1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,000 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff you missed in History Class, the production 2 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:12,880 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hello, and welcome 3 00:00:12,880 --> 00:00:16,720 Speaker 1: to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Holly Trying. So. 4 00:00:16,840 --> 00:00:19,959 Speaker 1: In the eighteen eighties, decades before women had the right 5 00:00:20,040 --> 00:00:23,959 Speaker 1: to vote, Julius Sand wrote a series of letters to 6 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:27,520 Speaker 1: President Chester A. Arthur, the first before he was even president, 7 00:00:27,920 --> 00:00:31,800 Speaker 1: and those letters might really have influenced his presidency. We'll 8 00:00:31,840 --> 00:00:34,920 Speaker 1: talk about that a little later. This all happened during 9 00:00:34,920 --> 00:00:38,080 Speaker 1: a period that's known as the Gilded Age. That term 10 00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:41,400 Speaker 1: was popularized by Mark Twain to describe a society that 11 00:00:41,479 --> 00:00:44,680 Speaker 1: was very glittery on the surface but also rotten underneath. 12 00:00:45,440 --> 00:00:48,360 Speaker 1: It was a time of reform and progress. Some of 13 00:00:48,400 --> 00:00:50,600 Speaker 1: the reformers that we've talked about on the show before 14 00:00:50,680 --> 00:00:53,600 Speaker 1: we're during this period. But there was also a lot 15 00:00:53,680 --> 00:00:58,760 Speaker 1: of corruption and inequality in a very deeply partisan political process, 16 00:00:58,800 --> 00:01:01,960 Speaker 1: and this story of Julia Sand and Chester A. Arthur 17 00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:04,880 Speaker 1: connects to all of that. Before we get to Julia 18 00:01:04,920 --> 00:01:07,760 Speaker 1: Sands letters, we need to talk about Chester A. Arthur's 19 00:01:07,840 --> 00:01:10,960 Speaker 1: career before he became president and how he wound up 20 00:01:10,959 --> 00:01:13,880 Speaker 1: in that office. Because her letters grow out of all 21 00:01:13,920 --> 00:01:17,520 Speaker 1: of that. He was born on October five, eighty nine. 22 00:01:17,880 --> 00:01:21,440 Speaker 1: His father, William, was a minister, a teacher, and an abolitionist, 23 00:01:21,560 --> 00:01:24,240 Speaker 1: and the family moved around a lot, living in towns 24 00:01:24,240 --> 00:01:27,600 Speaker 1: in Vermont, New York, and Quebec. Arthur, who was friends 25 00:01:27,640 --> 00:01:30,720 Speaker 1: called Chet, worked as a teacher and a school principal 26 00:01:30,760 --> 00:01:33,479 Speaker 1: before moving to New York City to pursue a career 27 00:01:33,520 --> 00:01:36,759 Speaker 1: in law. One of his first cases was known as 28 00:01:36,760 --> 00:01:41,240 Speaker 1: the Lemon slave case. Jonathan and Juliet Lemon of Virginia 29 00:01:41,400 --> 00:01:44,920 Speaker 1: had brought eight enslaved people with them to New York. 30 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:47,280 Speaker 1: They were planning to immigrate to Texas, and they were 31 00:01:47,280 --> 00:01:49,600 Speaker 1: going to get on a steamer in New York to 32 00:01:49,640 --> 00:01:52,560 Speaker 1: go to Texas. But New York at that point had 33 00:01:52,600 --> 00:01:56,400 Speaker 1: abolished slavery, and a judge ordered for the enslaved people 34 00:01:56,480 --> 00:01:59,880 Speaker 1: that they brought with them to be freed. Arthur and 35 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:03,920 Speaker 1: William w Everts successfully represented the State of New York 36 00:02:03,960 --> 00:02:07,160 Speaker 1: when the ruling was appealed, so that ruling stood that 37 00:02:07,240 --> 00:02:10,560 Speaker 1: these people should be freed. In eighteen fifty five, Arthur 38 00:02:10,639 --> 00:02:15,640 Speaker 1: also successfully represented past podcast subject Elizabeth Dennings Graham and 39 00:02:15,720 --> 00:02:19,760 Speaker 1: her discrimination suit against the Third Avenue Railway Company. Arthur 40 00:02:19,880 --> 00:02:22,280 Speaker 1: didn't come from money, and he was always looking for 41 00:02:22,320 --> 00:02:25,600 Speaker 1: a way to move up the economic ladder. To that end, 42 00:02:25,720 --> 00:02:28,560 Speaker 1: In the summer of eighteen fifty seven, he went to Kansas, 43 00:02:28,919 --> 00:02:32,680 Speaker 1: which was embroiled in a violent dispute over slavery. In 44 00:02:32,760 --> 00:02:35,400 Speaker 1: spite of his prior legal work and his family's deep 45 00:02:35,400 --> 00:02:38,959 Speaker 1: ties to abolition, a big motivation was that he hoped 46 00:02:39,040 --> 00:02:41,440 Speaker 1: to make money. That he was really thinking he might 47 00:02:41,480 --> 00:02:44,520 Speaker 1: get into some land speculation. It wasn't so much about 48 00:02:44,639 --> 00:02:48,680 Speaker 1: the principles of slavery there. He didn't stay in Kansas 49 00:02:48,800 --> 00:02:51,440 Speaker 1: very long, though. He was engaged to a woman named 50 00:02:51,440 --> 00:02:55,200 Speaker 1: Ellen Herndon, who went by Nell, who he would later marry. 51 00:02:55,400 --> 00:02:58,960 Speaker 1: Nell's father was killed on September twelfth, eighteen fifty seven, 52 00:02:58,960 --> 00:03:01,360 Speaker 1: when the s S seven Troll America sank off the 53 00:03:01,360 --> 00:03:04,840 Speaker 1: coast of Cape Hatteras after a storm. After learning that 54 00:03:04,880 --> 00:03:08,480 Speaker 1: her father had died, Nell wrote to Chester. She asked 55 00:03:08,520 --> 00:03:11,440 Speaker 1: him to come home, and he did. The Central America 56 00:03:11,560 --> 00:03:14,120 Speaker 1: had been carrying gold that was meant to replenish the 57 00:03:14,160 --> 00:03:17,240 Speaker 1: supply in New York Banks, so when the ship sank, 58 00:03:17,320 --> 00:03:20,320 Speaker 1: the loss of all that needed gold, combined with existing 59 00:03:20,360 --> 00:03:24,840 Speaker 1: economic issues set off a financial panic. If this sounds familiar, 60 00:03:24,919 --> 00:03:27,280 Speaker 1: it is the same shipwreck and panic that came up 61 00:03:27,320 --> 00:03:30,480 Speaker 1: in our Levi Strauss episode not too long ago. And 62 00:03:30,520 --> 00:03:33,160 Speaker 1: even though Arthur's legal work had earned him some respect, 63 00:03:33,400 --> 00:03:36,040 Speaker 1: he just didn't have the experience or connections to earn 64 00:03:36,080 --> 00:03:39,520 Speaker 1: a good living as a lawyer during such tumultuous economic times. 65 00:03:39,960 --> 00:03:43,720 Speaker 1: Looking for another direction for his career, Arthur became more 66 00:03:43,760 --> 00:03:48,160 Speaker 1: and more involved with New York's Republican political machine, if 67 00:03:48,160 --> 00:03:51,560 Speaker 1: you're not familiar with that term of a political machine 68 00:03:51,640 --> 00:03:54,440 Speaker 1: is a political party organization that has a boss or 69 00:03:54,520 --> 00:03:56,440 Speaker 1: a very small clique of people at the top, and 70 00:03:56,480 --> 00:03:59,920 Speaker 1: then a hierarchy of deeply loyal officials and supporters that 71 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:02,280 Speaker 1: extending all through every level of the government and then 72 00:04:02,320 --> 00:04:06,120 Speaker 1: out into the community. The name comes from the organization's 73 00:04:06,120 --> 00:04:10,480 Speaker 1: ability to achieve its goals with an almost mechanical efficiency, 74 00:04:10,600 --> 00:04:14,040 Speaker 1: whether that goal is enacting some kind of actual change 75 00:04:14,160 --> 00:04:18,279 Speaker 1: or just staying in power. Especially in the nineteenth century, 76 00:04:18,480 --> 00:04:23,480 Speaker 1: these organizations became synonymous with bribery, fraud, and corruption. They 77 00:04:23,520 --> 