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The Assassination of James A. Garfield, Part Five
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Welcome to the final episode in our series on the assassination of James A. Garfield. We talk about Garfield's prolonged death, the trial and execution of Charles J. Guiteau, and the lasting impact of it all.
Check out our YouTube channel, Fixate Today: Grey Matters
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Transcript
Introduction to Hosts and Topic
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to Fixate Today Gone Tomorrow. I am Nikki and I'm here with my Aunt Joy. We are two neurodivergent ladies who obsess about various topics. Joy is autistic and I have ADHD and we are letting our hyperfixations fly.
00:00:14
Speaker
Today we are fixating on the assassination of President James A. Garfield. Music
00:00:31
Speaker
Welcome back, everybody. After our quick detour into the Oneida community, we are going to continue talking about the assassination itself. Going back. That was cool. I really like the – I like you introducing us you to the Oneida community. That was like – and I love this whole story because um just personally, i can watch the evolution of like my hyperfixation.
00:00:57
Speaker
From listening to Assassins the Musical to staying at the Oneida Mansion house.
00:01:04
Speaker
and Well, plus, and then you got, there was ah you had a book, didn't you have a guest speaker at the library that you Yeah. Yeah. And it's just like, there are all of these like steps that you can like, I'm just watching like the road this hyperfixation took me on.
00:01:19
Speaker
And it's cool to like, almost like, I have like a roadmap for how this hyperfixation worked in my brain. It's so cool. Mm-hmm. Well, kind of have that even when i I visited you and I went while I visited did you guys, I went to the Erie Canal Museum.
00:01:37
Speaker
And then from there, I learned ah or they talked about like salt and one of the big industries that grew out of ah but that the Erie Canal was needed for was the was the salt mines that they had.
00:01:52
Speaker
So then I got into like, why is salt iodized? Anyways, then I made a short on it because I totally researched it. Nobody else was interested in it because I'm like, this is fascinating.
00:02:04
Speaker
It's not to
Context and Lead-up to the Assassination
00:02:05
Speaker
everyone. Right? Right. But it is. So we're going to walk through the timeline of the shooting. We're going to about the trial. And we're going to about Garfield's death itself, which is also its own whole thing.
00:02:18
Speaker
so let's get into it. My sources are Susan Wells' book, An Assassin in Utopia, along with the book talk at the library I work at. Assassination Vacation by Sarah Bowell.
00:02:29
Speaker
The New York Times. Whitehouse.gov. The Dollop Podcast. Crimes of the Centuries podcast and Wikipedia. All right. So let's start with the shooting itself. This was the second U.S. presidential assassination.
00:02:44
Speaker
The first, of course, being Lincoln. This wasn't too much. like I don't know my history well. This wasn't too much later, right? What year was? No, it's not too, too much later. um i don't remember the year Lincoln was, but his son was the secretary of war under Garfield.
00:02:59
Speaker
So it's like we're still in the same like generation circle. And obviously, we didn't learn too much in that time frame about presidential security. There still isn't, yeah.
00:03:10
Speaker
No, no, we won't for a while. July 2nd, 1881, Garfield was leaving for a summer vacation with his family, but he was going to make a stop at his alma mater, Williams College, to give a speech. He was traveling by train, and his family wasn't with him.
00:03:29
Speaker
I think he was ah traveling ahead to make the stop to do the speech, and then they were all going to meet up. This is important to know that this was reported on in Washington newspapers.
00:03:40
Speaker
When we talked about Goteau, we talked about how he would track Garfield via news reports. So he was consuming every paper he could to see where Garfield would be or had been.
00:03:51
Speaker
Yeah, because I guess other parts of the country, maybe the president's vacation trips aren't publicized as much, but in Washington. Right, right, exactly. Garfield was accompanied by two of his sons, James and Harry, and Secretary of State James G. Blaine.
00:04:08
Speaker
And Secretary of War Robert Todd Lincoln was at the train station to see Garfield off. However, there was no security or bodyguards. And do you know that that that was just a thing of the day? Or, I mean, I do know that Garfield was kind of like the everyman. Like, he wasn't, he was very humble and unassuming.
00:04:29
Speaker
And I wonder if that had something to do with even less spar bodyguards than normal or if it just, e that at the time, it wasn't seen something necessary. I think it was probably but both. Like, I think he refused security at one point.
