A.V. Club article
What if he had lived and had been able to continue Reconstruction through education, and built the Panama canal early without dismembering Colombia?
Garfield could have been a good president. As Garfield’s own page explains, one of his chief concerns was the plight of African-Americans, since his predecessor Hayes abruptly ended Reconstruction. Garfield gave several prominent political appointments to African-Americans, including Frederick Douglass, and planned a federally funded system of universal public education, which he believed would help former slaves who had been denied any education. The idea was far ahead of its time (as late as 1940, only half of Americans had a high school diploma), but sadly died with Garfield.
So did his ambitious foreign policy, which included a Pan-American conference to settle disputes between nations, a modernized navy, and a canal through Panama. Garfield also made good on his intention to root out civil service corruption, breaking up a graft ring in the former U.S. Post Office Department, and the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act was passed after his death.
What if he had lived and had been able to continue Reconstruction through education, and built the Panama canal early without dismembering Colombia?