"Chet Arthur President? Oh God!!!!" That was the reaction that many well informed Americans had when they heard that President James Garfield had died and that Vice President Arthur would succeed him. Chester Alan Arthur was an "accidental president" plain and simple. No one ever believed that he would one day become the Chief Executive, and given his career as a "wirepuller" and political hack, many feared the worst.
The vice presidency was the first elective office that Arthur had ever held. Before that he had been a diligent campaign worker who ultimately landed one of the great plums in civil service, the Collector of the Port of New York. There he earned a salary and commissions that resulted in an income that exceeded that of the President of the United States. It was also Arthur's job to extract contributions from Customs House employees to finance political campaigns. If you didn't kick in to the campaign coffers, you wouldn't keep you job.
Although Arthur campaigned for Rutherford B. Hays, once Hays was sworn in as President, he eased Arthur out of his Customs House job. The problem was that Arthur, despite six hours of testimony, was unable to convince a civil service commission that employees had been promoted on merit alone and not contributions and kickbacks. Hays offered Arthur an assignment in France, and when he refused, Chet Arthur was practicing law again the private sector.
In 1880 the Elephant Party split into to two factions, the conservative Stalwart Elephants and the slightly more reform minded "half breed" Elephants. The Stalwarts supported former President Ulysses Grant for President while the "half breeds" backed Maine Senator James G. Blaine. Neither candidate could win the nomination and ultimately the convention settled upon compromise candidate, James Garfield. In an effort to unite the party, Garfield picked Arthur, a Stalwart Elephant, to be his running mate.
Most people assumed that like most vice presidents, Arthur was disappear into the background, but that assumption was shattered when an assassin shot Garfield at a railroad station in Washington, DC. Garfield lingered for more than two agonizing months before he died.
As President Arthur surprised everyone by his support of civil service reform. The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act would be his crowning achievement . He also broke with Elephant Party tradition and supported a reduction in tariffs as well as vetoing a river and harbors act that was loaded with pork barrel spending. In short Arthur made an honest effect to be an effective, ethical President.
Breaking with party traditions cost Arthur at the 1884 Elephant Party convention. His bid to win the presidential nomination fell shot because of his defections from the party norms. In addition Arthur had health problems, a then-fatal case of Bright's Disease which would cost him his life in 1886.
Finding any sort of Chester Arthur campaign piece is virtually impossible. While pieces that show him as the running mate of James Garfield are fairly common, finding anything with Arthur alone is very difficult. Therefore the acquisition of this United States medal, which is listed in Julian as PR-22 fills a hole in my political collection.
An 1880 Garfield - Arthur medalet, JAG 1880-10
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-- Retired dealer. I am a numismatic author. I specialize in choice early coins and poltitical tokens. I've been collecting coins, tokens and medals for over 50 years. Check my type sets! Type Set My gold type set Gold Type Set
#5857869 - 07/18/1201:52 PMRe: Chester A. Arthur's Inaugural Medal
[Re: BillJones]
RWBRWB
FACT if I stop posting, trillions and trillions of transistors would be out of work.
Registered: 01/03/05
Posts: 4496
Arthur was ambidextrous and could write Latin quotations with one hand while writing different Greek quotes with the other.
Edit: OK -- I was wrong -- It was James Garfield (no, not Garfield the stupid cat).
Edited by RWB (07/18/1204:02 PM)
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Author of “Renaissance of American Coinage” (NLG Book-of-the-Year 3 years in a row) series and “Guide Book of Peace Dollars,” NLG 2011-Best Software: “Annual Assay Commission, United States Mint, 1800-1943,” and “Silver Dollars Struck under the Pittman Act.” Federal Court-approved numismatic expert. Contributor to the Red Book, Judd Patterns and many other fine numismatic books, discoverer of two gold patterns, and author of numerous coin research articles.
Arthur was ambidextrous and could write Latin quotations with one hand while writing different Greek quotes with the other.
With all due respect I thought that it was Garfield who could do that.
_________________________
-- Retired dealer. I am a numismatic author. I specialize in choice early coins and poltitical tokens. I've been collecting coins, tokens and medals for over 50 years. Check my type sets! Type Set My gold type set Gold Type Set
#5858196 - 07/18/1204:01 PMRe: Chester A. Arthur's Inaugural Medal
[Re: johnny9434]
RWBRWB
FACT if I stop posting, trillions and trillions of transistors would be out of work.
Registered: 01/03/05
Posts: 4496
Bill -- you're right. My poor memory is not what it used to be.
_________________________
Author of “Renaissance of American Coinage” (NLG Book-of-the-Year 3 years in a row) series and “Guide Book of Peace Dollars,” NLG 2011-Best Software: “Annual Assay Commission, United States Mint, 1800-1943,” and “Silver Dollars Struck under the Pittman Act.” Federal Court-approved numismatic expert. Contributor to the Red Book, Judd Patterns and many other fine numismatic books, discoverer of two gold patterns, and author of numerous coin research articles.
