02590cam a2200301 4500 160914230 TxAuBib 20051122120000.0 040728t20042003||||||||||||||||||||eng|u 9780786713967 pbk. 0786713968 pbk. CDC CDC AIC OCLCQ GR7 TxAuBib Ackerman, Kenneth D. Dark horse : the surprise election and political murder of President James A. Garfield / Kenneth D. Ackerman. 1st Carroll & Graf trade pbk. ed. New York : Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2004. ©2003. 551 p., [8] p. of plates : ill. ; 23 cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. 457-467) and index. The great contest, 1880: Chicago; The hero; Bosses; First volley; The break; Compromise; Chance of a lifetime -- Candidate: The bargain; The narrowest margin -- President-elect: Garfield "doesn't sleep excellently well" -- President: The appointment; The senate; Stalwart of the stalwarts -- Calamity: Bulletins; Arthur. In this book Kenneth Ackerman re-creates an American political landscape where fierce battles for power unfolded against a chivalrous code of honor in a country struggling to emerge from the long shadow of recent war. He casts familiar Civil War figures like Ulysses S. Grant and Winfield Scott Hancock in unfamiliar roles as politicos alongside feuding machine bosses like senators Roscoe Conkling and James G. Blaine and backroom string-puller Chester A. Arthur, Garfield's unlikely vice-presidential running mate. The journey through political backrooms, dazzling convention floors, and intrigue-filled congressional and White House chambers, reveals the era's decency and humanity as well as the sharp partisanship that exploded in the pistol shots of assassin Charles Guiteau, the weak-minded political camp follower and patronage seeker eager to replace the elected commander-in-chief with one of his own choosing. Garfield's path from a seat in the House of Representatives to the White House to martyred hero changed the tone of politics for generations to come. Garfield, James A James Abram 1831-1881. Garfield, James A James Abram 1831-1881. Assassination. Guiteau, Charles Julius 1841-1882. Presidents United States Election 1880. Presidents United States Biography. United States Politics and government 1881-1885.