00:04:26,320 Speaker 1: wanted to stay in power, not necessarily because they thought 78 00:04:26,360 --> 00:04:28,960 Speaker 1: they'd do a better job than someone else, but because 79 00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:31,760 Speaker 1: they ran the government in a way that personally benefited 80 00:04:31,800 --> 00:04:35,000 Speaker 1: the boss and his cronies. At the same time, political 81 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:39,720 Speaker 1: machines could inspire genuinely deep loyalty among voters. For example, 82 00:04:39,800 --> 00:04:42,240 Speaker 1: the boss might hand out food and clothing in an 83 00:04:42,240 --> 00:04:45,960 Speaker 1: impoverished neighborhood, making it clear who was to thank for 84 00:04:46,040 --> 00:04:49,040 Speaker 1: that help. But when that wasn't enough incentive to get 85 00:04:49,120 --> 00:04:53,000 Speaker 1: voters support, the machine might also turn to intimidation, threats, 86 00:04:53,080 --> 00:04:56,040 Speaker 1: and fraud. Arthur got his start in all this working 87 00:04:56,080 --> 00:04:59,680 Speaker 1: with publisher and Republican boss Thomas wed who was a 88 00:04:59,760 --> 00:05:02,719 Speaker 1: huge proponent of what was known as the spoils system, 89 00:05:02,920 --> 00:05:05,320 Speaker 1: and that system was also connected to the way political 90 00:05:05,360 --> 00:05:09,240 Speaker 1: machines were working. Under this system, which is also known 91 00:05:09,279 --> 00:05:14,000 Speaker 1: as the patronage system, elected officials and political bosses routinely 92 00:05:14,040 --> 00:05:17,760 Speaker 1: handed out jobs to their friends and supporters basically as rewards. 93 00:05:18,240 --> 00:05:21,640 Speaker 1: This bread a lot of inefficiency and corruption. People were 94 00:05:21,640 --> 00:05:24,800 Speaker 1: being appointed to positions that they really had no qualifications 95 00:05:24,839 --> 00:05:27,440 Speaker 1: for just because they were connected to somebody in power, 96 00:05:28,400 --> 00:05:31,880 Speaker 1: or people were convinced to support someone in power by 97 00:05:31,920 --> 00:05:35,120 Speaker 1: being promised a job in exchange for that support. Arthur's 98 00:05:35,160 --> 00:05:38,600 Speaker 1: most obvious benefit from the spoil system was still to come. 99 00:05:39,320 --> 00:05:41,160 Speaker 1: Leading up to the Civil War, he joined the New 100 00:05:41,240 --> 00:05:44,240 Speaker 1: York State Militia, again more with the hope of advancement 101 00:05:44,440 --> 00:05:47,320 Speaker 1: than over the issue of slavery. He rose through the 102 00:05:47,360 --> 00:05:50,240 Speaker 1: ranks and eventually became Quartermaster General for the State of 103 00:05:50,279 --> 00:05:54,040 Speaker 1: New York. He also became connected to Edward D. Morgan, 104 00:05:54,240 --> 00:05:57,839 Speaker 1: another Republican who became Governor of New York. Arthur was 105 00:05:57,920 --> 00:06:01,640 Speaker 1: increasingly involved in Republican politics during and after the war. 106 00:06:02,200 --> 00:06:05,400 Speaker 1: By eighteen seventy, Thomas Weed was getting older and his 107 00:06:05,600 --> 00:06:09,040 Speaker 1: grip as the Boss was slipping. Moving into his place 108 00:06:09,120 --> 00:06:13,159 Speaker 1: was Roscoe Conkling, who eventually became a Senator. Arthur also 109 00:06:13,200 --> 00:06:16,719 Speaker 1: had connections to William Ate Tweed, known as Boss Tweed, 110 00:06:16,720 --> 00:06:20,880 Speaker 1: who ran the opposing and also notorious Democratic political machine 111 00:06:21,160 --> 00:06:25,280 Speaker 1: known as Tammany Hall. Tweed created a job for Arthur, 112 00:06:25,400 --> 00:06:28,840 Speaker 1: working as counsel to the City Tax Commission. He had 113 00:06:28,920 --> 00:06:32,400 Speaker 1: an annual salary of ten thousand dollars doing Nobody is 114 00:06:32,440 --> 00:06:39,000 Speaker 1: exactly sure what oh those jobs uh. Then on December one, 115 00:06:39,120 --> 00:06:42,240 Speaker 1: seventy one, Arthur became the customs collector for the Port 116 00:06:42,240 --> 00:06:45,880 Speaker 1: of New York. President Ulysses S. Grant appointed him to 117 00:06:45,880 --> 00:06:49,400 Speaker 1: the position based on the recommendations of Senator Conkling and 118 00:06:49,440 --> 00:06:54,120 Speaker 1: the previous customs collector, Tom Murphy. Murphy was leaving in 119 00:06:54,200 --> 00:06:59,120 Speaker 1: disgrace after numerous allegations of fraud, criminal activity, and firing 120 00:06:59,200 --> 00:07:03,360 Speaker 1: customs inspects to replace them with men loyal to Roscoe Conkling. 121 00:07:04,120 --> 00:07:07,320 Speaker 1: In spite of this tarnished reputation, he was allowed to 122 00:07:07,440 --> 00:07:12,000 Speaker 1: name his replacement. Customs collector was an incredibly powerful and 123 00:07:12,240 --> 00:07:15,720 Speaker 1: very lucrative role in terms of his own pay. Arthur 124 00:07:15,800 --> 00:07:18,560 Speaker 1: was earning as much as eighty thousand dollars a year, 125 00:07:18,760 --> 00:07:21,280 Speaker 1: which is roughly equivalent to more than half a million 126 00:07:21,320 --> 00:07:25,200 Speaker 1: dollars today, and this included a portion of the fines 127 00:07:25,320 --> 00:07:27,840 Speaker 1: that were collected and the goods that were received at 128 00:07:27,880 --> 00:07:30,360 Speaker 1: the port. The federal government made a lot of money 129 00:07:30,360 --> 00:07:33,480 Speaker 1: at the port too. There was no federal income tax, 130 00:07:33,480 --> 00:07:36,760 Speaker 1: so most of the federal government's revenue was coming from customs, 131 00:07:37,120 --> 00:07:40,920 Speaker 1: and most of those customs were coming through New York collectors. 132 00:07:40,960 --> 00:07:44,240 Speaker 1: So the government in general and the customs collectors specifically 133 00:07:44,640 --> 00:07:47,840 Speaker 1: had a financial incentive to assess fines and fees at 134 00:07:47,840 --> 00:07:50,760 Speaker 1: the port, or to seize goods for reasons that were 135 00:07:50,760 --> 00:07:55,200 Speaker 1: either overblown or flat out made up. Arthur had always 136 00:07:55,200 --> 00:07:59,120 Speaker 1: had an affinity for nice things. He liked fashionable clothes 137 00:07:59,200 --> 00:08:03,880 Speaker 1: and fine food and good cigars. Later on, after becoming president, 138 00:08:03,920 --> 00:08:07,400 Speaker 1: he would have Louis comfort Tiffany completely redecorate the White 139 00:08:07,400 --> 00:08:10,800 Speaker 1: House and hosts state dinners that required seven different wine 140 00:08:10,800 --> 00:08:15,000 Speaker 1: glasses for every guest. So this post as customs inspector 141 00:08:15,120 --> 00:08:18,240 Speaker 1: really let him indulge his love of finer things. As 142 00:08:18,280 --> 00:08:20,760 Speaker 1: he was taking a cut of all these fines and 143 00:08:20,760 --> 00:08:23,680 Speaker 1: the goods that were moving through the port, some of 144 00:08:23,720 --> 00:08:27,840 Speaker 1: those fines and seized goods being just for completely fabricated reasons. 145 00:08:28,240 --> 00:08:31,720 Speaker 1: People called him the gentleman Boss. The role also put 146 00:08:31,840 --> 00:08:34,800 Speaker 1: Arthur in a good position to do favors for his cronies, 147 00:08:34,840 --> 00:08:37,760 Speaker 1: like waving their shipments through the port without their having 148 00:08:37,760 --> 00:08:41,679 Speaker 1: to pay. Collected bribes and seized goods were passed around 149 00:08:41,679 --> 00:08:47,079 Speaker 1: the Republican political machine. Arthur also requested that his employees 150 00:08:47,160 --> 00:08:50,240 Speaker 1: donate to his faction of the Republican Party, known as 151 00:08:50,240 --> 00:08:54,400 Speaker 1: the Stalwarts, and this was supposedly voluntary but not really. 