Chester Alan Arthur (October 5, 1829 – November 18, 1886) served as 21st President of the United States. Arthur was a member of the Republican Party and worked as a lawyer before becoming the 20th Vice President in the administration of James Garfield. Garfield was shot by Charles Guiteau, a disgruntled office seeker, on July 2, 1881. Garfield died on September 19, and Arthur became President, serving until 1885.
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Chester Arthur - A Quarter Century of Machine Politics - George Frederick Howe - 1987
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Before entering national politics, Arthur had been Collector of Customs for the Port of New York. He was appointed by President Ulysses Grant but was fired by Grant's successor, Rutherford Hayes, under (false) suspicion of bribery and corruption because he was part of the Tammany Hall political machine. His notable achievements in office as President included civil service reform and the passage of the Pendleton Act. Arthur is also remembered as one of the most society-conscious presidents, earning the nickname "the Gentleman Boss" for his style of dress and courtly manner, and was widely popular by the time he left office; in fact, not one but four young women (ignorant of Arthur's pronouncement that he would never marry again) proposed to him on the day he left office. He was also sometimes called "Elegant Arthur" for his commitment to fashionable attire. He was said to have "looked like a president". He kept 80 pairs of pants in his wardrobe, and changed pants several times a day. He was called "Chet" by family and friends. Interestingly, Arthur pronounced his middle name, Alan, with the stress on the second syllable -- "Al-AN."
President Chester Arthur biography
Arthur was born in the town of Fairfield in Franklin County, Vermont on October 5, 1829 (although he told people that he was born in 1830). Political rivals long circulated the rumor that he had been born in Canada rather than in Vermont, hoping to create doubts as to his eligibility for American public office. The truth, however, was simply that Arthur was born near the Canadian border. His parents were William Arthur and Malvina Stone.
He attended the public schools and was graduated from Union College, Schenectady, New York, in 1848. He became principal of an academy in North Pownal, Vermont in 1851. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1854, and commenced practice in New York City, supporting equal rights for blacks who objected to the segregation of city transportation. He also took an active part in the reorganization of the New York State militia.
Arthur married Ellen "Nell" Lewis Herndon on October 25, 1859. In 1860, the couple had a son, William Lewis Herndon Arthur, who was named after Mrs. Arthur's father. William Lewis died at age two of a brain disorder. Another boy, Chester Alan Arthur II, was born in 1864, and a girl, named Ellen Herndon for her mother, in 1871. Ellen Lewis Herndon Arthur died of pneumonia on January 12, 1880, at the age of 42, 10 months before Arthur was elected Vice President. While in the White House, Arthur would not give anyone the place that would have been his wife's. He asked his sister Mary (Mrs. John E. McElroy) to assume certain social duties and help care for his daughter.
During the Civil War, Arthur served as acting quartermaster general of the state in 1861 and was widely praised for his service. He was later commissioned as inspector general, and appointed quartermaster general with the rank of Brigadier General, and served until 1862. He resumed the practice of law in New York City. With the help of Arthur's patron and political boss Roscoe Conkling, Arthur was appointed by President Ulysses Grant as Collector of the port of New York from 1871 to 1878.
This was an extremely lucrative and powerful position at the time, and several of Arthur's predecessors had run afoul of the law while serving as Collector. Honorable in his personal life and his public career, Arthur nevertheless was a firm believer in the spoils system even as it was coming under vehement attack from reformers. He insisted upon honest administration of the Customs House, but staffed it with more employees than it really needed, retaining some for their loyalty as party workers rather than for their skill as public servants.
In 1878 President Rutherford Hayes, attempting to reform the Customs House, ousted Arthur, who resumed the practice of law in New York City. Conkling and his followers tried to win redress by fighting for the renomination of Grant at the 1880 Republican Convention. Failing in that, they reluctantly accepted the nomination of Arthur for the Vice Presidency.
Arthur was elected Vice President of the United States on the Republican ticket with President James Garfield for the term beginning March 4, 1881. Upon the assassination of President Garfield, Arthur became President of the United States on September 19, 1881 and was sworn in September 20th.
Vice Presidency
In 1878, Grant's successor, Rutherford Hayes attempted to reform the Customs House. He ousted Arthur, who resumed the practice of law in New York City. Conkling and his followers tried to win back power by the renomination of Grant for a third term at the 1880 Republican National Convention, but it was not to be. Grant and James G. Blaine deadlocked, and after 36 ballots, the convention turned to dark horse James A. Garfield, a long time Congressman and General in the Civil War.
Knowing the election would be close, Garfield's people began asking a number of Stalwarts if they would accept the second spot. Levi P. Morton, on Conkling's advice, refused, but Arthur accepted, telling his furious leader, "This is a higher honor than I have ever dreamt of attaining. I shall accept!"
Conkling and his Stalwart supporters reluctantly accepted the nomination of Arthur as vice president.
Arthur worked hard raising money for his and Garfield's election, but it was still a close thing, with the Garfield-Arthur ticket receiving a nationwide plurality of less than ten thousand votes.
After the election, Conkling began making demands of Garfield as to appointments, and the Vice President-elect supported his longtime patron against his new boss. According to Ira Rukow's recent biography of Garfield, the new President quickly grew to hate Arthur, and wouldn't even let him into the White House.
