Lackluster Presidents: From Hayes to Harrison 535The tragic circumstances of his elevation to the
presidency sobered Arthur. Although he was a genial,
convivial man, perhaps overly fond of good food
and flashy clothes, he comported himself with dig-
nity as president. He handled patronage matters with
restraint, and he gave at least nominal support to the
movement for civil service reform, which had been
strengthened by the public’s indignation at the assas-
sination of Garfield. In 1883 Congress passed the
Pendleton Act, “classifying” about 10 percent of all
government jobs and creating the bipartisan Civil
Service Commission to administer competitive exami-
nations for these positions. The law made it illegal to
force officeholders to make political contributions
and empowered the president to expand the list of
classified positions at his discretion.
As an administrator Arthur was systematic,
thoughtful, businesslike, and at the same time cheer-
ful and considerate. Just the same, he too was a polit-
ical failure. He made relatively little effort to push his
program through Congress. He did not seek a second
term in 1884.
The election of 1884 brought the Democrat
Grover Cleveland to the White House. Cleveland
grew up in western New York. After studying law, he
settled in Buffalo. Although somewhat lacking in the
social graces and in intellectual pretensions, he had a
basic integrity that everyone recognized; when a
group of reformers sought a candidate for mayor in
1881, he was a natural choice. His success in Buffalo
led to his election as governor of New York in 1882.
In the governor’s chair his no-nonsense attitude
toward public administration endeared him to civil
service reformers at the same time that his basic con-
servatism pleased businessmen. When he vetoed a
popular bill to force a reduction of the fares charged
by the New York City elevated railway on the ground
that it was an unconstitutional violation of the com-
pany’s franchise, his reputation soared. Here was a
man who cared more for principle than for the adula-
tion of the multitude, a man who was courageous,
honest, hardworking, and eminently sound. The
Democrats nominated him for president in 1884.
The election revolved around personal issues, for
the platforms of the parties were almost identical. On
the one hand, the Republican candidate, the dynamic
James G. Blaine, had an immense following, but his
reputation had been soiled by the publication of the
“Mulligan letters,” which connected him with the
corrupt granting of congressional favors to the LittleJames A. Garfield lies mortally wounded. After failing to locate the bullet, surgeons called in Alexander Graham Bell,
the famous inventor. Bell conceived of a device, pictured here, that anticipated the mine detector. Bell’s machine
failed to locate the bullet, however, perhaps because the metal bed springs interfered with its operation. Garfield
died, either from the bullet or the surgeon’s unsuccessful attempts to extricate it.