WI: James Garfield Lives

Inspired by the latest Rate the President post in Chat what would have happened if President James Garfield's assassin either failed to kill the President or never gets the opportunity, allowing Garfield to actually serve his term in office.

What would happen in a Garfield administration? Garfield himself was committed to civil service reform and was one of the most well-educated presidents in US history showing quite a bit of potential. What impact would he have on the Gilded Age and beyond?
 

Gaius Julius Magnus

Gone Fishin'
I don't think Garfield living would have seen much Civil Service Reform passage as his assassination was done via a man who identified with the stalwart faction of the Republican Party and so it made his successor, Chester Arthur rather in the rush to pass civil service reform. In addition being a member of the Stalwart faction gave him the political cover to actually get Civil Service reform passed, similar to how only LBJ could pass Civil Rights Act or only Nixon could go to China.

He did look to reform and update the navy, which was becoming quite out of date by the time he was elected, which was also something Arthur got underway.

However we might have seen some better civil right's protections of the blacks in the south, as Garfield was a noted abolitionist and advocated for black voting rights even when that was unpopular with abolitionists before the war. He was appalled by the denial of black voting rights when he visited Louisiana so given the political realities of the time, Garfield may have tried to get some laws passed that protected black citizens.

In addition if he were to have a relatively successful presidency, he might be able to get re-elected in 1884 rather than James G. Blaine getting the nomination thus possibly butterflying away the Cleveland presidency, at least the first one.
 
Garfield was in favor of civil service reform--but Hayes had been as well, and nothing came of it, because there was to much opposition in Congress. It took Garfield's shooting to galvanize Congress on the issue. So if he isn't shot, I don't know whether he can get it enacted.

Will Garfield win a second term in 1884? Maybe--but no Gilded Age president between Grant and McKinley won two consecutive terms, so it's hardly certain.
 
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