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Over many years, the descendants of President Garfield discussed openly about his remarkable life but avoided talking about his tragic assassination. “We knew what had happened, that he was assassinated in a railway depot,” explains one of his living relatives. “We studied the story in publications but, in one way or another, we just glanced over it.”

Renewed Attention in a Historical Figure

This changed in 2011 with the issuing of Destiny of the Republic, which revived interest in Garfield's unfinished life. The book has now led to a Netflix drama titled Death by Lightning, starring a talented performer as the president and Matthew Macfadyen as the drifter who shot him.

The series seeks to highlight Garfield, who rose from poverty to the highest office during the historical period only to fall victim to its toxic political divisions. His time in office was truncated after only several months not only by the assassin's bullet but by physician mistakes – an event now mostly overlooked while the deaths of Abraham Lincoln and John F Kennedy continue to intrigue the public.

“It's impossible not to respect what he did. He was incredibly versatile: he was a lawyer, he was a preacher, he was a agriculturalist. He was multiple professions which also shaped who he was and his behavior and all the information about him the family carries down with us.”

From Humble Beginnings to the White House

Garfield was the last president born in a log cabin in Cuyahoga County in 1831. His father died when he was 18 months old, leaving his parent, Eliza, to raise five children in difficult circumstances. An voracious learner, Garfield worked on canal boats to earn money for an formal learning.

He learned legal principles, was became a preacher, became president of Hiram College in Ohio and was a government official. In 1858 he entered matrimony with a educational contemporary, Lucretia Rudolph, with whom he would have a large family. An ardent Unionist, Garfield viewed the national conflict as a moral battle against forced servitude and rose to the officer status.

“As I studied his life, I couldn't believe it. He was remarkably smart. He was fearless. He was ahead of his time for the period. He was caring. He was a decent human being and would have been one of our great presidents had he remained alive.”

Public Life and Surprise Candidacy

Garfield was encouraged by President Lincoln to resign his military commission when he was selected to the Congress, where he would work as a political representative for nearly two decades. He was dedicated proponent of black suffrage, viewing it as a question of fairness and the fulfillment of a military promise.

“The speech he gave on the legislative arena will move you deeply. He was an incredibly powerful orator and this issue was very important to him.”

At the party gathering in Chicago the political organization was deeply divided between the “political group”, led by Senator Roscoe Conkling, who supported a third term for Ulysses S Grant, and the “opposing faction”, who supported James G Blaine. Garfield attended as a advocate of his friend and fellow Ohioan John Sherman.

When the huge assembly was stalled between Grant and Blaine, representatives began searching for a middle ground. Garfield's emotional address proposing Sherman won them over. During the speech, he reportedly exclaimed, “And now, representatives, what do we want?” to which a audience member unexpectedly replied, “We want Garfield!”

On the 36th ballot, a rush of supporters made Garfield the unexpected candidate. To appease the Stalwart faction, Chester Arthur, a political ally from New York, was chosen as his second in command. In the presidential race Garfield overcame the Democratic nominee to become the unique incumbent of the House ever to be elected president.

Truncated Term and Power Struggles

“His possible achievements and what is extremely rare and maybe special for the American presidency is he hadn't campaigned aggressively. It's not that he had completely dismissed it but he was forced into the role.”

The major battle of Garfield's short presidency was his clash with Conkling over the “political favors”. Conkling insisted on authority over federal patronage in New York, particularly the powerful and lucrative post of Collector of the Port of New York. Garfield rejected, stating the issue was “whether the president is registering clerk of the senate or the presidential authority”. He proposed a opponent of Conkling to the post.

The conflict turned into a public battle but Garfield outmaneuvered Conkling in the Senate. Experiencing a public failure, Conkling and his junior senator quit Congress in protest. The next day, Garfield's candidate was ratified. It was a landmark victory for the presidential control over the faction system and for the improvement efforts over “boss rule”.

The Gunman and His Disturbed Mind

But even as Garfield fought powerful figures of his party, he was being followed by a psychologically troubled person who exemplified the dark side of the political appointment process. The assassin was a wanderer with a background of occupational setbacks, mental instability and early life difficulties. He had failed as a lawyer, debt recovery agent, preacher and member of a unconventional group.

“He was mentally ill and his unique form of delusion was false belief. He always believed that divine selection for importance. He actually had superior economic background than Garfield but where Garfield succeeded and advanced, Guiteau failed at everything.”

But Guiteau believed he had at last discovered a route to achievement: politics. Swept up in the excitement of the presidential race, he prepared and gave an unimportant address, and became certain in his thoughts that he was single-handedly responsible for Garfield's victory.

Under this thinking, Guiteau determined he had merited a high-level government job. He travelled to Washington and continuously bothered Garfield, Blaine and other leaders, demanding to be made the diplomatic representative — a position for which he had zero qualifications. He became such a annoyance that he was eventually banned from the White House.

The Shooting and Doctor Errors

On that fateful day, just four months into his presidency, Garfield was traveling from DC for his alumni event. As he moved through the Baltimore & Potomac Railroad station, Guiteau stepped from the shadows, produced an ivory-handled British Bull Dog revolver from his jacket and shot the president twice in the back.

Garfield exclaimed: “What's happening?” and collapsed on the waiting area. When a {police officer|law