I love reading biographies on presidents and historical figures, but unfortunately, this one just turned out to be a little too dense to really keep my interest. It could also be that Garfield just isn't fascinating enough of a president to me for me to enjoy reading an entire biography on him.

This was nothing against the writing in this- this was well-written and seemed to be well-researched. I think anyone who does really enjoy dense biographies and / or Garfield will love this, but this wasn't my favorite biography. Still learned some fun tidbits though!

Review: President Garfield
AUGUST 3, 2023 / RTRUBE54 / EDIT

President Garfield: From Radical to Unifier, C. W. Goodyear. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2023.

Summary: A full-length biography of the twentieth president tracing his evolution from a Radical Republican to one who sought to unify his party and a country still riven by the Civil War.

I think for many of us, even fellow Ohioans, James A. Garfield is simply one of the mediocre presidents from our state. Largely, in Garfield’s case, it was because he was in office only five months, two of them spent slowly and painfully dying from a crazed assassin’s bullet and the unhygienic treatment of his doctors. Sadly, he spent most of his time in office dealing with office-seekers, leading, after his death, to the civil service reform he so ardently had sought. Left undone was so much work in solidifying Black civil rights jeopardized by the failures of Reconstruction, dealing with the rapid industrial expansion of the country and its economic institutions, and of course, leading in the extension of education opportunities.

This biography left me wondering “what if” Garfield had the opportunity to serve two terms. The arc of his life was one that combined capable leadership and the ability to bring people together across political differences. C. W. Goodyear’s account of Garfield’s life also reminded me of what a remarkable story was cut short by an assassin’s bullet. He was the last of our presidents born in a log cabin, in this case a rude one on Ohio’s Western Reserve. Growing up without the father who died in his infancy, he was raised by the strong-willed Eliza, who exerted an influence throughout his life and survived his death. At sixteen he left home to work briefly on the Ohio Canal before illness forced him to return home. His path lay in the direction of education, attending first the Geauga Seminary, and then after taking some teaching jobs, the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute, which later became Hiram College, a Disciples of Christ school, the church body into which he’d been baptized. He met Lucretia Randolph while he was there, teaching her Greek. He then went on to Williams College, gaining the respect of students and faculty as he completed the final two years of his education.

On his return from a prestigious Eastern college in 1856, he was hired as a teacher, and a year later as the president of the Eclectic Institute. He also preached in churches throughout the Western Reserve, gaining the wide respect of local citizens. He married Lucretia in 1858, But even before then he’d married politics, supporting the candidacy of John C. Fremont for president. By 1860, he’d been elected a state legislator, while reading for the law, passing the bar exam in 1861.

The Civil War interrupted his political aspirations. He felt he had to lead by example, raising volunteers from the Western Reserve and his own Institute. As a colonel under Don Carlos Buell, he drove Confederates out of eastern Kentucky through savvy and courageous maneuvering and battlefield courage. He subsequently was appointed a Brigadier General. After service both in Mississippi and Tennessee, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from the Western Reserve, an office he did not seek but accepted, a pattern later to be repeated.

Garfield’s House career occupies the major part of this book. Goodyear traces the career of the emancipationist congressman from the abolitionist Western Reserve, his efforts to support Reconstruction, an increasingly futile fight with the rise of Southern Democrats, but one he never gave up. We see the rising leader, friend to all, even his political opponents, even more important in the Hayes administration, when Republicans were in the minority, and he gave up a Senate bid to serve as minority leader. Garfield even manages during this all to formulate a proof of the Pythagorean theorem, submitting it for publication in The Atlantic Monthly. The major blot on his career was a financial scandal, and Goodyear shows how Garfield, both needy of money for living expenses, and glad for help, got caught up in the Credit Mobilier scandal, for all of $329.

