Chester Arthur – New York, NY, Providence, RI, & Newport, RI

October & December 2015

Chester A. Arthur
Oil paining by Ole Peter Hansen Balling, 1881
National Portrait Gallery

It is ironic that President Chester Arthur became known as the champion of civil service reform. If you think about it, this was the Gilded Age, where society was all about social acceptance and wealth, whether new money or old money. And it was a society that both Garfield, in the “cottages” on New Jersey’s beaches, and Arthur, in visiting Newport and Providence, R.I., seemed to enjoy. It was a time that was all about who you know, so for them to eliminate a system that was all about who you know is really quite shocking.

Before his presidency, Arthur had been part of New York Senator Roscoe Conkling’s notorious Republican political machine.  At Conkling’s insistence, Arthur, a lawyer and Grant supporter, had been appointed by President Grant to collect customs for the Port of New York in 1871. This was a cushy job that allowed  Arthur and his handpicked staff to collect and pocket lucrative fines on illegal goods seized — a completely legal system called the “moiety system.” He held the position (and made a lot of money) for seven years before being fired by the reform-minded President Rutherford  B. Hayes in 1878. 

When Garfield was shot by a disgruntled office seeker,  the mood of Congress was sympathetic to reform. And so was Vice President Chester Arthur. 

Arthur was blamed by many for Garfield’s assignation.  Recall that as he fired the shots into Garfield’s back, the crazed assassin, Charles Guiteau, had shouted, “I am a Stalwart … Arthur is president!” 

During Garfield’s months-long death watch, Arthur hunkered down in his five-story brownstone at 125 Lexington Ave. in New York City.  He stayed away from Washington, so as not to appear overly eager to claim the presidency.  (The Constitution was actually silent on when the president could no longer perform his duties.)

As Garfield held on after the shooting, a 32-year-old stranger named Julia Sand wrote Arthur letters of encouragement. Overall, she sent him 32 letters. In one she wrote:  “If there is a spark of true nobility in you, now is the occasion to let it shine. Faith in your better nature forces me to write to you … Do what is more difficult & brave. Reform!” 

And reform he did.

When Garfield finally succumbed to his infectious wounds on Sept. 19, 1881, a local judge, John Brady, was woken in the middle of the night. At 2:15 a.m. on Sept. 20, Judge Brady swore Arthur in as the 21^st President of the United States in Arthur’s New York brownstone.

During that Lame Duck session of 1882, the Republican-controlled Congress passed the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, which said that civil servants were to be appointed based on ability rather than political favoritism.  Although it initially affected only 10-20 percent of the federal workforce, the tide had turned.  Arthur, once the puppet of Stalwart Roscoe Conkling, signed the bill on Jan. 16, 1883.

* * *

Arthur's old home today.

The Chester Arthur Spice Palace is full to the brim with spices and food from around the world. Spin around in any direction and you’ll see dried apricots, Turkish figs, nuts, jams, pots & pans, and aisles and aisles of spices.  There are, no lie, at least 100 types of curry.

Thousands of spices!

Better known as Kalustyan’s, a Middle Eastern specialist spice store and deli, Chester Arthur lived in this brownstone at 125 Lexington Ave. from 1853 until his middle-of-the-night oath of office on Sept. 20, 1881.

The plaque outside 125 Lexington Ave.

Tom visited Kalustyan’s twice, once in November following a tasty dinner at Penelope’s (159 Lexington Ave.) with his early 30s nieces, Julia and Andrea Bartz, and again a month later with Cathy and our friend Jenine Zimmers prior to a savory Indian dinner at Chote Nawab (115 Lexington Ave.).

The only indication that Arthur lived here is a bronze plaque protected by a plastic cover mounted on the outside wall.  It states in part that “Here on September 20, 1881, at 2:15 a.m., Chester Alan Arthur took his oath of office as the 21^st President of the United States upon the death of President James A. Garfield, killed by a disgruntled office seeker.”

Side note: The building was also once the home of publishing legend William Randolph Hearst.

Calvery Episcopal Church
where Arthur was married.

This part of New York was Arthur’s stomping ground.  He married 22-year old Ellen Lewis Herndon, known as Nell, at the nearby Calvary Episcopal Church.  He strolled in nearby Madison Square Park.  He held meetings at upscale Delmonico’s, which has since moved.

On our second visit to New York, we walked to the Calvary Episcopal Church. In the dark, it was brown and imposing.  It was closed for the night, but looked ornate and very Gothic.

