Charles Guiteau

Guiteau borrowed fifteen dollars and went out to purchase a revolver. He knew little about firearms, but did know that he would need a large caliber gun. He had to choose between a .44 Webley British Bulldog revolver with a wooden handle and one with an ivory handle. He wanted the one with the ivory handle because he wanted it to look good as a museum exhibit after the assassination, but he could not afford the extra dollar.

As he surrendered to authorities, Guiteau fired with the exulting words, repeated everywhere: 'I am a Stalwart of the Stalwarts. .. Arthur is President now!!'" (New York Herald, July 3, 1881). Garfield died on September 19, eleven weeks after being shot, after a long, painful battle with infections brought on by his doctors poking and probing the wound with unwashed hands and non-sterilized instruments. Most modern physicians familiar with the case state that Garfield would have easily survived his wounds with the medical care available even 20 years later.

Sarah Vowell's book ain't too bad – by far the most interesting of presidential assassins.

Guiteau became something of a media darling during his trial for his bizarre behavior, including constantly badmouthing his defense team, formatting his testimony in epic poems which he recited at length, and soliciting legal advice from random spectators in the audience via passed notes. He dictated an autobiography to the New York Herald, ending it with a personal ad for a nice Christian lady under thirty. He was blissfully oblivious to the American public's outrage and hatred of him, even after he was almost assassinated twice himself. At one point, he argued that Garfield was killed not by himself but by medical malpractice ("The doctors killed Garfield, I just shot him"), which was more than a little true.

To the end, Guiteau was actively making plans to start a lecture tour after his perceived imminent release and to run for President himself in 1884, while at the same time continuing to delight in the media circus surrounding his trial. He was dismayed when the jury was unconvinced of his divine inspiration, convicting him of the murder.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/Guiteau.jpg

http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/assassins/theballadofguiteau.htm

Urgent and key book, y'all. And you can get it for $1.25.

WEIRD, I was reading about this guy a couple of hours ago. I was wondering where the word assassin came from, so i looked it up on wikipedia... and i ended up at that guy. How coincidental!

I oddly learned about this in the new Steven Pinker book, "The Stuff of Thought."

Robert Klein did a standup bit in the '70s about Guiteau being universally described w/ the phrase "disappointed office-seeker."

The song about him on Anthology of American Folk Music is holy shit A+++ song.