WEBVTT - The United States v. Charles Guiteau 0:00:01.040 --> 0:00:06.160 You're listening to History on Trial, a production of iHeart Podcasts. 0:00:06.720 --> 0:00:17.239 Listener Discretion Advised. Sarah White was starting to have a 0:00:17.280 --> 0:00:21.119 bad feeling about the man in the hat. As the 0:00:21.200 --> 0:00:24.919 ladies waiting room matron at the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad 0:00:24.960 --> 0:00:28.840 station in Washington, d C. White was used to seeing 0:00:28.920 --> 0:00:32.400 all sorts of strange behavior. Travel could bring out the 0:00:32.440 --> 0:00:36.520 worst and even the most dignified citizens, but this man 0:00:36.600 --> 0:00:40.199 seemed especially off to her. She had been watching the 0:00:40.240 --> 0:00:43.839 man all morning, she would later recall, as he flitted 0:00:43.920 --> 0:00:46.959 from room to room at the station. He would look 0:00:47.000 --> 0:00:49.640 in one door and pass on to the next door 0:00:49.800 --> 0:00:53.000 and look in again. She said, he didn't seem to 0:00:53.000 --> 0:00:56.240 have a destination in mind or a train to board. 0:00:57.160 --> 0:01:02.840 He just circled head down, shoulders bent, face obscured by 0:01:02.880 --> 0:01:06.039 a dark hat. What business did he have at the 0:01:06.080 --> 0:01:11.920 train station? In fact, this man had very important business, 0:01:12.680 --> 0:01:16.520 a meeting of sorts. He had just arrived early because 0:01:16.520 --> 0:01:19.240 he wanted to make sure he got everything just right. 0:01:20.160 --> 0:01:23.920 He'd stopped and had his shoes shined. Then he'd approached 0:01:23.959 --> 0:01:27.520 the line of taxi carriages waiting outside the station and 0:01:27.600 --> 0:01:31.320 asked a driver about his rates. Once he'd learned the fair. 0:01:31.720 --> 0:01:33.600 The man said he'd let the driver know in a 0:01:33.600 --> 0:01:36.640 few minutes if he needed a ride once his business 0:01:36.720 --> 0:01:40.000 was complete. And then the man had walked inside the 0:01:40.040 --> 0:01:44.160 station and gone up to the newsstand counter. Could I 0:01:44.240 --> 0:01:46.720 leave some packages with you for a few minutes, he 0:01:46.800 --> 0:01:51.040 asked the clerk. Certainly, the clerk replied and took a 0:01:51.040 --> 0:01:54.800 stack of letters and a book from the man. Next, 0:01:54.960 --> 0:01:58.400 the man walked into the bathroom and pulled another package 0:01:58.440 --> 0:02:03.360 from his pocket. He inspected the contents. Everything looked right, 0:02:04.160 --> 0:02:10.080 everything was perfect. He was ready. Outside of the station, 0:02:10.480 --> 0:02:14.320 another man was disembarking from his carriage. He asked a 0:02:14.360 --> 0:02:18.400 nearby policeman, Patrick Kearney, for the time. It was nine 0:02:18.520 --> 0:02:21.760 twenty a m. He learned his train was scheduled for 0:02:21.840 --> 0:02:25.640 nine p thirty. In ten short minutes, the man and 0:02:25.720 --> 0:02:28.880 two of his sons would be speeding north, escaping the 0:02:28.919 --> 0:02:34.640 sweltering DC summer. He could hardly wait. His upcoming trip 0:02:34.680 --> 0:02:38.040 promised him a respite from his stressful job and an 0:02:38.080 --> 0:02:42.960 opportunity to see his beloved wife again after some time apart. 0:02:43.000 --> 0:02:46.200 Sarah White, from her perch in the waiting room, saw 0:02:46.280 --> 0:02:51.040 the second man enter the station and smiled. She recognized 0:02:51.080 --> 0:02:55.680 him right away. How couldn't she? This tall bearded man 0:02:55.840 --> 0:03:03.080 trailed by two teenage boys was President James Guardarfield. This 0:03:04.040 --> 0:03:06.560 was who the man in the hat had been waiting for. 0:03:07.639 --> 0:03:12.840 This was the moment he had been preparing for. Seconds 0:03:12.880 --> 0:03:16.600 after President Garfield walked into the train station, the man 0:03:16.639 --> 0:03:20.440 in the hat, an itinerant, ex lawyer and preacher named 0:03:20.480 --> 0:03:25.040 Charles Guittou, reached into his pocket and pulled out a gun. 0:03:26.000 --> 0:03:30.320 He raised his arm and shot the president twice. The 0:03:30.360 --> 0:03:33.799 first shot hit Garfield in the arm, the second ripped 0:03:33.800 --> 0:03:37.960 into his back. As Garfield lay bleeding on the station floor, 0:03:38.360 --> 0:03:42.520 