152 00:08:55,120 --> 00:08:58,600 Speaker 1: Civil service rules implemented in eighteen seventy two banned these 153 00:08:58,600 --> 00:09:02,480 Speaker 1: types of political contribute shins, but Arthur continued to request 154 00:09:02,520 --> 00:09:06,479 Speaker 1: them anyway. That cut of the revenue that Arthur personally 155 00:09:06,520 --> 00:09:10,480 Speaker 1: got also disappeared. In eighteen seventy four, after Congress passed 156 00:09:10,480 --> 00:09:14,960 Speaker 1: the Anti Moiety Act. That act followed an investigation into 157 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:17,319 Speaker 1: a fine that was assessed. That fine was for more 158 00:09:17,360 --> 00:09:21,319 Speaker 1: than two hundred and seventeen thousand dollars, and it had 159 00:09:21,360 --> 00:09:24,880 Speaker 1: been levied against the firm of Phelps Dodge. Arthur and 160 00:09:24,920 --> 00:09:27,760 Speaker 1: several of his cronies had all gotten a share of 161 00:09:27,800 --> 00:09:30,840 Speaker 1: this fine. Arthur's cut of it was more than twenty 162 00:09:30,840 --> 00:09:34,120 Speaker 1: one thousand dollars, but it turned out that the fine 163 00:09:34,240 --> 00:09:38,640 Speaker 1: was almost entirely fraudulent. Corruption was threaded all through American 164 00:09:38,679 --> 00:09:41,840 Speaker 1: politics at this point, but Arthur developed a reputation for 165 00:09:41,920 --> 00:09:47,320 Speaker 1: being particularly corrupt. Plus two Republican factions, the Moderates and 166 00:09:47,360 --> 00:09:51,280 Speaker 1: the Stalwarts, were increasingly at odds with each other. After 167 00:09:51,360 --> 00:09:55,480 Speaker 1: moderate Republican Rutherford Behave succeeded Grant as president in an 168 00:09:55,559 --> 00:10:00,280 Speaker 1: incredibly contentious election, he nominated Theodore Roosevelt Senior to take 169 00:10:00,360 --> 00:10:04,120 Speaker 1: Arthur's place as customs collector, but the Stalwart faction of 170 00:10:04,120 --> 00:10:07,920 Speaker 1: the Senate repeatedly voted against confirming him, and Roosevelt died 171 00:10:07,920 --> 00:10:11,520 Speaker 1: of stomach cancer. With the matter still unsettled, Arthur was 172 00:10:11,559 --> 00:10:15,480 Speaker 1: finally suspended from the job on July eleven, seventy eight. 173 00:10:16,040 --> 00:10:19,559 Speaker 1: During his campaign, Rutherford Behayes had pledged to spend only 174 00:10:19,640 --> 00:10:22,400 Speaker 1: one term in office, so at the end of that term, 175 00:10:22,400 --> 00:10:24,920 Speaker 1: the Republican Party needed to find a new candidate to 176 00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:29,480 Speaker 1: run in the eighteen eight presidential election. The stalwarts preferred 177 00:10:29,559 --> 00:10:33,360 Speaker 1: former President Grant, and the moderates worried that re electing 178 00:10:33,440 --> 00:10:36,679 Speaker 1: Grant would cause more division, especially since that would mean 179 00:10:36,679 --> 00:10:39,880 Speaker 1: he was returning to office for a third term. We 180 00:10:39,920 --> 00:10:42,560 Speaker 1: haven't gotten into it, but his earlier terms had a 181 00:10:42,600 --> 00:10:45,080 Speaker 1: lot of the types of corruption that we've been talking about. 182 00:10:46,080 --> 00:10:48,720 Speaker 1: The anti Grant wing of the party wound up splitting 183 00:10:48,760 --> 00:10:53,400 Speaker 1: their votes between two candidates before eventually rallying around James A. Garfield. 184 00:10:54,040 --> 00:10:57,680 Speaker 1: After thirty six rounds of voting, Garfield finally became the 185 00:10:57,720 --> 00:11:01,920 Speaker 1: party's nominee. Arthur was selected as his running mate, mostly 186 00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:04,679 Speaker 1: to appease the Stalwarts and with the hope of getting 187 00:11:04,760 --> 00:11:06,760 Speaker 1: votes from the state of New York in the election. 188 00:11:07,720 --> 00:11:10,640 Speaker 1: Arthur accepted the nomination even though he was still grieving 189 00:11:10,640 --> 00:11:13,320 Speaker 1: from the recent death of his wife thinking of the 190 00:11:13,320 --> 00:11:16,199 Speaker 1: whole thing as an honor and a possible chance at redemption. 191 00:11:16,720 --> 00:11:21,880 Speaker 1: This wasn't a particularly popular move, though. Almost immediately, rumors 192 00:11:21,920 --> 00:11:24,600 Speaker 1: started to spread that Arthur had not been born in 193 00:11:24,679 --> 00:11:27,720 Speaker 1: the United States, that he was from Canada or from 194 00:11:27,760 --> 00:11:31,000 Speaker 1: his father's birthplace of Ireland, and thus was not eligible 195 00:11:31,040 --> 00:11:34,160 Speaker 1: to be vice president. This was such a convoluted and 196 00:11:34,320 --> 00:11:37,360 Speaker 1: weird and fascinating story. We're going to have a whole 197 00:11:37,400 --> 00:11:42,240 Speaker 1: podcast on it later. Hooray. In the end, Garfield won 198 00:11:42,280 --> 00:11:46,160 Speaker 1: the election, but on July two one, not quite four 199 00:11:46,160 --> 00:11:49,840 Speaker 1: months after his inauguration, he was shot by Charles J. Gutta. 200 00:11:50,840 --> 00:11:54,640 Speaker 1: Police immediately apprehended Ghetto, who proclaimed quote, I did it 201 00:11:54,720 --> 00:11:56,400 Speaker 1: and I will go to jail for it. I am 202 00:11:56,400 --> 00:12:00,320 Speaker 1: a stalwart, and Arthur is now president. Ghetto's behavior and 203 00:12:00,440 --> 00:12:03,840 Speaker 1: statements were odd and erratic beyond just the fact that 204 00:12:03,880 --> 00:12:06,760 Speaker 1: he had shot the president, and he's often described as 205 00:12:06,800 --> 00:12:11,199 Speaker 1: a disappointed office speaker because he had been repeatedly turned 206 00:12:11,280 --> 00:12:14,160 Speaker 1: away while trying to get an appointment as an ambassador. 207 00:12:14,800 --> 00:12:17,960 Speaker 1: He was so persistent that the Secretary of State eventually 208 00:12:18,040 --> 00:12:21,080 Speaker 1: ordered him to leave and never come back. But Chester A. 209 00:12:21,280 --> 00:12:26,000 Speaker 1: Arthur was notorious in this whole system of spoils and cronyism. So, 210 00:12:26,040 --> 00:12:30,080 Speaker 1: in his convoluted logic and disordered thinking, Ghetto seems to 211 00:12:30,120 --> 00:12:33,360 Speaker 1: have thought if Arthur were president, he would get a job. 212 00:12:33,640 --> 00:12:36,400 Speaker 1: And that's where Julia sand finally comes into this picture. 213 00:12:36,800 --> 00:12:41,079 Speaker 1: We will get to her after a quick sponsor break. 214 00:12:46,120 --> 00:12:50,160 Speaker 1: President James Garfield lived for nearly eighty days after being 215 00:12:50,160 --> 00:12:54,760 Speaker 1: shot on July second one, and during that time Chester A. 216 00:12:54,960 --> 00:12:58,240 Speaker 1: Arthur was at best kind of freaked out. He had 217 00:12:58,280 --> 00:13:01,600 Speaker 1: not really even considered that he had become president when 218 00:13:01,600 --> 00:13:05,200 Speaker 1: he accepted the nomination. Just being the vice president was 219 00:13:05,320 --> 00:13:09,200 Speaker 1: almost beyond the scope of his imagination. Arthur was on 220 00:13:09,240 --> 00:13:11,520 Speaker 1: a boat that was taking him from Albany back to 221 00:13:11,640 --> 00:13:14,480 Speaker 1: New York when the shooting happened. As the boat was 222 00:13:14,480 --> 00:13:17,640 Speaker 1: passing by a peer, someone shouted across the water that 223 00:13:17,720 --> 00:13:21,560 Speaker 1: Garfield had been assassinated. One of Arthur's colleagues on the 224 00:13:21,600 --> 00:13:24,080 Speaker 1: deck heard this and came to the saloon to given 225 00:13:24,120 --> 00:13:28,360 Speaker 1: the news, and Arthur literally crumpled into his chair. In 226 00:13:28,400 --> 00:13:32,160 Speaker 1: addition to saying Arthur is now president, Charles Guto had 227 00:13:32,200 --> 00:13:35,800 Speaker 1: told the officers who apprehended him that Arthur quote and 228 00:13:35,920 --> 00:13:39,400 Speaker 1: all those men were his friends, and that Ghetto would 229 00:13:39,400 --> 00:13:43,400 Speaker 1: have the arresting officers made chief of police. People had 230 00:13:43,480 --> 00:13:47,840 Speaker 1: already been suspicious of Arthur's character, and then these bizarre 231 00:13:47,960 --> 00:13:51,280 Speaker 1: statements that Ghetto was making were leading people to wonder 232 00:13:51,400 --> 00:13:55,440 Speaker 1: whether the vice president had orchestrated this shooting. The general 233 00:13:55,480 --> 00:13:58,960 Speaker 1: reaction in the press was stunned horror, both to the 234 00:13:58,960 --> 00:14:01,560 Speaker 1: shooting and to the idea that Arthur was going to 235 00:14:01,600 --> 00:14:06,280 Speaker 1: become president. The Chicago Tribune called it a calamity, so 236 00:14:06,360 --> 00:14:10,400 Speaker 1: did former President Rutherford B. Hayes, and the word calamity 237 00:14:10,480 --> 00:14:13,600 Speaker 1: seems to be the one virtually everyone gravitated toward when 238 00:14:13,600 --> 00:14:17,920 Speaker 1: describing a potential Arthur presidency. That Arthur really didn't do 239 00:14:18,040 --> 00:14:20,880 Speaker 1: much to try to take control of the narrative. He 240 00:14:20,960 --> 00:14:24,440 Speaker 1: had always been extremely secretive when it came to the press, 241 00:14:24,760 --> 00:14:27,800 Speaker 1: so rather than making some kind of statement or stepping 242 00:14:27,840 --> 00:14:31,360 Speaker 1: into lead as the president was incapacitated, he mostly hid. 243 00:14:31,520 --> 00:14:34,840 Speaker 1: He was also afraid to assume the president's duties because 244 00:14:34,880 --> 00:14:38,400 Speaker 1: he justifiably worried that it might reinforce the idea that 245 00:14:38,440 --> 00:14:41,400 Speaker 1: he had been behind the shooting. In a brief visit 246 00:14:41,440 --> 00:14:44,600 Speaker 1: to Washington, d C. He told the president's cabinet quote, 247 00:14:44,840 --> 00:14:48,160 Speaker 1: I pray to God that the president will recover. God 248 00:14:48,200 --> 00:14:50,400 Speaker 1: knows I do not want the place I was never 249 00:14:50,440 --> 00:14:53,800 Speaker 1: elected to. As quickly as he could, he went back 250 00:14:53,840 --> 00:14:56,040 Speaker 1: to New York and then just tried to stay out 251 00:14:56,080 --> 00:14:59,760 Speaker 1: of the spotlight. As all of this was happening, Roscoe 252 00:14:59,800 --> 00:15:03,320 Speaker 1: ca Unkling was also in the news. He had resigned 253 00:15:03,400 --> 00:15:06,480 Speaker 1: his Senate seat along with the other senator from New York, 254 00:15:06,520 --> 00:15:10,320 Speaker 1: in an attempt to derail the confirmation of Garfield's choice 255 00:15:10,360 --> 00:15:14,800 Speaker 1: for once again the New York City customs collector. He 256 00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:17,960 Speaker 1: hoped that the New York legislator would return him to 257 00:15:18,040 --> 00:15:20,760 Speaker 1: office after he had done this, and the media was 258 00:15:20,880 --> 00:15:24,040 Speaker 1: sure that if that happened and the president died, not 259 00:15:24,160 --> 00:15:27,960 Speaker 1: only would there be this calamitous Arthur presidency, but also 260 00:15:28,160 --> 00:15:31,800 Speaker 1: the notorious Roscoe Conkling would really be running everything from 261 00:15:31,800 --> 00:15:35,280 Speaker 1: behind the scenes. Thirty one year old Julia Sand was 262 00:15:35,360 --> 00:15:39,160 Speaker 1: following all of this with bated breath. Julia was the 263 00:15:39,200 --> 00:15:43,240 Speaker 1: youngest child of Christian Henry Sand, who had immigrated from Germany, 264 00:15:43,280 --> 00:15:47,040 Speaker 1: and Isabella Julia Carter. Christian Sand had gone on to 265 00:15:47,080 --> 00:15:50,640 Speaker 1: become president of Metropolitan Gaslight Company of New York, so 266 00:15:50,680 --> 00:15:54,200 Speaker 1: the family was well off and cultured. Julia had at 267 00:15:54,240 --> 00:15:57,960 Speaker 1: least nine siblings, and in one she and several family 268 00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:01,480 Speaker 1: members were living at seventy six East seventy four Street 269 00:16:01,480 --> 00:16:04,640 Speaker 1: in a home that her brother owned. She was educated 270 00:16:04,680 --> 00:16:07,920 Speaker 1: and unmarried. One of her relatives would later describe her 271 00:16:07,920 --> 00:16:10,960 Speaker 1: as a blue stocking, which was slang for an intellectual woman. 272 00:16:11,560 --> 00:16:14,200 Speaker 1: She was also chronically ill. It's really not clear what 273 00:16:14,320 --> 00:16:16,880 Speaker 1: her diagnosis might have been, but she had problems with 274 00:16:16,920 --> 00:16:20,120 Speaker 1: her spine and a number of illnesses that sometimes left 275 00:16:20,120 --> 00:16:23,320 Speaker 1: her unable to leave her room. At other times, though 276 00:16:23,320 --> 00:16:25,200 Speaker 1: she was well enough to travel to some of the 277 00:16:25,240 --> 00:16:28,520 Speaker 1: area's more fashionable resorts and springs to try to regain 278 00:16:28,520 --> 00:16:32,400 Speaker 1: her health. You might describe Julia sand as a political junkie. 279 00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:35,120 Speaker 1: She didn't have the right to vote, and there were 280 00:16:35,160 --> 00:16:38,160 Speaker 1: no women in New York state legislature or the federal government. 281 00:16:38,600 --> 00:16:41,840 Speaker 1: But she devoured political news, and she was informed about 282 00:16:41,920 --> 00:16:45,520 Speaker 1: candidates and elected officials and about the issues of the day. 283 00:16:45,640 --> 00:16:50,160 Speaker 1: And on August one, she wrote Chester A. Arthur, a 284 00:16:50,320 --> 00:16:54,040 Speaker 1: seven page letter. It began in part quote, the hours 285 00:16:54,080 --> 00:16:57,240 Speaker 1: of Garfield's life are numbered. Before this meets her eye. 286 00:16:57,360 --> 00:17:00,280 Speaker 1: You may be president. The people are bowed in gree 287 00:17:00,320 --> 00:17:03,120 Speaker 1: But do you realize it not so much because he 288 00:17:03,240 --> 00:17:07,560 Speaker 1: is dying as because you are his successor what president 289 00:17:07,640 --> 00:17:11,439 Speaker 1: ever entered office under circumstances so sad? The day he 290 00:17:11,560 --> 00:17:14,120 Speaker 1: was shot? The thought rose in a thousand minds that 291 00:17:14,200 --> 00:17:17,480 Speaker 1: you might be the instigator of the foul act? Is 292 00:17:17,520 --> 00:17:20,959 Speaker 1: that not a humiliation which cuts deeper than any bullet 293 00:17:21,040 --> 00:17:23,960 Speaker 1: can pierce? Then she went on to say, quote, but 294 00:17:24,160 --> 00:17:28,440 Speaker 1: making a man president can change him. Great emergencies awaken 295 00:17:28,520 --> 00:17:31,960 Speaker 1: generous traits which have lain dormant half a life. If 296 00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:34,639 Speaker 1: there is a spark of true nobility in you, now 297 00:17:34,760 --> 00:17:38,000 Speaker 1: is the occasion to let it shine. Faith in your 298 00:17:38,000 --> 00:17:40,760 Speaker 1: better nature forces me to write to you, but not 299 00:17:40,840 --> 00:17:43,920 Speaker 1: to beg you to resign. Do what is more difficult 300 00:17:44,080 --> 00:17:47,760 Speaker 1: and more brave, reform. It is not the proof of 301 00:17:47,840 --> 00:17:50,760 Speaker 1: highest goodness, never to have done wrong, but it is 302 00:17:50,800 --> 00:17:53,560 Speaker 1: a proof of it. Sometime in one's career to pause 303 00:17:53,640 --> 00:17:57,840 Speaker 1: and ponder, to recognize the evil, to turn resolutely against, 304 00:17:58,520 --> 00:18:02,800 Speaker 1: rise to the emergency, disappoint our fears. And this letter 305 00:18:02,920 --> 00:18:06,439 Speaker 1: sand also imagined what might happen if Arthur were shot. 306 00:18:06,960 --> 00:18:09,399 Speaker 1: She wrote that no one would pray for his well being. 