Dark Horse: The Surprise Election and Political Murder of President James A. Garfield

Synopsis

In post-Civil War America, politics was a brutal sport played with blunt rules. Yet the era produced wide public excitement and high voter participation, as well as our last log cabin-born president. James Garfield's 1880 dark horse campaign after the longest-ever Republican nominating process (thirty-six convention ballots), his victory in the closest-ever popular vote for president (by a margin of only 7,018 votes out of more than nine million cast), his struggle against bitterly feuding factions once elected, and the public's response to its violent climax produce the most dramatic presidential odyssey of the Gilded Age--and among the most momentous in our nation's history. Capitol Hill veteran Kenneth D. Ackerman re-creates an American political landscape where fierce battles for power unfolded against a chivalrous code of honor in a country struggling to emerge from the long shadow of recent war. He casts familiar Civil War figures like Ulysses S. Grant and Winfield Scott Hancock in unfamiliar roles as politicos alongside feuding machine bosses like senators Roscoe Conkling and James G. Blaine and backroom string-puller Chester A. Arthur, Garfield's unlikely vice-presidential running mate. The journey through political backrooms, dazzling convention floors, and intrigue-filled congressional and White House chambers, reveals the era's decency and humanity as well as the sharp partisanship that exploded in the pistol shots of assassin Charles Guiteau, the weak-minded political camp follower and patronage seeker eager to replace the elected commander-in-chief with one of his own choosing. Garfield's path from a seat in the House of Representatives to White House to martyred hero changed the tone of politics for generations to come. His assassination prompted leaders to recoil at their excesses and brought shocked Americans together with a dignity and grace that have long held the nation together in crisis. Kenneth D. Ackerman tells this overlooked story in a historical page-turner that will enthrall aficionados of presidential lives and all lovers of American history. Kenneth D. Ackerman has served for more than twenty-five years in senior posts on Capitol Hill and in the Executive Branch, including as counsel to two U.S. Senate committees and as administrator of the Department of Agriculture's Risk Management Agency during the Clinton-Gore administration. He is the author of "The Gold Ring: Jim Fisk, Jay Gould, and Black Friday 1869" and currently practices law in Washington, D.C.

Copyright:

2003

Book Details

Book Quality:

Excellent

Book Size:

530 Pages

ISBN-13:

9780786711512

Publisher:

Avalon Publishing Group Inc.

Date of Addition:

11/11/17

Copyrighted By:

Kenneth D. Ackerman

Adult content:

No

Language:

English

Has Image Descriptions:

No

Categories:

History, Nonfiction, Biographies and Memoirs, Politics and Government

Submitted By:

BookMouse

Proofread By:

BookMouse

Usage Restrictions:

This is a copyrighted book.