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U.S. Grant History Chat, Episode 13: Todd Arrington
Transcript
- All right. Well, hello everybody. This is Nick Sacco, park ranger at Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site in St. Louis Missouri. And this is episode 13 of the U.S. Grant History Chat. And today it's my honor to be speaking with Todd Arrington. Todd is the site manager at James Garfield National Historic site in Mentor, Ohio. And he's also the author of the new book, "The Last Lincoln Republican: The Presidential Election of 1880." And I wanted to speak with Todd because Grant and Garfield, their lives intersect, they're in the same Republican party in the 1870s and 1880s. And I wanted to kind of explore the presidential election of 1880 and who better than Todd Arrington to speak with about this election. So Todd, thank you so much for being with us here today.
- Yeah. Thanks. Thanks for having me. I'm looking forward to it.
- Absolutely. Well, wonderful. So let's start the scene first of all. So Ulysses Grant, he does his world tour, he finishes his presidency in 1877, goes on a two and a half year world tour. And the nominating process for the 1880 presidential election is coming around and kind of like it is today, the political parties back in the 19th century oftentimes there's conflict intention within parties. And the Republican party of 1880, we see the stalwarts on one side and the half breeds on the other side. And I'll have you kind of explain that a little bit to us. And so Grant, he doesn't necessarily say he wants the presidency, but he's also not necessarily taking himself off the ballot as well. So I'd love for you to kind of maybe set the context for what's going on with the Republican Party going into this election. And then how does James Garfield sort of emerges as the candidate for the Republicans that year?
- Yeah, sure. It's interesting in that, in my view, the 1880 election really started prior to the 1876 election. And the reason for that is that the Republican candidate in 1876, who's Republican governor Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio. Hayes indicated several months before election day in 1876, that he was only going to serve one term if he won the election. Really in 1876, the Republicans already know in 1880 they need another candidate. And who of course will that person be? Ulysses S. Grant to my understanding had kind of thought about whether or not to try to hang around for a third term in 1876. Ultimately decided not to do that, sort of to follow that George Washington example of two terms and then a peaceful transition of power to a successor. And then as you mentioned at the beginning, left and went on this grand world tour. Obviously there was a lot of dissension in the country in 1876 because we see Hayes and Samuel Tilden, the Democratic candidate get into this disputed election where Tilden wins the popular vote but then ultimately an electoral commission finds that that Hayes is going to become president win the electoral college with the votes of the three disputed Southern States; South Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida. Hayes begins his administration in early 1877, really under this sort of dark cloud of suspicion and anger from a lot of people in that they view him as an illegitimate president. He lost the popular vote and then he had to be sort of installed in office by this electoral commission. And he operates under that really for the bulk of his four years now. To his credit, he runs a pretty decent administration. He does a lot better than I think a lot of people expect considering how his presidency begins. But again, going into 1880, everybody knows he's not seeking re-election. And so the question really becomes, in 1880, who is going to run for the Republicans? And then as you mentioned Grant goes on this world tour and comes back and a lot of people in the Republican party including some of those who were the sort of really diehard stalwart Republicans like your Roscoe Conklin's and your John Logans, people like that who had been really close with Grant when he was president. They are of the opinion that Grant needs to come back and serve again they they're tired of people of these sort of half-breed. Republicans like Hayes who dare to want to reform the civil service. And plus they liked being very powerful and very influential when Grant was president. And so there's a lot of people in the party that want Grant to come back and run again in 1880. And as you indicated at the beginning, Grant doesn't say he wants to do it but he doesn't say he doesn't want to do it either. And I think the other thing that's really driving Grant is that his wife is very much interested in him becoming president again. She sort of has this famous passage about how hard she how hard she wept when they had to leave the white house at the end of his presidency. She very much liked him being president and she very much liked being first lady. And so she's kind of a driving force too, I think. Wanting him to run again in 1880.
- Sure. Absolutely. And so when you have the Republican party convention, James Garfield is there, he's been in Congress and if memory serves me correctly, he was going to be serving as Senator?
- Yeah. He'd been in the House of Representatives since the end of 1863. He left the union army after two and a half years, went to the House of Representatives at the end of 1863 and had stayed there up until 1880. Yes, at the beginning of 1880, the Ohio legislature elected him to the Senate. So he was in early 1881, was already scheduled for a promotion, if you will. He was going from the lower house, the House of Representatives to the upper house to be one of Ohio's two U.S. senators. And he was in fact, as you noted at the 1880 convention because one of the people seeking the Republican nomination in 1880 was John Sherman, who at that point was secretary of the treasury under President Hayes. Sherman the brother of the very famous William to come to Sherman, the general who made Georgia to howl. Sherman had been in the Senate from Ohio for several years before a bit leaving that seat to go become a member of Hayes' cabinet. So Sherman had supported Garfield for election to the Senate, with the Ohio legislature. And then the price of that for Garfield was he was then in turn expected to support Sherman for the Republican nomination in 1880 and then to go to Chicago, to the Republican convention and actually be present for Sherman as a Sherman delegate and to make the speech nominating Sherman for the Republican nomination.