Geto ran for the street. He didn't get far. A 0:03:42.520 --> 0:03:44.760 ticket agent grabbed him by the back of the neck 0:03:44.960 --> 0:03:48.480 and called out, this is the man. Officer Patrick Kearney, 0:03:48.600 --> 0:03:51.760 who had only just given Garfield the time, raced over 0:03:51.840 --> 0:03:54.800 and took hold of Getto. Curney knew he had to 0:03:54.800 --> 0:03:56.800 get the man to jail before the crowd at the 0:03:56.800 --> 0:04:00.960 station took justice into their own hands. Already people were 0:04:01.000 --> 0:04:04.480 shouting for Getou to be hanged on the spot. Getaux 0:04:04.520 --> 0:04:08.120 offered no resistance to Kearney. Neither did he try to 0:04:08.160 --> 0:04:11.600 deny what he'd done. He seemed to be proud of 0:04:11.640 --> 0:04:17.320 his actions. The rest of the country, of course, was horrified. 0:04:18.040 --> 0:04:22.000 Americans prayed for the president who lingered between life and 0:04:22.080 --> 0:04:25.760 death for more than two months and cursed his assailant. 0:04:26.720 --> 0:04:29.760 They called for Getou to be punished, to be thrown 0:04:29.839 --> 0:04:33.719 to wild dogs, to be burned alive, to be shot 0:04:33.800 --> 0:04:38.360 like he had shot President Garfield. No punishment seemed grave 0:04:38.480 --> 0:04:43.920 enough for what Charles Getau had done. But after Garfield 0:04:44.000 --> 0:04:48.320 finally died in September eighteen eighty one and the government 0:04:48.440 --> 0:04:54.840 prepared for Getou's trial, a problem emerged. Getau, many medical 0:04:54.880 --> 0:05:00.279 experts believed, was insane. If this was true, was he 0:05:00.400 --> 0:05:05.200 responsible for his actions? And if he wasn't responsible, how 0:05:05.240 --> 0:05:08.839 could the public get the closure or the vengeance that 0:05:08.920 --> 0:05:13.760 they longed for. In the end, many wondered could the 0:05:13.960 --> 0:05:17.640 justice system truly deliver justice in a case like this? 0:05:18.800 --> 0:05:23.080 Welcome to History on Trial. I'm your host, Mira Hayward. 0:05:23.839 --> 0:05:31.320 This week the United States, the Charles Guittow. No one 0:05:31.520 --> 0:05:35.960 expected James Garfield to become the Republican presidential nominee in 0:05:36.040 --> 0:05:41.120 eighteen eighty least of all James Garfield born in eighteen 0:05:41.240 --> 0:05:45.120 thirty one in a log cabin in Ohio, and fatherless 0:05:45.160 --> 0:05:49.840 before his second birthday, Garfield grew up in profound poverty. 0:05:50.520 --> 0:05:56.280 His hard working single mother, Eliza, always stressed education, even 0:05:56.360 --> 0:05:59.479 giving up land she could barely afford to lose to 0:05:59.520 --> 0:06:02.560 the local community so that a schoolhouse could be built. 0:06:03.520 --> 0:06:07.000 Young Garfield chafed against his mother's dreams for him and 0:06:07.120 --> 0:06:09.760 left home at sixteen to work on the Erie Canal, 0:06:10.480 --> 0:06:14.159 but after a close brush with drowning, returned home and 0:06:14.279 --> 0:06:18.200 re committed to his education. At age twenty, he was 0:06:18.240 --> 0:06:23.120 accepted to the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute, a college preparatory school. 0:06:23.920 --> 0:06:27.120 To pay for his education, Garfield worked as the school's 0:06:27.200 --> 0:06:31.560 janitor and handyman, but his innate academic gifts soon came 0:06:31.600 --> 0:06:34.800 to the notice of the administration, and in his second year, 0:06:35.080 --> 0:06:37.839 he traded in his job of handyman for that of 0:06:37.880 --> 0:06:42.599 assistant professor. It's all very goodwill hunting. A year later, 0:06:42.839 --> 0:06:46.200 he was accepted to Williams College in Massachusetts, where he 0:06:46.279 --> 0:06:51.280 graduated second in his class. He returned to the Eclectic Institute, 0:06:51.520 --> 0:06:54.400 quickly rising in the ranks to become the schools president 0:06:54.480 --> 0:06:58.720 by age twenty six. He also married his longtime sweetheart, 0:06:58.960 --> 0:07:02.479 a fellow Ohio and named Lucretia Rudolph, and the two 0:07:02.560 --> 0:07:06.080 began their family, which would eventually grow to include five 0:07:06.200 --> 0:07:10.520 surviving children. At the same time, he studied law and 0:07:10.640 --> 0:07:14.040 was admitted to the bar in eighteen sixty one. A 