伽菲尔德

浏览

Garfield, James A(bram)

美国第二十任总统(1881)。三岁丧父,生活贫困。1856年毕业於威廉斯学院。然後回俄亥俄中学任教,後任校长。南北战争期间任步兵上校,後升少将。1862~1880年为美国众议员。在重建时期,是一个激进的共和党人,在1876年的大选中担任选举委员会的委员,1876~1880年为众议院领袖,1880年选入美国参议院。在1880年共和党提名总统大会上支持格兰特布雷恩的代表相持不下。後来在第三十六届决定总统人选的投票中,伽菲尔德被提名为折衷的总统候选人,阿瑟被选为副总统候选人,结果以些微差距险胜。在短暂的任期内(仅四个多月),多半与参议员康克林在任命权上争论不休。7月2日他在华盛顿火车站被一位康克林的支持者枪击。9月19日去世,在他卧床疗伤的十一个星期中,引起全国对宪法中模糊的总统继任情况产生争议(後来在第二十和二十五条宪法修正案中厘清)。

1831~1881年

Garfield, James A(bram)

20th president of the U.S. (1881). Born in Orange, Ohio, he graduated from Williams College, then returned to Ohio to teach and head an academy that became Hiram College. In the Civil War he led the 42nd Ohio Volunteers and fought at Shiloh and Chickamauga. He resigned as a major general to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives (1863-80). A Radical Republican during Reconstruction, he served on the Electoral Commission in the 1876 election, and was the House Republican leader from 1876 to 1880, when he was elected to the Senate. At the 1880 Republican nominating convention, the delegates supporting Ulysses S. Grant and James Blaine became deadlocked. On the 36th ballot Garfield was nominated as a compromise presidential candidate, with Chester Arthur as vice president, and won by a narrow margin. His brief term, less than 150 days, was marked by a dispute with Sen. Roscoe Conkling over patronage. On July 2 he was shot at Washington's railroad station by Charles J. Guiteau, an Arthur supporter. He died on September 19 after 11 weeks of public debate over the ambiguous constitutional conditions for presidential succession (later clarified by the 20th and 25th Amendments).