One that i find the most absolutely fascinating and interesting is the one were going to discuss tonight. James garfield. For quite a number of reasons. First of all, garfield is one of the most intelligent president s we have ever had. I mean he is up there in the top half dozen, and when we go through his life by the end of it or the middle of it, youre going to start laughing because youre just going to say no, that cant be. He cant be that good in that field. Its just not possible. And then well find something else, and youre going to say no. He is just incredibly bright, and the hope for his presidency was enormous. And so were going to discuss an absolutely brilliant human being. I was chatting with a friend before, and he asked me if i thought garfield was the most intelligent. I dont know how you test Something Like that. I mean, its not as if you give president s iq tests. Its a lot easier with things that are easy to measure. Tall and short i mean, we all know that madison was the shortest and lincoln was the tallest. Thats easy. I dont know how you know the most intelligent. Certainly adams, and Lincoln Garfield is right up there. So one of the reasons its so exciting is because of who he was, and how he could have changed america. Last week when we discussed lincoln, we were discussing had lincoln not been shot how america would have been different. Would the south be so far behind the rest of the country even today in education and health care and so many other areas. Would African Americans have suffered for over 100 years the way they did had lincoln been in charge of reconstruction instead of Andrew Johnson and a congress that wanted to take revenge on the south and didnt really care about the African Americans. So one of the reasons today is so interesting is the brilliance of garfield. And the second is the other main character in our story, charles getoe, and it shows the failure of the Mental Health treatment in our country today and then. Theres no doubt in my mind that he was mentally ill, and it was not treated properly then, even though they know as well discuss, for example they told his father he needs to be institutionized. Hes nuts. And the father agreed. And then they said but you know that putting people in sanitariums you have to pay. The father said i cant afford it so they didnt institutionalize him. The contrast between garfield and his assassin is so astounding. Last week when we were discussing lincoln, after the talk, a gentleman came up to me and asked me to recommend a book at each of the subsequent talks. I didnt do that last week. My failure, and so i was asked, i thought that was a good idea. And obviously when you prepare talks like this, i use lots and lots and lots of sources. Secondary sources books, and primary sources, a lot of the primary sources are now available on the internet so you can read the letters of garfield and the diaries and so forth. Its quite ease storyy to get primary sources now. I use a lot but if i have to recommend one book, i will do that for garfield mckenley and kely. In the case of garfield, a book called destiny of republic. Its absolutely its a perfect read. Youve got good. She is an excellent writer. If i were to read just one book on this topic, it would be this. Obviously i used it but i used a lot of other its as well. But that would be the one book, again, theres no exam after this. Theres no assignment and a couple members of my book club are here today. Were not going to discuss it but it would be the one book to take a look at. You dont often talk about garfield or people dont. And i remember a conversation that i had in 1988. I know exactly the year. With then congressman dick epphart who was running for president. I knew him quite well. I was chatting with him and i asked him, do you know the last member of the house who was elected from the house to become president , and he said no. I said well, let me give you a hint. Do you know who the only member of the house who was elected straight from the house to be president . And he still said no and i said garfield. And he said they shot him. I said well, youre running for the job. Im not. But garfield, as well see, in a brief period, was president elect, senator elect from ohio, and sitting congressman all at the same time. Fascinating, fascinating guy. At the time he was elected president , he was by the far the youngest president wed had in American History to that date. Only two american president s in our history died before reaching the age of 50. Kennedy and garfield. Obviously both for sad reasons. But hes the only house member, and im trying to think quickly. Obviously on the democratic side, this time no one from the house is running. And on the republican side, no one either that im aware of. Its not a jumping stone or steppingstone usually for the presidency. It occasionally happens, that a house member tries to run for president but not that often. Even senators in the twentieth century, only two senators went straight in the senate to the white house. Harding and kennedy. Obviously obama did and this time kroourzcruz, rubio and rand paul, three of them trying to but not that often from the house. Vice president s, not that many either. Only three that i can think of went straight from the Vice President si to becoming president. Jefferson, van burn, and bush senior. Governors more often. Anyway onto garfield. Garfield was born in 1831 died the year he was elected to be president in 1881. We should put him up there. He served nine consecutive terms in the house and his presidency lasted only 200 days. He was inaugurated in march. He was shot on july second, and he died in september. He lingered, and well talk a little bit about his medical care and what happened to him. Garfield, James Garfield was the youngest of five children. He was born in absolute extreme poverty. This is a recreation of his house in ohio. His family lived in a log cabin. They were so poor that they couldnt afford to put down a log floor. It was a dirt log cabin. His father abram died when garfield was 18 months old leaving his mother to raise five children on her own. A single mom with five kids and no money. The family was so poor he did not have his first pair of shoes until after he was