0:07:14.120 --> 0:07:17.760 year later, Garfield was nominated to replace a state senator 0:07:17.800 --> 0:07:21.680 who had died in office, but his burgeoning political career 0:07:21.960 --> 0:07:26.280 was interrupted by the outbreak of the Civil War. Garfield 0:07:26.320 --> 0:07:30.320 became a lieutenant colonel in the Union Army. He hated 0:07:30.360 --> 0:07:34.200 the violence of war, but as a lifelong ardent abolitionist, 0:07:34.480 --> 0:07:38.200 he was devoted to the Union cause. Though he had 0:07:38.240 --> 0:07:42.920 no military experience, he applied his intellectual prowess to the job, 0:07:43.520 --> 0:07:46.800 organizing a clever ruse at the Battle of Middle Creek 0:07:47.040 --> 0:07:51.160 that convinced his Confederate opponents that they were vastly outnumbered, 0:07:51.520 --> 0:07:55.960 despite the opposite being true. His surprise victory there made 0:07:56.040 --> 0:08:00.480 him a war hero. Ten months later, Garfield was elected 0:08:00.520 --> 0:08:03.640 to the House of Representatives, even though he hadn't campaigned 0:08:03.720 --> 0:08:06.440 at all. He was reluctant to take up his seat 0:08:06.440 --> 0:08:10.600 in Washington, believing he was of most use on the battlefield. 0:08:11.120 --> 0:08:13.960 It was not until a year after his election that, 0:08:14.400 --> 0:08:17.920 at the insistence of President Lincoln, he went to Congress. 0:08:18.840 --> 0:08:22.680 Garfield would spend seventeen years in the House of Representatives, 0:08:22.920 --> 0:08:27.800 gaining a reputation as a powerful, if occasionally long winded speaker. 0:08:28.720 --> 0:08:31.760 It was for his speaking skills that Garfield was chosen 0:08:31.800 --> 0:08:36.360 to introduce John Sherman at the Republican national Convention in 0:08:36.480 --> 0:08:41.200 June eighteen eighty. A fellow Ohioan and current Secretary of 0:08:41.240 --> 0:08:44.959 the Treasury, Sherman was a leading candidate for the Republican 0:08:45.000 --> 0:08:48.839 presidential nomination, if anyone could be said to be a 0:08:48.920 --> 0:08:54.040 leading candidate. At this deeply contentious convention in the summer 0:08:54.120 --> 0:08:58.800 of eighteen eighty, the Republican Party faced a schism, divided 0:08:58.880 --> 0:09:02.920 into two Factionsans who hated each other almost as much 0:09:03.040 --> 0:09:06.720 as they hated the Democrats. One part of the Republican 0:09:06.760 --> 0:09:10.600 Party was a group called the Stalwarts, supporters of the 0:09:10.679 --> 0:09:15.240 system of political patronage known as the spoils system. In 0:09:15.320 --> 0:09:19.040 this system, government jobs were awarded to a political party's 0:09:19.080 --> 0:09:23.560 supporters as a way to encourage party loyalty and government unity. 0:09:24.400 --> 0:09:28.600 The Stalwarts were led by the charismatic, controversial New York 0:09:28.679 --> 0:09:32.720 Senator Roscoe Conkling. On the other side of the Republican 0:09:32.760 --> 0:09:36.240 Party was a group called the half Breeds, a name 0:09:36.280 --> 0:09:39.120 given to them by the Stalwarts, who charged that they 0:09:39.160 --> 0:09:44.040 were only half Republican. Given this names racially offensive connotations, 0:09:44.160 --> 0:09:46.920 I'm going to avoid using it in this episode. This 0:09:47.080 --> 0:09:51.800 second group supported civil service reform. Instead of appointing party 0:09:51.840 --> 0:09:55.640 loyalists to government positions, they wanted appointments to be done 0:09:55.720 --> 0:09:59.480 on the basis of merit. James Garfield was a member 0:09:59.520 --> 0:10:02.200 of this sect in faction, as was the man he 0:10:02.240 --> 0:10:05.440 had come to nominate, John Sherman. The group was also 0:10:05.559 --> 0:10:11.840 considering nominating Maine Senator James Blaine. Senator Roscoe Conkling's longtime enemy. 