We also walked to his favorite park, Madison Square Park, where today a statue of Arthur stands at the northeast corner on 26^th Street.

When we visited, the park was decorated in strings of white lights for Christmas. The park also features an outdoor Shake Shack, where you can order burgers and sit outside, and enjoy nature or people-watching. 

Madison Square Park today

But in Arthur’s day, Madison Square Park

Madison Square Park
in Arthur's day

had a different look and feel.  For one thing, the park displayed the arm and torch of the Statue of Liberty for six years as funds were being raised to complete the statue.  And it wouldn’t have been green.  Unoxidized copper is, well, copper-colored. 

Another difference is that the nearby streets were likely louder and more boisterous than today.  Jack Finney, author of the novel, Time and Again, asks us to imagine the shear noise of 1880s New York with tens of thousands of horse-drawn vehicles.   “Nearly every vehicle had four wheels and every wheel was wrapped in iron that smashed and rang against the cobbles, every horse had iron-shod hoof that did the same … Wheels clattered, wood groaned, chains rattled, leather creaked, whips cracked against horseflesh, men shouted and cursed, and no street I’ve every seen of the twentieth century made even half that brain-numbing sound.”

* * *

Arthur was just one of the presidents of the Gilded Age.  The moniker, the Gilded Age, was coined by Mark Twain and Charles Warner, who co-wrote the eponymous novel in 1873. The book described the get-rich-quick sprit of the age as well as the political corruption of the time.  It was said that a thin veneer of gold covered the corrupt political and economic system.

Although written during the administration of Grant, the novel came to represent the period from about 1870-1900.  It was a time of vast inequities in wealth — about 1 percent of the population owned 90 percent of the country’s wealth — much like today.

And much like today, anti-immigrant feeling was rampant.  The 250,000 Chinese, who had been enticed to labor on the multitude of railroads worked hard for low pay were resented.  They were subject to discrimination, beatings and lynchings. Congress compounded the injustice by passing the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 that barred new Chinese immigration and stipulated that any Chinese already in the United States would need to live in the country for at least 20 years before they were eligible to become citizens.  The Chinese were also restricted on re-entering the United States if they left the country for any reason. To his credit, Arthur refused to sign the bill. Congress then changed the time from 20 to 10 years and Arthur felt compelled to sign.

So this shiny gild covering the country’s dirt enticed us to visit the city that most embodied the Gilded Age: Newport, R.I. In mid-December, we flew into Providence early on a Saturday morning (very early, with a 7 a.m. flight) and headed north to the Squantum Club, on the Providence River. Arthur visited the club for a clambake — a very popular social event in New England. 

The Squantum Club

The Squantum Club complex features a beautiful four-story colonial called the Clubhouse. It’s a buttercream yellow, with ornate gingerbread decorations and stained glass adorning it. Unfortunately, you have to be a member and it was closed, so we could not go inside. But the virtual tour on its website shows, as we imagined, dark wood interiors, big fireplaces and general coziness. It also features a circular, enclosed addition in the back, with almost ceiling to floor windows, jutting out onto the rocks overlooking the water — with a deck on top. The view is bucolic, looking west down the river, with a small cove surrounded by trees and plants.

However, it wasn't built until 1899-1900. Arthur would have visited its predecessor, the "Brick House," which according to the Squantum Association's website was described by a newspaper in 1879 as: "A building part Swiss chalet, part Norwegian satyr, part Chinese pagoda, with a blood red roof and walls whitened to a dazzle."

The association has a complex of buildings, with a restaurant built on Squantum Point. We didn’t like this building as much, since it looked so new and sterile, although it was originally built in 1899. There also is a bike path along a set of old, unused railroad ties that cuts through the complex and along the river. We walked along it for a bit to enjoy the view.

The Elms
($82M in today's dollars)

Then off to Newport, the playground of the rich. This is where the elite built their summer “cottages,” along the breezy Atlantic Ocean, to get away from the stifling New York summers. The cottages are not cottages — they are mansions. Giant, ornate mansions designed in the latest fashions and which resemble Versailles and other European palaces. For perspective, it cost $3 million in 1901 to build the Elms for coal baron Edward Julius Berwin. $3 million in 1901 is $82 million today (2016). For a house that would be lived in for 8-12 weeks a year.

