Some rank Chester Alan Arthur as one of the worst presidents of all time. I think his life story is what we need to hear this Yom Kippur.
For inspiration, many people look to founding fathers like George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson. Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt led the nation in times of danger. Harry Truman and Teddy Roosevelt made tough decisions at crucial crossroads.
I look to Chester Alan Arthur, the 21st President of the United States for inspiration. Although some pundits rate him as one of the worst presidents, a leader who technically wasn‘t elected to serve in the White House, I think his life story teaches some great lessons that are especially important as we prepare for Yom. Kippur
Corruption Rules
Arthur found himself on the map of American history during a turbulent time. Read also : Two Years of Matthew Heath’s Captivity in Venezuela – US State Department. Apart from the challenges of reuniting the country after the Civil War, apart from the corruption that had existed since the founding of the republic and worsened over time, it was the country.
Chester Alan Arthur, 21st President of the United States
The Federal Patronage System (or Spoils System) allowed political appointments as a reward for those who maintained the party’s political machine, regardless of personal ability. Many presidents have been elected on a platform of reforming the Spoils System, but none have been able to stand up to those who helped push them into office.
In 1869, Americans finally believed in a Civil War hero with the election of General Ulysses S. Grant, who many saw as another George Washington. Instead, they got eight of the most corrupt years of the American Presidency. Grant was followed by Rutherford B. Hayes, who tried to reform the Spoils System but ultimately succeeded in only one thing, further dividing the Republican party.
At this time, the Republican party was deeply divided on the issue of patronage. The Stalwarts, led by New York Senator Rosco Conkling, wanted to maintain the protectorate system, while the Moderates vowed to reform the country. The internal rift erupted at the 1880 Republican National Convention. In the days leading up to the binding primary election, the convention alone would choose a presidential candidate, and there were 14 men vying for the nomination.
A Surprise Win
Stalwarts backed Ulysses S. Grant for an unprecedented third term. They believed that in the last four years his image has somehow been rehabilitated and that he was once again eligible. Half-breeds sponsored Maine Senator James Blain. Secretary of the Treasury John Sherman, brother of William Tecumseh Sherman, was also considered a striker. 379 votes were needed to win.
On the 36th ballot, Garfield received 399, securing the nomination he did not want. On the same subject : Biden moves to protect access to reproductive health care.
On the first ballot, Grant received 304, Blaine 284, and Sherman 93. On the second ballot, Congressman James A. Garfield of Ohio received one vote, although he was not nominated. Voting continued, 33 votes were cast over several days without much change. On the 34th ballot, a dark horse started to emerge from the pack – Garfield got 17 votes! He immediately challenged the legitimacy of this, as he did not seek the appointment. The president rejected his challenge, and secretly supported his candidacy.
On the 35th ballot, Garfield received 50 votes, and on the 36th ballot, 399, obtaining the nomination he did not want.
Conkling, the Stalwart leader, was disgusted by what had happened. Republicans knew they had to show a united front to beat Democrat Winfield Scott Hancock in the general election, so they nominated one of Conkling’s protégés, Chester Alan Arthur, for vice president. Arturo was a true confidant who lined his own pockets for years through the Trustee system. His only previous position was Collector of the Port of New York, a job built for crooked politicians.
The highest ever voter turnout in a general election was 78.4%. The Republican ticket won the popular vote by just 7,018 and the electoral college victory by 214 to 155. After the inauguration, Vice President Arthur worked in vain to secure cabinet positions for his friends, but President Garfield made it clear from the start that he would do it himself. Working to reform the Civil Service. He did not appoint a single Stalwart in his cabinet.
Senator Conkling quickly bowed to the president, and in a power play, resigned from the evenly divided Senate, leaving Garfield’s nomination in jeopardy, and hoped that the New York State Legislature would renominate him to his position. During the summer break of 1881, Conkling and Arthur returned to Albany to make this happen. In the end, Conkling overplayed his hand, and New York picked another.
Presidential Assassination
On July 2, 1881, the Spoils System shot Charles J. Guiteau, a disturbed evangelical preacher who thought he deserved to be ambassador to France, and President Garfield, without getting the nomination. After shooting the President, Charles J. Read also : $2.8 billion in additional military assistance for Ukraine and its neighbors – US State Department. Guiteau boasted, “I’m a believer, and Arthur will be President!” In his delusion, he hoped that Ulyssys S. Grant’s militia would break him out of prison, and then receive his intended appointment.