0:10:12.480 --> 0:10:16.080 The Stalwarts had brought former President Ulysses S Grant as 0:10:16.120 --> 0:10:21.920 their candidate. Everyone expected a heated battle. Garfield just wanted 0:10:21.960 --> 0:10:25.160 to make his nominating speech and get home to his family, 0:10:25.720 --> 0:10:28.960 but things would not be that simple. By the fifth 0:10:29.040 --> 0:10:32.560 day of the convention, relations between the two factions were 0:10:32.760 --> 0:10:37.000 so fraught that observers worried whether the party would even 0:10:37.120 --> 0:10:42.320 be able to choose a nominee. Opposing politicians gave increasingly 0:10:42.520 --> 0:10:49.000 vitriolic speeches, driving the crowd wild, and then James Garfield 0:10:49.120 --> 0:10:54.680 rose to speak, calm and commanding. Garfield took control of 0:10:54.720 --> 0:10:59.439 the frenzied crowd, speaking slowly and eloquently about the need 0:10:59.520 --> 0:11:03.600 for thoughts. He reminded the crowd about the true purpose 0:11:03.640 --> 0:11:06.400 of their work, there to find the best representative for 0:11:06.440 --> 0:11:10.200 the Republican voters and the best candidate to serve the country. 0:11:10.760 --> 0:11:14.439 And then returning to his own purpose, nominating John Sherman, 0:11:14.840 --> 0:11:18.280 he asked the crowd, and now, gentlemen of the convention, 0:11:18.920 --> 0:11:22.400 what do we want? From somewhere in the hall, a 0:11:22.520 --> 0:11:28.320 voice cried out, we want Garfield. Garfield did not want 0:11:28.320 --> 0:11:31.920 the job. He had long felt that running for president 0:11:32.120 --> 0:11:36.360 was a toxic quest. I have so often seen the 0:11:36.520 --> 0:11:41.360 evil effects of the presidential fever upon my associates and friends. 0:11:41.800 --> 0:11:45.000 Garfield wrote in his diary in eighteen seventy nine that 0:11:45.200 --> 0:11:48.679 I am determined it shall not seize me. So the 0:11:48.720 --> 0:11:52.640 audience member's call caught Garfield off guard. He took a 0:11:52.679 --> 0:11:56.040 moment before resuming his speech, and then continued on to 0:11:56.080 --> 0:11:59.160 nominate John Sherman, to rock his applause from the crowd. 0:11:59.840 --> 0:12:02.800 The seed planted by that lone voice crying out for 0:12:02.880 --> 0:12:08.120 Garfield had taken root, and though Garfield repeatedly and strenuously 0:12:08.200 --> 0:12:12.600 denied that he wanted the nomination, momentum for his candidacy 0:12:12.880 --> 0:12:19.280 was growing. The next Monday, state delegates began to vote 0:12:19.280 --> 0:12:22.959 for the nominee. As ballot after ballot came in without 0:12:22.960 --> 0:12:26.600 a clear winner amongst the big three candidates of Blaine, Sherman, 0:12:26.720 --> 0:12:30.200 and Grant, delegates began wondering if it might be better 0:12:30.240 --> 0:12:34.280 to choose a new candidate altogether, And after his unifying 0:12:34.320 --> 0:12:41.800 performance on Saturday, who better, some said, than James Garfield. Slowly, slowly, 0:12:42.400 --> 0:12:46.640 more states switched their votes to Garfield, until finally, on 0:12:46.720 --> 0:12:50.040 the thirty sixth ballot, as one reporter put it, the 0:12:50.120 --> 0:12:55.480 stampede came. State after state pledged themselves to Garfield, giving 0:12:55.559 --> 0:12:59.160 him a landslide victory. The man who had called the 0:12:59.200 --> 0:13:03.240 desire to run for president a sickness, was all of 0:13:03.280 --> 0:13:07.680 a sudden the nominee. His vice presidential candidate would be 0:13:07.800 --> 0:13:12.400 Chester Arthur, a staun stalwart and protege of Conklings, whose 0:13:12.440 --> 0:13:16.600 addition to the ticket was an attempt to unite the party. Garfield, 0:13:16.720 --> 0:13:20.040 though horrified by the situation, knew that he could not 0:13:20.160 --> 0:13:23.200 back out, not if he wanted the Republican Party to 0:13:23.280 --> 0:13:27.720 maintain its fragile unity. But by the time Garfield won 0:13:27.800 --> 0:13:32.400 the election in November, that unity was already crumbling. The 0:13:32.440 --> 0:13:36.360 two factions were at each other's throats, each determined to 0:13:36.400 --> 0:13:39.120 control the direction of the party and the work of 0:13:39.160 --> 0:13:43.839 Garfield's administration. As he contemplated his role the night before 0:13:43.880 --> 0:13:48.520 his March eighteen eighty one inauguration, Garfield did not sugarcoat 0:13:48.600 --> 0:13:52.280 the challenges he faced. Tomorrow, I shall be called to 0:13:52.360 --> 0:13:57.559 assume new responsibilities, and on the day after the broadside 0:13:57.640 --> 0:14:02.760 of the world's wrath will strike, it will strike hard. 0:14:04.040 --> 0:14:09.240 Garfield could not know just how precient those words would be. 0:14:13.480 --> 0:14:17.640 Like James Garfield, Charles Getteaux had not had an easy 0:14:17.679 --> 0:14:21.720 start to life. He was born on September eighth, eighteen 0:14:21.880 --> 0:14:25.640 forty one, the fourth child of Jane and Luther Gettau. 