personal projects: The United Plates / Us Presidents
James A Garfield
Limited Edition Print
Buy Me!Each print is an 8x10, signed and numbered first edition of 20. Printed on German Etching Archival Fine Art paper.
About the Man
James A Garfield was assassinated early on in his presidency, he held the post for 199 days.
Had Garfield been handled by more competent doctors, he would have easily survived the assassination. One bullet grazed his arm, the other lodged in his spine. The doctors were unable to find it. A lack of knowledge regarding bacteria and sterilization led to attending doctors sticking their fingers into the wound in search of the bullet. To think this lack of knowledge was prevalent at the time – the 1880s. He would have survived had he been shot in 1900.
He died September 19, 1881, two and a half months after being shot.
Charles Julius Guiteau, his assassin, received the death penalty and died by hanging. According to Guiteau, God called Guiteau to shoot the president. He shot Garfield while the president was waiting on a train in the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad. The president was on his way to meet his wife – they were going on vacation.
The quote I used is very well said – “Poverty is uncomfortable, as I can testify; but nine times out of ten the best thing that can happen to a young man is to be tossed overboard and compelled to sink or swim for himself.”