The Newport Casino - then

Arthur visited Newport at the same time that he visited Providence. But because he did not attend their clambake, the Newport social set (headed by the Vanderbilts and Astors) were quite annoyed with him. They didn’t realize that he was very sick with a kidney infection, so could not muster attending the Newport clambake.

The Newport Casino - now

The clambake was at the Newport Casino, now the home of the International Tennis Hall of Fame. The casino was not a modern-day casino with gambling, however; a casino back then was a social club where society came to play lawn tennis and hold parties and other social gatherings. The casino featured shops along Newport's famed Bellevue Avenue (address for many of the "cottages"), a restaurant, archery, billiards, croquet and lawn bowling as well as tennis. Newport residents also could enjoy dancing, reading, theater and tea parties. Men and women dressed in their finest strolled the grounds, chatting and sipping tea. The mahogany-colored shingled complex surrounded them, a grand clock looking down on them from a turret.

* * *

After his single term in office, Arthur retreated back to the Spice House.  He died only a year and a half later from kidney disease. He was only 57 years old.  He had never wanted to be president and had never run for a political office prior to his nomination as Garfield’s vice president. 

Arthur admirably exceeded expectations that had accompanied his unexpected presidency.  Karabell (2004) says that “Arthur is certainly among the most honorable chief executives the country has seen …. Arthur reformed the bureaucracy.”

Directions

Kalustyan’s is located at 125 Lexington Ave. in New York City.   Look for the plaque on the outside wall.   https://www.kalustyans.com/

The Squantum Club is located at 947 Veterans Memorial Parkway, East Providence, R.I. 02915.  Tours can be arranged.  http://www.squantumassociation.com/

The Newport Casino is located at 150 Admiral Kalbfus Rd, Newport, R.I. 02840.  There is no charge to walk the ground.

The Elms is located at 367 Bellevue Ave, Newport, RI 02840.  The audio tour is wonderful.  http://www.newportmansions.org/explore/the-elms

References

Current, R.N., Williams, T.H., Freidel, F.  1975.  American History:  A Survey.  Fourth Edition.  Volume II.  Alfred A. Knopf.  New York, NY.

Finney, J.  1970.  Time and Again.  Time & Schuster.  New York, NY.

Karabell, Z.  2004.  Chester Alan Arthur.  The American Presidents Series.  Times Books.  New York, NY.

McKithan, Cecil.  1978.  National Register of Historic Places Inventory – Nomination Form.  January 1978.

Millard, C.  2011.  Destiny of the Republic:  A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President.  Anchor Books.  New York, NY.

Soodalter, R.  By Soil or By Blood.  American History.  pp.  56-63.

Twain, Mark & Dudley, Charles Warner.  1873.  The Gilded Age:  A Tale of Today.   Penguin Book.  New York, NY.

Videos

History Channel.  2005.  The Presidents:  The Lives and Legacies of the 43 Leaders of the United States.

Websites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilded_Age

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Exclusion_Act

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Sand

http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/presidents/chester_arthur_house.html

http://www.squantumassociation.com/

http://www.madisonsquarepark.org/about-the-park/park-history

James A. Garfield – Long Branch, New Jersey - October 24, 2015

Plate Bearing Garfield's Likeness
(Courtesy of Long Branch Free Public Library)

James A. Garfield never intended to be president. 

 But on the cusp of the 1880 Republican nomination, he was surprised to hear his name announced as one of the candidates. Rep. Garfield had come to Exposition Hall in Chicago as part of the Ohio Delegation, and he was to give a speech nominating John Sherman, brother of Civil War hero Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman.  John Sherman was a Republican “Half-Breed.”  The Half-Breeds opposed the political spoils system and favored reconciling the North with the South.  (The moniker, Half-Breed, was a derisive term meaning that these people were not full Republicans, similar to today’s RINO nickname — Republicans In Name Only.)  The better-known Half-Breed was James G. Blaine, another candidate. 

The Half-Breeds were opposed by the “Stalwarts,” that faction of the Republican Party that supported the status quo patronage system of awarding coveted government slots as favors, and opposed reconciliation with the Southern states.  The Stalwarts were represented by former President, Ulysses.S. Grant, who was taking another run at the Presidency.

Garfield’s nominating speech had electrified some of the delegates on the first day of the convention. But then the nominating process turned into a two-day slog with no clear front runner. As support for Grant and then Blaine waned, Garfield’s name was introduced on the 34^th ballot.  Garfield was nominated on ballot number 36.