0:14:26.360 --> 0:14:30.720 Jane died shortly after Getau's seventh birthday, leaving him and 0:14:30.760 --> 0:14:34.360 his two surviving siblings in the care of their father, Luther. 0:14:35.480 --> 0:14:39.400 Luther Neighbors would later remark was practical in matters of 0:14:39.400 --> 0:14:43.680 business and politics, but fanatical on the subject of religion, 0:14:44.320 --> 0:14:47.760 even for a country in the grips of an evangelical revival, 0:14:48.200 --> 0:14:52.880 Luther's Christian beliefs seemed extreme to those around him. Like 0:14:52.960 --> 0:14:57.840 his father, Charles Getaux, was zealous in his faith. At eighteen, 0:14:58.000 --> 0:15:01.000 Getou dropped out of the University of Michigan to join 0:15:01.040 --> 0:15:04.960 a religious commune called the Oneida Community in upstate New York. 0:15:05.680 --> 0:15:09.480 He quickly alienated his fellow members thanks to his laziness 0:15:09.600 --> 0:15:13.960 and egotism. The commune was infamous for its policies of 0:15:14.040 --> 0:15:18.200 free love and not monogamy, but Gaetou also found himself 0:15:18.240 --> 0:15:23.000 disappointed romantically. The women of Oneida were so annoyed by 0:15:23.040 --> 0:15:28.640 Getou that they nicknamed him Charles get Out. After six years, 0:15:28.680 --> 0:15:32.560 Getou left Oneida to found a Christian newspaper called The Theocrat, 0:15:32.880 --> 0:15:35.360 believing that he had been called by God to do so, 0:15:35.920 --> 0:15:38.720 but quit after four months, having realized he had no 0:15:38.840 --> 0:15:42.800 knowledge of the newspaper business. After another year at Oneida, 0:15:43.000 --> 0:15:46.000 Geto snuck out in the middle of the night. Tired 0:15:46.080 --> 0:15:50.200 of the rejection of the community. At loose ends, Getou 0:15:50.320 --> 0:15:54.160 decided to become a lawyer. Law school wasn't required in 0:15:54.200 --> 0:15:57.840 those days, and getto with only a few months experience 0:15:57.880 --> 0:16:00.720 as a law clerk, managed to pass the bar, in 0:16:00.840 --> 0:16:05.360 large part thanks to a sympathetic examiner. Getou was an 0:16:05.560 --> 0:16:09.440 awful lawyer. Those who saw him in the courtroom remembered 0:16:09.480 --> 0:16:14.320 instances where he threatened to assault jurors, rambled about theology, 0:16:14.760 --> 0:16:18.280 and failed to even address the charges his clients faced. 0:16:19.080 --> 0:16:24.840 Soon abandoning the law, Gettou became a traveling preacher. Nearly penniless. 0:16:24.880 --> 0:16:29.800 He snuck onto trains without tickets, and when confronted by conductors, 0:16:29.920 --> 0:16:33.160 would simply tell them he was quote doing God's work 0:16:33.240 --> 0:16:36.080 and had no money for train fare. He also had 0:16:36.160 --> 0:16:39.320 no money for lodging, but that didn't stop him from 0:16:39.360 --> 0:16:43.040 staying in the most opulent boarding houses available and then 0:16:43.080 --> 0:16:46.560 disappearing in the night without paying his bill. With most 0:16:46.600 --> 0:16:49.560 of his time occupied by sneaking on to trains and 0:16:49.760 --> 0:16:53.080 out of boarding houses, he didn't have much time to preach, 0:16:53.800 --> 0:16:56.720 and when he did get the chance, not much aptitude 0:16:56.760 --> 0:17:00.280 for it either. After he gave a lecture called is 0:17:00.320 --> 0:17:04.200 There a Hell? In Newark, New Jersey, the Newark Daily 0:17:04.280 --> 0:17:07.400 Journal ran a review of it headlined is there a Hell? 0:17:07.880 --> 0:17:10.960 Fifty deceived people are of the opinion there ought to be. 0:17:11.960 --> 0:17:16.880 People who met geto found him erratic, egotistical, and excitable. 