Charles J. Guiteau was a troubled man with a difficult upbringing. His mother and 4 of his 6 siblings all died when he was still a child, and his father instilled religious beliefs into him through physical abuse. Guiteau grew up to be an incredibly unstable man due to his upbringing.
When Guiteau came of age, he became a tax collector, and used this to his advantage by constantly evading taxes. Once a tax collector was sent to him, he began moving across state lines to avoid paying them. Guiteau was a troubled man and never truly lived a stable lifestyle, even when he joined a commune, he was constantly berated because no one liked him.
When all else failed him, Guiteau became interested in politics. Eventually, Guiteau wrote a passage dedicated to Horace Greely, a presidential candidate in 1872, about why Greely should’ve become president. Guiteau believed that if Greely won, he would be indebted to him, and become the “Minister of Chile”, which obviously never came of anything, and Greely lost to Ulysses S. Grant.
In 1880, Guiteau switched his political ideology, and became a stalwart, a faction of the republican party. Again, Guiteau wrote a passage for a presidential candidate, but this time favored for Ulysses S. Grant, still hoping for a consulship. However, James A. Garfield took over the candidacy, and beat both factions, the stalwarts and the half-breeds by a landslide. Realizing this, Guiteau changed his passage to favor Garfield, and read it out to the public, handing out copies whenever and wherever he could.
James A. Garfield of course won this election. In the grand scheme of things, Guiteau had absolutely nothing to do with Garfield’s victory, but he believed that he was the main reason Garfield even won, and believed Garfield was now indebted to him and owed him a consulship. So Guiteau began to write many letters to Garfield about it, trying to get this consulship. When he was ignored, he began to stalk Garfield and the secretary of state James Blaine. He’d intercept the two constantly, continuing to ask about his owed debt. Eventually James Blaine snaps at Garfield, screaming “Never speak to me again on the Paris consulship as long as you live!” (referring to the fact that, other than Chile and Vienna, Guiteau also wanted a consulship in Paris.)
Blaine’s remark enrages Guiteau, causing him to plan an assassination against Garfield. He goes to buy a gun, and gets a gun he thinks would look better in a museum, an ivory grip. He shoots Garfield, who died later of an infection in a hospital. It’s theorized Garfield could have easily survived the incident easily in modern medicine.
Guiteau was sentenced to death, and was hanged 5 months later. During his trial he constantly insulted everyone there, including his own defense team. At his hanging Guiteau recited a written poem beforehand called “I am Going to the Lordy,” which cites God as the reason for the assassination. Guiteau describes himself as the savior of both his party and his land, but laments that his country has murdered him for it, which is told from the perspective of a child. During the hanging the crowd spectating booed and jeered at Guiteau as he read the poem.
As well as many other people in the sources I reviewed, I believe that this man was deranged. It’s likely that he had some sort of mental illness, likely from his abuse from his father. But that’s not an excuse for acting as crazy as this guy did, and it’s especially not an excuse to assassinate a president.
What do you think about this story?
Do you know any interesting facts about Charles J. Guiteau or about James A. Garfield’s presidency?
Replies
Love this topic and you did a greeat job Annelyse!
I think that this story is pretty interseting. I haven't heard much about Charles and James. But I did know that Garfield was killed.
I'm glad you found this story interesting, and I definitely agree with you. There's a lot of little details about this story that just make it extra strange to hear about, Guiteau was a really weird guy, and it's unfortunate it was taken out on Garfield.
I think this is an interesting story, and I haven't heard a lot about Guiteau or Garfield's presidency, other than the fact that Garfield was assisinated. I think Guiteau was definitely deranged due to his upbringing, but like you said, that didn't give him an excuse.
I definitely agree that Guiteau was deranged, and I'm glad that you found it interesting. And, yes, it definitely didn't give him an excuse, there had to have been a lot of mental gymnastics to get to the conclusion that you should assassinate a president over a consulship he wasn't promised to have.
i think the story really explanes a lot of thing with garfields assasination. this story has a lot of interesting this to it. the fact the a main thought he was the soul reason for someone becoming presadint the asassinating him becasue he never got what he wanted is crazy but something that still happens to day.
I'm glad this explained the assassination for you. And I agree that this story is interesting, and that what he did for the reasons he did was crazy. He was a strange person who committed a really strange act of violence against a president.
I have not heard of this story before, but I do think it's very interseting. I don't really know anything about Garfield or Guiteau presidency but I think something like this could happen today because society hasn't changed that much.
I agree with you that this story is interesting. The notion that something like this could happen today is also very interesting. Things like this happen all the time in courthouses, yet not on the same scale as what Guiteau did, assassinating a president.
I don't believe Garfield truly owed Guiteau anything, it was simply Guiteau feeling like he won the presidency for him. I also believe that he may have struggled with mental issues when it came to resorting to violence and extreme harassment.
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