Many Americans may not be familiar with James Garfield’s brief presidency, let alone his brutal assassination. But Netflix aims to change that with its new miniseries Death by Lightning, which dramatizes the fateful events of 1881.
The four-episode series, starring Michael Shannon and Matthew Macfadyen, “brings to life the epic and stranger-than-fiction true story of James Garfield, reluctant 20th president of the United States, and his greatest admirer Charles Guiteau — the man who would come to kill him,” according to an official logline.
Betty Gilpin, Nick Offerman, Laura Marcus (Bad Education), Shea Whigham (Boardwalk Empire) and Bradley Whitford (The Handmaid’s Tale) also feature.
Speaking to Tudum about bringing tragic history to the screen nearly 150 years later, creator Mike Makowsky said, “The theme of corruption in politics and our bureaucracy feels particularly evergreen these days.
“The idea of civil service reform and waging a battle to clean up the grift in our government — this is something that Garfield very much stood on the front lines of in his time,” he added. “In 1881, it feels like America is sort of standing at a crossroads between the past and what the future of this country is going to look like, and it’s up to [people like Garfield] to really define how America, 100 years after its inception, is going to look and what kind of society they’re going to be.”
Who was James Garfield?
Garfield (played by Michael Shannon in the series) rose from humble beginnings, born in a log cabin in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, in 1831. The youngest of five children, he grew up in poverty, working odd jobs before finding his way to Williams College, where he graduated in 1856.
After earning his degree, Garfield studied law and became an attorney before serving as a preacher in the Restoration Movement and later as president of the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute, a small college affiliated with the Disciples of Christ.
His political career began in 1859, when he was elected to the Ohio Senate as a Republican. Even early on, Garfield showed a remarkable command of persuasion — using his voice and conviction to help rally against the tide of Southern secession.
When the Civil War broke out in 1861, Garfield traded politics for the battlefield, joining the Union Army and quickly distinguishing himself in combat. Within two years, he had risen to the rank of major general of volunteers.
Back home, his constituents had other plans for him. In 1862, while Abraham Lincoln was still navigating the Civil War, Ohio voters sent Garfield to Congress. Lincoln, ever the strategist, urged him to resign his commission, reasoning that it was easier to find a general than to find a good congressman.
In Washington, Garfield became one of the Republican Party’s most trusted figures, winning re-election for 18 consecutive years before eventually serving as House minority leader from 1876 to 1880. Then, in one of history’s great political upsets, he unexpectedly won the presidency in 1881 — an unlikely ascent from log cabin to the White House.
The Midwest native never planned to be president. However, at the 1880 Republican Convention, after failing to secure his friend, John Sherman, the Presidential nomination, he became the “dark horse” nominee for his Party on the 36th ballot.
He was joined on the ticket by Chester A. Arthur (portrayed by Offerman), a New York Republican who was a member of the Stalwarts, a conservative faction of the Republican Party during the Gilded Age that held traditionalist views.
Garfield went on to defeat the Democratic nominee, General Winfield Scott Hancock, by a slim margin of only 10,000 popular votes, to become the nation’s 20th president.
Although his presidency was tragically cut short by assassination only months after taking office, Garfield left a lasting mark through his advocacy for civil rights for African Americans, his push for civil service reform, and his firm opposition to political patronage.
How did Garfield die?
Just 200 days into his first-term presidency, Garfield was shot on July 2, 1881, at Washington, D.C.’s Baltimore and Potomac train station. He was hit by two bullets — one of which grazed his arm, while the other tore through his back, splintering a rib before lodging deep in his abdomen.
At the time, germ theory was still not widely accepted by American doctors, and Garfield’s physicians repeatedly probed his wound with unsterilized fingers and instruments in an effort to locate the bullet.
Over the next 11 weeks, the president suffered from severe infections, internal abscesses, and malnutrition as his body deteriorated. Despite early signs of recovery, his condition worsened in September. On September 19, Garfield died of a massive heart attack or ruptured aneurysm brought on by infection and sepsis at the age of 49.
Modern medical historians largely agree that, had his doctors left him alone or practiced antiseptic techniques, Garfield likely would have survived.
He died two months later on September 19, 1881, at the age of 49 from infections related to his gunshot wound. Arthur took over as the 21st president, finishing out Garfield’s term and leaving office in 1885.
Who was Garfield’s assassin, Charles Guitaeu?
Garfield’s assassin, Charles Guiteau (played by Macfadyen), was apprehended almost instantly after he pulled the trigger. When he was being taken away by police, he reportedly told them, “I am a Stalwart of Stalwarts... Arthur is President now.”
Guiteau was a 39-year-old failed lawyer and drifter whose delusions had been festering for months. According to the National Park Service, he had stalked President Garfield around Washington, D.C., convinced that divine providence had tied his fate to the White House. A self-proclaimed loyal Republican, Guiteau believed that his minor campaign efforts had personally secured Garfield’s victory—and that he was therefore owed a reward.
He arrived in the capital expecting to collect it: a diplomatic appointment to Paris. But, as the University of Virginia’s Miller Center notes, he was obviously unqualified and repeatedly turned away from both the White House and the State Department.
At the same time, Garfield was locked in a very public feud with New York Senator Roscoe Conkling over the prized patronage position of Collector of the Port of New York. When Garfield refused to back down, Conkling resigned in protest — an event that inflamed divisions within the Republican Party.
Guiteau, a staunch Conkling supporter, became convinced that Garfield’s efforts to reform the patronage system would destroy the party. In his warped logic, removing the president was not murder but political salvation.
On the day Garfield died, Guiteau wrote to Vice President Chester A. Arthur: “My inspiration is a godsend to you and I presume that you appreciate it... Never think of Garfield’s removal as murder. It was an act of God, resulting from a political necessity for which he was responsible,” according to the Miller Center.
What happened to Charles Guiteau?
Guiteau stood trial for the murder of Garfield that November.
“I did not kill the President. The doctors did that. I merely shot him,” he told the jury.
The jury, however, disagreed, and Guiteau was found guilty of Garfield’s murder in January 1882, following a two-month trial. He was sentenced to be executed by hanging.
On June 30, 1882, just two days before the first anniversary of Garfield’s fatal shooting, Guiteau was hanged in the prison courtyard.
Before his death, he was permitted to read aloud a poem he had written, which ended with the declaration, “Glory hallelujah! Glory hallelujah! I am with the Lord!”
Death by Lightning is streaming now on Netflix.
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