0:17:17.840 --> 0:17:20.960 He could sound rational, but only if you didn't listen 0:17:21.040 --> 0:17:24.880 too closely. As a psychiatrist who later examined him would 0:17:24.920 --> 0:17:28.480 say of Getto's speaking style, all of the links in 0:17:28.520 --> 0:17:32.320 the chain are there, but they are not joined, each 0:17:32.320 --> 0:17:35.560 one good and strong of itself, but without relation to 0:17:35.640 --> 0:17:39.200 any other. He couldn't hold down a job or stay 0:17:39.200 --> 0:17:43.080 in one place for long. He alienated everyone he knew 0:17:43.119 --> 0:17:47.080 with his constant demands for money. He even lost almost 0:17:47.119 --> 0:17:51.000 all of his family support. His father Luther, in an 0:17:51.040 --> 0:17:55.040 eighteen seventy five letter to Gaetou's older brother John, wrote 0:17:55.080 --> 0:18:00.680 that Getou was quote capable of any folly, so stupidity 0:18:00.800 --> 0:18:04.879 or rascality. The only possible excuse I can render for 0:18:04.960 --> 0:18:08.600 him is that he is absolutely insane and is hardly 0:18:08.680 --> 0:18:12.840 responsible for his acts. The only person still willing to 0:18:12.840 --> 0:18:16.600 put up with Getoau was his older sister, Francis Scoville, 0:18:17.000 --> 0:18:22.000 but her support nearly had deadly consequences. In the summer 0:18:22.040 --> 0:18:26.040 of eighteen seventy five, when Getoaux was staying with Francis 0:18:26.080 --> 0:18:29.800 and her husband George in Wisconsin, he threatened to attack 0:18:29.880 --> 0:18:34.360 his sister with an axe. Terrified, Francis asked her physician 0:18:34.440 --> 0:18:38.480 to examine Getteaux and determine if he should be institutionalized. 0:18:39.080 --> 0:18:42.320 After speaking with Getau, the doctor told Francis to get 0:18:42.320 --> 0:18:46.760 her brother to an asylum without delay. Before she could, though, 0:18:47.520 --> 0:18:52.560 Getou ran away and resumed his itinerant lifestyle. It wasn't 0:18:52.600 --> 0:18:57.520 long before a new obsession began to shape Getau's life. Politics. 0:18:58.320 --> 0:19:01.760 He was a staunch Republican and a particular fan of 0:19:01.840 --> 0:19:06.760 President Grant and Senator Conkling, two members of the Stalwart Faction. 0:19:07.440 --> 0:19:11.359 As the election of eighteen eighty approached, Getoau began thinking 0:19:11.359 --> 0:19:14.520 of ways he could get close to Republican politicians and 0:19:14.560 --> 0:19:18.280 secure himself a place in the next administration. Ignoring the 0:19:18.320 --> 0:19:22.080 fact that he had no relevant experience, Getou was convinced 0:19:22.080 --> 0:19:25.240 that the Republicans would be lucky to have him. During 0:19:25.280 --> 0:19:29.320 the election, Getou became a familiar figure around the Republican 0:19:29.359 --> 0:19:33.800 party headquarters in New York, a slight, shabbily dressed figure 0:19:33.960 --> 0:19:37.439 with the unnerving ability to walk so quietly that you 0:19:37.520 --> 0:19:39.840 didn't know he was there until he stood right next 0:19:39.880 --> 0:19:44.520 to you. His presence was tolerated, if not appreciated, by 0:19:44.520 --> 0:19:50.480 party officials. Chester Arthur even let Geteau make a speech once. This, 0:19:50.960 --> 0:19:53.520 like all of his other public speaking attempts, was a 0:19:53.520 --> 0:19:57.440 complete disaster, as Kendice Mallar describes it in her book 0:19:57.480 --> 0:20:02.600 on Garfield and Getteau, Destiny of the Republic quote. Geteau 0:20:02.760 --> 0:20:06.439 had spoken for only a few minutes, explaining later that 0:20:06.520 --> 0:20:09.240 it was too hot, he didn't like the torchlights, and 0:20:09.359 --> 0:20:13.000 there were plenty of other speakers waiting to talk. Despite 0:20:13.000 --> 0:20:18.840 his objectively abysmal performance, Getou was, Millard, writes, convinced that 0:20:18.920 --> 0:20:21.360 the speech he gave at night had played a pivotal 0:20:21.480 --> 0:20:24.240 role in putting Garfield in the White House, and that 0:20:24.280 --> 0:20:27.560 it should certainly guarantee him a position of prominence in 0:20:27.600 --> 0:20:33.600 the administration. After Garfield's inauguration in March eighteen eighty one, 0:20:33.680 --> 0:20:36.719 Getoau moved to Washington, d C. To join the ranks 0:20:36.720 --> 0:20:40.800 of office seekers. In those days, anyone hoping for a 0:20:40.800 --> 0:20:45.000 federal appointment would simply show up to their prospective employer's headquarters, 0:20:45.520 --> 0:20:48.679 be it the Post Office or the White House, and 0:20:48.800 --> 0:20:51.160 wait in line for a chance to speak with the boss. 0:20:51.960 --> 0:20:55.840 This was an exhausting process for candidate and employer alike. 