Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President
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Who knew? James Garfield, 20th President of the United States was an incredible person and a great, if not short-lived, president. He was in office for 6 months – March, 1881-September, 1881. He was shot In July and was on his death bed until he passed away. In his four months of active presidency, he got an awful lot done including removing much corruption from politics, promoting the lot of African Americans and bringing the South back into the fold. Cool guy.
He had been a successful general for the Union during the Civil war, fighting notably in the battle of Shiloh and Chickamauga. After leaving the service he had a long congressional tenure – 10 terms.
He was nominated to run for the presidency without ever wanting the position. The Republican Convention was unable to conclude on a nominee during its first few ballots Ulysses Grant also was campaigning for the nomination for a third, although not consecutive term – he had already served two terms from 1868-1876). As one of the speakers at the convention, Garfield drew interest and, eventually, the nomination. He was a terrific orator and often garnered attention with his speeches. After receiving the nomination, he barely campaigned for the office. Apparently, candidates didn’t actively campaign for themselves at that point in history.
The first half of this book covers Garfield’s life and presidency, the second half, the two month period of his death. The author, interestingly, combines stories of Alexander Graham Bell and Joseph Lister (the British surgeon who was the pioneer of antiseptic surgery) in the first half of the book. Her integration of these stories becomes clear in the second half when the reader discovers that the President’s gunshot wounds were completely survivable. In fact, Civil War soldiers with similar wounds survived quite often. In the end, Garfield didn’t die of the gunshot wounds, but of infections created with the attentive, but poor (by today’s antiseptic standards) care he received after he was shot.
Bell’s part of the story had to do with his desire to help Garfield’s physicians to discover the location of the bullet in his abdomen. He created a metal detector that, ultimately, failed to find the bullet. Bell believed that he could have found the bullet if the physicians had not limited his search, which they did.
The book leads the reader to understand what a great man Garfield was – he was very well read, apparently quite smart and had the ability, through his speeches, to sway opinion. All the makings of a great leader. He believed strongly in equal rights for all. In fact, two of his attending physicians were a female doctor and a black doctor. Who knows what would have happened if was able to complete his presidential tenure. According to this author, we would have been better off as a country if he had.
This was a well-written, enlightening book. Very enjoyable if you’re into taking a peak into less covered parts of American history.
- Started reading:
- 1st October 2011
- Finished reading:
- 6th October 2011