I.

Introduction

James A. Garfield (1831-1881), 20th president of the United States (1881). He held the office of president only four months before he was fatally shot by an assassin. He had served in the House of Representatives of the Congress of the United States for 17 years and had established a distinguished record there. He was only lightly touched by the corruption in government that marked the period after the Civil War ended in 1865. Garfield's assassination by a disappointed office seeker gave new impetus to demands for reform of the federal employment system, called the civil service.