Chester A. Arthur

Chester A. Arthur belongs to a unique camp of presidents: Presidents who were entrusted with a scared and melancholic nation following the assassination of another president. The other 3 presidents who share this label with Arthur are Andrew Johnson in the wake of John Wilkes Booth's decision to kill Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt in the wake of Leon Czolgosz's decision to kill William McKinley, and Lyndon B. Johnson in the wake of Lee Harvey Oswald's decision to kill John F. Kennedy. Arthur took over following the murder of James A. Garfield by Charles Guiteau. Arthur is also, by far, the most obscure of all these presidents. Andrew Johnson is rightfully dubbed one of the worst presidents in American history for his opposition to civil rights legislation, while Roosevelt is known by schoolchildren and historians alike as the man who launched the Progressive Era, a period of unprecedented reform tailored at helping women, workers, and the environment. Lyndon B. Johnson receives universal praise for his commitment to the end of segregation and universal scorn for his role in sparking the Vietnam War. He also is the subject of divisive debate due to his many financial reforms embedded within the Great Society campaign. Although Arthur is nowhere near as significant as these other 3 presidents, I would consider him superior to all of them.

Arthur received the vice presidency in the 1880 election. At the time of that race, the Republican Party was split between the more progressive Half-Breeds and the more conservative Stalwarts. During the 1880 Republican primaries, the Half-Breeds wanted to nominate James G. Blaine, while the Stalwarts wanted to nominate former-President Ulysses S. Grant. Eventually, it became apparent that without some sort of compromise, the party would be irrevocably torn and unable to muster up any effective campaign against the Democrats during the generals. So, they decided to nominate the moderate Half-Breed James A. Garfield for president and the moderate Stalwart Chester A. Arthur for president. The strategy worked and on Election Day, Garfield and Arthur defeated Democratic nominee Winfield Scott Hancock. It was one of the closest races in American history, but however opaque it was, Garfield's mandate obviously existed. On March 4, 1881, Garfield took the oath of office.

When Grant was still a viable candidate, Charles Guiteau composed a brief, incoherent speech endorsing the Stalwart candidate. However, when Garfield became the nominee, Guiteau decided to edit the speech. All he did was cross out mentions of Grant and replace them with Garfield's name. Everything else was left intact, in all of its uncharismatic, unpersuasive muck. Guiteau only gave the speech once. Despite these facts, when Garfield narrowly defeated Hancock, Guiteau became convinced he played some role in ensuring the Republican victory. For this reason, he petitioned President Garfield, asking that he be made consul to France in exchange for his efforts on the campaign trail. Understandably, Garfield was unimpressed and refused to heed Guiteau's request. But Guiteau wouldn't take no for an answer. He began to stalk the president, meeting him at a train station on July 2, 1881. There, Garfield was shot, dying a few months later on September 19, 1881. Arthur was president.

The American people were horrified by these events. Not only was Garfield dead, but his successor was the mistrusted and unpopular Arthur. Arthur was known as a corrupt magnet attracting all sorts of dishonesty and scandals. As collector for the port of New York, Arthur populated a committee meant to enforce civil service exams with someone he knew opposed these exams, an unhinged alcoholic, and the Postmaster of New York, who was distracted with his other job and thus unable to attend to the committee's work. Arthur received a portion of the profit whenever his cronies stole goods being imported into the US, betraying their position as people meant to enforce tariff laws, and sold them for personal gain. Rutherford B. Hayes even had to remove Arthur from what was, at that point, his first and only political office, as Hayes had made anti-corruption efforts a focal point of his stay in the White House. When Guiteau was arrested shortly following the initial shooting of Arthur, he proclaimed, "I did it and I will go to jail for it. I am a Stalwart, and Arthur will be president!", rumors that Arthur worked with Guiteau amplified his already-intense unpopularity.

Historians have reported that Arthur was deeply affected by the taunts, insults, and critiques rushing toward him from all the nation's press and punditry. For this reason, he turned over a new leaf, deciding, like Hayes, to make reducing corruption and redeeming his legacy the center of his presidency. Garfield's death was a product of the spoils system. Created by Andrew Jackson and widely used ever since, the spoils system entailed appointing patronage officers, ambassadors, cabinet secretaries, and other positions not based off of real merit, but off of whether or not the appointee supported their appointer in the last election. With the spoils system now ubiquitous, Guiteau clearly expected that his support of Garfield - however shallow it was - would be enough to ensure his success in becoming consul to France. Consequently, Arthur began working to abolish the spoils system.

