President Garfield’s Addiction

History barely mentions President Garfield. Probably, like me, you don’t remember what he looked like. Lincoln and Washington, now – I”ll bet even space aliens have heard of them. Remember, radio waves go out into space. (Can you imagine what space aliens think of us after hearing I Love Lucy, the Jackie Gleason Show, Bugs Bunny? )

I digress. Back to James Abram Garfield, the last President to be born in a log cabin, the President assassinated by Charles Guiteau; President Garfield loved to read.

I know this from Sarah Vowell’s Assassination Vacation. She describes the past so vividly; she makes our national saints (like Washington and Lincoln) human, and best of all, she is very, very funny.

Sarah Vowell says, “If there is a recurring theme in Garfield’s diaries, it is this. I’d rather be reading.” I’m with you, Mr. President.
I don’t believe the poor man wanted to be President all that much anyway: he stumbled into it. He’d probably rather have had a good book.

Again, from Sarah Vowell we learn Garfield had a chair made for him. He could lean against the high side, and flop his legs over the low side. I don’t have a special chair, but crosswise sitting must be what all reading addicts do. It’s my favorite reading position too.

His friend Charles Sumner would run into Garfield at the Library of Congress. Charles Sumner is remembered as the poor man who was nearly beaten to death on the floor of the Senate by the Senator from South Carolina. Sumner was passionate in his condemnation of slavery, but he short on personal charm, it seems. But he loved to read.

I’ve become fond of these guys.