AS DEAD PRESIDENT GO, FEW ARE MORE DEAD than James A. Garfield. Elected in 1880 as the 20th president, Garfield’s term ended with his assassination in 1881. He actually served only from March 4 when he was sworn in until July 2 when he was shot by a lawyer with a beef, but his term — and his life — officially ended on September 19.
"Let's do the short version," Garfield takes office
Garfield seemed to lead a charmed life. He was commissioned as a Union colonel in the Civil War despite never having served and rose to the rank of major general by war’s end. Garfied was a career politician serving nine terms in the House of Representatives. He hardly campaigned for the Presidency. Instead he gave speeches from the porch of his farmhouse in Mentor, Ohio — now the Garfield National Historic Site — preferring to let voters come to him. Admirers believed he was uniquely qualified to lead the country, but he hardly had time to show his stuff. Or his ass. As we well know today, it doesn’t take long for the prez to royally screw things up,
"Frankly, my dear, I'd rather be Chief Justice."
THEY MUST REALLY HAVE FILLED A ROOM. William H. Taft — he's dead — and his buddy, Teddy Roosevelt — dead, too — that is. Taft was Roosevelt’s Secretary of War and self-chosen successor for President. Taft didn’t really want the job and but he handled the first term well. When Teddy felt betrayed by Taft’s independence, he decided to oppose Taft as a third-party candidate in 1912. As so often happens, they split the vote and Woodrow Wilson was elected. Roosevelt was disappointed but Taft was relieved. He was soon appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, his life’s true ambition.
His daddy's house, William Howard Taft National Historic Site
William Howard Taft’s childhood home is now the Taft National Historic Site in Cincinnati, but it had little to do with Taft himself. The memorabilia and stories dealt more with his father, Alphonso, a figure in his own right. He also served as Secretary of War and also as Ambassador to the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
So while one president did little, we saw the house he lived in. And of the other president who did much, we saw the house he hardly lived in.