- Right. So kind of, I scratch your back and you scratch my back and we all kind of work together on that.
- Sure.
- So with the convention, Garfield sort of emerges as the front runner for the Republican party. And it's in a way from what I've read, it's really because he can kind of bridge the gap. He's not necessarily a Stalwart, he's not necessarily a half-breed, are in cahoots with James Blaine necessarily. He's somebody who kind of bring the party together. But I'd love to hear what were perceptions of Garfield? So Garfield wins the nomination, what are Roscoe Conkling and the Stalwarts, what are they saying about Garfield? What are the other half-breeds saying about Garfield? But what's the perception of him as a candidate running in that presidential election?
- Well, I should say before I address to that, I will say that the thing Garfield and Blaine were personally very close. They were good friends. Blaine obviously was a candidate in 1880, Garfield supported Sherman because that was kind of what he had pledged to do. So Garfield was trying to be serious about his obligation to Sherman. But the thing that really made Garfield more of a half-breed at this point was simply that he didn't think Grant should be nominated for a third term. So he was definitely in the... Even though he had worked fairly well with Grant, they weren't personally all that close Grant and Garfield. He worked pretty well with Grant was president and Garfield was in Congress. Garfield deed was sort of, I guess you would say a little bit old school in that he didn't think anyone should seek a third term. And that still kind of goes back to that example of George Washington, which no one to that point had broken, even though there was no constitutional amendment saying they couldn't. No one had done it yet. So Garfield definitely was against the idea of the third term for Grant. Part of the reason that Grant could not get the required number of votes at that 1880 convention was because of the opposition of people like Garfield who did have a pretty good reputation. And the party was certainly renowned as an orator. And as you sort of alluded to, was somebody who as more time went on and more ballots were cast and there was still nobody who had enough support to get the nomination, Garfield emerges as a potential compromised candidate. Because even though he's more aligned with the half-breeds at this point, he is someone that everybody likes. He's been a solid and loyal Republican his entire career. He's sort of been a radical Republican, he's been a little bit more moderate, he's even better conservative on some things, but he's somebody that everybody likes and everybody thinks he's acceptable and he will do no harm. Very few people at that convention are there waving the Garfield banner. There are a few and there were a few who had even talked to Garfield prior to the convention about, "Hey we think this thing's going to be a mess "and we're going to need a compromise "and we think you're the guy." And just as Grant didn't tamp down people saying he should be nominated again. Garfield was pretty smart politician. He didn't say, "Under no circumstances "can anyone ever do this and mention my name." But I really believe he genuinely didn't think anyone was going to... He didn't think this was really going to happen. And the reason I think that is one, based on what he said and what he wrote about his his obligation to Sherman, but also I don't think Garfield would have let himself be anywhere near that convention. If he genuinely thought he was going to be nominated. Because at this point, if you are a candidate for president you did not go to this convention to any convention because it was seen as you were too eager for office. It was unseemly really. And, so I don't really believe Garfield thought he would be taken seriously as the convention went on. He does write some letters to his wife where he saying, the convention seems to be paying more attention to me. And I think they're turning their eyes to me. So he's aware that things are starting to shift but I do genuinely believe that he really didn't think that he had any chance of this really happening. I don't think he would have been there, but ultimately he is in fact, a dark horse nominee. He is a compromised candidate. He is nominated on the 36th ballot at that 1880 convention. So, you know, it takes days for them to come up with a nominee and, neither Grant nor Sherman nor Blaine nor anybody else has enough. And really it's funny that for the most part those top three contenders Grant, Blaine and Sherman all stayed fairly close to their vote totals from the first ballot all the way to, the 34th and 35th when suddenly things started to break to Garfield. So that's something interesting to consider as well that there were some people very dug in with their candidates, but they just didn't have enough to get them over the top.
- Right. And to your point for Grant, there was a group they called themselves The Immortal 306 and they were these delegates that stood with Grant the entire way through the convention for better or worse. And I think what's interesting about your discussion here is that, it's not a primary system like we use today where we sort of leave it to party members throughout the country to vote for their preferred candidate. This is really kind of the guys in the smoke-filled rooms, the politicians in deal breakers, sort of working together to find a candidate. And so the fact that took 36 ballots to work through that really shows the strong disagreements among the Republican leadership about who the best candidate was. And I guess kind of transitioning towards Grant's, excuse me, Garfield's presidency. We see Grant a little bit on the campaign trail towards the end of the campaign in 1880 and Grant isn't necessarily coming out and saying vote Garfield, but be saying vote Republican and vote for the African-American civil rights and fair elections in the South and supporting carpetbaggers, white northerners that are living in the South and saying that the best path for the country moving forward is the Republican party. So I guess, I'd love to hear about Garfield's vision. So, what is he envisioning for a Garfield presidency? What does he want for the country moving forward perhaps may be two or three of the biggest issues on Garfield's mind going into his presidency?
