Murder of a President

Despite Lincoln's assassination in 1865, there were no new safeguards put in to protect the president from would-be assassins. Lincoln's murder had been seen as an anomaly.

Garfield knew he had to secure New York to win the presidency - but that meant negotiating with Roscoe Conkling and the Stalwarts. Avoiding any specific promises, Garfield met with Conkling's underlings to try and clinch their support.

The death of their three-year-old daughter and Garfield's affair in New York threatened to tear Lucretia and James apart. But the future First Lady's steadfastness and unwavering moral compass showed Garfield how to be a better man.

James Garfield joined the Union Army in 1861, shortly after the start of hostilities. When he came face to face with slavery during his time fighting in the south, Garfield's belief in the cause of abolition and freedom was strengthened. "This is my hope," he wrote, "that when we shall return to civil life, there shall go up an unrelenting cry for freedom."

Factions in the Republican party were breeding corruption, so Garfield worked to nominate James Blaine to combat the machine politics of the Stalwarts. But when Garfield delivered his speech to the Republican Convention to back Blaine, the crowd chanted that it was Garfield they wanted for president instead.