The Other Two Assassinated Presidents

Most Americans can name only two of the four U.S. Presidents who were assassinated. They know who killed them, where they were killed, and the vice-presidents that were sworn in to replace them (both were named Johnson, that makes it a little easier to remember).  Abraham Lincoln, thought to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest, American president was killed by John Wilkes Booth , in Ford’s Theater, Washington, D.C.  for political reasons.  Booth believed that he would be hailed as a hero for killing Lincoln.  Kennedy, also considered a great president, was killed in Dallas,  by Lee Harvey Oswald, who in turn was killed by Jack Ruby.  The reason for Kennedy’s assassination is not yet clear, and even now, after almost fifty years, speculation abounds and is fodder for books and movies.  But there were two other U.S. presidents who were murdered, James Garfield and William McKinley.

James Abram Garfield was the 20th president of the United States and was assassinated after only four months in office.  He was shot on July 2, 1881 and survived until Sept. 19, 1881, making his tenure as president 199 days, the second shortest administration in U.S. history, with William Henry Harrison’s being the shortest.  Garfield was one of the four presidents from Ohio.  He was a Republican and served as an Ohio congressman prior to his election as president.  He had served in the military during the Civil War and reached the rank of Major General.  Garfield’s selection as the Republican candidate at the 1880 Republican convention was the result of a compromise between supporters of Ulysses S. Grant and John Sherman.  After 36 votes, the dark-horse Garfield was selected.  He defeated Winfield Scott Hancock in the presidential race and took office on March 4, 1881.  At his inauguration, John Phillip Sousa led the Marine Marching Band in the parade and at the inaugural ball.

On July 2, 1881, as Garfield and his companions, one of whom was Robert Todd Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln’s son, were walking to Williams University where Garfield was to deliver a speech, he was shot by Charles J. Guiteau.  Guiteau was angry because Garfield refused to name him as consul in Paris.  When he was arrested, Guiteau said “Arthur is now president”, which caused many people to believe that Garfield’s vice-president, Chester A. Arthur was somehow involved in the assassination plot.  Garfield’s eventual death was due to a bullet lodged in his spine that the doctors of the day were unable to find.  Because of the poor medical practices of the time, infection set in, and two months later, Garfield succumbed.  Guiteau’s lawyers entered a plea of insanity, which was rejected, he was found guilty, and was hanged on June 30, 1882 in Washington, D.C.