(1881 painting by Ole Peter Hansen Balling; Wikimedia CC public domain)
Garfield served as president for only 200 days, half of which he spent trying to recover from the assassination attempt that ultimately took his life. An attorney, he also served prior to his political career as a preacher and minister at Mentor Christian Church in Ohio, which had been founded in 1828 by a prominent Campbellite preacher named Sidney Rigdon.
“I never meet a ragged boy in the street without feeling that I may owe him a salute, for I know not what possibilities may be buttoned up under his coat.”
James A. Garfield
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