0:20:56.359 --> 0:20:59.520 Garfield complained that almost all of his time was taken 0:20:59.560 --> 0:21:02.800 up by seeking with office seekers, most of whom were 0:21:02.800 --> 0:21:09.359 completely unqualified, including the completely unqualified Charles Getteau, who told 0:21:09.400 --> 0:21:11.760 everyone that he met that he wanted to be assigned 0:21:11.800 --> 0:21:15.679 to the American consulate in Paris. No, he did not 0:21:15.760 --> 0:21:19.480 speak French, but that didn't deter him. His loyalty to 0:21:19.520 --> 0:21:22.639 the Republican Party and what he saw as the crucial 0:21:22.720 --> 0:21:25.360 role he had played in the election should be enough 0:21:25.400 --> 0:21:28.840 to secure him the job, he thought. Not everyone agreed. 0:21:29.520 --> 0:21:33.679 The Secretary of State James Blaine, got so sick of 0:21:33.720 --> 0:21:37.520 Getou appearing in his office that he eventually snapped, telling 0:21:37.560 --> 0:21:42.000 Getou he had quote no prospect whatever of receiving the 0:21:42.080 --> 0:21:45.639 job and to quote never speak to me about the 0:21:45.640 --> 0:21:51.919 Paris consulship. Again. Garfield was similarly dismissive of Getou's prospects. 0:21:52.440 --> 0:21:56.040 He described a letter of Getau's as a quote illustration 0:21:56.320 --> 0:22:01.320 of unparalleled audacity and impudence. But Guetto did not know that. 0:22:02.160 --> 0:22:05.639 He thought he had a champion in the president. But 0:22:05.680 --> 0:22:09.520 that all changed in May eighteen eighty one, when a 0:22:09.600 --> 0:22:13.359 dramatic chain of events took the Republican intra party war 0:22:13.560 --> 0:22:17.960 to the next level. Senator Roscoe Conkling, the leader of 0:22:18.000 --> 0:22:22.000 the Stalwarts, had been making Garfield's life in office difficult, 0:22:22.400 --> 0:22:25.840 and the two men were engaged in a ferocious public 0:22:25.880 --> 0:22:29.720 battle over the New York Customs House. As the principal 0:22:29.760 --> 0:22:32.920 port of entry for the United States, the New York 0:22:33.000 --> 0:22:37.200 Customs House managed enormous sums of money in customs duties, 0:22:37.560 --> 0:22:40.520 and the appointment to run the Customs House was considered 0:22:40.560 --> 0:22:44.800 one of the most prestigious and lucrative positions in the country. 0:22:45.880 --> 0:22:49.120 For years, Conkling, as the Senator for New York, had 0:22:49.240 --> 0:22:53.320 essentially controlled who got the post. But Garfield wanted Conkling 0:22:53.400 --> 0:22:56.879 to know that those days were over, and so he 0:22:56.960 --> 0:23:02.040 nominated Judge William Robertson, a politic call, enemy of Conklings, 0:23:02.280 --> 0:23:08.280 to the post. Conkling was enraged. He and fellow New 0:23:08.359 --> 0:23:12.800 York Senator Thomas Platt concocted an audacious plan in response 0:23:12.840 --> 0:23:16.560 to Garfield's move. They would resign from the Senate right 0:23:16.640 --> 0:23:20.280 before the vote to confirm Robinson. Then, having avoided the 0:23:20.359 --> 0:23:23.800 vote and rebuked Garfield, they would return to the Senate. 0:23:24.800 --> 0:23:29.840 How while in those days, state legislatures chose senators, and 0:23:29.960 --> 0:23:33.080 Conkling was confident that the New York State Legislature would 0:23:33.119 --> 0:23:37.840 stand with him. On May sixteenth, Conkling and Platt resigned, 0:23:38.800 --> 0:23:43.480 but in his fury Conkling had made a deadly political miscalculation. 0:23:44.240 --> 0:23:49.080 The New York State Legislature, sick of Conkling's antics, did 0:23:49.160 --> 0:24:01.400 not reinstate him or Platt. Conkling was finished. Besides Conkling, 0:24:01.800 --> 0:24:04.159 no man was more deeply hurt by this turn of 0:24:04.240 --> 0:24:09.320 events than Charles Guettou. He had long idolized Conkling, and 0:24:09.400 --> 0:24:12.640 he was baffled and distraught at what he saw as 0:24:12.720 --> 0:24:16.840 Garfield's betrayal of the Republican Party, not to mention the 0:24:16.880 --> 0:24:21.479 personal betrayal. After months of petitioning, Geto still hadn't received 0:24:21.480 --> 0:24:25.040 a posting to the consulate in Paris. For days after 0:24:25.119 --> 0:24:31.320 Conkling's resignation, Geteau stewed he had come to Washington confident 0:24:31.440 --> 0:24:34.760 in both his own prospects and the prospects of the country, 0:24:35.560 --> 0:24:40.679 but everything was falling apart. His clothes were fraying, he 0:24:40.720 --> 0:24:44.960 could barely afford to eat, and his creditors were hounding him. 0:24:45.280 --> 0:24:49.320 What could he do, how could he fix this? On 0:24:49.400 --> 0:24:55.879 the night of May eighteenth, inspirations struck divine inspiration, Geteau 0:24:55.920 --> 0:25:00.840 would say a message straight from God. Quote. If the 0:25:00.920 --> 0:25:05.080 President was out of the way, everything would be better. 