00:04:43
Speaker
And I think that Lincoln's assassination was seen as a complete outlier. Like, this is completely something that will never happen again. And I suppose he's traveling for a family vacation outside of DC. So probably, especially at that time, that would, you know, they would not be safe.
00:05:02
Speaker
And there could have even been a sense of of like, I'm going on vacation. Like, I don't want my security to have to work with me. Like, I'm on vacation and people are working around me. i don' i would be like, I'm very uncomfortable that. I don't want my vacation to be work for you.
00:05:17
Speaker
yeah And I want some personnel, personal time with my family. too Oh, yeah. so Yeah. Anyways. Okay.
The Assassination Event
00:05:24
Speaker
So Gato laid in wait at the train station. He was in the ladies waiting room, which I imagine is just a room outside of like the restroom.
00:05:32
Speaker
Okay, but i but I would think he would stand out more in there than what was thinking. Wouldn't you stand out more in the... That's what I thought, too. Maybe nobody else was in there.
00:05:44
Speaker
ah Exactly. Upon Garfield's entrance to the train station, Guiteau shot him at point-blank range. Garfield yelled, quote, my God, what is that?
00:05:56
Speaker
And Guiteau fired a second shot. The first shot grazed Garfield's shoulder and the second hit his back. It missed his spinal cord and landed in his pancreas. Now, I was, when I'm thinking through that, I'm surprised he lived as long as he did, really, with it.
00:06:14
Speaker
piercing and landing in his pancreas. Yeah, I know. i I do think like, and we'll definitely get into it, but I think it ultimately, no matter what, would have been probably a cause of his death, whether it was like when he died or 20 years later. You know what i mean? it would have played a part in how he died. Oh yeah, for sure. I have a little bit more to say and we get a little further on how he died personally, but.
00:06:38
Speaker
Yeah. Gouteau fled toward a cab he had arranged to be his getaway vehicle. I'm sure the cab driver had no idea about what he was asked to do.
00:06:50
Speaker
But he ran, like literally ran into a police officer named Patrick Kearney. Kearney was... so I don't know if excited the right word, but he was so excited and kind of like flabbergasted, he arrested Gouteau but forgot to take away his gun until they got to the police station.
00:07:08
Speaker
my gosh. When Kearney asked Gouteau why he did it, Gouteau responded, quote, I am a stalwart and I want Arthur for president. Arthur was the vice president at the time. So this is interesting because, i mean, yeah, he says that this was his motivation. But we also know from past research that part of his motivation was that he wanted, he he believed he had more to do with Garfield's election and that he wanted the ambassadorship and felt slighted.
00:07:39
Speaker
and Looking for excuses. And I don't know if if he believed that Arthur would but like give him role or something. In his government? I don't know. He also said, quote, I am a stalwart of the stalwarts.
00:07:52
Speaker
I did it and I want to be arrested. Arthur is president now. I don't know. It made me think that some could could this act be akin to a form of suicide?
00:08:04
Speaker
The reason I don't think so is how highly he thinks of himself. he He thinks God ordained him to do this. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Yeah, and I was i was thinking if he took his own life in a traditional way, there would be he wouldn't have the fame and notoriety that actually brought him to Yeah.
00:08:26
Speaker
So let's talk about, we're going to leave Charlie for a little bit. We're going talk about Garfield's hospitalization and
Medical Treatment and Challenges
00:08:32
Speaker
death. So again, another thing that could be, it's ah it's just its own fascinating story in this whole thing. Immediately after the shooting, Garfield was carried upstairs um in the train station. He was alive, but in shock.
00:08:45
Speaker
He had a bullet in his body still, but they couldn't find it. Understandable. Yeah, for sure. It's understandable. They're trying to figure this out in a train station. So he was physically like men carried him from the train station back to the White House.
00:09:01
Speaker
It was not expected he would survive the night, but he did and even woke with good vital signs in the morning. Again, I'm very surprised at that. One thing I did learn, I did look this up, that when you get hit in the pancreas, your body leaks digestive enzymes.
00:09:22
Speaker
And so what it starts doing is like auto-digesting your yourself And I think this leads to peritonitis. So it is not unusual for for injury to pancreas to actually be a drawn out process. And then it usually leads to sepsis and necrosis.
