Presidency of Chester A. Arthur
's tenure as the 21st president of the United States began on September 19, 1881, when he succeeded to the presidency upon the assassination of President James A. Garfield, and ended on March 4, 1885. Arthur, a Republican, had been vice president for days when he succeeded to the presidency. In ill health and lacking the full support of his party by the end of his term, Arthur made only a token effort for the Republican presidential nomination in the 1884 presidential election. He was succeeded by Democrat Grover Cleveland.
Supporters of a third term for Ulysses S. Grant at the 1880 Republican National Convention chose Arthur as the running mate of dark horse nominee James Garfield in the 1880 United States presidential election due to Arthur's association with the Republican Party's Stalwart faction, and Arthur struggled to overcome his reputation as a New York City machine politician. Surprising many, he embraced the cause of U.S. Civil Service Reform, and his advocacy and enforcement of the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act became the centerpiece of his administration. Though patronage remained a powerful force in politics, the Pendleton Act laid the foundations for a professional civil service that would emerge in subsequent decades. Facing a budget surplus, Arthur signed the Tariff of 1883, which reduced tariffs. He also vetoed the Rivers and Harbors Act, an act that would have appropriated federal funds in a manner he thought excessive, and oversaw a building program for the United States Navy. After the Supreme Court struck down the Civil Rights Act of 1875, Arthur favored new civil rights legislation to protect African-Americans, but was unable to win passage of a new bill. In foreign policy, Arthur pursued closer economic and political relations with Latin America, but many of his proposed trade agreements were defeated in the United States Senate.
The 1884 Republican National Convention passed over Arthur in favor of James G. Blaine, but Cleveland defeated Blaine in the 1884 presidential election. Although Arthur's failing health and political temperament combined to make his administration less active than a modern presidency, he earned praise among contemporaries for his solid performance in office. Journalist Alexander McClure later wrote, "No man ever entered the presidency so profoundly and widely distrusted as Chester Alan Arthur, and no one ever retired ... more generally respected, alike by political friend and foe." Since his death, Arthur's reputation has mostly faded from the public consciousness. Although some have praised his flexibility and willingness to embrace reform, present-day historians and scholars generally rank him as a below-average president. Arthur, historically, has been given credit for initiating the resurgence of the U.S. Navy with all steel ships.
Background
Chester A. Arthur was born in 1829 and raised a Baptist in Vermont by his abolitionist father. Arthur attended Union College, became a lawyer, and a Whig politician. As a young New York lawyer, Arthur participated in two important civil rights cases and advocated for African Americans. In 1861, during the Civil War, Arthur was promoted to Quartermaster General of New York. After the war Arthur became "Chief Lieutenant" to Republican Senator Roscoe Conkling. Arthur was rewarded with the New York Customs House Collector post in 1871. The lucrative job made Arthur a wealthy man and he was known to be a "gentleman boss." Arthur developed a fine taste for wines, fine food, cigars, fancy clothing, and free time devoted to leisure. However, in 1878, reform-minded President Hayes fired Arthur from the Collector post, to undermine the Conkling Stalwarts.Election of 1880
After President Rutherford B. Hayes declined to seek re-election in 1880, several candidates vied for the presidential nomination at the 1880 Republican National Convention. The convention deadlocked between supporters of former President Ulysses S. Grant and Senator James G. Blaine, resulting in the nomination of a dark horse candidate, James A. Garfield. Garfield associated with the "Half-Breed" Republicans, who opposed Grant running for a third presidential term. Hoping to unite the Republican Party behind his candidacy, Garfield decided to select a follower of New York Senator Roscoe Conkling, a leader of the party's Stalwart faction, as his running mate. The Republicans quickly chose Arthur, a former Collector of the Port of New York who was closely allied with Conkling. The Garfield-Arthur ticket won the 1880 presidential election, but after taking office, Garfield clashed with Conkling over appointments and other issues. Arthur's continued loyalty to Conkling marginalized him within the Garfield administration and, after the Senate went into recess in May 1881, Arthur returned to his home state of New York.Accession to office
On July 2, 1881, Arthur learned that Garfield had been badly wounded in a shooting. The shooter, Charles J. Guiteau, was a deranged office-seeker who believed that Garfield's successor would appoint him to a patronage job. Though he had barely known Guiteau, Arthur had to allay suspicions that he had been behind the assassination. He was reluctant to be seen acting as president while Garfield lived, and in the months after the shooting, with Garfield near death and Arthur still in New York, there was a void of authority in the executive office. Many worried about the prospect of an Arthur presidency; the New York Times, which had supported Arthur earlier in his career, wrote: "Arthur is about the last man who would be considered eligible for the position." Garfield died on September 19, and Judge John R. Brady of the New York Supreme Court administered the oath of office to Arthur in the latter's New York City home at 2:15 a.m. on September 20. Before leaving New York, Arthur ensured the presidential line of succession by preparing and mailing to the White House a proclamation calling for a Senate special session, thus ensuring that the Senate could select a president pro tempore, who would be first in the presidential line of succession.On September 22, Arthur re-took the oath of office, this time before Chief Justice Morrison R. Waite. He took this step to ensure procedural compliance; there were lingering questions about whether Brady, a state court judge, could administer a federal oath of office. Arthur ordered a remodeling of the White House and took up residence at the home of Senator John P. Jones until December 1881, when he moved into the White House. As Arthur was a widower, his sister, Mary Arthur McElroy, served as the de facto First Lady of the United States. Arthur took office over a growing country that maintained a budget surplus and peaceful relations with the great powers of the day.
