Presidents’ Day Facial Hair Countdown #5 – James Garfield

5. James Garfield 

Fast Facts

Lifetime: 1831-1881

Presidency: 20th

Facial Hair Style: Full beard

Mortal weakness: Bullets

Out of my many complaints about the social studies curriculum in Texas, a relevant one from US History is that we do a poor job of teaching the Executive Branch during the “Gilded Age,” a period of industrialization and urbanization from the mid-late 19th century until around the turn of the century. I can understand this decision, as there is generally more focus on the Legislative branch than the Executive, and government was becoming more and more dominated by business influence rather than single Presidential personalities. Still though, this explanation is a little lacking. If we accept it, we skip over individuals like James Garfield.

Garfield had a long career in the House of Representatives before his nomination to the 1880 Republican ticket. He was a skilled financial mind, saving the Federal government millions of dollars by timing Treasury bond sales with the market. As a Congressman, he was implicated in the Crédit Mobilier scandal, but it did not greatly hurt his career. As President, he made political reform a key issue, taking on dodgy practices withing the United States Postal Service and fighting against the practice where every elected official would be besieged by volunteers and other cronies looking for jobs. During his term, Garfield argued for the advancement of African-American education and was also the first President to talk on the telephone.

Garfield’s prediction turned out to be quite accurate, as political corruption would in a way be his undoing. After only a few months in office, he was killed by Charles Guiteau, one of the aforementioned office-seekers. The President lingered on for 80 days unable to effectively govern until he eventually died of a heart attack and aneurysm.

The assassin himself. Guiteau had a great beard, but the crazy eyes should have been a tip-off.

I don’t know who the gentleman on the right is, but he looks rather startled by the whole assassination thing.

In the end, the assassination and subsequent reform would be Garfield’s biggest legacy, as mentioned in my Chester A. Arthur entry.  I had a really difficult time deciding whether to put Garfield at number 5 or number 4 in the countdown. The final deciding factor was the fact that Garfield only lasted 200 days in office from inauguration to death. My tip for any aspiring office-seekers: if you want to be highly ranked in any future facial hair lists, avoid assassins.

Ladies.