00:09:45
Speaker
Also, just you know I do know that um at least with pancreatic cancer, it is an extremely painful way to to go. So I do you want to keep that in mind, the level of pain he must have been um suffering.
00:10:02
Speaker
Oh, yeah. So throughout the summer, the different doctors who were working on Garfield started issuing bulletins to the public to keep them – you know up to date on the state of the president. I love this. i think this is so cool.
00:10:15
Speaker
Navy engineers set up an old-timey air conditioner for Garfield because it was so hot. It's summer. And basically, it was fans blowing over blocks of ice in the room he was in, and it lowered the temperature 20 degrees.
00:10:30
Speaker
Glad they were thinking of his comfort, though, at that time. It was probably like, everything is terrible. Can we cool him down at least? yeah Give him some relief. Yeah. But I was shot like 20 degrees at work, like lowered the room. That's yeah wild. That's amazing.
00:10:45
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. So at the time, a gentleman named Dr. Lister, who was the creator of Listerine Mouthwash, was a vocal proponent of the need for medical professionals to utilize sterilization. he He was getting very, very, this was like the thing he was known for, was like encouraging sterilization in the practice of medicine. Unfortunately, Garfield's doctor, Dr. Willard Bliss, vehemently disagreed with Dr. Lister in terms of sterilization.
00:11:17
Speaker
the Doctors decided to save Garfield's life they needed to find and removed remove the bullet. They used unsterilized, obviously, because it's Dr. Bliss, they used unsterilized instruments and even their own fingers, ungloved, unwashed fingers in Garfield's body to try to find the bullet.
00:11:35
Speaker
So this is where, I mean, I do think this is a good story and narrative for how, you know, the unsterilized instruments of the day, you know, was obviously a problem and caused infection.
00:11:50
Speaker
In this case, i don't think it was the sole reason or maybe even didn't even contribute all that much to that. I mean, I think it was a good teaching point, but I think, I think he would have definitely died regardless.
00:12:06
Speaker
um But yeah, just wanted Throw that out there. Yeah. And we'll keep talking about it. But my thought is like it certainly accelerated. it didn't help.
00:12:17
Speaker
Yeah. When he died. Right. So Alexander Graham Bell actually created a metal detector type of device to try to find the bullet in his body.
00:12:29
Speaker
The device failed due to he was laying on a metal bed frame. Yeah. But also, Dr. Bliss was insistent that the bullet was on the right side of Garfield's body.
00:12:42
Speaker
And it's speculated that the device may have worked if Bell had been allowed to check Garfield's left side. First of all, I think it's so cool when somebody is such a genius that they...
00:12:56
Speaker
are able to invent ah multiple ah multiple amazing advance. Second of all, if he's like inventing this thing and like hat it takes the time to go there and he's working on you'd think just while he was at it, he would just, you know,
00:13:12
Speaker
ju I think so. i I am not a fan of Dr. Bliss because I think he was like, well, I'm right. Like, there's no chance I'm not right type of guy. Yeah. And was like, yeah, I i could.
00:13:26
Speaker
My understanding is like he wouldn't allow Alexander Graham Bell to do anything more than he approved. But I'm like, maybe when he like goes out to use the bathroom, I'll just check his left side real quick.
00:13:40
Speaker
Yeah. somebody tell him he has a phone call get him out of the room had del uh uh invented the phone yet right that's funny it didn't even occur to me i brought this other invention go tell bliss to try it out wait a minute wait a minute let me hook this up ah On July 29th, Garfield actually called a meeting with his cabinet.
00:14:09
Speaker
It was the only one during the time of his illness. i almost said recovery. It wasn't a recovery. But he did manage to call a cabinet meeting. So he was still active president.
00:14:20
Speaker
I wonder if that meeting was um with a thought that he may not make it through this and with a tri you know the ah his explaining the need for the transition if he did not make it.
00:14:32
Speaker
Yeah.
Garfield's Decline and Death
00:14:33
Speaker
Garfield's heart ah began to weaken due to infection. He was feverish, um in extreme pain, unable to eat, and he lost 80 pounds.
00:14:44
Speaker
He was given a nutrient enema, which was a a mixture of animal blood and liquefied food. Are we thinking this worked? I guess so.
00:14:57
Speaker
ah No, I don't think it worked. Sepsis ultimately set in and Garfield started hallucinating. He had pus-filled abscesses all over his body and it was reported that his body just was oozing pus.