For Garfield, it was a huge step up for someone who worked on a canal boat in Ohio in his youth. Later, he worked his way through Williams College as a janitor, but he was so intellectually gifted that he was made an assistant professor teaching Greek, Latin, literature and math to the younger students. By the time he was 26, he was named president of the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute. He left the Institute to serve in the Union Army, where he helped win the battle of Middle Creek, Kentucky. And finally, Garfield was elected to Congress in 1862 where he was an advocate for improving the lives of blacks. (Fun fact:  Garfield would skip out on Congress to watch baseball games.)

Following Garfield’s nomination, the convention named Chester A. Arthur as the vice presidential candidate, a move to placate the Stalwarts. Recall that Arthur, an ardent Stalwart, had been ignominiously fired from his powerful post as the collector at the New York Customhouse by Rutherford B. Hayes.

The general election pitted Garfield against Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock, a hero at the Battle of Gettysburg. Like today, the country was quite polarized and was still in recovery from the Civil War.  The Democrats were mostly in the South and the Republicans mostly in the North.  Although Garfield squeaked by on the popular vote — 10,000 out of 9.2 million votes cast — he comfortably won the electoral vote 214-155.

When he entered office, Garfield continued Hayes’ policy of reforming government service and pushed back against the Stalwarts who wanted political influence in civil service. This pushback would indirectly cost him his life.

* * *

Because he had given a small speech supporting Garfield’s candidacy, a 39-year-old nobody named Charles Guiteau felt that he had contributed to Garfield’s victory — and he wanted a cushy job in return. He went to Washington and hounded Garfield’s staff for an ambassadorship, but they put him off as they did most other job seekers. Eventually Guiteau gave up in disgust and decided to kill Garfield. He bought a gun, a .442 caliber Webley British Bulldog revolver with ivory grips, and began hanging out at Lafayette Park directly across the street from the White House.

Garfield shot!
(Source:  Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper)

On July 2, 1881, Garfield and James Blaine, now his secretary of state, went to the Baltimore & Potomac train station not far from the White House. In those days presidents went about their business unprotected; the general thinking was that Lincoln’s assassination 20 years prior was a one-time event caused by the extreme emotions of the Civil War. Because the trip was reported in the newspapers, Guiteau was able to wait at the station for Garfield. When Garfield appeared, Guiteau walked up behind an unsuspecting Garfield, raised his gun and fired twice. One bullet lodged in Garfield’s arm and another near his spine. Guiteau shouted, “I am a Stalwart …Arthur is president!” 

* * *

Since Garfield was president for only four months before he was shot, not many landmarks are devoted to him.

We thought we would visit the Washington train station where he was shot, but then learned that it’s gone (it was on what is now the National Mall), so instead we decided to head to Long Branch, N.J.

It was there that Garfield vacationed for many summers and where he wanted to go to try to recuperate from the shooting with some fresh ocean air, as well as escape the malaria that was plaguing Washington.

His wife, Lucretia, had contracted malaria in May and had escaped to the Jersey shore. But after he was shot, she came back to Washington to try to nurse him back to health.

Before she got sick, she had hosted a reception at the White House. Guiteau was one of the guests. He had planned to kill Garfield at the train station when Lucretia was heading for New Jersey, but she looked so sick that Guiteau postponed the assassination so she wouldn’t have to witness her husband being killed.

Instead, he waited until July 2, 1881 when she was away. 

* * *

After he was shot, Garfield was taken to the White House bedroom. But his doctors did not know how to treat him. His primary doctor, Willard Bliss, sought the missing bullet by probing Garfield’s wound with unsterilized equipment including actually digging into his wound with his unwashed fingers. (Although Joseph Lister had proven that sterilization was effective in limiting infections, the process was cumbersome and not yet widely practiced.) 

America’s inventors were called upon to help. Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, had invented a metal detector that he believed could locate the missing bullet. But his machine was not successful. To cool the president, several inventors proposed air conditioning machines.  The best design was John Wesley Powell’s, but it increased humidity and was noisy.

Garfield’s heath declined over the next weeks. His weight plummeted from 180 to 135 pounds. Yet his good nature didn’t waver. He bore his suffering with good humor, grace and gratitude to the people supporting him. He continually worried about the well being of his caretakers and his family. 

On September 6, Garfield was delicately carried aboard a specially outfitted train to travel to his favorite spot on the ocean: Long Branch, New Jersey. Trains passing the president’s train were directed not to blow whistles lest they disturb him. Thousands of people watched the passing train. It was almost like a funeral procession, but Garfield lived. 

