Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard
This book was incredibly interesting. Both my fellow bear, Spencer, and I got caught up in the story. And then we got angry because the story was not fiction, it was history! It all really happened!
Destiny of the Republic is subtitled “A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of the a President.” It’s an interesting look at the assassination of President James A. Garfield. I knew very little about President Garfield before I read the book. Of course, I knew he was the 20th President of the United States, and I knew he was assassinated, but beyond that I knew very little, not even remembering that he was president for short 7½ months from March 4, 1881 to September 19, 1881. History in schools have a finite amount of time to impart the important events on eager (or not so eager) young minds, so the details of less important events are often glossed over. Garfield’s presidency was important, but not so important that it would have any more than a passing mention. Yes, he was president; yes, he was assassinated; very good, moving on — was what I learned about him and his administration in my history classes.
But the truth of Garfield’s story is so much more interesting. And so interconnected with other people and other events. I’m not saying that we need to devote a whole class period to Garfield in schools, but we need to devote a bit more time and leak a few more truths to spark the imagination, and anger, of students. History only comes alive when we make it, where we change it from boring lists of dates to memorize or facts to be committed to permanent memory. History is so much more than that dry litany. It’s exciting, unbelievable, and amazing. There are connections between events and people that are never tied together for students. We need to rethink the way we, as a nation, teach history. It is important to understand, not merely know, the events so we can learn from them, and prevent the same mistakes being made again and again.
Okay, I’ll step off my soap-box and get back to the book.
The author’s premise is that had Garfield’s doctor listened to experts, the President may have been able to be saved. This is not a unique theory, many others have held it, even others treating President Garfield at the time. But the connections made by the author were interesting, even if they were not unique. Lines are drawn connecting Joseph Lister, Alexander Graham Bell, and James A. Garfield. These were connections that could have been made in any History class. But they are not. No hint of these awesome connections is even given in history classes, not even enough to spark students to investigate on their own.
A further point of the book is that Garfield’s assassin was crazy. This is not unique to this study of the events either. Charles Guiteau honestly believed that God had told him to “remove the President.” He interpreted that message to mean that he should kill the president, at which time his dream of being given a consular position would be reached, because then President Chester A. Arthur would be so thankful that he would want to reward the person who enabled his ascension to the presidency. Guiteau was deluded in more ways than one with that thinking. He was not qualified to be consul; he was barely qualified to be anything. Further, his delusions were not limited to desire for government positions. Prior to shooting President Garfield, Guiteau actually wrote a letter to General William T. Sherman asking the general to storm the jail in which he would be held. Charles Guiteau honestly and truly believed that the country, and the world, would applaud his actions.
The story of the assassin was only part of the book though. Most of the book is devoted to the medical (mis)treatment that more than likely caused the President’s death, rather than preventing it. The leading US medical community at the time felt that Joseph Lister’s theories of antisepsis were wrong, and that there was no reason to worry about invisible infectious agents. Dr. Bliss, who was the self-appointed physician in charge of the President's care, in particular thought that what we now know as signs of infection and/or sepsis were actually signs of healing. He saw nothing wrong with quarts of pus and fluid flowing out of the President's wounds daily. He saw the increasing numbers of pus-filled blisters all over the President's body quite a good sign of healing. And he thought nothing of continually probing the President’s wounds with instruments that had not been sterilized or unwashed fingers in a effort to find the bullet. In fact, the bullet had come to rest behind the President’s pancreas and had already begun the natural process of encysting. In today’s world, it would be quite likely that Garfield would have survived his wounds and lived a long, productive life. Actually, if Garfield had been one of the soldiers he commanded on the Civil War battlefields, he would have more than likely survived. It is amazing that the soldiers who were shot survived because they did not receive medical treatment, while President Garfield died because he did!
The last part of the story brought in Alexander Graham Bell as a central character. Bell developed a metal detector that he believed would find the bullet and save President Garfield’s life. Bell believed that his invention was a failure because he failed to find the bullet. But Bell’s invention worked; it was just the self-important, pig-headed Dr. Bliss that stopped the bullet from being found. Dr. Bliss refused to allow a complete examination of President Garfield with the metal detector, instead allowing Bell to search only in the are where Dr. Bliss believed the bullet had come to rest. Following the perceived failure, Bell tested the invention on other patients with bullets in various parts of their bodies. It worked. The bullets were found an successfully removed. Bell's invention was a success. Nothing, short of forcibly removing Dr. Bliss from the case, could have saved the president.
While the President could not be saved, there were other things that came from his assassination -- good and much needed things. The White House received a much needed renovation and remodeling. The “Spoils System” that the assassin believed would reward him was scrapped by President Arthur in favor of the merit-based Civil Service system the US still uses today. And in one of the most interesting things, the first, very crude air conditioner was installed in the White House.
I highly recommend this book. It’s not a new theory, or even a unique one. But it does make the history come alive in ways that textbooks do not. And it tells a story that is often relegated to one or two paragraphs in classes. President Garfield was so such more than the source for the name of a cartoon cat!
One Bear’s Opinion: Five glasses of brandy, because, trust me, you’ll need them!
Happy Reading Everyone,
Oliver
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