On January 16, 1883, Arthur signed the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act. This law, most of which is still in effect today, abolished the spoils system by requiring that all appointed officials be selected based off of their real knowledge and history in the field at hand, rather than their political similarities to the incumbent. To enforce these provisions, the law founded the United States Civil Service Commission. Composed of 3 members, the US Civil Service Commission, before dissolving in 1978, had the task of enforcing the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act. Since these members would be chosen by the president, at least one had to belong to a different political party than the incumbent, thus making it harder for the president to stuff the committee with supporters who would allow him to revive the spoils system, much like Arthur himself did as the collector for New York. The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act also prohibits the use of federal money and public property to advance partisan political goals.

Under John Tyler, a tradition known as star routes began. The term "star routes" referred to postal roads that the post office would sell to private bidders as a way of funding its operations. By the end of the civil war, however, star routes became a vehicle for corruption and selfishness amongst government officials. A scandal known as the Star Route Affair began, where higher-ups at the post office would bribe Congressmen into commissioning new star routes. The post office would also lobby for additional funds to be granted by Congress, saying that those funds would be used to improve postal functions. When the money arrived, it was simply used to build new star routes. Post office directors would also submit astonishingly-high bids to increase the winning auction. Afterward, all the profits garnered from the sale would be placed in the pockets of postal service officials. Arthur was deeply involved in this scandal, being close friends with two of the men involved.

While he was still in office, Grant launched an investigation into the Star Route Affair, which continued under Hayes and Garfield. It culminated under Arthur, who vocally supported the indictment of people participating in the Star Route Affair. (Arthur knew people involved in the scandal, but never directly aided in it.) Afterward, Arthur rallied around the public shock and disgruntlement at the Star Route Affair to conduct a general purge of corruption in the postal service. Arthur did a similar thing in the navy: After the civil war, the American navy became a shell of its former self. Many of its members were dead and a vast swath of its ships and weapons were destroyed. It became a hotbed for corruption and incompetence, two things Arthur largely rid the institution of. In order to enforce the Monroe Doctrine (a foreign policy initiative launched by President James Monroe in 1823 that demanded both a lack of interference by the Americas in the affairs of the outside world and the same from the outside world for the Americas), Arthur also modernized the American navy, ordering the construction of the very first steel naval vessels.

Anti-corruption wasn't Arthur's only accomplishment. He was a huge advocate for the rights of East Asians. For example, he recognized Korea as an independent nation even as imperial powers like China, Russia, and Japan tried to colonize it. In early 1882, Congress drafted and, by a huge margin, approved the Chinese Exclusion Act, banning all immigration from China to the United States for 20 years. Arthur vetoed the bill, scolding Congress for ignoring the contributions to the US made by Chinese immigrants and abridging a treaty with China that ensured free travel between it and America. However, Arthur also knew that the proposal was so popular that Congress would likely override his veto. He would sour relations with Congress and make no real progress for Chinese Americans anyway. So, he brokered a compromise: If Congress scrapped the current bill and replaced it with a bill that only banned immigration from China for 10 years, he would reluctantly sign it. In doing this, Arthur weakened the xenophobia of one of the worst laws ever passed in American history.

Foreign policy possessed one of only a few issues with the Arthur Administration: The Frelinghuysen-Zavala Treaty. This agreement had Nicaragua cede parts of its land to the US in exchange for the construction of a canal on that very land. This isn't a huge negative, as it did support improved infrastructure within Nicaragua, but the fact that no one living on the land being ceded had a say in what happened causes Arthur to lose points. Grover Cleveland went on to withdraw from the Frelinghuysen-Zavala Treaty. The rest of Arthur's faults as president (which were few and far between) were confined to domestic policy. Arthur signed the Edmunds Act, which banned polygamy and polyamorous relations, something that I view as an unacceptable encroachment on Americans' private lives. As a protectionist, I also can't help but criticize Arthur for reducing tariffs, but since the reduction was a mere 1.47%, it doesn't hurt his score that much. On the positive side, Arthur also brokered numerous trade agreements with other countries, which helps restore his high ranking.

I believe that Chester A. Arthur was one of the greatest presidents in American history. He entered the White House a product of exploitative corruption and rigid traditionalism, both of which he excessively benefitted from. However, as he realized how much these systems were causing his fellow Americans to suffer and as it became apparent to him that the vehicle he rode to the White House was tearing apart the land he loved the best, he decided to change. He abolished the spoils system through the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act and reduced corruption both in the navy and postal service. Besides that, he convinced Congress to draft less totalitarian restrictions on immigration from China, supported Korean independence, brokered several trade agreements, and modernized the navy, among other things.