Assassination of James Garfield

Garfield had served as president for only four months when he arrived at the railroad station to catch a train to New Jersey. Charles Guiteau, a mentally unstable office-seeker who had unsuccessfully sought a diplomatic appointment, approached the president from behind and fired two shots from a .44-caliber revolver. One bullet grazed Garfield’s arm while the second lodged in his back near the first lumbar vertebra.

The assassination attempt was motivated by Guiteau’s delusions of political importance and his belief that killing Garfield would unite the Republican Party and secure him a government position. Guiteau had been stalking the president for weeks, initially planning to shoot him at a church service before settling on the more accessible train station location.

Modern medical analysis suggests Garfield’s wound was not immediately fatal and that he might have survived with proper treatment. However, attending physicians repeatedly probed the wound with unsterilized instruments and fingers, introducing massive infections. Dr. Willard Bliss, who took charge of Garfield’s care, refused to accept Joseph Lister’s antiseptic practices that were gaining acceptance in Europe.

Alexander Graham Bell attempted to locate the bullet using a primitive metal detector of his own invention, but the device was confused by the metal bed springs. Multiple doctors continued invasive examinations without sterile technique, creating a tunnel of infected tissue from Garfield’s back to his groin that ultimately caused his death from sepsis and cardiac arrest.

Guiteau’s trial established important precedents in American jurisprudence regarding the insanity defense. His attorneys argued that his mental illness prevented him from understanding the criminality of his actions, while prosecutors maintained he was legally sane despite his obvious psychological problems. The jury rejected the insanity plea, and Guiteau was executed on June 30, 1882.

The assassination highlighted the primitive state of presidential security and medical practice in the late 19th century, leading to improved protection protocols and contributing to the eventual acceptance of antiseptic surgical techniques in American medicine.