Garfield’s doctors were concerned that once he reached Long Branch, he would not be able to make the 0.6-mile trip from the train station to the cottage on the beach. So the residents of Long Branch built tracks from the station to the cottage so that the train could take him directly there. They finished the tracks in less than 24 hours, just in time for his arrival.

But Garfield continued to weaken.

On the night of September 19^th, Garfield complained of chest pains and fell unconscious. Within 15 minutes he was dead. As reported in the New York Times, “Mrs. Garfield sat in a chair shaking convulsively, and with the tears pouring down her cheeks, but uttering no sound. After awhile she arose, and taking hold of her dead husband's arm, smoothed it up and down.”

* * *

After Garfield’s body was taken back to Washington, the tracks were taken apart. A local actor bought the ties and had a contractor build a “tea hut” with them.

The tea hut is why we drove three and a half hours to Long Branch.

It was a gray and cloudy October day, with the leaves brilliant hues of red and yellow. It was a chilly 56 degrees, especially along the Atlantic Ocean, where the wind was blustery.

Elberon, NJ Train Station

We first drove to the Elberon train station (Elberon is a section of Long Branch), a commuter stop with two platforms that was desolate and locked up on a Saturday afternoon. The station has been rebuilt since Garfield’s time, but it’s in the same location.

Across the parking lot was the Elberon branch library, a cute, wood-shingled, one-story library.  It was closing for the day, but not before librarian Linda told us there was a plaque commemorating the location of where Garfield died, about a half-mile from the library.

She gave us directions and pointed out that the plaque was hard to find. We drove down Lincoln Avenue, across Ocean Avenue to Garfield Road, which makes a horseshoe with Garfield Terrace.  We drove around the two Garfield roads twice, but could not find it. Finally, we saw a brick column that had cement on it, but it was crumbling and there was no inscription on it. We figured it had fallen apart from disrepair over the years, so we moved on.

The Tea Hut

The tea hut is almost directly across the street from the Garfield roads. Unfortunately, it is behind a tall, chain link fence on the property of the Church of the Presidents, which is undergoing a major renovation, so we could see it only from the street.

Originally red, white and blue, it is now purple with a white roof. The Church of the Presidents web site says the tea hut’s owner hosted tea parties in it, but it looks so small only kids would be able to enter.

The hut was moved several times until its present location on the church property, which is now a museum. It’s also directly across from the Atlantic Ocean, although you can’t get to the ocean there because the beach is lined with expensive, fenced homes and beach clubs.

Church of the Presidents

Still, the Church of the Presidents was a happy discovery we had found when researching the tea hut. Seven presidents, mostly during the Gilded Age, visited the seaside town and the swanky hotels and “cottages” – much like those in famed Newport, Rhode Island – during the summer in their efforts to escape Washington’s now-infamous heat and humidity. Some visited more than others, several stayed at hotels, while others stayed at friends’ homes.

The presidents were: Hayes, Grant, Garfield, Chester Arthur, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley and Woodrow Wilson, with Grant the first president to visit, in 1869. Wilson stayed at a home called Shadow Lawn, which was destroyed by fire in 1927. That house was replaced two years later by what is now called Woodrow Wilson Hall, the main building at Monmouth University. The building is reminiscent of the Breakers, the Vanderbilts’ historic cottage (a mansion, really) in Newport. Wilson announced his candidacy for president at the house, according to Long Branch historian Janice Grant. But we get ahead of ourselves.

Lunch!

Librarian Linda also had told us about a bigger library, with longer hours and a local history room, so we wanted to stop in.

But first, lunch. We were starving.  (Yes, Dad, another description of a lunch.)

We found Brennan’s Delicatessen, away from the ocean. Tom noticed it as we drove by, looking for cute and inviting spots. We were not disappointed. It was crowded for mid-afternoon and had a delicious-sounding selection of sandwiches, wraps and soups. The deli counter had a bunch of tasty-looking salads, and a separate coffee area offered freshly baked cookies and brownies and other confections. Tom chose the turkey sandwich with cranberry sauce on a multi-grain sub roll, while Cathy went with the chicken pot pie, more fitting for a gray day that was getting colder by the hour. Both were delicious  — and huge.

After wrapping up our leftovers, we hunted down Long Branch Free Public Library (http://www.longbranchlib.org), where we interrupted Janice Grant in the local history room eating her lunch. However, once she knew what we were doing, she was very helpful and told us all types of fun things.