307 00:18:09,440 --> 00:18:13,360 Speaker 1: As so many people were doing at that moment. For Garfield. Instead, 308 00:18:13,480 --> 00:18:15,920 Speaker 1: she thought the American people would probably think they were 309 00:18:15,960 --> 00:18:20,280 Speaker 1: well rid of him. This letter was incredibly direct and forward, 310 00:18:20,440 --> 00:18:24,080 Speaker 1: especially considering that Sand and Arthur were total strangers to 311 00:18:24,119 --> 00:18:27,800 Speaker 1: one another. She didn't pull any punches about how disliked 312 00:18:27,800 --> 00:18:31,960 Speaker 1: and distrusted he was and how justified those perceptions were, 313 00:18:32,480 --> 00:18:35,359 Speaker 1: but she also bolstered him up and imagined a world 314 00:18:35,400 --> 00:18:37,720 Speaker 1: in which Arthur left all of the wheeling and dealing 315 00:18:37,720 --> 00:18:42,240 Speaker 1: in corruption of the Republican political machine behind him. When 316 00:18:42,280 --> 00:18:46,679 Speaker 1: Sand wrote this letter, Garfield's condition seemed relatively stable, but 317 00:18:46,840 --> 00:18:50,200 Speaker 1: also was not really improving. But then in the middle 318 00:18:50,200 --> 00:18:53,760 Speaker 1: of August, after being moved from the humid and swampy 319 00:18:53,880 --> 00:18:57,080 Speaker 1: capital to Long Branch, New Jersey, he took a sudden 320 00:18:57,119 --> 00:19:00,400 Speaker 1: turn for the worse. On September nine, that became clear 321 00:19:00,440 --> 00:19:03,720 Speaker 1: that he would not survive. Arthur got a telegram from 322 00:19:03,720 --> 00:19:06,680 Speaker 1: the Attorney General informing him of this, which led him 323 00:19:06,720 --> 00:19:09,919 Speaker 1: to shut himself up in his home. Later that evening, 324 00:19:09,960 --> 00:19:13,040 Speaker 1: after some of his colleagues arrived, Arthur left and went 325 00:19:13,080 --> 00:19:16,560 Speaker 1: for a walk by himself. At about eleven thirty that night, 326 00:19:16,600 --> 00:19:19,719 Speaker 1: when Arthur was back at home, a reporter brought him 327 00:19:19,760 --> 00:19:23,439 Speaker 1: the news that the president had died. Arthur's response was 328 00:19:23,480 --> 00:19:27,320 Speaker 1: this quote, Oh, no, it cannot be true. It cannot 329 00:19:27,320 --> 00:19:30,920 Speaker 1: be I have heard nothing. After he got a telegram 330 00:19:30,960 --> 00:19:34,000 Speaker 1: confirming that yes, it was true, he went to his 331 00:19:34,119 --> 00:19:38,840 Speaker 1: room and wept. In the early morning hours of September one, 332 00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:42,879 Speaker 1: Arthur composed himself. New York Supreme Court Judge John R. 333 00:19:42,960 --> 00:19:45,560 Speaker 1: Brady arrived at about two thirty in the morning to 334 00:19:45,640 --> 00:19:49,639 Speaker 1: administer the oath of office. A formal public inauguration was 335 00:19:49,680 --> 00:19:52,480 Speaker 1: held in Washington, d C. Two days later, and he 336 00:19:52,560 --> 00:19:55,359 Speaker 1: got his next letter from Julius Sand about a week 337 00:19:55,400 --> 00:19:57,600 Speaker 1: after that. And we're going to talk more about that 338 00:19:57,960 --> 00:20:08,840 Speaker 1: after we have a little sponsor break. And Julia Sand's 339 00:20:08,880 --> 00:20:11,800 Speaker 1: next letter to Chester A Arthur. She wrote about what 340 00:20:11,840 --> 00:20:14,760 Speaker 1: she saw as the unique nature of his grief over 341 00:20:14,800 --> 00:20:18,520 Speaker 1: the president's death. She noted that Garfield's wife and family 342 00:20:18,600 --> 00:20:21,840 Speaker 1: were all going through what ordinary families had weathered for 343 00:20:21,880 --> 00:20:25,280 Speaker 1: all of human history. Arthur's grief, on the other hand, 344 00:20:25,320 --> 00:20:29,560 Speaker 1: also carried the weight of his newfound and unasked for responsibility. 345 00:20:30,160 --> 00:20:33,480 Speaker 1: She wrote, quote, what we all endured during the terrible 346 00:20:33,520 --> 00:20:37,720 Speaker 1: months of anxiety just passed. You two endured, intensified a 347 00:20:37,800 --> 00:20:41,200 Speaker 1: thousandfold by the reflection that you were the one human 348 00:20:41,240 --> 00:20:44,359 Speaker 1: being to benefit by his death, that you had been 349 00:20:44,359 --> 00:20:47,680 Speaker 1: opposed to him, that some believed you capable of having 350 00:20:47,720 --> 00:20:51,600 Speaker 1: plotted for his cruel end. You were alone in your sorrow, 351 00:20:52,040 --> 00:20:56,120 Speaker 1: perfectly isolated. She went on to praise his conduct during 352 00:20:56,119 --> 00:20:58,520 Speaker 1: those last weeks of Garfield's life, and which he had, 353 00:20:58,560 --> 00:21:01,760 Speaker 1: by all appearances, avoided scandal and anxiously hoped for the 354 00:21:01,840 --> 00:21:05,960 Speaker 1: late president's recovery. She suggested that people's opinions of him 355 00:21:06,160 --> 00:21:10,080 Speaker 1: might be changing, But Arthur's presidency got off to an 356 00:21:10,080 --> 00:21:13,679 Speaker 1: inconsistent start. As we mentioned earlier in the show, he 357 00:21:13,760 --> 00:21:16,960 Speaker 1: wanted to renovate and redecorate the White House before moving 358 00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:21,760 Speaker 1: in Louis Comfort. Tiffany's team removed thirty barrels of china 359 00:21:21,880 --> 00:21:24,560 Speaker 1: and twenty four wagons full of furniture in the process, 360 00:21:24,880 --> 00:21:30,280 Speaker 1: which people considered extravagant. He continued to associate with Republican stalwarts, 361 00:21:30,400 --> 00:21:33,320 Speaker 1: especially when he made trips back to New York, leading 362 00:21:33,320 --> 00:21:36,120 Speaker 1: people to wonder whether their worst fears for an Arthur 363 00:21:36,160 --> 00:21:39,680 Speaker 1: presidency would turn out to be true. Soon, though, he 364 00:21:39,760 --> 00:21:44,320 Speaker 1: started shifting direction when Conkling demanded that Arthur replaced the 365 00:21:44,400 --> 00:21:47,600 Speaker 1: customs collector for New York with someone of his choosing, 366 00:21:47,760 --> 00:21:51,120 Speaker 1: Arthur refused. Not long after, he took up the cause 367 00:21:51,160 --> 00:21:54,480 Speaker 1: of civil service reform, people had already been trying to 368 00:21:54,560 --> 00:21:58,840 Speaker 1: reform the civil service system before garfields assassination, but while 369 00:21:58,920 --> 00:22:02,240 Speaker 1: most people had included that Guiteau was mentally ill, they 370 00:22:02,359 --> 00:22:06,720 Speaker 1: also thought that this very corrupt and favoritism based civil 371 00:22:06,800 --> 00:22:10,440 Speaker 1: service system was at the heart of his illness. Consequently, 372 00:22:10,480 --> 00:22:15,040 Speaker 1: after Garfield's death, civil service reform became a major political issue, 373 00:22:15,080 --> 00:22:18,520 Speaker 1: with Arthur, who was a man who had directly benefited 374 00:22:18,560 --> 00:22:21,760 Speaker 1: from the existing system, being one of its champions. Sand 375 00:22:21,920 --> 00:22:25,800 Speaker 1: praised this commitment in her letters. Sand's letters ranged from 376 00:22:25,880 --> 00:22:32,800 Speaker 1: almost casual conversation to specific matters of policy. On October one, 377 00:22:32,880 --> 00:22:34,879 Speaker 1: she wrote a letter in which she named herself his 378 00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:38,280 Speaker 1: quote little Dwarf, a reference to the idea that a 379 00:22:38,320 --> 00:22:41,360 Speaker 1: court jester, who often had some form of dwarf is um, 380 00:22:41,440 --> 00:22:43,679 Speaker 1: was the only person with the power to speak the 381 00:22:43,720 --> 00:22:46,640 Speaker 1: truth to the monarch. In another letter in the fall 382 00:22:46,680 --> 00:22:49,400 Speaker 1: of that year, she suggested that Arthur come to visit her. 383 00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:53,360 Speaker 1: She also discouraged him from visiting his old political cronies 384 00:22:53,359 --> 00:22:55,919 Speaker 1: in New York and encouraged him to take care of 385 00:22:55,960 --> 00:22:58,960 Speaker 1: his health. In the fall of eighteen eighty two, she 386 00:22:59,040 --> 00:23:01,720 Speaker 1: told him, quote, remember that you are President of the 387 00:23:01,800 --> 00:23:04,920 Speaker 1: United States. Work only for the good of the country. 