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For generations, the heirs of James Garfield shared stories about his extraordinary achievements but rarely mentioned his untimely death. We understood what had happened, that he was shot in a train station,” explains one of his modern descendants. “We learned about the story in books but, in one way or another, we just glanced over it.”

Fresh Curiosity in a Forgotten President

This shifted in 2011 with the publication of Destiny of the Republic, which revived interest in Garfield's unfinished life. This work has now inspired a Netflix drama titled Death by Lightning, starring Michael Shannon as the commander-in-chief and another skilled actor as the wanderer who assassinated him.

The series seeks to illuminate Garfield, who came from humble beginnings to the White House during the Gilded Age only to become a casualty to its toxic political divisions. His tenure was truncated after only several months not only by the killer's weapon but by doctor errors – an event now mostly overlooked while the deaths of Abraham Lincoln and President Kennedy continue to captivate the public.

“It's impossible not to respect what he did. He was incredibly versatile: he was a lawyer, he was a minister, he was a land worker. He was multiple professions which also formed his character and his approach and the complete story about him the relatives maintain with us.”

Starting from Nothing to the Presidency

Garfield was the most recent commander-in-chief raised in rustic conditions in Ohio in 1831. His dad perished when he was just a toddler, leaving his mom, Eliza, to raise five children in hard times. An voracious learner, Garfield found employment on vessels to generate income for an schooling.

He studied law, was entered the clergy, became leader of an institution in Ohio and was a state senator. In 1858 he entered matrimony with a previous schoolmate, Lucretia Rudolph, with whom he would have a large family. An dedicated federalist, Garfield viewed the national conflict as a righteous fight against forced servitude and progressed to the officer status.

“As I studied his life, I was astonished. He was absolutely brilliant. He was fearless. He was ahead of his time for the era. He was compassionate. He was a moral individual and would have been an outstanding leader had he survived.”

Public Life and Unexpected Nomination

Garfield was persuaded by Lincoln to resign his military commission when he was selected to the Congress, where he would serve as a party member for 17 years. He was dedicated proponent of African American voting rights, viewing it as a question of fairness and the completion of a military promise.

“The speech he gave on the floor of Congress will move you deeply. He was an remarkable speaker and this topic was very important to him.”

At the 1880 Republican National Convention in Chicago the party was fundamentally fractured between the “Stalwarts”, led by Senator Roscoe Conkling, who supported a continued leadership for military hero, and the “Half-Breeds”, who supported another candidate. Garfield attended as a supporter of his close associate John Sherman.

When the huge assembly was stalled between Grant and Blaine, party members began looking for a middle ground. Garfield's emotional address proposing Sherman won them over. During the speech, he reportedly declared, “And now, delegates, what do we want?” to which a audience member unexpectedly replied, “We want Garfield!”

On the extended selection process, a wave of backers made Garfield the unexpected candidate. To satisfy the Stalwart faction, the vice presidential pick, a political ally from New York, was chosen as his second in command. In the general election Garfield overcame the Democratic nominee to become the only sitting member of the House ever to be elected president.

Short Presidency and Government Conflicts

“What would have made Garfield great and what is very unusual and maybe special for the American presidency is he hadn't campaigned aggressively. It's not that he had entirely ignored the possibility but he was pushed toward it.”

The central struggle of Garfield's limited administration was his disagreement with Conkling over the “spoils system”. Conkling required power over federal patronage in New York, particularly the powerful and lucrative post of port authority. Garfield refused, stating the issue was “if the commander-in-chief should be registering clerk of the senate or the nation's leader”. He selected a political foe of Conkling to the post.

The confrontation turned into a open fight but Garfield outmaneuvered Conkling in the Senate. Experiencing a embarrassing loss, Conkling and his colleague quit Congress in protest. The next day, Garfield's candidate was approved. It was a historic triumph for the presidential control over the party machine and for the change movement over “boss rule”.

The Assassin and His Psychological Issues

But even as Garfield fought powerful figures of his party, he was being pursued by a mentally unstable individual who embodied the dark side of the patronage system. The gunman was a unstable individual with a background of professional failures, emotional issues and physical and psychological abuse. He had not succeeded as a legal professional, debt recovery agent, preacher and member of a alternative community.

“He was psychologically disturbed and his specific type of insanity was fantasy. He always believed that divine selection for importance. He actually had financially a better start than Garfield but where Garfield achieved and rose, Guiteau was unsuccessful in all endeavors.”

But Guiteau believed he had at last discovered a way to accomplishment: politics. Carried away in the drama of the political contest, he wrote and delivered an insignificant speech, and became convinced in his own mind that he was solely accountable for Garfield's victory.

Under this thinking, Guiteau calculated he had earned a important role. He went to the capital and continuously bothered Garfield, Blaine and other leaders, demanding to be made the US consul in Paris — a post for which he had zero qualifications. He became such a problem that he was eventually banned from the White House.

The Assassination and Medical Malpractice

On 2 July 1881, just four months into his presidency, Garfield was departing the capital for his alumni event. As he walked through the train depot, Guiteau stepped from the shadows, pulled an weapon from his jacket and shot the president twice in the back.

Garfield cried out: “What's happening?” and collapsed on the depot ground. When a {police officer|law