four years old. Later on when people admired how he rose from total poverty to becoming president of the United States, he didnt ro mant size this at all. He said let us never praise poverty, especially as a means of raising children, but you do need to really have a sense of awe about his mother, eliza to go from such poverty, to get her son into the white house and she ultimately moves into the white house with him. She later claims that she thought, and im not sure if she was right or wrong. She claims to have been the first president s mother to move into the white house to take care of the kids. A remarkable woman herself. She was fiercely proud that she never accepted aid from anyone. They worked hard and from her he gained a sense of love of learning, of education, and that defines his life. He more than anything else schooling, education for himself and then when hes president , for the country, is a key to understanding him. When his brother, his older brother, thomas was 11 thomas left home to work on other peoples farms to help raise money, and he would send the money back to or give the money back to mom. When james turned 11 he said its time for me to do the same thing. If thomas leaves home at 11 to work on farm, i will. And mom said no. She realized there was something very, very special about this kid and she said youre staying in school. Well support you. You need to stay in school. Thats the key to his life. It shapes his mind. It shapes his attitude. And it creates opportunities for him that otherwise never would have existed. Garfields parents were both members of the church of christ. He was never particularly religious growing up. Then at about age 19 he decided to go to church and his speaking skills were so good on his first day in church he asked the pastor said would you like to say a few words and he was so remarkable that they said you need to go and travel around to other churches and give sermons. And people who heard him preach said that if he decided to make his career in the ministry he would have been one of the lead leading clergymen in america. Were going to find this in everything he said. He would have been one of the best in the church in the country. He remains an elder in the church and resigns when he becomes president and in his statement he said i resign the highest office in the land to become president of the United States. Garfield at age 16 his life almost took a major change. All of a sudden he decided enough with school. I want to go and i want to have a life on sea. Which was interesting, because he couldnt swim, and no one knew why he did this. And so he was living hundreds of miles away from the ocean. So the closest he could find was to get work on the canals, on the ohio and erie canal. At age 16 he drops out of school. Mom is totally devastated. He later said i broke my mothers heart as he feared this would end her high hopes for me. He works on a canal boat and unfortunately, a few days after he is on the boat on the canal boat, he couldnt swim, all of a sudden he falls off the boat. And he cant swim. And so hes going under, and he grabs a rope, and he yanks on the rope and hes able to pull himself up on to the boat, and then he noticed that the rope wasnt attached to anything, but it got caught in a crack with the wood of the boat and saved his life. And he said he was somehow able to pull himself up on this, and he said i did not believe god paid any attention to me on my own account but i came to believe he saved me for my mother and for something greater and better than canalling so he went home. He was a totally changed young man thinking, this is something that i dont know why this happened, but god is sending me a signal. He also got very sick. He caught malaria, and he was so sick after ten days the fever broke and he thought he was okay and then he had a severe relapse. For two months no one knew if he was going to survive. When he finally survived and finally recovered his help his mom and brother went to him and said thomas had saved 17 so far of money he hadnt given for the family and they said, were giving you this money on one condition. You go back to school. And so he attended a number of local schools and when he reached age 20, he decided its time to go onto the equivalent of college. He went to western reserve eclectic institute which later became known as higher college. He couldnt afford the tuition who he became a janitor. He would at 4 00 or 5 00 in the morning and chop wood. He would prepare breakfast for the other students and then join them in class and then go work in the kitchen to help them with lunch. Then after he would clean the school, lower the flag at the end of the day and go back into his room and study. So he was a janitor in his first year. By his second year he was promoted to assistant professor. Because in his first year, he learned and became fluent in greek and latin. And he was able to read virgil in the original. Its amazing. How is this possible . If you think its impressive that he was fluent in greek and latin after one year, the teacher said his best subject was math. Just to give you an idea of how good he was at math, henwhen he was in congress he was bored for a well so he developed a trap zoid proof of paing that ree um theorem, and his work in math is still taught in graduate math programs today. But despite his ability in both math and languages, his interest was in science. He studied the latest scientific discoveries. So again remember hes taking a full course load as a student, and hes teaching. Hes an assistant professor. So in his second year he is teaching latin and one of his students was lucretia randolph. She was the student. She would later tell their daughter he was a big shy lad with a shock of unruly hair. He was as awkward and untutored in mannered as he was determined to learn anything and everything that came his way. They had virtually opposite personalities. He was this bighearted, cheerful, outgoing guy. He wouldnt shake hands with people. He would give people bear hugs. People laughed with him. He was great company. People just loved being around this extroverted big, wonderful guy. She, on the other hand was shy, softspoken, very private. In her diary she wrote he was fearful