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
I agree with you that Garfield didn't owe Guiteau anything, and it's unfortunate that Garfield had to live most of his presidency under extreme stress because of Guiteau. I also agree with you that Guiteau struggled with mental issues, and it was probably because of his upbringing
I have not heard of this story before, and I do think this it is a very interesting story, Garfield was assesinated by Guiteau just a few months into his presidency, that is pretty crazy.
I agree with you that this story is very interesting, there's a lot of strange details in this story that just make it very odd. And yes, it's unfortunate he was assassinated so early into his presidency, because there was no way to stop it really, there wasn't a way to solve Guiteau's issue soundly.
I think that this is an interesting story. I don't know any interesting facts about President James A. Garfield. But I do know that Charles J. Guiteau wanted revenge for imagined political debt and so he decided to assassinate him to fix what he felt had been wronged.
Indeed! Guiteau was a very strange man, and decided to solve an imagined issue with a very strange way to solve an issue. There's so many more options that he could've done rather than kill a man, like therapy.
I have not heard of this story but I find it very interesting and very unusual. I do not know any interesting facts about Charles J. Guiteau or James A. Garfield's presidency. I don't think that that sort of behavior in the courtroom would ever be aloud in the courtrooms today.
I'm glad you found this story interesting, and I agree with you that this could never happen again today. This was a very very strange occurence to happen in front of a judge no less. And even back then, people still thought this situation was very strange, which can speak numbers.
I agree that this man obviously had some mental issues. I find this story very interesting because he when he read a poem that basically says God gave him reason to assassinate someone. This just goes to show how mentally deranged he was and how he needed help.
I agree with you that this man had some mental issues, and It's very confusing how he used God as an excuse to kill someone. Especially since he grew up christian, and had to understand that isn't what God stood for. Very strange.
I had never heard of this story, but I think it is definitely unusual. I don't know any facts about Garfield's presidency or about Guiteau, but I would look more into this sotry because it is very interesting. I think a lot of what happened could never happen today because of how much society has changed.
-
1
-
2
-
3
of 3 Next