Why did a failed lawyer and utopian commune member assassinate a U.S. president?
In short: Charles J. Guiteau, a man marked by delusions of grandeur and chronic instability, believed he was responsible for President James A. Garfield’s 1880 election victory. When his persistent demands for a foreign consulship were ignored, he decided that killing the president was a divine mission to unify the Republican Party.
Born in 1841, Charles J. Guiteau lived a life defined by erratic shifts and failed ambitions. After leaving the University of Michigan in 1860, he joined the Oneida Community, a utopian religious commune. He was deeply unpopular there, earning the nickname 'Charles Gitout' from female members who rejected his advances and found him conceited. Following his departure, he drifted through various careers, including law and preaching, while his behavior grew increasingly volatile. His marriage to Annie Bunn ended in 1874 after years of abuse and infidelity, and he was even accused of attempting to strike his own sister with an axe in 1875.
By 1880, Guiteau turned his attention to politics, driven by a desperate quest for fame. He aligned himself with the Stalwart faction of the Republican Party and supported James A. Garfield. When Garfield won, Guiteau convinced himself that his minor contributions were pivotal. He began a relentless campaign of letters and personal visits to Secretary of State James Blaine, demanding a consulship in Vienna or Paris. When it became clear he would receive no such appointment, Guiteau concluded that Garfield was destroying the party's patronage system and that the president’s death was the only way to resolve internal political divisions.
On July 2, 1881, Guiteau shot Garfield at the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station. The president did not die immediately; he succumbed to sepsis on September 19, 1881, after a team of unsterilized doctors repeatedly probed his wounds. During his trial, Guiteau pleaded insanity, though he simultaneously insisted he was legally sane and acting on God's orders. He frequently insulted the court, calling jurors 'low, consummate jackasses.' Found guilty in January 1882, he was executed by hanging on June 30, 1882. His final act was reciting a poem he titled 'I Am Going to the Lordy' before the trapdoor opened.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Charles J. Guiteau | Death by Lightning, Hanging, Grave, Brain, Assassination, Garfield, & Facts | Britannica
- Also: Charles J. Guiteau
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