The other blot on Garfield, and a mark of Lucretia’s greatness, was Garfield’s affair with another woman during a time of separation. He confessed, she reconciled, and subsequently, as Garfield pursued legal practice to supplement his income, they moved to Washington during congressional sessions, along with Eliza. Goodyear portrays these two women as mainstays in his life, and Lucretia is described as “unstampedeable.” Garfield eventually realized what he had in her, but for a time, it appears he was trying to live free of her.

The last part of the book has to do with Garfield’s presidential campaign and brief presidency. In 1880, the two major candidates were James Blaine and Ulysses Grant, the latter supported by Boss Conkling of New York, with fellow Ohioan John Sherman an uninspiring third choice, but one Garfield supported. One has the sense in the deadlocked convention that Garfield was the one with presidential mettle, and after a string of ballots, the shift to Garfield, although he never sought the office. After the nomination, the challenge was to unify the party. Blaine was a friend who became his closest confidant and Secretary of State. The challenge was Boss Conkling. And here the question is how far Garfield the reformer would go to win Conkling, the epitome of machine politics in his age. His success brought dismay, but it was Conkling who was dismayed when, as President, Garfield refuses some key appointments, and Conkling overreaches in resigning, only to find the limb sawed out from under him.

Goodyear devotes briefer space to the assassination and death. He doesn’t name the assassin until after the deed, alluding to his delusional job-seeking several times before. He also describes the unhygienic treatment of Garfield’s doctors who probably introduced the infection that killed him. Candace Millard’s Destiny of the Republic (review), tells this part of the story in far more depth. In some ways the death paves the way for reforms enacted by Chester Arthur, that would have been far more difficult for Garfield–a surprise in some ways as Arthur was a product of the Conkling machine.

In the end, impressed as I was with Garfield’s life before he was president, I found myself wondering how much of a reformer Garfield would have been. Garfield’s reformist passions always seem to conflict with his ability to be well-spoken of by all and to avoid making enemies, to unify. He helped negotiate the compromises that won Hayes the presidency and put the nails in the coffin of Reconstruction. Yet he was unyielding to Conkling. He probably would have advanced a vision for education in the country. Working with Blaine, we may have had an enlightened foreign policy. He made several key civil rights appointments and I suspect he would have resisted the worst of Jim Crow. But we shall never know…

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley.

I was 8 years old when I first learned about President Garfield. I was in third grade in a very progressive elementary school in Ohio, in a small town just a half hour or so down the road from President Garfield's home and we both read a biography on the man and went to visit his homestead [I ended up going three times in the next two years] that year, and I was hooked. Both on biographies and on the man himself and all he tried to accomplish in his short time as President. Not until I learned about Lincoln would I be so enamored with a president as I was [and still am] with President Garfield and even though I read the VERY excellent book "Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President" by Candice Millard, when I saw this on NetGalley, I knew I would have to read it as well. And here we are.

A lot of this I knew [from both the early biography {THAT I so wish I remembered the name of}, and the Candice Millard book as well as the visit to the homestead],but much of it was new to me and that was glorious. I love the fact that I am still able to learn things about one of my favorite people. And learn you will as this is pretty much an exhaustive deep dive into the life and death[a death that could have been prevented, but I won't go into that here] of President Garfield. It is a glorious read and a beautiful full tribute to a man who would have changed the course of the WHOLE nation had he lived and the legacy he left. I cannot recommend this book enough - very. well. done.

Thank you to NetGalley, C.W. Goodyear, and Simon & Schuster for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve read Destiny to the Republic by Candace Millard about the assassination and subsequent botching of his care by his lead physician, which led to his death, and I saw the PBS program based upon the book called Murder of a President. So, I knew some of Garfield’s story. This book purports to be the most comprehensive look at James Garfield in decades, and on the whole, I’d have to agree. Clocking in at over 600 pages, this tome covers a lot of the ill-fated President’s life.

