Chester Arthur

Chester A. Arthur never sought the presidency. A product of New York’s Republican machine and a loyal lieutenant of Roscoe Conkling, he was widely distrusted when he assumed office in September 1881 after the assassination of James A. Garfield. Few expected the “Gentleman Boss” of the spoils system to rise above his past.

This biography traces Arthur’s life from his Vermont upbringing in an abolitionist minister’s family, through his legal career and civil-rights work in New York, his efficient Civil War service as Quartermaster General, and his rise to Collector of the Port of New York. It then examines the unexpected transformation of his presidency: the signing of the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, the modernization of the U.S. Navy, and the dignified administration of an office he had not sought. By the time he left office in 1885, Arthur had earned greater public respect than when he entered it.

Part of a series of presidential biographies, this volume offers a clear, balanced portrait of one of the Gilded Age’s most underestimated presidents.