In his wildest dreams, Arthur never imagined that he could be president and felt unfit for the task.
For two months Garfield was between life and death. At the time, no one, except the first lady, was more aggravated by Garfield’s condition than Chester Arthur. In his wildest dreams, he never imagined that he could be president, and he felt inadequate for the task. There were also those who suspected that Conkling and Arthur were involved in the plot. At 2:15 a.m. on September 20, 1881, Chester Alan Arthur became the 21st President of the United States.
Print of the assassination of James A. Garfield, published in Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper. President Garfield is at center right, crouching after being shot. Secretary of State James G. Blaine assists. Left, the murderer Charles Guiteau is held back by members of the crowd, one of whom goes to beat him with a cane. (Wiki Commons)
Garfield’s assassination achieved what 15 years of reconstruction had failed to achieve. The country was united, and surprisingly, their new president rose to prominence. President Arthur refused to comply with Conkling’s demands, understanding the American people’s disgust with the Spoils system and how they blamed him for the death of their beloved Garfield.
A Fierce Reformer and a Changed Man
Arthur was a changed man. Swearing off his past corruption, he became an ardent champion of Social Service reform. On January 16, 1883, Arthur Pendleton signed the Civil Service Reform Act. Within two years, an unrepentant stalwart became the president who ushered in long-awaited civil service reform.
What gave President Arthur the strength to take the most difficult path of doing what he knew was right?
In 1958, Chester Alan Arthur III, grandson of President Arthur, sold his grandfather’s papers to the Library of Congress, and it finally became clear what had prompted Arthur’s change.
Among his papers were letters from a lady in New Jersey named Julia Sand. The first letter, dated August 27, 1881, stated:
Your best opponents say: “Arturo will try to do well” – adding gloomily – “He will not succeed, although making a man president cannot change him”…. But making a man president can! Great emergencies awaken generous qualities that have lain dormant for a lifetime. If there is a spark of true nobility within you, now is the chance to let it shine. Faith in your better character compels me to write to you, but not to resign. Do what’s harder & brave Reform! It is not proof of supreme goodness that one has never done wrong, but it is proof that, sometimes in one’s career, pausing & to reflect, to recognize evil, to turn firmly against it… Every now and then a crisis [sic?] comes and makes miracles possible. The great wave of grief that has swept over the country has freed you from your old moorings & he put you on the mountaintop, alone.
Sand wrote 23 letters to the President, encouraging him when he did the right thing and calling him out when he fell short. The year she wrote the President, Julia Sand never got a response.
On the evening of August 20, 1882, he received an unannounced visitor at his home, President Chester Alan Arthur! She came to thank him for having her moral conscience during the previous turbulent year.
The Prostitute’s Words
The Talmud (Avodah Zarah 17a) tells us of a man named Elazar Ben Dordaya who was so corrupt that he visited every prostitute he knew. One day, in the middle of a ceremony with such a woman, Elazar Ben Dordaya declared spontaneously that he would never change his ways. His words – a harlot – shook her to the core. He then took to the streets, looking for somewhere to lay the blame1 and finally concluded that if he was going to change, it would only be through his own actions. Then he literally screamed his soul out until he died.
At that moment, a voice from Heaven announced that Rebbi Elazar Ben Dordaya is destined for the world to come.
Chester Alan Arthur’s presidency echoes this story of regret. Had he stayed the course he was on, his tenure would probably be remembered as more corrupt than Ulysses S. Grant’s. But his moral conscience kicked in, spurred on from the most unlikely of places, making him a president who brought major reforms. This is why I find President Arthur so inspiring.
But there is another lesson here. Julia Sand wrote letters to a man she had never met, not knowing if her letters were being received, let alone read. It literally changed the course of American history.
As we move into this season of teshuva, repentance, let us all take the lessons of this inspiring story. We all have the ability to change, no matter how big or small we are, and what our past has been like.
And we all have the ability to change the world, just like Julia Sand. We have to act and do what we can.
The historical accounts in this article are based on The Unexpected President: The Life and Times of Chester A. Arthur and Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President.
