Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard(Review)
Despite being a book about murder and madness, Destiny of the Republic is a wonderful read that is engaging from start to finish. Prior to Candice Millard’s book, I knew very little about James Garfield, and it turns out my unawareness was a disservice to an impressive individual who deserves to be remembered. In addition to being an engaging read, Destiny of the Republic captured Garfield’s impressive life and his potential for more. It also captured the senselessness of his death and what emerged from Garfield’s assassination. Through it all, there was a theme of hope that showed how divisiveness and anger once gave way to common ground and gentility. There is a hope that it could happen again.
One of the delightful elements of Millard’s book was a reminder on the critical role of attorneys in this country. James Garfield was the unlikely GOP nominee for president who jumped from Ohio Congressman to the White House despite objecting to his nomination for the entirety of the six-day convention. Part of Garfield’s objection to the nomination was that he had already nominated Treasury Secretary John Sherman to fill the role. But during his speech for Secretary Sherman, Garfield so impressed the convention with his words that he instead secured the nomination and the presidency.
Garfield, a lawyer by training, commented to the split and belligerent convention that “your present temper may not mark the healthful pulse of our people. When your enthusiasm has passed, when the emotions of this hour have subsided, we shall find below the storm and passion that calm level of public opinion from which the thoughts of a might people are to be measured, and by which final action will be determined.” It would not be long for Garfield’s words to prove prescient.
After the nomination, the country elected James Garfield to the presidency. The Republican Party of his era suffered a terrible split between the stalwarts and the half-breeds (I’m guessing the stalwarts selected the name of their GOP step-brothers). The stalwarts promoted the spoils system which rewarded government jobs to those with political connections. The half-breeds wanted reform for a merit-based system. Garfield was the latter, yet his unexpected presidency helped transform and unify a public that was still divided and embittered after the Civil War just fifteen years prior to his presidency.
Unfortunately, Garfield’s unifying effect required not only the sacrifice of public service but also the sacrifice of his life. A man named Charles Guiteau was a stalwart who thought assassinating President Garfield would thrust him into an appointment as American Consul to Paris. Guiteau planned his attack, but the shot failed to kill Garfield on impact. Instead, President Garfield lingered from July 2, 1881 until his death on September 19, 1881.
In the interim between the assignation attempt becoming a successful assassination, Garfield injury unified the nation. Jefferson Davis, former President of the Confederacy, noted that Garfield gave the south a president they trusted for the first time in years. As an Ohioan, Garfield already had favor in the north. Yet the assassination attempt made people appreciate the fragility of life and sparked a patriotism and unity that many did not know they possessed. Millard book captured these themes and more. She looked at Garfield, politics, medicine, and more in a book that grabbed my attention from the start and held it until the very end. I not only recommend Destiny of the Republic but look forward to reading more of Millard’s books.
