Review of James A. Garfield by Ira Rutkow

Most Americans who have heard of James Garfield are likely to remember him as the U. S. president with the second-shortest term due to his having been mortally wounded by an assassin’s bullet only four months into his presidency.  In James A. Garfield, part of the “American Presidents” series of short biographies, scholar Ira Rutkow brings Garfield to life, arguing that as a Civil War general and as a congressman, Garfield made a significant contribution to American history even though he was a lackluster president.

Unlike the other authors in the “American Presidents” series, Rutkow is not an expert on the president whose biography he was assigned.  Rutkow’s area of expertise, rather, is the history of surgery.  Rutkow’s background makes him an especially appropriate choice to write about Garfield, given the great importance of surgery to Garfield’s story. His expertise on nineteenth-century surgical practices enables Rutkow to make his readers understand the issues at stake in Garfield’s treatment after his wounding by Charles Guiteau.  Rutkow’s description of the doctors’ actions will make a sympathetic reader cringe and lament the horrible bungling of the president’s care.

Rutkow’s treatment of Garfield’s pre-presidential career is evenhanded if slightly negative.  His Garfield is a generally honest politician who was not above using hardball politics when he felt they were necessary. To Rutkow, “Garfield was remarkably thin-skinned.  He constantly sought approval of his actions from supporters, reporters, and family, and, if not satisfied to the truthfulness of their praise, often became despondent” (46).  Garfield, far from being a dark horse presidential candidate in 1880 who came out of nowhere, obtained the nomination through “antagonism, controversy, and subterfuge” (50).  Rutkow gives President Garfield high marks for trying to end the Post Office’s “Star Route Fraud” but little praise for his presidency in general.  Rutkow concludes with the following evaluation of Garfield as president:

Garfield helped mold a nascent political party into a force that would lead his country into world leadership.  But as chief executive he was clumsy in controlling his party’s factional differences.  Garfield was not a natural leader and did not dominate men or events.  He was a kindhearted and intelligent individual who was also a calculating politician…Ultimately, it was his lack of assertiveness and worry over the slightest hint of criticism that interfered with his presidential decision making…and for this reason he is remembered more as a political party functionary—and for having been assassinated—than an inspirational American president. (137).

James A. Garfield is a well-written and serviceable biography of Garfield and would be a good introduction to the subject for someone with no knowledge about the twentieth president.  Students who are willing to read a slightly longer book would do better to read Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard, a gripping and more sympathetic account of Garfield’s life, his assassination, and his medical (mal)treatment.