Here are some facts we learned on the house tour that you may find interesting:
1. James Garfield was assassinated in 1881 about four months after taking the oath of office. But he did not die immediately. He lived another 80 days while doctors attempted to heal his wounds and overcome infections. At one point inventor Alexander Graham Bell, using a newly created electrical device, tried unsuccessfully to help doctors locate a bullet that remained lodged in Garfield's body. Because of the then recent invention of the telegraph, Americans nationwide for the first time received daily, if not hourly, updates on his status. This created enormous "mass media" interest over an extended period of time, a new phenomenon. When he finally did succumb, the event caused a stir greater than that of the death of Abraham Lincoln.
2. After his death, President Garfield's wife, Lucretia, added a wing to the home to house his many books and papers, setting the precedent for presidential libraries. The main room is stunningly beautiful with massive white oak beams, Victorian design and even a cement-lined side room for storing papers in a fireproof setting.
3. Garfield is the only U.S. President elected to that office while serving in Congress. (Gerald Ford, another member of Congress who also became President, was not elected into that office.) Garfield was also the last U.S. President born in a log cabin.
4. In this year's Presidential election both candidates are expected to be nominated on the first ballot at each party's convention. That wasn't the case with James Garfield. It wasn't until the 36th ballot that he was nominated. And he didn't have to travel far to campaign. He conducted his campaign primarily from his front porch! Reporters and dignitaries came to see him, in such large numbers that the railroad built a special station near Lawnfield.
James Abram Garfield (1831-1881)
