DBWI-Garfield Assassinated

Soooo, I was wondering what would happen if Charles Giteau had succeeded in assassinating President James Garfield in 1881. What do you think would happen?
 
It might be nice having an earlier President who's dad was an immigrant; might butterfly away a lot of the contoversy surrounding our current incumbent ;)

OOC Note: Changed it in response to posts below
 
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OOC: OK, maybe I was a little harsh on Garfield, but there were some less than encouaging signs -- the Credit Mobilier Scandal, the fact that he only got the nomination after a deadlocked convention (OTL, always a bad sign -- see Pierce, Harding...)

Friends again :eek:

IC: That might have been harsh -- I mean, guy wasn't as bad as Hayes...
 
OOC: OK, maybe I was a little harsh on Garfield, but there were some less than encouaging signs -- the Credit Mobilier Scandal, the fact that he only got the nomination after a deadlocked convention (OTL, always a bad sign -- see Pierce, Harding...)

Friends again :eek:

OOC: He was innocent. And, during his presidency, he took on Conkling and the patronage in the Port of New York.
Friends if you accept the glory of Garfield.
 

Wolfpaw

Banned
Well, things would have been much more difficult for African-Americans. Even though Congress stymied a lot of his efforts, you've at least got to give Garfield credit for trying to help American blacks unlike that coward Hayes, who basically threw them under the bus to nab the White House. Setting up literacy programs for blacks--limited and underfunded though they were--was a huge accomplishment in and of itself, and was arguably one of those education milestones on par with the first steps towards universal education that he took.

His civil service reforms were much needed, and by cutting the legs out from under the Stalwarts Garfield helped to end factionalism within the GOP itself. His focus on helping out farmers led Kirkwood University, which gave us things like crop rotation, manure management, and hybrid seeds, and that was before George Washington Carver became dean! Without Kirkwood, who knows how behind on agriculture we could have been? We might not have discovered those things until the 1920s!

But we've also got to take the Second Utah War into account. The Mormons probably wouldn't have rebelled if Garfield's administration hadn't harassed them so much. And while Forsyth deserves the blame for what happened during and after the Siege of Salt Lake City, the Garfield administration should have cracked down on the army's excesses during the War. The Mormons would have stayed in Utah instead of having their own Diaspora, and the LDS Church might have remained unified.
 
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Garfield did a lot to modernize the Navy. He was considered a "traitor to his class" by other Republicans for being a bimetalist and advocating the end of the Gold Standard. His Secretary of State, James G. Blaine, advocated a Panama Canal and annexation of Hawaii. His Vice President, Chester A. Arthur, was a close ally in Garfield's fight for civil service reform until his death during Garfield's second term in 1886. Garfield is credited with bringing back the "Strong Presidency" and reasserting the independence of the office.

All hail the power of Garfield:
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:D
 
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