Cottage Where President Garfield Spent His Last Days
(Courtesy of Long Branch Free Public Library)

The history room is to the left when you enter the library. It’s lined with shelves, with a row of books on the presidents who summered in the town, a photo of Garfield and folders full of photos and news clippings of the presidents. We went through the Garfield folder, which had clippings both recent and not so recent discussing his legacy as well as some photos and artists’ renderings.

The shelves also have a row devoted to rock ’n’ roll, specifically Bruce Springsteen, who was born there.

Janice has a fairly large desk on the opposite side of the room, a tall bookshelf behind her is full of projects that she is working on.

Janice Grant was extremely helpful.

After we had picked her brain, she directed us to a Garfield statue by the ocean and gave us a much better description of where the Grant plaque on Garfield Road or Terrace is, including showing us a photo of the plaque so we knew exactly what to look for.

We headed down Broadway, across Ocean Avenue, to the Ocean Plaza hotel, where we parked on a side street and walked to the boardwalk. The boardwalk there is relatively new and withstood Hurricane Sandy in 2012, unlike a more southern section, which was wiped out and finally rebuilt this summer.

Garfield gazing upon the New Jersey shore.

Between the hotel and the ocean, jutting out from the boardwalk is a bronze statue of Garfield, flanked by granite columns commemorating the other six presidents who visited the city. They are in much better shape than the Garfield statue; time has taken a toll on the inscription on the foundation and it was difficult to read.

We didn’t stay long since the wind along the shore was quite blustery and cold. Cathy quickly nixed her original plan to walk along the beach a bit, maybe even dip her toes in the water. She had even brought flip-flops for the occasion. The beach looked uninviting, with lots of whitecaps and gray skies.  The palm trees lining the sand didn’t even look happy. “Poor palm trees,” Tom said.

We hurried back to the car, out of the wind, and back down Ocean Avenue to the Garfield roads, once again in search of the elusive plaque.

How did we miss this?

Commemorative Plaque

Now that we knew what we were looking for, we quickly found it in front of a hedge in front of a stucco, Spanish-tiled-roofed house along the ocean. It looks like a headstone and was flanked by two small American flags. I understand how we missed it, though we should have seen the flags the first two times. The plaque reads:

James A. Garfield

Twentieth president of

the United States

Born Nov. 19, 1831 at Orange, Ohio

Died on this site, Sept. 19, 1891

“It’s like a treasure hunt,” Tom said. “We talk to people, we get more clues, we learn more.”

Epilogue

After he read our blog, Tom’s father asked: “But what happened with Guiteau? Did they punish him, or just gave him an ambassadorship?”

So here’s the story.

Guiteau was tried for Garfield’s murder.  His main defense was that he had indeed shot Garfield but that the doctors had killed him by probing Garfield’s wounds without sterilization.  Guiteau was found guilty and hanged on June 30, 1882.  He recited a poem just before he was hanged.  The consensus in later years was that Guiteau was insane and should have been committed.  A portion of his brain is at the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia.

Directions

Long Branch, NJ is at the end of Highway 36 on the New Jersey shore between Monmouth Beach to the north and Asbury Park to the south.

References

Current, R.N., T.H. Williams, and F. Freidel.  1975.  American History:  A Survey.  Fourth Edition.  Volume II:  Since 1865.  Alfred A. Knopf.  New York, NY.

Karabell, Z.  2004.  Chester Alan Arthur.  The American Presidents Series.  Times Books.  New York, NY.

Millard, C.  2011.  Destiny of the Republic:  A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President.  Anchor Books.  New York, NY.

New York Times.  1883.  The President Dead.  September 19, 1883.

Riccards, M. P.  1995.  The Ferocious Engine of Democracy:  A History of the American Presidency.  Volume 1.  Madison Books.  Lanham, Maryland.

Seale, W.  1986.  The President’s House:  A History.  Vol. 1. White House Historical Organization, Washington, DC.

Videos

History Channel.  2005.  The Presidents:  The Lives and Legacies of the 43 Leaders of the United States.

Websites

https://garfieldnps.wordpress.com/2012/07/29/long-branch-new-jersey-the-resort-town-that-hosted-president-garfield/

http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/guiteau/guiteauimages.html

http://www.u-s-history.com/

http://history.house.gov/People/Other-Office/President/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_A._Garfield

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_J._Guiteau

www.firstladies.org