James Abram Garfield (November 19, 1831-September 19, 1881) was the 20th president of the United States, and the second U.S. President to be assassinated.
He was born in Orange, Cuyahoga County, Ohio.
In 1876 he was a Republican member of the Electoral Commission that awarded 22 electoral votes to Rutherford B. Hayes in his contest for the Presidency against Samuel Tilden.
In 1880, he was the Republican candidate for the presidency, defeating the Democratic candidate, Winfield Scott Hancock, by 214 electoral votes to 155. (The popular vote was much closer, and Garfield received 4,453, 295 votes to Hancock's 4,414,082. Greenback Labor candidate James B. Weaver received 308,578 popular votes and Prohibition candidate Neal Dow received 10,305.) He took office in 1881.
He was shot by Charles J. Guiteau, on July 2, 1881, just a few months after taking office. His assassin was apparently upset by being passed over as the United States consul in Paris. One of the bullets that struck Garfield lodged in his back and could not be found. (An attempt was made to find it with a metal detector, but the metal bedframe he was lying on confused the instrument.) He became increasingly ill over a period of several months because of infection and died on September 19, 1881.
He found a proof for the Pythagorean Theorem.
Inaugural Addresses:
- Previous President: Rutherford B. Hayes
- Next President: Chester A. Arthur
- Vice Presidents: