Chester Alan Arthur
The Gilded Age bon vivant who became America's unlikeliest chief executive-and who presided over a sweeping reform of the system that nurtured him
Chester Alan Arthur never dreamed that one day he would be president of the United States. A successful lawyer, Arthur had been forced out as the head of the Custom House of the Port of New York in 1877 in a power struggle between the two wings of the Republican Party. He became such a celebrity that he was nominated for vice president in 1880-despite his never having run for office before.
Elected alongside James A. Garfield, Arthur found his life transformed just four months into his term, when an assassin shot and killed Garfield, catapulting Arthur into the presidency. The assassin was a deranged man who thought he deserved a federal job through the increasingly corrupt "spoils system." To the surprise of many, Arthur, a longtime beneficiary of that system, saw that the time had come for reform. His opportunity came in the winter of 1882-83, when he pushed through the Pendleton Act, which created a professional civil service and set America on a course toward greater reforms in the decades to come.
Chester Arthur may be largely forgotten today, but Zachary Karabell eloquently shows how this unexpected president-of whom so little was expected-rose to the occasion when fate placed him in the White House.
"By exploring the Gilded Age's parallels with our own divisive political scene, Karabell does an excellent job of cementing the volume's relevance for contemporary readers. " - Publishers Weekly
Grouping Information
Grouped Work ID | a982c912-1f4b-d071-f6eb-a59a81474a92 |
---|---|
Grouping Title | chester alan arthur |
Grouping Author | zachary karabell |
Grouping Category | book |
Grouping Language | English (eng) |
Last Grouping Update | 2024-05-14 18:19:14PM |
Last Indexed | 2024-05-18 04:55:00AM |
Solr Fields
Biographies
Presidents -- United States -- Biography
United States -- Politics and government -- 1881-1885
Politics and government
Presidents
Solr Details Tables
item_details
Bib Id | Item Id | Shelf Loc | Call Num | Format | Format Category | Num Copies | Is Order Item | Is eContent | eContent Source | eContent URL | Detailed Status | Last Checkin | Location |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ils:.b14801036 | .i30766217 | Webster Adult Nonfiction | 973.91 KAR HC | 1 | false | false | Available | Sep 26, 2017 | weanf | ||||
ils:.b14801036 | .i23759458 | Drummond Adult Nonfiction | 973.84 KAR | 1 | false | false | Available | dranf | |||||
ils:.b14801036 | .i20511450 | Superior Adult Nonfiction | 921 Ar77k Arthur, Chester A. | 1 | false | false | Available | Jul 25, 2017 | suanf |
record_details
Bib Id | Format | Format Category | Edition | Language | Publisher | Publication Date | Physical Description | Abridged |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ils:.b14801036 | Book | Books | 1st edition | English | Times Books | 2004 | xvi, 170 pages: portraits; 22 cm. |
scoping_details_ashland
Bib Id | Item Id | Grouped Status | Status | Locally Owned | Available | Holdable | Bookable | In Library Use Only | Library Owned | Holdable PTypes | Bookable PTypes | Local Url |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ils:.b14801036 | .i30766217 | On Shelf | Available | false | true | true | false | false | false | 9999 | ||
ils:.b14801036 | .i23759458 | On Shelf | Available | false | true | true | false | false | false | 9999 | ||
ils:.b14801036 | .i20511450 | On Shelf | Available | false | true | true | false | false | false | 9999 |