she would be considered cold and heartless. Their courtship was awkward to put it mildly. Even though he was an incredible extrovert, he couldnt talk to her. He couldnt tell her what he felt about her. And she couldnt talk to him. And this is not a good thing if you are courting. It seems the first time that he was able to tell her what he thought of her was by letter. And he was he took a tour of niagra falls and he writes her a letter in which he says please pardon the liberty i take in pointing my pen towards your name, for this evening i have taken in so much scenery that i cannot contain it all myself. Not exactly a love letter but its the first time hes telling her, i am thinking about you. She was even more shy and reserved than he was. Neither of them were able to tell each other that they really felt quite strongly about each other. And so in 1854 he leaves ohio and decides to finish college at Williams College in williamstown massachusetts. Our new congressman don buyer went there. When he visited don, he brought him a copy of this, because both he and garfield share the same al ma mater. When he was there, he was the best student there. He was a skilled debater and a skilled writer. He became editor of the williams quarterly and in two years at age 25 because, again he got a late start he graduated with the highest honors. Returns to western reserve to teach latin and greek to become a professor as well as other subjects and one year later he is selected to be president of the school. Youre going to keep laughing because its like oh. He then realizes that the school is deeply in debt. Has no undowment. Raises enough money so they can achieve financial viability. He also resumes his rather awkward courtship of a woman who he called cret. Both of them remain unable to tell each other what they think. One day she hands him her the diary and says just read this. In the diary its full of pages about how much she loves him and so finally on november 11, 1958, James Garfield marries the 26yearold lucretia after an 11yearold courtship. If the courtship was difficult, the beginning of the major was pretty much worse. They had great difficulty figuring out okay, now that were living together, what do we do . And as a result it not as a result but it became more difficult because he was never home. In the first five years of major, they spent less than five months together because of the civil war and because of everything else. And their separation, their difficulty of communicating with one another made it very difficult for them at home alone. Their first child, elisa, same name as jamess mother they called her trot. She unfortunately dies at age three, and they grieve separately instead of together. Its a difficult period, and in 1864 when he was a congressman and she was in ohio he thought he totally ruined their major because he had an affair with a young widow in new york named Lucia Gilbert calhoun. He was a reporter. They had a monthlong affair. He felt guilty went home and confessed it to his wife assuming that the major is now over. She forgives him and says its time for us to figure out how to make this thing better and from that moment they fell passionately in love with each other. They decided that they were going to do the best they could together with each other and after that, maybe for the first time they almost couldnt bear to be apart. He later wrote we waited a long time for this love to come but it is here to stay. He later wrote that lucretia became the light of my life the love of my love. He wrote you cannot know how much i need you and miss you and love you. I can hardly bear to be away from you. So from the moment that they really jump started their marriage, they were this happily married couple. It took them a long time to get there but once they were there they were really there. They ultimately wind up having seven children, so they were there. Sadly, two of them trot as i mentioned, and their son, eddie passed away. Five became mature adults and well talk about them later. The five who survived to adulthood all did extremely well because they had great parents, and particularly after he passed away, she did a great job of raising them after. While he was president of western reserve he decided this isnt enough to keep me busy so he decided to study law. Youre going to keep laughing. So in 1859 he studies law. And two years later, he is admitted to the ohio bar. Turns out he was an absolutely brilliant lawyer, but unfortunately for his legal career, the civil war came first, and then he was elected to congress, and so he had to put law aside. And so he didnt actually engage in the prak sis of law until right after the civil war. The first case he argues, of course, was in front of Supreme Court. Its the first time hed ever been in a courtroom arguing a case. It was in front of the Supreme Court. It was called exparty mill gant which is one of the key cases taught in constitutional law today. It is a case on how to deal with civilians during combat times and it is cited today as well particularly garfields arguments at the time. As i mentioned, two things stalled his legal career. First of all politics, and second the war. Garfield did not consider himself to be an abolitionist, but he was fiercely opposed to slavery, and very, very eagerly supportive, not eagerly but passionately supportive of the rights of African Americans to be equal citizens in this country. When he was relatively poor a number of freed slaves, he put them up in particular, one stayed with him for a while and he gave him what little money he had to try and help this escaped slave. He was enormously upset when john brown was hanged. He said this is a dark day in the history of our country, and then in his diary, of course in latin he writes slavery be damne de. His diary would switch between greek and latin and english. He was obviously from what you can pick up of this guy, its no surprise that people were drawn to him and were very impressed with him. In 1859 a state senator in ohio died, and the Republican Party which is relatively comes to him and says youre opposed to slavery and very emancipation and for the union, would you run for state senate. He says i know nothing about politics. They said give it