There was controversy over Arthur's birthplace and whether he had a right to be on the Republican presidential ticket. New York attorney, Arthur P. Hinman, accused Arthur of being born a British subject. Hinman claimed Arthur was born in Canada to a British father and an American mother. However, the New York Sun published an article on the day after Arthur took the oath of office, that proved Hinman's claim a hoax, reassuring the public of Arthurs's origins. The controversy stemmed from Article Two, Section One of the United States Constitution that says “No person except a natural born citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President...”
Administration
Arthur quickly came into conflict with Garfield's cabinet, most of whom represented opposing factions within the party. At the same time, he distanced himself from Conkling, and he sought to appoint officials who were well-regarded by both reformers and party loyalists. Arthur asked Garfield's cabinet members to remain until December 1881, when Congress would reconvene, but Treasury Secretary William Windom submitted his resignation in October to enter a Senate race in his home state of Minnesota. Arthur then selected Charles J. Folger, his friend and a fellow New York Stalwart, as Windom's replacement. Attorney General Wayne MacVeagh was next to resign, believing that, as a reformer, he had no place in an Arthur cabinet. Arthur replaced MacVeagh with Benjamin H. Brewster, a Philadelphia lawyer and machine politician reputed to have reformist leanings. Secretary of State Blaine, one of the key leaders of the Half-Breed faction of the Republican Party, also resigned in December.Conkling expected Arthur to appoint him in Blaine's place, as he had been Arthur's patron for much of the latter's career. But the president chose Frederick T. Frelinghuysen of New Jersey, a Stalwart recommended by former President Grant. Though Frelinghuysen advised Arthur not to fill any future vacancies with Stalwarts, Arthur selected Timothy O. Howe, a Wisconsin Stalwart, to replace Postmaster General Thomas Lemuel James after the latter resigned in January 1882. Navy Secretary William H. Hunt was next to resign, in April 1882, and Arthur attempted to placate the Half-Breeds by appointing William E. Chandler, who had been recommended by Blaine. Finally, when Interior Secretary Samuel J. Kirkwood resigned that same month, Arthur appointed Henry M. Teller, a Colorado Stalwart, to the office. Of the cabinet members Arthur had inherited from Garfield, only Secretary of War Robert Todd Lincoln remained for the entirety of Arthur's term.
Judicial appointments
Arthur made appointments to fill two vacancies on the United States Supreme Court. The first vacancy arose in July 1881 with the death of Associate Justice Nathan Clifford, a Democrat who had been a member of the Court since before the American Civil War. Arthur nominated Horace Gray, a distinguished jurist from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, to replace Clifford, and the nomination was easily confirmed. Gray would remain on the Court until 1902. A second vacancy occurred when Associate Justice Ward Hunt retired in January 1882. Arthur first nominated his old political boss, Roscoe Conkling; he doubted that Conkling would accept, but felt obligated to offer a high office to his former patron. The Senate confirmed the nomination but, as expected, Conkling declined it, the last time a confirmed nominee declined an appointment. Senator George Edmunds was Arthur's next choice, but he declined to be considered. Instead, Arthur nominated Samuel Blatchford, who had been a judge on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals for the prior four years. Blatchford accepted, and his nomination was approved by the Senate within two weeks. Blatchford served on the Court until his death in 1893.In addition to his two Supreme Court appointments, Arthur also appointed four circuit court judges and fourteen district court judges.