Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Assassination of James A. Garfield

Episode Date: April 9, 2021

At 9:30 am on July 2, 1881, at the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station in Washington, D.C., James Garfield, President of the United States was fatally shot. It is an event that, quite frankly, doesn’t really get the attention that other political assassinations have received. The story behind how and why it happened is as fascinating as any in American History. Learn more about the Assassination of President Garfield on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At 9.30 a.m. on July 2, 1881, at the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station in Washington, D.C., James Garfield, President of the United States, was fatally shot. It's an event that, quite frankly, really doesn't get the attention that other political assassinations have received. The story behind how and why it happened, however, is as fascinating as any in American history. Learn more about the assassination of President Garfield and as assassin Charles Gatow on this episode of Everything Everywhere Day. What if your perceptions about the past were wrong? ThruLine is a podcast that takes you back in time to uncover the parts of the story that may have gone unnoticed. It effectively turned day into night. And how it shaped the world now.

Time travel with us every week on the ThruLine podcast from NPR. Sure, we're all dying to get back out on the road again. So maybe it's a really good time to look at the myths. cliches and assumptions that we tend to make about travel. I'm longtime travel journalist Sput Hilton, and in the new podcast, Grounded, I'll explore topics such as why it makes good sense to get lost. The marketing myth of living like a local,

why it's better when tour guides make up history, why most travel media only see Africa through its animals, and why travel is always more interesting when something goes wrong. Join me for these and other topics on Grounded, available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, under the Inappropriate Traveler label and at inappropriate traveler.com. James Garfield doesn't rank very high in the list of the greatest American presidents, if for no other reason, then he wasn't president for very long.

He was shot only four months after taking office and died about two months after that. There was very little in the way of policy that could be attributed to him as president because of his short tenure. During his administration, he mostly appointed cabinet officials and managed to reappoint a Supreme Court justice with the Senate didn't act upon in the previous Rutherford B. Hayes administration. Garfield was born in Ohio and raised on a farm. His father died when he was only two and he was raised by his mother. He grew up in poverty, but was a voracious reader and eventually worked his way

through school and graduated from Williams College in Massachusetts. He was probably one of the most intelligent men ever to become president. He was fluent in both ancient Latin and ancient Greek, and it was said that he was ambidextrous and could write in both languages simultaneously at the same time with both hands. He studied law and passed the bar in Ohio, and was elected to the Ohio State Senate. He joined the Union Army in the Civil War, and in 1862 at the age of 31, he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General. The same year, while still serving in the military, he ran for Congress in a safe Ohio Republican seat. While accepting the nomination, he refused to so he could spend more time serving in the war.

He was a radical abolitionist. He wasn't fighting to preserve the union. He was fighting to end slavery. And he felt Lincoln was too lenient on the rebel leaders. He stayed in the House of Representatives after the war and remained a staunch Republican. When he was nominated for president in 1880, he wasn't seeking the job. He was a compromise candidate chosen on the 36 ballot at the nominating convention. He defeated former Union General Winfield Scott in a close election, where he won.

the popular vote by only 1,898 votes. The far more interesting part of this story is the story of his assassin, Charles Gatot. Of the four men who have killed U.S. presidents, three of them, it could be argued, did so for political reasons. Gatot did so because he was insane. Or at least, I don't see how you can hear his story and not come to the conclusion that he was insane. Gatot was born in Illinois in 1841. His mother died when he was young from what was diagnosed as postpartum psychosis, which is one of those 19th century elements which really doesn't exist anymore. He moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan to attend the University of Michigan, but failed the entrance exam. It was the first in a lifelong series of failures.

From there, he moved to New York State, where he joined a religious group known as the Oneida community. The Oneida community was one of many 19th century utopian Christian communities which had taken root in the United States. The Oneida community was different. They had a set of beliefs that placed them well outside mainstream Christianity, especially in the 19th century. If they existed today, we'd probably call them a cult. For starters, the Oneida community were called perfectionists. They believed that Jesus already returned in the year 70,

and that they were able to create a perfect world here on earth now. One of the ways they practiced this was through the process of mutual criticism. They would have group meetings where everyone could criticize everyone else. They were also extremely bureaucratic. For a community of between 1 to 300 people, they had 27 standing committees and 48 administrative sections. The most controversial part of the Oneida community was their practice of complex marriage. In their eyes, everyone was married to everyone else. They rejected monogamy and practiced and coined the term free love.

All child raising was done communally and not by the parents, and any children which were born were done so by a committee where the mother and father were selected beforehand. There is a whole lot more to be said on this subject, but I try to keep the podcast clean, and it's not really relevant to the subject at hand. Charles Gautaut didn't fit into this community at all. He was there for about five years, and during that time, he was rejected by pretty much everyone in the community. He was often called Charles Get Out, which he eventually did. He eventually filed a lawsuit against the Oneida community for payment for services rendered, and his own father testified against him saying he was, quote, irresponsible and insane. From there, he went to Chicago and got a job as a clerk in a law office.

He was mostly in charge of collecting debts, which he would usually collect money, but then not pay the clients the full amount he collected. He got married to a librarian named Annie Bunn around the same. this time, and she later testified as to how dishonesty was. He and his wife fled to New York to stay ahead of creditors and the police who were chasing him from all his schemes. There, his wife divorced him. Gautot had visited a prostitute and contracted syphilis.

