Book Review: 'President Garfield' chronicles short presidency that cast long shadow

Biographer C

Book Review - President Garfield

Writing a book about James Garfield is no easy task. The 20th president who served the second shortest amount of time in the White House is popularly known more for his assassination than what he did in office.

But in “President Garfield: From Radical to Unifier,” C.W. Goodyear admirably remedies that with a book that demonstrates the long shadow Garfield's life and legacy has left our country.

The authoritative biography chronicles the life of a man who, in many ways, was one of the most well-spoken and intellectual men to hold the title of commander-in-chief. Underscoring that, every chapter opens with a different quote from Shakespeare that Garfield jotted down in his diary.

But Goodyear makes the case that Garfield's strength didn't come from showmanship or his speeches — though some of them resonate just as much as Abraham Lincoln's.

With much of the book understandably focusing on Garfield's time in Congress, Goodyear portrays him as someone who “embraced undramatic efficiency in the driest fields of lawmaking imaginable” in a town that attracts its fair share of show horses.

That approach was key in his role in Congress on Reconstruction and his advocacy for education, including as the father of the first Department of Education. The former college president was also a strong advocate for universal education as a solution to racial injustice.

Garfield's short time in the White House still is given the attention it deserves, and that includes the story of his assassination. Though it takes up a briefer section of the biography, Goodyear describes in chilling detail the president's killing as well as the horror show of medical blunders that contributed to his death.

With his engaging writing and comprehensive research, Goodyear's biography offers a reassessment of Garfield that's a welcome introduction to the statesman.