James A. Garfield (1831-1881)

James A. Garfield (1831-1881), was the last president of the United States to be born in a log cabin. Nobody knows what kind of president he would have been because he was assassinated only a few months after taking office. Garfield, a Republican, was the fourth president to die in office. He was the second to be assassinated.

Possibly Garfield accomplished more by his death than if he had lived to complete his term. A major characteristic of national politics in his day was the spoils system. Under the spoils system, thousands of government employees were fired every time a new president took office. Garfield spent most of his short time as president filling these jobs with his political supporters. He was not a reformer, but he recognized the problems with the spoils system. He wrote in his diary, "Some civil service reform will come by necessity after the wearisome years of wasted presidents have paved the way for it." The assassination of Garfield by a disappointed jobseeker shocked the nation into action. Two years later, Congress began civil service reform with the Pendleton Civil Service Act.

Garfield was a big, athletic, handsome man. He had blond hair and a beard. Before becoming president, he was successful in a number of positions. He had been a professor, college president, Civil War general, and U.S. congressman. He spoke and wrote well, read widely, and even composed poetry. He occasionally entertained his friends by writing Greek with one hand and at the same time writing Latin with the other. Garfield was warmhearted and genial. He wanted to be well liked and generally was. But his eagerness to please everyone sometimes led him into questionable dealings with unscrupulous people.