388 00:23:05,240 --> 00:23:08,480 Speaker 1: When the first version of the Chinese Exclusion Act, which 389 00:23:08,600 --> 00:23:12,399 Speaker 1: banned immigration from China to the United States past Congress, 390 00:23:12,560 --> 00:23:15,399 Speaker 1: sand urged Arthur to veto it, which he did on 391 00:23:15,480 --> 00:23:19,399 Speaker 1: April four, calling its terms quote a breach of our 392 00:23:19,520 --> 00:23:22,639 Speaker 1: national faith. After that, sand wrote to him that the 393 00:23:22,760 --> 00:23:27,640 Speaker 1: veto delighted her, although her letter also revealed her own prejudices. 394 00:23:28,119 --> 00:23:31,040 Speaker 1: It said, quote, I sent for a horse, and there 395 00:23:31,080 --> 00:23:34,880 Speaker 1: being no heathen Chinese around, showed my superiority to race 396 00:23:34,920 --> 00:23:38,200 Speaker 1: prejudice by taking a colored fellow being out to drive. 397 00:23:38,359 --> 00:23:41,399 Speaker 1: He never thanked me, though, and probably expects to be rewarded. 398 00:23:41,760 --> 00:23:46,640 Speaker 1: Such is the demoralizing effect of civil rights. Humans are complicated. 399 00:23:47,119 --> 00:23:50,840 Speaker 1: Uh Congress tried and failed to override Arthur's veto of 400 00:23:50,840 --> 00:23:54,200 Speaker 1: the Chinese Exclusion Act, and then passed a revised version 401 00:23:54,240 --> 00:23:58,720 Speaker 1: that restricted immigration from China for ten years rather than twenty. 402 00:23:59,040 --> 00:24:03,040 Speaker 1: Arthur signed that version into law on May six, eight two. 403 00:24:03,720 --> 00:24:07,000 Speaker 1: Sand did not disguise her anger over this, saying, quote, 404 00:24:07,160 --> 00:24:09,919 Speaker 1: when you vetoed the Chinese bill, the better class of 405 00:24:09,920 --> 00:24:13,320 Speaker 1: people throughout the country were delighted. Now you sign it, 406 00:24:13,560 --> 00:24:16,359 Speaker 1: and what is the difference? As it now stands in 407 00:24:16,480 --> 00:24:20,600 Speaker 1: quantity less, but in quality just as idiotic and unnecessary 408 00:24:20,680 --> 00:24:23,800 Speaker 1: as the first. The Czar of Russia might well respond 409 00:24:23,840 --> 00:24:26,879 Speaker 1: to your remonstrance against the persecution of the Jews with 410 00:24:26,920 --> 00:24:30,760 Speaker 1: an expostulation against the persecution of the Chinese. Yeah, she 411 00:24:30,880 --> 00:24:34,240 Speaker 1: was like, this bill is almost exactly the same as 412 00:24:34,280 --> 00:24:39,960 Speaker 1: the previous one, except that it's shorter. The deal yea. 413 00:24:40,680 --> 00:24:43,960 Speaker 1: Not long after that, Congress passed the Rivers and Harbor's 414 00:24:44,040 --> 00:24:47,480 Speaker 1: Act of eighteen eighty two, which earmarked nineteen million dollars 415 00:24:47,480 --> 00:24:51,080 Speaker 1: for things like lighthouse upkeep and navigational buoys. But the 416 00:24:51,160 --> 00:24:54,119 Speaker 1: act was also viewed as funneling a lot of money 417 00:24:54,160 --> 00:24:58,600 Speaker 1: into the hands of corrupt local authorities. When Arthur vetoed it, 418 00:24:58,720 --> 00:25:02,000 Speaker 1: sand wrote to praise his decision, saying that she was 419 00:25:02,080 --> 00:25:05,440 Speaker 1: deeply moved by his taking such a correct action under 420 00:25:05,480 --> 00:25:09,200 Speaker 1: such huge pressure from Congress to do the opposite. This time, 421 00:25:09,240 --> 00:25:13,159 Speaker 1: though Congress did overturn the president's veto, also In eighteen 422 00:25:13,240 --> 00:25:17,000 Speaker 1: eighty two, federal prosecution began in the Star Roots scandal, 423 00:25:17,359 --> 00:25:20,560 Speaker 1: which was a bribery, fraud, and corruption scandal connected to 424 00:25:20,600 --> 00:25:25,240 Speaker 1: mail delivery. Basically, as the United States expanded westward, mail 425 00:25:25,280 --> 00:25:28,760 Speaker 1: delivery needed to expand along with it. The federal government 426 00:25:28,800 --> 00:25:32,959 Speaker 1: contracted with private carriers to handle these long remote western roots. 427 00:25:33,600 --> 00:25:36,560 Speaker 1: This looped back around to the spoils system, with the 428 00:25:36,600 --> 00:25:41,520 Speaker 1: contract process just riddled with bribery and corruption and chronyism, 429 00:25:41,600 --> 00:25:45,199 Speaker 1: including contracts being issued for roots that didn't exist and 430 00:25:45,320 --> 00:25:48,040 Speaker 1: contractors that didn't actually do the work that they were 431 00:25:48,080 --> 00:25:51,760 Speaker 1: being paid to do. The first investigations into this had 432 00:25:51,760 --> 00:25:54,600 Speaker 1: started under President Grant in eighteen seventy two, but it 433 00:25:54,640 --> 00:25:58,560 Speaker 1: was during Arthur's administration that this corruption ring was finally 434 00:25:58,600 --> 00:26:01,400 Speaker 1: shut down. There was a whole see reads of federal prosecutions. 435 00:26:02,080 --> 00:26:05,080 Speaker 1: As the investigations and the trials were going on, Sand 436 00:26:05,119 --> 00:26:08,200 Speaker 1: advised Arthur to quote suffer for the sake of truth. 437 00:26:08,600 --> 00:26:11,480 Speaker 1: In eighteen eighty two was also the year that Chester A. 438 00:26:11,680 --> 00:26:14,840 Speaker 1: Arthur visited Julia Sand. He went to her home in 439 00:26:14,880 --> 00:26:18,800 Speaker 1: New York on August twenty that year. His sudden appearance 440 00:26:18,920 --> 00:26:23,040 Speaker 1: rendered her speechless, something she chastised herself for in letters 441 00:26:23,040 --> 00:26:25,879 Speaker 1: she wrote later on, although they did discuss some of 442 00:26:25,960 --> 00:26:29,280 Speaker 1: his recent political decisions while he was there. She was 443 00:26:29,320 --> 00:26:32,480 Speaker 1: also highly vexed that her entire family happened to be 444 00:26:32,520 --> 00:26:36,199 Speaker 1: at home that day and dominated the president's visit. In 445 00:26:36,240 --> 00:26:39,760 Speaker 1: a later letter, Sand suggested that she hoped for another visit, 446 00:26:40,160 --> 00:26:43,240 Speaker 1: maybe this time she could paint the president's portrait. On 447 00:26:43,400 --> 00:26:47,639 Speaker 1: January sixteenth, eighteen eighty three, Arthur signed the Pendleton Civil 448 00:26:47,720 --> 00:26:51,000 Speaker 1: Service Act, which was the nation's first comprehensive civil service 449 00:26:51,040 --> 00:26:55,000 Speaker 1: reform bill. It made the selection of certain government employees 450 00:26:55,040 --> 00:26:59,119 Speaker 1: the responsibility of the Civil Service Commission, not of officeholders themselves. 451 00:26:59,600 --> 00:27:02,760 Speaker 1: Ex AM's were also implemented to encourage hiring that was 452 00:27:02,800 --> 00:27:07,200 Speaker 1: based on merit instead of favoritism. The bill's scope was limited. 453 00:27:07,680 --> 00:27:11,200 Speaker 1: It only covered Washington based federal jobs, along with customs 454 00:27:11,240 --> 00:27:14,360 Speaker 1: houses and post offices that had more than fifty employees. 455 00:27:15,160 --> 00:27:17,960 Speaker 1: This was only about ten percent of federal jobs, although 456 00:27:17,960 --> 00:27:22,040 Speaker 1: subsequent administrations have expanded the scope of this act dramatically. 