00:15:15
Speaker
He suffered so almost much in this time frame. Yep. September 6th, Garfield was taken by train to Elberon, New Jersey, basically the Jersey Shore, due to the heat of Washington, D.C., with the hope that the fresh air and quiet would help him recover. Yeah, I didn't know that part about the story. that i That's interesting. And I mean, I'm glad they did if he was transportable. Yeah.
00:15:43
Speaker
Yeah. September 19th, with new infections and bouts of angina, Garfield died. It was two months before his 50th birthday.
00:15:54
Speaker
he had a bunch of stuff going on, but there's combination of a rupture of the splenic artery. he had an aneurysm. sepsis, and bronchial pneumonia.
00:16:07
Speaker
His only presidential act during this time between when he was shot and he died was to sign a request for extradition of a forger who fled to Canada. This has nothing to do with his actual case, though, right?
00:16:20
Speaker
No. No, I just thought it was interesting. Interesting and seemingly kind of minor? Yeah. He called a cabinet meeting and then signed an extradition. Yeah.
00:16:32
Speaker
So there is a lot of speculation that he could have survived at least longer if his doctors were a bit more capable and I'd argue you less stubborn. Cleanliness standards were low, but this was, again, like kind of universal everywhere that cleanliness standards were low at this point, especially to today. Oh, yeah. Of course. Of course. Yeah. I just think he would have died. And I mean, oh, yeah. There was a lot of bacteria that was introduced to his body.
00:16:59
Speaker
Beyond this, of course. Yeah. Well, one of the doctors, while trying to find the bullet, actually punctured Garfield's liver with his unwashed, ungloved finger.
00:17:10
Speaker
Well, and ah honestly, even the puncturing of the liver sounds pretty bad. Regardless. Yeah, I know. But what happened was that the puncture became an infected pocket.
00:17:24
Speaker
So that didn't help things. Because everybody's digging around in him. Maybe even more gentle. Yeah, and everybody's digging around in him. So the wound, like, or the bullet wound, went from 3.5 inches to 20 inches.
00:17:37
Speaker
Oof. Oof. oh Yeah. the Some believe that if the bullet had been left alone, Garfield would have survived at least longer and unless... Yeah, i was wondering that.
00:17:51
Speaker
yeah i was wondering if that's the thought. of Yeah. it that they It could have perhaps Just kind of, en case ultimately the bullet would have been encased in like scar tissue.
00:18:02
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. ah Kind of preventing it from kind of the quick death related to the pancreas. Depending on, yeah, I mean, yeah. ah Again, I still think it probably, he probably wouldn't have survived. Yeah. but But yeah, depending on, I guess, where it lodged. and It certainly didn't help for people's hands to be digging around
00:18:24
Speaker
But this did bolster Dr. Lister's theories and led to people at least starting to become more educated about sterilization, which I feel like is not a bad thing.
00:18:36
Speaker
so yeah No. Some other doctors speculate that his gallbladder ruptured. In the process of everything else happening, which created yet another abscess. Like the bottom line is like he suffered terribly from the minute he got shot to the minute he died.
00:18:53
Speaker
And everybody had good intentions. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And it's sort of sad. It took so long. I know, i know. And yeah, it's just like horrific.
00:19:06
Speaker
And it was drawn out, you know, the public was very interesting and and interested and you know, it was drawn out. And, you know, I, there was probably ah at a lot of points where they thought they were positive and thought that he may actually survive.
00:19:22
Speaker
Because he had made it that long. but And he had to have, like anybody, good days and bad days. And so the public's going to celebrate the good days. and oh So the next day, September 20th, Vice President Arthur is inaugurated.
00:19:36
Speaker
As soon as he's inaugurated, however, he left to travel to New Jersey to be with Garfield's widow, Lucretia. Yeah, that's good for him. Good for him. Remind me, is President Arthur a good known as being a good guy? i don't know much more about him.
00:19:52
Speaker
um I know he didn't run for re-election, so I don't think he ever really wanted to be president. He was probably pretty content being vice president. i don't think you um But I don't overall know much about about him. yeah and Garfield's body was brought to D.C. to lay in state in the Capitol Rotunda and the House of Representatives chamber.
00:20:15
Speaker
And September 26th, his body was taken to Cleveland for final funeral and burial. All right.