0:25:05.920 --> 0:25:10.920 With Garfield gone, Vice President Chester Arthur, an accolyte of Conkling, 0:25:11.080 --> 0:25:14.960 would take control, and the new President Arthur would not 0:25:15.080 --> 0:25:18.160 be able to deny who had gotten him there none 0:25:18.240 --> 0:25:22.560 other than the brave Charles Getou. But could he really 0:25:22.680 --> 0:25:28.080 kill the president? The idea horrified him. Geto recalled, but 0:25:28.960 --> 0:25:33.560 quote it kept growing upon me, pressing me, goading me. 0:25:34.359 --> 0:25:37.960 For the rest of May he fought a ceaseless internal battle, 0:25:38.600 --> 0:25:43.320 But on June first, he came to a resolution. James 0:25:43.520 --> 0:25:49.320 Garfield must die. With his mind made up, Gettou set 0:25:49.400 --> 0:25:52.840 to work. He borrowed money from a friend, saying it 0:25:52.880 --> 0:25:55.439 was to cover his housing bill, but instead using the 0:25:55.480 --> 0:25:59.640 fifteen dollars to buy an ivory handled revolver. He went 0:25:59.680 --> 0:26:02.480 to look the facilities at the Washington d c. Jail 0:26:02.840 --> 0:26:05.960 to make sure he could tolerate a confinement there. Seven 0:26:06.040 --> 0:26:09.040 years earlier, Geteau had spent a month in the tombs 0:26:09.440 --> 0:26:13.119 the notoriously filthy Manhattan jail for non payment of rent 0:26:13.600 --> 0:26:16.280 and felt he could not survive another experience like that. 0:26:16.960 --> 0:26:19.160 But he found the DC jail to be much more 0:26:19.200 --> 0:26:23.119 to his liking. He began to follow the president around town, 0:26:23.960 --> 0:26:27.720 hoping to determine the best place to make his move. Garfield, 0:26:28.080 --> 0:26:31.280 like all the presidents before him, traveled through the country 0:26:31.440 --> 0:26:36.560 unaccompanied by security. Getou also prepared for the celebrity he 0:26:36.640 --> 0:26:41.600 believed the assassination would guarantee him. Years earlier, Getou had 0:26:41.600 --> 0:26:44.960 written a book called The Truth, a Companion to the Bible, 0:26:45.520 --> 0:26:48.400 which had failed to find a publisher, in large part 0:26:48.480 --> 0:26:52.159 because it was a blatant, sloppily executed plagiarism of a 0:26:52.160 --> 0:26:55.280 book by the founder of the Oneida community. But Getou 0:26:55.320 --> 0:26:58.040 felt confident that his soon to be fame would have 0:26:58.119 --> 0:27:01.439 publishers in knocking at his door, so he re edited 0:27:01.440 --> 0:27:05.560 the manuscript. Getting The Truth published was not just a 0:27:05.680 --> 0:27:09.280 side effect of the assassination. In Getou's view, it was 0:27:09.320 --> 0:27:13.200 one of the main motivations. Two points will be accomplished 0:27:13.200 --> 0:27:17.000 by the assassination, Getou wrote, It will save the republic 0:27:17.200 --> 0:27:20.280 and create a demand for my book, The Truth. This 0:27:20.320 --> 0:27:23.080 book was not written for money. It was written to 0:27:23.160 --> 0:27:27.520 save souls in order to attract public attention. The book 0:27:27.640 --> 0:27:31.520 needs the notice the President's removal will give it. With 0:27:31.640 --> 0:27:37.160 everything in order, Getoau made his final preparations. On June twelfth, 0:27:37.200 --> 0:27:40.320 he went to Garfield's church and thought about shooting him there, 0:27:41.119 --> 0:27:43.560 but he ended up getting distracted by the sermon and 0:27:43.640 --> 0:27:47.480 missed his opportunity. On June eighteenth, he trailed the President 0:27:47.480 --> 0:27:50.560 and the First Lady to the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad station, 0:27:51.080 --> 0:27:53.320 where they planned to board a train to New Jersey. 0:27:53.920 --> 0:27:57.720 Lucretia Garfield was recovering from a week's long illness, and 0:27:57.840 --> 0:28:01.439 doctors hope the sier would strengthen her. It was only 0:28:01.480 --> 0:28:04.480 the sight of her frail form that stopped Getou from 0:28:04.480 --> 0:28:07.960