James A. Garfield does not come to mind when I think about great Presidents. Most folks probably don’t think of him at all. He didn’t leave behind a Presidential legacy of great accomplishment. In fact he was only in office a few months. Much of that time was spent on his deathbed.

Still, he’s a fascinating person. And Candice Millard has captured some of that fascinating in her book Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President. It’s a fun book along the lines of an Erik Larson story, weaving the lives of unrelated people into a single thread.

Garfield was raised in deep poverty, but through brilliance and hard work he climbed the socio-economic ladder, became a college president, and later a hero during the Civil War. He was elected to Congress and served many years as a strong voice for reform. The book primarily focuses on his nomination to run for President (which he resisted to the end), his election in 1880, and then his assassination. He lay in bed for months as the doctors did just about everything wrong. Ultimately, the gunshot didn’t kill him — infections from the horrible medical procedures did.

Another thread of the book is the assassin. Charles J. Guiteau was a madman. Millard does a good job developing Guiteau’s unstable personality and long history of odd behavior. Completely delusional, he finally snapped and carried out the assassination of Garfield. Guiteau expected to be a national hero for his act. Instead, he was executed.

Still another thread is, oddly enough, Alexander Graham Bell. When Garfield was shot, the bullet lodged near his spine. The doctors couldn’t find it (because they were looking in the wrong place). Bell got the idea for an early version of an x-ray machine, and he rushed it into production. They used it twice on Garfield without success (again, because the doctors insisted he only search in the wrong area). But the device later proved useful and saved a lot of people.

Another curious thread is Robert Lincoln, son of the President. He was there when his father was assassinated in 1865. And, serving as Secretary of War, he was there when Garfield was shot in 1881. And though the book doesn’t cover this part, Robert Lincoln was there when William McKinley was assassinated in 1901. I have no idea why a President would want that guy around!

Then, of course, the last thread of the book are the doctors who so poorly cared for Garfield. The gunshot wound was not mortal; he should have lived. The doctors poked and prodded him with so many unclean instruments that it’s a wonder he lived as long as he did.

The book is a good story that happens to be true. Well researched, very well written, and an interesting part of our American history that I knew nothing about.