Guiteau's Trial and Conviction
00:20:24
Speaker
Let's talk about Guiteau's trial.
00:20:27
Speaker
The showman's coming back. So back in the day, in old timey times, boy, did arrests and trials and executions go real fast. And I think his trial didn't start sooner because they were waiting for Garfield to die.
00:20:42
Speaker
They were waiting to see if he was going to die. I think it would have been faster. Guiteau's trial started that November. So Garfield passed away ah mid-September.
00:20:54
Speaker
And two months later, his trial's underway. Guiteau was represented by his brother-in-law, George go george Scoville, who was his sister Francis's husband, the sister that he attacked with an axe.
00:21:08
Speaker
and yeah I wrote the same thing. I'm like, whoa. Right. I was going to say the same thing. Exactly. But also we have to remember the sister who kind of raised him. Right. And OK. And yeah, at one point in his life when he was without a home or place to be, he went um and they they welcomed him.
00:21:30
Speaker
um Yeah. Her and her husband. I don't know how long he was there for. um Yeah. then Then after that, then we had the axe. They tried to do right by him. It sure seems like it.
00:21:40
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. They seem like good people. So if you could believe it, Gouteau was a difficult client to represent. I do. He insulted his defense team.
00:21:51
Speaker
He berated his own attorneys. Amazing. I love this. He contradicted witnesses who were on his side. he He gave testimony in epic poem form.
00:22:05
Speaker
This guy. Which I believe he wrote while in prison, right? Or even was it even like, it was like that morning or something. yeah he would ah He would pass notes to random spectators looking for legal advice from them.
00:22:21
Speaker
He sang the song John Brown's Body to the court. Decided to sing to everybody.
00:22:30
Speaker
Is this a song of the time, a popular song? Right, probably. um And he dictated an autobiography to a reporter from the New York Herald, which must have been torture for the reporter.
00:22:44
Speaker
Yeah, but and also it may have that may have helped in um leaving a history behind that. Who knows how how accurate it was, but it's historical recording something.
00:22:56
Speaker
But this autobiography ended with a personal ad looking for a Christian woman under 30. Of course it did. oh Gouteau had no understanding of Americans' hatred for him. He saw himself as a savior, right?
00:23:13
Speaker
yeah yep absolutely. that There was a couple routes the defense took. This is considered one of the first cases in U.S. history where the insanity defense was considered.
00:23:25
Speaker
Guiteau rejected the defense, insisting on his sanity. Nevertheless, the defense tried to go forward with it, but he went against his team and was like, I'm sane.
00:23:37
Speaker
And to the jury, Guiteau thought this was like a noble thing, where he was like, I'm of sound mind. But the jury was like, he just doesn't want to take accountability. like Say you're insane. admit Like, by saying you're insane, it's basically saying, yeah yeah, I did it. Give me the consequence for it.
00:23:52
Speaker
But by insisting on going forward with a trial is being like, you just, like, are avoiding what's going to happen inevitably. Yeah. Or is, like, does he he does he view insanity as, ah like, worse than being a murderer?
00:24:08
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, yeah. I think that absolutely is true. Yeah. So when that defense kicked the bucket, the defense argued that Garfield was killed by his doctors. Now, I actually think this is like kind of an okay defense theory.
00:24:21
Speaker
Like it could be probable cause or probable cause. It could be some doubt, lead to some doubt in the juries. I do agree with that. But I also think...
00:24:33
Speaker
How did they even come to that understanding, right? Because at the time, it was still kind of theoretical about the sterilization and the that creating the infection.
00:24:46
Speaker
i Go ahead. I don't think it was the sterilization as much. I don't think it was the knowledge of the sterilization. I think it was the length of time it took for him to die.
00:24:58
Speaker
and you know, like somehow in their brains. Okay. Yeah. I see what you're saying. Like, if he – if it would have been quick if it was the gunshots. Yeah. Yeah. And, like, as time went on, the culpability went more from Gouteau to the doctors who couldn't save him type of thing. That's my understanding.
00:25:17
Speaker
Oh, good point. Good point. So, Gouteau said, quote, I deny the killing, if your honor, please. We admit the shooting. i mean – Catchy line. Gouteau loved the attention he got during the trial.
