It might also delay or even prevent civil service reforms. Garfield was shot by a disgruntled ex-supporter who was denied a patronage position (on the grounds that the position he wanted (ambassador to Austria) was ludicrous compared to his role in the campaign (writing a mediocre stump speech)), which served as a highly visible example of the problems with the already-controversial spoils system and wound up undercutting support for the spoils system enough for civil service reform to pass.
When i first read of the title i thought it was about the cartoon cat...
And yet he has! The world must be run by ASBsASB - no character could survive so long by milking the same crappy jokes, decade after decade. Right?