He's the President Remembered for Having Food Shoved Up His Butt. But What if He Was More?

"James Abram Garfield has been remembered not for his life, but for his death. After America's 20 th president was shot by assassin Charles Guiteau in 1881, only four months after coming into office, he suffered for a summer with a bullet lodged in his back, attended by a doctor who did not yet buy into the theories of Joseph Lister, and who kept sticking unsterilized fingers and instruments into Garfield's wound."

"When Alexander Graham Bell came to the president's bedside to try to locate the bullet, using a new invention designed to detect metal, the doctor was so far off in his estimation of where the bullet might be that he had Bell scan the wrong place. The bullet was not found, and the president died of infection, having lost almost 100 pounds while in his sickbed."

"It seems unlikely that people who aren't actively studying for the AP U.S. History test, or attending Garfield's alma mater, Williams College, would know much else-about his poverty-stricken Ohio youth, his ascent from obscurity via scholastic excellence, his time serving in the Union Army as a major general in the Civil War, his mostly good reputation as a nine-term Republican congressman."

James Abram Garfield was shot by Charles Guiteau in 1881, four months into his presidency. A bullet lodged in his back caused a summer of suffering while physicians repeatedly probed the wound with unsterilized hands and instruments. Alexander Graham Bell attempted to locate the bullet with a metal-detecting device but was directed to scan the wrong place. The bullet was not found, and Garfield died of infection after losing almost 100 pounds. Popular outlets often spotlight the gruesome medical failure and sensational anecdotes, while Garfield's earlier life included poverty in Ohio, scholastic rise, Civil War service, and a long congressional career.

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