00:25:31
Speaker
So much, and he thought so much he would be released, that he planned a lecture tour and a presidential campaign for 1884. He truly believed he shouldn't be held accountable because he was acting on God's wishes.
00:25:46
Speaker
He was found guilty of murder January 25, 1882, sentenced to death. And he was held at St. Elizabeth's Hospital until his execution.
00:25:59
Speaker
are we so assuming that was a mental hospital? Yeah. Okay. Which is still like he denied the insanity defense and then was like, we can't keep you in prison. You have to go somewhere else for care. Yeah.
00:26:11
Speaker
Yeah. He, of course, appealed, which was like immediately rejected. And June 30th, so again, so fast, six months later, it was like less than a year from the shooting or just over year. I can't remember.
00:26:27
Speaker
Gouteau was executed by hanging. Now, if you think he wasn't theatrical about it, you'd be wrong. He danced up the gallows. He waved to the audience and shook the executioner's hand.
00:26:39
Speaker
And this isn't a spectacle in its day. There's a lot of people there witnessing this event. Yes. And instead of ah him understanding that they're like, yeah, we want to see the person who murdered the president die. He's like, they're here to watch a show.
00:26:56
Speaker
yes Yeah. He recited a poem called i Am Going to the Lordy, which is coincidentally the song in the musical Assassins. Maybe that was what he wrote that right before. Maybe I was wrong about.
00:27:11
Speaker
That was, I think, I don't, it was right, it was pretty soon before. It might have been that morning. I don't remember. Yeah. He had requested a full orchestra, but was denied. just going to play this up for as much as he could get out of it.
00:27:26
Speaker
Yep. And he signaled that he was ready for his death by dropping the paper he read and then was executed. Okay. Is that a thing where you get to signal?
00:27:36
Speaker
I have no idea. When you're ready? And how do you get ready? Maybe they were just like, finally, he dropped the paper. i don't know. i just was like, wow, I didn't know you got the chance to.
00:27:49
Speaker
I know. i'm I'm sure they if he continued going on, he wouldn't have had the opportunity to signal he was ready. Yeah, probably not. So that is basically the story. I want to talk a bit about the lasting impact.
00:28:03
Speaker
there what One more thing I did read somewhere was that They did like that public thing.
Aftermath and Impacts on Society
00:28:10
Speaker
Like they sold pieces of the rope ah as like souvenirs of this event.
00:28:16
Speaker
So it's kind of a little. Yeah. And that's it's gross, but not uncommon at the time to like. Yeah. And they did dig his body back up. Good to Like he was buried and then they. Yeah. yeah Exhumed him. Yes.
00:28:31
Speaker
Yes. So today, part of Guiteau's brain is on display at the Mutter Museum at the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. A different part of his brain and some of his bones are kept at the National Museum of Health and Medicine. Is it because is this because they wanted to study?
00:28:49
Speaker
Yeah. Study it? Okay. Yeah. So the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act passed on January 16th, 1883.
00:29:01
Speaker
If you'll remember way back in episode one, we talked about Garfield had run on a platform of civil service reform. The act called that federal government positions appointed were based on merit and not political patronage any longer. And it was passed as a memorial to Garfield.
00:29:18
Speaker
That's pretty advanced thinking of the day. yeah And something that's had, ah like you said, a major lasting impact on our system. Although I'm not quite sure it doesn't happen from time to time. Listen, said in the year of 2025, things are real weird.
00:29:34
Speaker
President Arthur's health began to decline by 1884 and he did not seek re-election. James G. Blaine ran and lost to Democrat Grover Cleveland, who we know was ultimately president.
00:29:48
Speaker
Was Arthur the Secretary of State? or Arthur was the Vice President. Oh, no, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I misspoke. Blaine was Secretary of State under... Yes.
00:30:01
Speaker
yeah yeah this station that the assassination took place in the baltimore and potomac railroad station was demolished it was rebuilt and is now the west building of the national gallery of art in twenty eighteen the national park service placed a marker at the location of the assassination And the James A. Garfield monument is just a few blocks away from the Capitol.
00:30:25
Speaker
So let's talk about what the U.S. Constitution says about like switching presidential powers, because that's a big deal, too. They didn't really know what to do. It just hadn't been addressed at all at this point, correct?
00:30:37
Speaker
Yeah. yeah there Yeah. Even after Lincoln? Yeah. Yeah. I think it was like more of a thing after Lincoln, of course, but then it still wasn't like kind of hammered out what the process is. Yeah. And I suppose it is a little different because Lincoln died quickly.