After a very nasty political battle between Garfield and Conkling resulted in the latter's resigation, Arthur went back to New York City to wait out the time before Congress resumed in December. Then, on July 2, 1881,President Garfield was shot in the back by Charles Guiteau, who famously screamed at the top of his lungs: "I am a Stalwart and ARTHUR IS PRESIDENT!!" Chet Arthur, who knew nothing of this in advance, was naturally mortified.(Barzman's "Madmen and Geniuses" Barzman 1974)
Presidency
Avoiding old political cronies, Arthur determined to go his own way once in the White House. He became a man of fashion in his garb and associates, and often was seen with the elite of Washington, D.C., New York, and Newport. To the indignation of the Stalwart Republicans, the onetime Collector of the Port of New York became, as President, a champion of civil service reform. Public pressure, heightened by the assassination of Garfield, forced an unwieldy Congress to heed the President.In 1883 Congress passed the Pendleton Act, which established a bipartisan Civil Service Commission, forbade levying political assessments against officeholders, and provided for a "classified system" that made certain Government positions obtainable only through competitive written examinations. The system protected employees against removal for political reasons.
Acting independently of party dogma, Arthur also tried to lower tariff rates so the Government would not be embarrassed by annual surpluses of revenue. Congress raised about as many rates as it trimmed, but Arthur signed the Tariff Act of 1883 anyway. Aggrieved Westerners and Southerners looked to the Democratic Party for redress, and the tariff began to emerge as a major political issue between the two parties.
The Arthur Administration enacted the first general Federal immigration law. Arthur approved a measure in 1882 excluding paupers, criminals, and the mentally ill. Congress also suspended Chinese immigration for ten years, later making the restriction permanent.
In 1884 the International Meridian Conference was held in Washington at President Arthur's behest. This established the Greenwich Meridian which is still in use today.
President Arthur demonstrated that he was above factions within the Republican Party, if indeed not above the party itself. Perhaps in part his reason was the well-kept secret he had known since a year after he succeeded to the Presidency, that he was suffering from Bright's Disease, a fatal kidney disease (see 'Presidential disability prior to 1967' in Acting President of the United States).
Arthur kept himself in the running for the Presidential nomination in 1884 in order not to appear that he feared defeat, but was not renominated.
Publisher Alexander K. McClure wrote, "No man ever entered the Presidency so profoundly and widely distrusted, and no one ever retired ... more generally respected." Author Mark Twain, deeply cynical of politicians, conceded, "It would be hard indeed to better President Arthur's administration."
Post presidency
Arthur served as president through March 3, 1885. Upon leaving office, he returned to New York City where he died of a massive cerebral hemorrhage at 5:10 a.m. on Thursday November 18, 1886, at the age of 57. His time as a former president was the second shortest, longer only of that of James Polk.Chester was buried next to Ellen in the Arthur family plot in the Albany Rural Cemetery in Albany, New York, in a large sarcophagus on a large corner plot that contains the graves of many of his family members and ancestors.
Chester Arthur death
Arthur suffered from Bright's Disease and died of a cerebral hemorrhage, most likely related to a history of hypertension, approximately twenty-four hours after being found unconscious by his nurse.Chester Arthur quotes
"Men may die, but the fabrics of free institutions remains unshaken."
"I may be president of the United States, but my private life is nobody's damned business."
"The extravagant expenditure of public money is an evil not to be measured by the value of that money to the people who are taxed for it."
A Quarter Century of Machine Politics
Chester
Arthur: A Quarter Century of Machine Politics by George Frederick Howe
is a seminal biography that illuminates the life and political career of
one of America's most enigmatic presidents. Written with meticulous
research and keen insight, Howe's biography offers a comprehensive
exploration of Chester A. Arthur's rise from obscure beginnings to the
pinnacle of power, shedding light on the complex intersection of
politics and governance in the Gilded Age. Born on October 5, 1829, in
Fairfield, Vermont, Chester Alan Arthur embarked on a journey marked by
ambition, intellect, and a knack for navigating the intricacies of New
York's political landscape. Howe delves into Arthur's early years as a
lawyer and political operative, tracing his ascent through the ranks of
the Republican Party and his eventual appointment as Collector of the
Port of New York, a position that catapulted him into the heart of the
city's political machine. Central to Howe's biography is Arthur's
unexpected ascension to the presidency following the assassination of
James A. Garfield in 1881. Howe meticulously examines Arthur's
presidency, challenging conventional narratives that depict him as a
mere puppet of party bosses. Instead, Howe presents Arthur as a
pragmatic leader who skillfully navigated the competing interests of his
party while also pursuing his own vision for reform and modernization.
At
the heart of Howe's biography is an exploration of the machine politics
that defined Arthur's era. Howe offers a nuanced analysis of the
patronage system, party rivalries, and the influence of powerful
political bosses such as Roscoe Conkling. Through Howe's narrative,
Arthur emerges as a figure who both benefited from and grappled with the
complexities of machine politics, ultimately leaving a legacy that
defies easy categorization. Published in 1935, Chester Arthur: A Quarter
Century of Machine Politics remains a landmark work in Arthur
scholarship, praised for its meticulous research, balanced perspective,
and engaging prose. Howe's biography offers a compelling portrait of a
president whose legacy continues to intrigue scholars and readers alike,
providing valuable insights into the dynamics of power and politics in
the Gilded Age.
Source and additional information: Chester A. Arthur