Aug 3, 2026 · 58 min · 17 segments
It used to be that federal government jobs were awarded via a "spoils system," where political patronage and loyalty were the primary criteria for hiring and firing government employees. This system…
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He's had a grueling first four months in the White House, during which time this likable, non-office seeking president has battled it out with party stalwarts.
That is, those in the Republican Party who favor patronage for plum federal jobs.
"The civil service can never be placed on a satisfactory basis until it is regulated by law.
For the good of the service itself, for the protection of those who are entrusted with the appointing power against the waste of time and obstruction to the public business caused by the inordinate pressure for place, and for the protection of incumbents against intrigue and wrong, I shall, at the proper time, ask Congress to fix the tenure of the minor offices of the several executive departments and prescribe the grounds upon which removals shall be made during the terms for which incumbents have been appointed." [applause] Yes, the president is taking on the spoils system.
Today, though, he's taking a break from that contentious issue and leaving for DC to take a little vacation.
His youngest two boys, Irvin and Abram, are taking a train to their hometown of Mentor, Ohio, for a little grandparent time.
[laughter] Meanwhile, James and his older two boys, Harry and James Jr., will ride the rails in the other direction to meet his daughter, Molly, and wife, Lucretia.
They aim to visit a few East Coast states and drop by James Garfield's old alma mater in Massachusetts, which is where these older two sons are now enrolling, Williams College.
As James Garfield gets ready for the day [laughs], the father of five playfully roughhouses with his sons, then bids them goodbye before climbing into a two-seater carriage.
In the other seat is the former Maine senator who actually sought the presidency, James Blaine.
Now serving as Secretary of State, he's accompanying the President down to Washington, DC's Baltimore and Pontiac Railroad Station so they can squeeze in one last pre-vacation chat.
The elder two Garfield sons head out in a separate carriage and will meet their father at the train's platform.
He asks, "How much time have we, officer?" The policeman replies, "About 10 minutes, sir." Hmm.
Secretary of State James Blaine decides he'll walk with the president to the platform of the red brick station.
They're just passing through some rows of chairs [gun cocks] when a loud pop [gunshot] cuts the quiet.
Six feet away, a small, dark-haired, bearded man armed with a British Bulldog revolver turns and walks toward the station's exit.
He's stepping outside just as a massive, powerfully built policeman is stepping in.
He shot the president," the officer seizes this diminutive, dark-haired man by the arm.
The quickly forming crowd calls out for the gunman to be lynched, but that doesn't seem to scare him.
I am a Stalwart, and Arthur will be president." It's a tragic, heartbreaking story.
The gunman that murdered President James Garfield did so for the stated reason that he believed the president owed him a job in the federal government.
This assassin was, by most accounts, mentally unstable, but he rightly understood how government jobs worked at the time.
He was a so-called Stalwart of the Republican Party, who felt he did a great service campaigning for James Garfield's nomination.
He was so convinced of his importance and value in the president's election, in fact, that he repeatedly requested an embassy post in Europe.
Ironically, Chester Arthur, the VP who would become president, would have a change of heart regarding the spoils system.
After a crushing midterm party defeat, he would heed the voters' stern message and take up Garfield's agenda.
President Chester Arthur would sign landmark legislation that would end the long history of political patronage and establish a nonpartisan, professionalized standard for civil service workers.
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