00:30:54
Speaker
Right. the assassination whereas right yeah garfield it was more prolonged he was yeah he was incapacitated but was still his president ah still live yeah so the u s constitution says that the presidential office is discharged to the vice president upon the president's inability to, quote, charge the powers and duties of said office.
00:31:16
Speaker
However, no information was given on how to determine that the president was unable to do the powers and duties of the office. On top of this, for Garfield's time, the 79 days of Garfield's convalescence and ultimate relapse to death occurred in the summer when the federal government was shut down. know I find that so interesting that, like, in the summer, it just gets...
00:31:40
Speaker
Or it just did get like flat out shut down. Yeah. but if if you've ever gone to DC in like August, even today, i guess Congress is on recess, but the city seems completely deserted. So it's a.
00:31:55
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I know. It's so interesting. At the time, Blaine suggested that the cabinet declare Arthur president, but everybody else rejected this, including Arthur.
00:32:07
Speaker
i think probably hoping, at the very least hoping, maybe even believing that Garfield would recover and they didn't want to take that any of those powers away from him and like have to go through hoops to give him back the control, if that makes sense.
00:32:22
Speaker
That's my guess. Yeah, and especially when there was nope there was no precedence. Right. It's pretty big call. So even after Garfield's death, the issue wasn't addressed until 1919 when Woodrow Wilson had a stroke while in office.
00:32:37
Speaker
He ultimately was in a coma and left partially paralyzed and with blindness in one eye. Basically, Wilson's wife, Edith Wilson, and his doctor, controlled Woodrow Wilson.
00:32:48
Speaker
Some historians go so far as to say Edith Wilson can be considered the first female president because she just took over. the coma happened to fall at a time that no significant decisions needed to be made.
00:33:03
Speaker
um So who knows what that would have looked like if something major had happened. But yeah, Edith just kind of stepped in and was like, okay, I make decisions. In 1967, the 25th Amendment was ratified, which lays out an official procedure to deeming a president incapacitated.
00:33:22
Speaker
And these days, but it's it's used fairly often, I think, even when um like presidents have to go in for like colonoscopies and such where they are under anesthesia. Yeah.
00:33:38
Speaker
So um during Biden's presidency, ah Vice President Harris was president for like three hours because he had – I think it was a colonoscopy that he had to be put under anesthesia. And yeah she assumed the duties for – For that time.
00:33:52
Speaker
And lastly, i want to talk about Secret Service. So even still, the Secret Service was not implemented until about 20 years after Garfield's assassination, after another assassination of a president, William McKinley.
00:34:09
Speaker
So after three, we realized we've got to do something different. and Yeah. It's not an anomaly. It's a real ah risk of being the president is that people are going to want you dead.
00:34:21
Speaker
And I think that was kind of like mind blowing. Yeah. Like, oh, we're not united and and the way we thought, I guess. I don't know. Obviously didn't have all the death threats like flying around on the Internet. Right. It took a while to get them published in the newspapers.
00:34:36
Speaker
Yeah. All right. Well, that is the story of the assassination of James Garfield. That was great. That was great. This was your this was your obsession, and i I have to say I i got really into it. Yeah. so This was one of like the first times I realized hyperfixations had a word, had something. i was like, oh, that's what this is.
00:34:57
Speaker
Yeah. And I will say she like texted me, and i'm like, oh, gosh. Can we find more interesting topics? But now it did end up being very interesting topics.
00:35:08
Speaker
And educational. And we hope you liked it. Yes, absolutely. I did have fun doing ah kind of a more historical one. So I'm going to start mixing in some of those two and maybe even some shorter ones. Like I have one written up but that's probably only going to be one episode.
00:35:20
Speaker
Well, this is the true crime of its day, right? Yeah. Yeah, you're right. right. Well, thank you, everybody. I hope you guys like this historical fixation. We'll be starting. and a new series this means.
00:35:32
Speaker
So well we'll see what we decide.
00:35:37
Speaker
Who knows? I always make declarations then it doesn't happen. So just need to stop doing that. Yeah. We'll get to something. We'll get you something. Thank you for listening and hope you all have a good week. And we'll see you soon.
00:35:48
Speaker
Bye. Bye.