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Photographer: Allen C. Browne
Taken: August 9, 2015
Caption: James A. Garfield
Additional Description: This 1881 portrait of James A. Garfield by Ole Peter Hansen Balling hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC.

“Through repeated balloting at the Republican convention of 1880, delegates remained deadlocked in naming a presidential candidate. Finally, after thirty-five ballots, they were ready for a compromise. Rejecting both front-runners — James Blaine and Ulysses S. Grant — the delegates endorsed Ohio congressman James A. Garfield, whose aspirations had been limited to becoming a senator.

The patronage-driven factionalism that led to Garfield's nomination continued to fester following his assumption of the presidency. On July 2, 1881, angered that Garfield had not awarded him a public office, a member of a GOP faction shot the president as he went to board a train. Eleven weeks later, Garfield was dead from his wound.

This staid portrait by Norwegian artist Ole Peter Hansen Balling may have captured Garfield's physical traits accurately, but it did not convey his spell­binding impact on people. Having once been a lay preacher, Garfield was at his most impressive when speaking. According to one observer, his thoughts sometimes seemed to issue forth at the podium ‘like solid shot from a cannon.’” — National Portrait Gallery
Submitted: September 14, 2015, by Allen C. Browne of Silver Spring, Maryland.
Database Locator Identification Number: p328830
File Size: 1.363 Megabytes

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