- Sure. Well civil service reform obviously is a big one. And Garfield that was also really the sticking point other than the issue of Grant and a possible third term civil service reform was really the main sticking point between the Stalwarts and the Half-breeds and in 1880 Garfield himself, frankly was never really all that charged up about civil service reform. I think in fact, what really started to change Garfield's mind about the need for civil service reform was the experience of being president-elect. After he had won the presidency. But before this of course obviously is in when the lame duck period was much longer, it was... Inauguration day wasn't until March 4th rather than January 20th, like it is today. So Garfield has almost four months between his election and his inauguration where people just start showing up and literally, banging on his front door, asking for jobs and trying to get an audience with him. And this only gets worse after he becomes president and moves into the white house. And we know now that his eventual assassin Charles Guiteau in fact, was an office seeker. He was a lot of other things too but he was an office seeker. So I think, this experience is really what made Garfield start to turn a little bit on civil service reform. He mentions in some of his letters and things during the campaign that he thinks, some change to civil service reform is going to come about at some point, but it was never something he had really staked out his career on. And of course we know that, guys like Conkling and Logan and Cameron that really stalwart, the triumvirate as they were called who the stalwarts for Grant. They were extremely opposed to civil service reform. What, Coughlin kind of snidely called sniffle service reform, because, the patronage system that had been in place since the Jacksonian era really was how they built up power. And they liked people having to come to them and ask for jobs, whether it be, to become a minister to another country or to be a postmaster in a tiny little town. It was a way for them to build up a base of power and they liked that. And so they didn't want to get rid of that system. So they were very much opposed. So that's really the main sticking point between those stalwarts and half-breeds, again Garfield was kind of lukewarm on civil service reform I think until he was president-elect. And then, president and that's really what made him start to see, yeah we got to make some changes here because he writes letters and diary entries just expressing this great frustration at the amount of time he has to waste that he feels could be put to good use for the country thinking about the real issues. And instead he has to spend hours and hours meeting with people that want jobs. I think civil rights is another big issue for Garfield. Grant, I think directly is getting a really good re-assessment from historians now. Over the last, I don't know you probably know better than I do 10, 15, 20 years. I don't know, for his record on civil rights which is incredibly impressive. And Grant is in, seems to be moving up in rankings by historians on the effectiveness of his presidency for that reason. And I think that's a good thing. By the time Garfield becomes president in 1880, well re-construction is for the most part over in most people's minds, I would argue in some ways it's probably not even over yet today in 2020. As witnessed by some of the things we've seen, earlier this year with, Black Lives Matter and protests and things like that. But a lot of people considered that, okay. The reconstruction amendments of the constitution had been passed and even a lot of former radical Republicans at this point are saying, okay, enough already. We've done what we said we would do for African-Americans. The civil war is over. They are no longer enslaved. We've passed the reconstruction amendments to the constitution. We need to move on to some other issues. And we as Republicans at this point in 1880 need to find other issues to think about. And Garfield is one of those Republicans that still saying, yes this is all true but we still have some work to do on civil rights. And so he really... He wasn't quite ready to think of the Republican party as no longer a party dedicated to civil rights. And that's really where this idea of him that I titled my book, "The Last Lincoln Republican", that's really where that comes from is the idea that Garfield kind of hearkens back to in my view, the really the founding generation of the Republican party like Abraham Lincoln who view the party as a vehicle to promote at least some degree of equality for everyone racial equality, economic equality, what have you. So that's really kind of where I... So, in my mind at least, and obviously I'm a Garfield partisan, both in my job here and in my life as a historian. But I do feel like because of who Garfield was and because of the issues that were important to him even as far forward as 1880 and 81, he really was the right man for the job at that point. He was the right Republican to be president in 1881. And of course, then that just magnifies the tragedy of his death, how much good might he have done on civil rights and other issues too, had he survived. And so I do think the country was denied some potentially very strong and effective leadership with his death.
- Sure, for historians like us, we have to kind of tread lightly with what we call counter-factuals which is essentially, what could have been but I think that's one of the great counter-factuals of 19th century history to sort of consider what a Garfield presidency would have looked like had it not been so tragically cut short so early into his presidency. So this is really wonderful. And I'm excited to read your book eventually. And I think Garfield is just an extremely fascinating character in his own right. And it's been a real wonderful time just hearing from you today. And yeah. So once again, the book is "The Last Lincoln Republican: The Presidential Election of 1880" and I want to thank site manager Todd Arrington at James Garfield National Historic site for being with us today. Thank you.
- Thanks Nick.
Description
Ranger Nick interviews Todd Arrington, Site Manager at James A. Garfield National Historic Site to discuss Ulysses S. Grant, James A. Garfield, and the election of 1880. Arrington is the author of "The Last Lincoln Republican: The Presidential Election of 1880" (University Press of Kansas)
Duration
22 minutes, 11 seconds
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