457 00:27:22,400 --> 00:27:25,360 Speaker 1: Sam's letters reveal her pleasure at his signing this bill 458 00:27:25,400 --> 00:27:28,560 Speaker 1: into law, but also some skepticism about whether he would 459 00:27:28,600 --> 00:27:32,720 Speaker 1: uphold its terms. This reflected the prevailing attitude among the 460 00:27:32,720 --> 00:27:35,840 Speaker 1: general public as well, because with Arthur's history, it was 461 00:27:36,000 --> 00:27:38,480 Speaker 1: really hard to believe that he was committed to the 462 00:27:38,520 --> 00:27:40,840 Speaker 1: bill that he had signed. But as the summer of 463 00:27:40,840 --> 00:27:44,000 Speaker 1: eighteen eighty three wore on, he started assembling this new 464 00:27:44,040 --> 00:27:47,240 Speaker 1: commission and avoiding his own political cronies. As he was 465 00:27:47,280 --> 00:27:50,720 Speaker 1: doing that, he also started implementing all those reform measures 466 00:27:50,720 --> 00:27:53,760 Speaker 1: that he had promised. Sand wrote her last known letter 467 00:27:53,840 --> 00:27:59,160 Speaker 1: to Arthur on September fifteenth three. Arthur's presidency continued until 468 00:27:59,240 --> 00:28:02,680 Speaker 1: March fourth, teen eight five. If he ever wrote her back, 469 00:28:02,920 --> 00:28:06,239 Speaker 1: she never mentioned it, and no such letters survives, so 470 00:28:06,280 --> 00:28:10,439 Speaker 1: we don't really know whether these letters directly influenced Arthur's 471 00:28:10,480 --> 00:28:15,040 Speaker 1: decisions as president, but his actions very strongly suggest that 472 00:28:15,080 --> 00:28:18,520 Speaker 1: they mattered to him. Early in his presidency, he had 473 00:28:18,560 --> 00:28:22,120 Speaker 1: been diagnosed with Bright's disease, which was used to describe 474 00:28:22,200 --> 00:28:26,840 Speaker 1: various types of nephritis. There was no effective treatment or cure, 475 00:28:27,040 --> 00:28:29,440 Speaker 1: and by the time he got Sam's last known letter, 476 00:28:29,560 --> 00:28:33,600 Speaker 1: he was exhausted and in severe pain. Arthur made kind 477 00:28:33,600 --> 00:28:36,320 Speaker 1: of a half hearted campaign for re election, but the 478 00:28:36,359 --> 00:28:39,760 Speaker 1: Republican Party did not select him as its candidate. This 479 00:28:39,920 --> 00:28:44,320 Speaker 1: ended a complicated and definitely not altogether positive presidency, but 480 00:28:44,400 --> 00:28:47,520 Speaker 1: it also was not at all the presidency that anyone 481 00:28:47,640 --> 00:28:50,720 Speaker 1: had expected when he took the oath of office. He 482 00:28:50,840 --> 00:28:55,280 Speaker 1: died on November eight, six. The day before he died, 483 00:28:55,640 --> 00:28:59,360 Speaker 1: Arthur ordered his son to burn his personal papers, almost 484 00:28:59,360 --> 00:29:02,040 Speaker 1: certainly be as he was ashamed and embarrassed over his 485 00:29:02,080 --> 00:29:07,200 Speaker 1: earlier political career. Chester A. Arthur Jr. Supervised the filling 486 00:29:07,280 --> 00:29:11,120 Speaker 1: and refilling of three burn barrels, adding new papers as 487 00:29:11,160 --> 00:29:14,760 Speaker 1: the previous batch burned down, but twenty three letters from 488 00:29:14,840 --> 00:29:18,480 Speaker 1: Julia Sand were set aside in a special envelope labeled 489 00:29:18,520 --> 00:29:22,360 Speaker 1: in Arthur's handwriting. Julia Sand died in May of nineteen 490 00:29:22,400 --> 00:29:25,000 Speaker 1: thirty three, at the age of eighty three. She was 491 00:29:25,120 --> 00:29:29,880 Speaker 1: buried at Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn. Four years later, Chester A. 492 00:29:30,080 --> 00:29:33,479 Speaker 1: Arthur Junior died and Chester A. Arthur, the Third, who 493 00:29:33,560 --> 00:29:37,120 Speaker 1: went by Gavin, inherited what remained of his grandfather's papers. 494 00:29:37,720 --> 00:29:41,440 Speaker 1: He became intensely curious about these twenty three letters from 495 00:29:41,520 --> 00:29:46,320 Speaker 1: Julia Sand and their special oenveloope. On February nine, thirty eight, 496 00:29:46,320 --> 00:29:48,640 Speaker 1: he placed an ad in the New York Harold Tribune 497 00:29:48,640 --> 00:29:51,480 Speaker 1: to see if he could find any of Sand's relatives. 498 00:29:51,560 --> 00:29:54,400 Speaker 1: He finally heard from a nephew who had actually been 499 00:29:54,440 --> 00:29:57,440 Speaker 1: there on the day of the president's visit. This nephew 500 00:29:57,440 --> 00:30:00,040 Speaker 1: suggested that Sand had kept her letters to Arthur a 501 00:30:00,160 --> 00:30:03,280 Speaker 1: secret from family and friends, and that the family had 502 00:30:03,320 --> 00:30:06,360 Speaker 1: no idea why the President would have visited them. In 503 00:30:06,400 --> 00:30:10,600 Speaker 1: about nineteen ten, the Library of Congress undertook an extensive 504 00:30:10,640 --> 00:30:13,640 Speaker 1: search for any of Arthur's surviving papers. At that point, 505 00:30:13,680 --> 00:30:16,960 Speaker 1: the library only had two documents that bore his signature. 506 00:30:17,680 --> 00:30:20,800 Speaker 1: Over the next few decades that gathered a small collection, 507 00:30:21,360 --> 00:30:25,160 Speaker 1: largely from the descendants of Arthur's correspondence, but also from 508 00:30:25,200 --> 00:30:29,560 Speaker 1: Gavin Arthur. The library obtained Julius Sands letters in nineteen 509 00:30:29,600 --> 00:30:33,040 Speaker 1: fifty eight. Gavin Arthur left the remainder of his father's 510 00:30:33,040 --> 00:30:36,080 Speaker 1: and grandfather's papers to the library. Upon his own death 511 00:30:36,120 --> 00:30:40,200 Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy two, he was the last surviving descendant 512 00:30:40,320 --> 00:30:43,560 Speaker 1: of President Chester. Arthur will end on a quote from 513 00:30:43,600 --> 00:30:47,240 Speaker 1: Sand's letter of August eighteen eighty two which really sums 514 00:30:47,320 --> 00:30:50,680 Speaker 1: up how Julia Sands saw herself. She was a quote 515 00:30:50,720 --> 00:30:53,280 Speaker 1: poor little woman who has always been the youngest of 516 00:30:53,320 --> 00:30:56,920 Speaker 1: her family, who Consequently, if she lives to be fifty, 517 00:30:57,200 --> 00:30:59,600 Speaker 1: will always be treated like a child who would have 518 00:30:59,680 --> 00:31:02,880 Speaker 1: no fruit in life if she could not occasionally scold 519 00:31:03,000 --> 00:31:06,240 Speaker 1: some very big man. I like the idea that she 520 00:31:06,560 --> 00:31:09,000 Speaker 1: was like, I know I'm scolding this very big man, 521 00:31:09,600 --> 00:31:14,240 Speaker 1: but I'm definitely doing it anyway. Do you have any 522 00:31:14,360 --> 00:31:17,880 Speaker 1: scoldie listener mail? It's not scoldie at all. This is 523 00:31:17,880 --> 00:31:20,520 Speaker 1: a very recent listener mail that's mostly about a much 524 00:31:20,520 --> 00:31:22,800 Speaker 1: older episode, but I wanted to read it because it 525 00:31:22,840 --> 00:31:25,480 Speaker 1: connects to something that we said today. It's from Jay. 526 00:31:26,480 --> 00:31:32,880 Speaker 1: Jay starts off talking a little bit about some kiddies. Uh, 527 00:31:33,080 --> 00:31:35,239 Speaker 1: Jay says, Hi, Holly and Tracy. Let me start off 528 00:31:35,280 --> 00:31:37,320 Speaker 1: by saying that my husband and I and our forecats 529 00:31:37,360 --> 00:31:40,640 Speaker 1: are huge fans of yours. Our middle cat, Pippin is 530 00:31:40,680 --> 00:31:42,680 Speaker 1: so sassy and full of spunk that we've taken to 531 00:31:42,720 --> 00:31:45,920 Speaker 1: calling her Pippin Fry. Our youngest cat, Olive, is called 532 00:31:45,960 --> 00:31:49,560 Speaker 1: Alive Wilson because she's the quieter, more reserved one. We 533 00:31:49,680 --> 00:31:52,800 Speaker 1: obviously have too much time on our hands, especially in winter. 