If you enjoy Presidential history, you’ll enjoy this book, but I suggest you take your time reading it because there is a lot to absorb. From Garfield’s impoverished childhood to his days in college when he met his reserved love, Lucretia, to his days as a soldier in the Civil War, rising to the rank of General. When asked to serve in the House of Representatives during the war, he thought he’d be better use on the field instead of in the halls of Congress. Abraham Lincoln personally asked him to serve, saying he can get generals anywhere, but he couldn’t get honest, like-minded Republicans in Congress.

Garfield served as a Congressman for 17 years and became a very well-liked man for his fairness and geniality and the ability to bring opposing sides to an agreement on a variety of subjects. He was deeply involved in the great compromise of 1876 when Rutherford B. Hayes was chosen as President, and Republicans remembered that four years later when looking for a candidate. Garfield did not necessarily want the presidency, but after consulting his wife, decided to accept the nomination.

President Garfield was in office for a mere six months when he was shot by a deranged campaigner, and due to the medical practices of the day, mostly likely died due to doctors’ negligence two months later of sepsis. It’s a shame, because Garfield had accomplished quite a few important tasks during his brief tenure. As with anyone whose life is cut short, the what ifs surrounding the assassination are many.

Featured with lots of quotes from letters and testimonials and public record, this tome is a must for any lover of Presidential history.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and Simon Schuster in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

In depth book on the life of President Garfield, who is primarily known as the second President to be assassinated and whose death was extremely painful due to dying from sepsis. The book focuses a great deal into Mr Garfield's time in Congress. I particularly liked learning about how Garfield ended up being the Republican nominee for President. Good book for someone interested in Presidential biographies.

This was the first biography of President James Garfield that I have read and found it to be well written and researched. It is divided into sections of his early life, time in Congress and his two years as President. He is best remembered as the second president to be assassinated, but actually accomplished much prior to being President and also a few things while President. I recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in Presidential biographies.

I received a free Kindle copy of this book courtesy of Net Galley and the publisher with the understanding that I would post a review on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon and my nonfiction book review blog. I also posted it to my Facebook page.

OK, I will be honest here - This is one of those books that you really need.to be committed to. I tried on three separate occasions to give this work a go and, while I made progress each time, I my interest was never fully engaged. As others have attested to, there is a lot of detail in the beginning that slows things down.

If you go into this book looking for a presidential biography, as I was hoping, you may well be disappointed. This is a biography of a mid-19th century military leader and politician who began president and his legacy was cut tragically short. He was only commander in chief for six months, two of which he was incapacitated.

To be clear, the writing is not bad (and it is meticulously researched), it is just that the subject does not hold interest at least for me.

President Garfield: From Radical to Unifier shows that author C.W. Goodyear definitely did their research. It was fascinating to read. Five stars.

I enjoy Presidential biographies, so I was very pleased to receive this advance review copy of President Garfield by CW Goodyear to read. My thanks to the author, the publisher Simon & Schuster, and NetGalley.

James A. Garfield is a President most Americans know little about. My knowledge of Garfield was limited, although I had read Candace Millard's book Destiny of the Republic, and Scott Greenberger's The Unexpected President: The Life and Times of Chester A. Arthur who succeeded Garfield after his assassination. The Millard book was a biography of both Garfield and his assassin; the Greenberger book was focused on Arthur and only briefly touched on Garfield. Ron Chernow's Grant biography also had some discussion of Garfield.

Author CW Goodyear has done a masterful job of telling the life story of James A Garfield, and it is a very good story. Garfield's term as President was only 199 days, the second shortest tenure in American history. But safe to say he was probably one of the most respected and revered men to hold the office due to his long career of service in the House (9 terms).

Goodyear provides a vivid recreation of Garfield's early years and upbringing. His father died when he was very young, and James and his family endured a hard life trying to raise crops in Ohio and maintain a modest family farm. The hard work ethic paid off, and as Garfield ascended in to adulthood he is able to attend college while working as a janitor at Hiram College. Garfield ponders a career in ministry before becoming a professor at Hiram.

