to fascinate the public.

“It's impossible not to respect what he did. He was incredibly versatile: he was a attorney, he was a religious leader, he was a agriculturalist. He was multiple professions which also formed his character and his behavior and everything that we know about him the relatives maintain with us.”

Rising from Poverty to the Highest Office

Garfield was the last president born in a log cabin in the Midwest in 1831. His father died when he was 18 months old, leaving his mom, Eliza, to support a large family in difficult circumstances. An voracious learner, Garfield labored on waterways to earn money for an schooling.

He learned legal principles, was became a preacher, became president of Hiram College in Ohio and was a political representative. In 1858 he wed a previous schoolmate, Lucretia Rudolph, with whom he would have a large family. An ardent Unionist, Garfield viewed the civil war as a holy crusade against human bondage and rose to the rank of major general.

“During my investigation, I found it incredible. He was absolutely brilliant. He was incredibly brave. He was very progressive for the period. He was compassionate. He was a good person and would have been an outstanding leader had he survived.”

Government Service and Unexpected Nomination

Garfield was encouraged by the wartime leader to resign his military commission when he was selected to the legislative branch, where he would function as a political representative for nearly two decades. He was ardent advocate of African American voting rights, viewing it as a question of fairness and the fulfillment of a wartime covenant.

“The address he delivered on the floor of Congress will affect you emotionally. He was an incredibly powerful orator and this matter was very important to him.”

At the party gathering in Chicago the political organization was deeply divided between the “faction members”, led by an influential figure, who supported a continued leadership for former president, and the “Half-Breeds”, who supported political contender. Garfield attended as a backer of his friend and fellow Ohioan John Sherman.

When the 15,000-person convention was gridlocked between Grant and Blaine, delegates began searching for a middle ground. Garfield's emotional address supporting Sherman won them over. During the speech, he reportedly shouted, “And now, delegates, what do we want?” to which a audience member unexpectedly replied, “We want Garfield!”

On the multiple voting round, a rush of supporters made Garfield the shocking choice. To placate the Stalwart faction, another politician, a Conkling loyalist from New York, was chosen as his running mate. In the national vote Garfield defeated the opposing candidate to become the only sitting member of the House ever to be elected president.

Truncated Term and Political Battles

“Garfield's potential greatness and what is remarkably uncommon and maybe unique to the American presidency is he hadn't campaigned aggressively. It's not that he had never thought about it but he was thrust into it.”

The defining conflict of Garfield's brief term was his confrontation with Conkling over the “patronage network”. Conkling required power over government appointments in New York, particularly the influential position of customs official. Garfield refused, stating the issue was “if the commander-in-chief should be registering clerk of the senate or the nation's leader”. He proposed a opponent of Conkling to the post.

The confrontation turned into a open fight but Garfield outsmarted Conkling in the Senate. Confronting a public failure, Conkling and his associate quit Congress in protest. The next day, Garfield's selection was ratified. It was a landmark victory for the presidential control over the political organization and for the cause of reform over “boss rule”.

The Killer and His Mental Illness

But even as Garfield battled the titans of his party, he was being stalked by a mentally unstable individual who embodied the problematic element of the political appointment process. Charles Guiteau was a wanderer with a background of professional failures, psychological problems and early life difficulties. He had not succeeded as a attorney, bill collector, religious figure and member of a alternative community.

“He was mentally ill and his specific type of insanity was fantasy. He always believed that God had chosen him for importance. He actually had financially a better start than Garfield but where Garfield succeeded and advanced, Guiteau was unsuccessful in all endeavors.”

But Guiteau believed he had at last discovered a route to achievement: politics. Swept up in the drama of the 1880 election, he created and presented an insignificant speech, and became persuaded internally that he was personally instrumental for Garfield's victory.

Under this logic, Guiteau reckoned he had deserved a important role. He journeyed to DC and continuously bothered Garfield, Blaine and other authorities, requiring to be made the US consul in Paris — a role for which he had inadequate skills. He became such a nuisance that he was eventually excluded from the White House.

The Assassination and Doctor Errors

On that fateful day, just several weeks into his presidency, Garfield was traveling from DC for his alumni event. As he moved through the train depot, Guiteau stepped from the shadows, pulled an weapon from his jacket and assassinated the leader in the back.

Garfield cried out: “Why is this occurring?” and collapsed on the station floor. When a {police officer|law