534 00:31:53,480 --> 00:31:58,600 Speaker 1: My family. I find the owl story very charming to 535 00:31:59,400 --> 00:32:01,280 Speaker 1: my family and I live on a small farm in 536 00:32:01,320 --> 00:32:04,800 Speaker 1: north central Minnesota. It gets bitterly cold here in late winter, 537 00:32:04,880 --> 00:32:07,360 Speaker 1: and when it does, I always give your Schoolhouse Blizzard 538 00:32:07,400 --> 00:32:10,840 Speaker 1: of eighteen eighty eight episode another listen. I love this episode. 539 00:32:11,160 --> 00:32:13,640 Speaker 1: My farm is nestled in the rolling hills and lakes 540 00:32:13,680 --> 00:32:16,680 Speaker 1: of Minnesota's Central Lakes region. I can count at least 541 00:32:16,760 --> 00:32:19,440 Speaker 1: three one room school houses within a ten mile radius 542 00:32:19,440 --> 00:32:21,560 Speaker 1: of my home. Since I live in an area that 543 00:32:21,600 --> 00:32:23,760 Speaker 1: was hit hard by the blizzard, it's natural that I'm 544 00:32:23,800 --> 00:32:27,080 Speaker 1: drawn to this topic. I've seen a few blizzards since 545 00:32:27,120 --> 00:32:29,280 Speaker 1: moving to Minnesota, but nothing on the scale of the 546 00:32:29,280 --> 00:32:32,280 Speaker 1: eighteen eighty eight blizzard. The thought of going through that 547 00:32:32,360 --> 00:32:35,360 Speaker 1: experience with nothing but horses, buggies, oil lamps, and no 548 00:32:35,480 --> 00:32:38,680 Speaker 1: modern forms of communication is horrifying to me. It must 549 00:32:38,680 --> 00:32:40,880 Speaker 1: have felt like the end of the world. Anytime someone 550 00:32:40,920 --> 00:32:42,920 Speaker 1: in the area asks me about the blizzard, I always 551 00:32:42,960 --> 00:32:46,959 Speaker 1: direct them to your episode possible episode idea. I've searched 552 00:32:46,960 --> 00:32:50,000 Speaker 1: the archive and can find nothing related to Louis comfort 553 00:32:50,000 --> 00:32:53,320 Speaker 1: Tiffany the stained glass guy, not his father, the jewelry designer. 554 00:32:53,600 --> 00:32:55,880 Speaker 1: You should put him on your list of possible episodes. 555 00:32:56,160 --> 00:32:58,720 Speaker 1: I'm an amateur stained glass artist, and I really admire 556 00:32:58,760 --> 00:33:01,160 Speaker 1: the windows and lamps of Tiffany. Most people know of 557 00:33:01,200 --> 00:33:03,600 Speaker 1: Tiffany lamps, but what they don't realize is that the 558 00:33:03,640 --> 00:33:06,160 Speaker 1: majority of these lamps were designed and constructed by a 559 00:33:06,200 --> 00:33:09,520 Speaker 1: team of women called the Tiffany Girls. Clara Drischool was 560 00:33:09,560 --> 00:33:12,520 Speaker 1: the head of the Women's Department. Within the last ten years, 561 00:33:12,520 --> 00:33:14,840 Speaker 1: it's been revealed that she and her Tiffy Girls, not 562 00:33:14,960 --> 00:33:17,720 Speaker 1: Louis Tiffany, were responsible for the designs of many of 563 00:33:17,800 --> 00:33:21,120 Speaker 1: Tiffany's most iconic lamps. Take a dive into the topic. 564 00:33:21,120 --> 00:33:23,560 Speaker 1: If you get some time, keep up the good work. 565 00:33:23,760 --> 00:33:27,400 Speaker 1: You guys make our days a little more brighter. Shay 566 00:33:27,440 --> 00:33:32,040 Speaker 1: and also Eric, Thank you so much Shay and Eric 567 00:33:32,120 --> 00:33:35,280 Speaker 1: for sending this note. Uh, it was a total coincidence 568 00:33:35,320 --> 00:33:37,800 Speaker 1: that this came in over the weekend where um I 569 00:33:37,920 --> 00:33:40,960 Speaker 1: was working on this episode where we talk about the 570 00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:44,640 Speaker 1: President just Ra Arthur having Louis Comfort Tiffany totally redecorate 571 00:33:44,680 --> 00:33:47,840 Speaker 1: the White House. But he actually wound up on my 572 00:33:48,000 --> 00:33:51,880 Speaker 1: topic to do list. I think it was late last 573 00:33:51,960 --> 00:33:55,240 Speaker 1: year where it just seemed like every time I turned around, 574 00:33:55,280 --> 00:33:58,320 Speaker 1: somebody was talking about Louis Comfort Tiffany. Um I went 575 00:33:58,360 --> 00:34:00,640 Speaker 1: to a thing called History Camp and there somebody there 576 00:34:00,640 --> 00:34:03,640 Speaker 1: that was talking about a historic building restoration here in 577 00:34:03,760 --> 00:34:08,360 Speaker 1: Boston that was uh an entire decoration work done by 578 00:34:08,600 --> 00:34:13,000 Speaker 1: Louis Comfort Tiffany. And then shortly thereafter I was walking 579 00:34:13,120 --> 00:34:15,600 Speaker 1: through town and one of the churches that has all 580 00:34:15,640 --> 00:34:19,760 Speaker 1: the stained glass windows done by Tiffany was allowing people 581 00:34:19,760 --> 00:34:22,839 Speaker 1: to come in and look at the windows. Um and 582 00:34:22,880 --> 00:34:25,839 Speaker 1: It's like he just kept coming up over and over, 583 00:34:25,880 --> 00:34:27,480 Speaker 1: and I was like, I feel like the universe is 584 00:34:27,520 --> 00:34:30,560 Speaker 1: telling me to do a podcast on Louis Comfort Tiffany. 585 00:34:30,600 --> 00:34:32,920 Speaker 1: So I don't know when that might happen, but he 586 00:34:33,120 --> 00:34:38,799 Speaker 1: is on my list. I'm still very honored that a 587 00:34:38,880 --> 00:34:41,680 Speaker 1: Kidtye is, you know, in any way referred to with 588 00:34:41,719 --> 00:34:45,000 Speaker 1: my name. It's a bigger in my book. Yeah, I 589 00:34:45,120 --> 00:34:47,439 Speaker 1: have a cat named after I have two cats named 590 00:34:47,480 --> 00:34:50,719 Speaker 1: after two of my favorite imagineers at Disney, and I 591 00:34:50,760 --> 00:34:54,759 Speaker 1: know what an honor it was in my opinion names, 592 00:34:54,880 --> 00:34:57,560 Speaker 1: so it means a great deal to me. Also, um, 593 00:34:57,840 --> 00:35:00,160 Speaker 1: we split those cats up over which ones we think 594 00:35:00,320 --> 00:35:02,360 Speaker 1: are like me and which ones are like my husband. 595 00:35:02,440 --> 00:35:05,759 Speaker 1: So I understand this logic completely. That doesn't sound like 596 00:35:05,800 --> 00:35:07,920 Speaker 1: too much time on your hands to me at all. No, 597 00:35:08,440 --> 00:35:10,640 Speaker 1: we currently have no cats in my house a little bit. 598 00:35:10,640 --> 00:35:13,840 Speaker 1: We are currently hoping to change that in the relatively 599 00:35:13,880 --> 00:35:16,520 Speaker 1: near future. If you would like to write to us 600 00:35:16,560 --> 00:35:21,839 Speaker 1: about your kiddies or our podcast or doesn't say Hi, 601 00:35:22,160 --> 00:35:24,560 Speaker 1: We're a history podcast that how Stuff Works dot com 602 00:35:24,600 --> 00:35:26,840 Speaker 1: and then we're all over social media at miss in History. 603 00:35:26,880 --> 00:35:30,160 Speaker 1: That is where you'll find our Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, 604 00:35:30,239 --> 00:35:32,640 Speaker 1: all that stuff. You can come to our website, which 605 00:35:32,680 --> 00:35:35,719 Speaker 1: is missed in History dot com and find the show 606 00:35:35,760 --> 00:35:37,440 Speaker 1: notes for all the episodes that Holly and I have 607 00:35:37,520 --> 00:35:41,520 Speaker 1: worked on together and searchable archive of every episode ever. 608 00:35:41,960 --> 00:35:44,160 Speaker 1: And you can subscribe to our show on the I 609 00:35:44,239 --> 00:35:47,479 Speaker 1: Heart Radio app or Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen 610 00:35:47,520 --> 00:35:54,840 Speaker 1: to podcasts. Stuff you Missed in History Class is a 611 00:35:54,840 --> 00:35:57,759 Speaker 1: production of I Heart Radios How Stuff Works. For more 612 00:35:57,840 --> 00:36:00,719 Speaker 1: podcasts for my Heart Radio, visit the i our Radio app, 613 00:36:00,840 --> 00:36:03,840 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. 614 00:36:06,920 --> 00:36:06,960 Speaker 1: H