Charles J. Guiteau had held a number of different jobs when
he decided he should become the U.S. ambassador to France. It wasn’t uncommon for
such positions to go to people influential in a presidential campaign, so
Charles made a few speeches to support President Grant’s reelection. When he
was not given the post he desired, Charles decided it was because the
Republican party nominated James Garfield instead (and not his own stunning
lack of qualifications). His party and his country would be much better off, he
reasoned, if Garfield was simply removed from the equation. Charles bought a pearl-handled
revolver he thought would look nice in a museum later, and shot the president
twice from behind. Garfield’s wounds weren’t serious. If his doctors had washed
their hands, sterilized tools and worn masks, he would almost certainly have
survived them. Charles was hanged. His pretty gun would probably be in some
museum today, if it hadn’t been somehow misplaced.
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