We also learn about Garfield's service in the Civil War, which provided a launching point for his election to Congress. In fact, he earned the rank of General in the war and fought in several significant battles, further elevating his credentials.

Garfield's political career is portrayed as one of compromise and civil behavior, unlike what we currently have had for decades in Washington. He was a skillful and smart politician and established a strong reputation with both parties. He was not without "sin" and was involved in at least two controversies detailed by the author.

Garfield was the winner of the election of 1880 but his nomination was the real political story of that year. The Republicans were trying to hold the office held by Rutherford Hayes who promised to only serve one term when elected in 1876. On the Republican side there were two frontrunners for the nomination: James G. Blaine and Roscoe Conkling, two political rivals who both wanted the Presidency. The result was a deadlocked convention, and Garfield became the compromise candidate who finally won the nomination on the 36th ballot. Just as surprising was the choice of Chester Arthur as his running mate, a man who had his own political issues over patronage.

Garfield won the popular vote by a mere 10,000 votes but fared much better sweeping the north and midwestern states in the electoral college to beet Winfred Scott Hancock. Garfield headed to Washington with the goal of improving civil rights for Blacks and political reform of the nation. But all that would be cut violently short when Garfield was shot by a deranged Charles Guiteau.

Regretfully the doctors who treated the President did not yet understand the need for sterilized tools and gloves. His wound was repeatedly probed by fingers and instruments that introduced bacteria to his system. The result was a long and agonizing death that would have been avoided in modern times. Garfield contracted sepsis and over the next few weeks his condition deteriorated.

Garfield is a tragic President, and after reading this biography you can't help but wonder what kind of leader he would have been had he lived. Given his preparation and intelligence and his personality I think Garfield could have been a great President. But he is sadly remembered today as the second President to die by an assassin if he is remembered at all.

This is a good book for lovers of history and Presidents. I highly recommend this book if these topics are of interest to you.

What a wonderful book about President James Garfield! I've read several about him over the past few years but none painted as complete a picture of him as C.W. Goodyear's President Garfield: From Radical to Unifier. I'd read about his good qualities; this book delved into his foibles as well.

I wonder how many other people have risen from being janitor of a college to its president in a few short years. Garfield also had the distinction of being the last president to be born in a log cabin, of having the first inaugural ball to be held under electric lights, and of assembling the first US Department of Education.

James Garfield was also the first presidential candidate to be the victim of an "October surprise." The opposition composed a fake letter from him to a non-existent union boss and made it sound as if Garfield had some controversial views on immigration that would frighten some voters away from him. The culprit was found and punished. The newspapers published the real story.

This is not to say that Garfield didn't have some skeletons in the closet. He had an episode of marital infidelity. He accepted two questionable favors. Garfield also selected the land for his Washington, DC, home at least partially because it was in an unintegrated neighborhood.

Two characteristics of the book especially added to it: one was the quality of the extensive reference list. The other was Goodyear's use of a pertinent Shakespearean quotation from Garfield's diary at the beginning of each chapter. This demonstrated to me how learned a man Garfield was and how important knowledge was to him.

However, this president was more than an academic. He was a doer who accomplished significant things. One of his favorite sayings was, "Things don't turn up in this world unless someone turns them up." I wonder what James Garfield might have accomplished if he hadn't been assassinated in the first year of his term.

I was so pleased to receive an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

You may think you know everything about President Garfield, but I guarantee you will learn something new while reading this book. The author does a fantastic job showing you his personality by describing how he interacted with people and events. I liked the details about his family as I thought it helped you understand why he wanted to serve in the government. I also liked reading about how politics were handled during his time period. I did feel the book was slow at parts and maybe eliminating some of the details would have helped with that. I enjoyed the book and learned a lot of historical information I did not know. If you like history, presidential history or politics, you will enjoy reading this book!