His wife tracked on the prostitute and had her testify in court against him. In 1872, he got into politics and supported Horace Greeley, the Democratic presidential candidate. He delivered one speech in support of Greer. and somehow he was convinced that if Greeley won, he would be awarded the ambassadorship to Chile. There is no evidence that he ever met Greeley, but he convinced himself of the importance to his campaign. Make note of this as it will become really important later on. From here, he decided to get into theology and preaching.

He wrote a book called The Truth, which was totally plagiarized from the leader of the Oneida community. His creditors kept trying to chase him down, and eventually they contacted him. his brother. His brother wrote him asking to pay off his debts, and Gatto sent him this letter in reply. Quote, find $7 enclosed. Stick it up your bunghole and wipe your nose with it, and that will remind you of the estimation in which you are held by Charles J. Gateau. Sign in return the enclosed receipt, and I will send you the money, but not before. And that, I hope, will end our acquaintance. End quote. That is hands down the best quote I have ever read on this podcast. He then went to live with his sister for a few months, and while he was staying with her,

he attacked her with an axe. In 1880, he was back into politics, and this time he supported the Republican candidate, James Garfield. Well, actually, he supported Ulysses S. Grant, who was considering running for a third term, but then shifted his support to Garfield after he won the nomination. Grant was the candidate of the Stalwart faction of the Ruffalo. Republican Party, of which Guto considered himself. As with the episode eight years earlier with Horace Greeley, Guteau wrote a speech for Garfield and then developed a highly inflated sense of his importance. The difference was this

time Garfield won, and Gatot thought he was responsible for the victory. In compensation, Guto expected to be signed to the consulate in Vienna, Austria, or Paris, France. Really, he wasn't picky. He just wanted a job. He began sending letters to Garfield about the job that he assumed was his. One such letter said, quote, I called to see you this morning, but you were engaged. I sent you a note touching on the Austrian mission. The current Austrian council, I understand, wishes to remain at Vienna till fall.

He is a good fellow, and I do not wish to disturb him in any event. What do you think of me for consul general at Paris? I think I prefer Paris to Vienna, and I presume my appointment will be promptly confirmed, end quote. He never received a response from Garfield, and there is no one. communication that Garfield ever even saw the letters. So he began sending letters to a secretary of state, James Blaine. Gattot moved to Washington and began moving from guest house to when he couldn't pay his bills. He would go to hotels to find used newspapers to determine Garfield's schedule. He also started stalking Secretary Blaine until eventually Blaine shouted at him,

quote, never speak to me again on the Paris consul ship so long as you live, unquote. Gatot felt betrayed. After all, in his mind, he was responsible for the election of Garfield, and he was being totally ignored. So he convinced himself that God wanted him to kill the president. He borrowed $15 from one of his in-laws, one of the few family members he hadn't alienated, to buy a gun. When he purchased the gun, which was a 442 Weatherby British Bulldog revolver, he had to choose between one with a wooden grip and one with an ivory grip. He selected the ivory grip because he felt it would look better in a museum in a future exhibit about the assassination. On July 2, 1881, he waited for Garfield at the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station in Washington, D.C.

Garfield was about to abort a train to meet his family for a vacation in New Jersey. When Garfield arrived, Gatot stepped forward and shot him twice in the back. As soon as he fired, he surrendered and shouted, quote, I'm a stalwart of the stalwarts. Arthur is president now. Garfield's medical care wasn't great. His doctors kept poking around the wound with unsterilized fingers and instruments. He developed an infection, and on September 19th, he died 11 weeks after the shooting. Many people believe that Garfield would have lived if the doctors had just left him alone.

With the death of Garfield, Gatot was now charged with murder. Gatot submitted a plea of not guilty and wanted to represent himself. The government insisted on an attorney for Gatot, but the attorney, quit within a week. It was one of the first high-profile trials where an insanity defense was considered. One psychiatrist who testified said, quote, Gatot is not only now insane, but that he was never anything else. During the trial, Gatot's behavior was bizarre to say the least. He would often swear at the judge. He would read long, rambling epic poems during the trial. He even sent a letter to the new president, Chester Arthur, saying he should set him free because he was the one who

made him president. Gautot was oblivious to how the public perceived him. He thought he was incredibly popular and would often wave to the crowds outside of the courthouse. He even planned to go on a lecture tour after the trial and run for president in 1884. In reality, he was the most hated person in the country. Not surprisingly, he was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death. He was hanged on June 30, 1882. On his way to the gallows, he was smiling and waving to people in attendance.

He shook the hand of the executioner and read a person. poem. He even requested an orchestra to perform, but the request was denied. Both Garfield and Gatot have mostly been forgotten today. There's a monument to President Garfield outside of the U.S. Capitol, and there's another monument in the West Building of the National Gallery of Art, which is the building that the former train station used to be where Garfield was shot. Gatot's body was exhumed for an autopsy. His skeleton was bleached and is in storage at the National Museum of Health and Medicine, and his brain is currently on display in a jar

at the Muter Museum in Philadelphia. Garfield is buried in Cleveland, Ohio, in one of the largest tombs of any American president. You can visit the tomb almost any day of the week, but I wouldn't recommend visiting on Mondays because everyone knows that Garfield hates Mondays. The associate producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Thor Thompson. If you'd like to support the show,

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