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

"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 the 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."--BOOK JACKET.