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LS signed “J. A. Garfield,” one page, 8 x 10.25, Mentor, Ohio letterhead, September 11, 1880. Letter to D. B. Turney, in full: “Yours of the 9th inst. Came duly to hand. In answer to your inquiry I have to say that no one of the several biographies has been published under my direction. Some of them in the main give my correct history. I have looked over those by Mr. [A. G.] Riddle and Mr. [E. V.] Smalley and find them generally authentic.” In very good condition, with scattered staining, and splitting to the ends of the intersecting folds. A desirable missive signed less than a month before Garfield was elected as the 20th president of the United States. His mention of two pre-White House biographies speaks volumes about Garfield’s life and career before he was ever elected.
After overcoming a life of poverty, Garfield studied at the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute where he also worked as a janitor. He later returned to the college in 1856 to serve as a professor and then, eventually, as its president. He left academia, became an Ohio senator, and then joined the Union Army during the Civil War, earning promotions to Brigadier General and Major General before becoming Chief of Staff to General William S. Rosecrans—all without any military background. Despite his reluctance to leave the war effort, Garfield acquiesced to the call of Republican brass and was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1863. He served nine terms (1863–1881) and became a stalwart Republican thinker, advocating for civil rights, Reconstruction, and economic development. Despite not seeking the nomination, Garfield was placed on the ballot as a ‘dark horse’ at the 1880 Republican National Convention where he was widely viewed as the most deserving candidate to supplant incumbent Rutherford B. Hayes and deter U. S. Grant from returning to the White House. With Chester A. Arthur as his running mate, Garfield narrowly defeated the Democratic ticket and assumed the presidency on March 4, 1881.
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