OPINION:
Public figures often have a distinctive feature or accessory that marks them in the public mind — FDR’s cigarette holder, Groucho Marx’s eyebrows, John Bolton’s mustache or Chester A. Arthur’s mutton chops — in the end, given th iencreasingly limited time given to teaching American history, perhaps the most memorable thing about him.
But our presidents and other historic figures deserve better than that, and John M. Pafford, professor emeritus of history and philosophy at Northwood University in Midland, Michigan, and author of a respected biography of his fellow Michigander and friend Russell Kirk, has set out to do something about it.
Among his studies are “John Jay: Forgotten Founder,” several books analyzing the contributions of early American historic figures and most recently “Cleveland: The Forgotten Conservative,” a study of Grover Cleveland, another under-appreciated president and President Arthur’s successor in office.
Chester A. Arthur, our 21st president, neither sought the office nor wanted it. A career machine political bureaucrat personifying the spoils system, he was chosen in 1880 to run as James A. Garfield’s vice president to unify a factionalized Republican Party. With the assassination of President Garfield, Arthur assumed the presidency, served out his term, didn’t try for a second term, went into a quiet retirement, and died of complications from Bright’s disease shortly thereafter.
A New York lawyer, Arthur, originally a Whig who became an active Republican, joined the New York state militia, served until 1862, then was promoted to quartermaster general, serving in that capacity through the Civil War. From 1871 to 1878, he was appointed collector of the Port of New York by President Grant, a politically powerful and rewarding post.
In that post he became a force in Republican politics and in New York Sen. Roscoe Conkling’s patronage machine. Thus, when he unexpectedly became president, his administration was widely expected to be routinely corrupt.
But as John Pafford shows us, a president who owed his career, and ultimately his presidency, to the patronage system — the very personification of that system — rose to an unexpected level of principle by supporting the reform of the corrupt civil service system, supporting and then signing the Pendleton Civil Service Act. By so doing, as Mr. Pafford points out, by taking an anti-patronage position, he guaranteed that he would lose party support for a second term.
In all, his administration was remarkably free of blunders and missteps, both in domestic and foreign policy, and surprisingly untouched by scandal in an age of scandal. In fact, the Arthur administration can take credit for a set of accomplishments that would have positive effects on the composition of our system of governance and, ultimately, our place in the world.
Among those accomplishments was the rebuilding and revitalization of our Navy at precisely that moment in history when it was required to buttress and facilitate our rapidly growing role as a potential major world power.
“The case can be made,” writes Mr. Pafford, “that the 1880s were the most productive decade in American history [with] impressive gains in gross national product, business formation, manufacturing, and agricultural productivity. Real income for both industrial and agricultural workers rose. Arthur does not deserve all the credit, of course, but this astonishing progress did get underway during his presidency.”
“All things considered, Arthur deserves to be reexamined and remembered with respect and appreciation for his role in pulling the country together after the Garfield assassination in spite of severe, even terminal health problems and strong opposition within his own party. In March 1885 he turned over to Grover Cleveland a country which had rebounded well from the dark summer of 1881.”
Mr. Pafford has a point. Perhaps, in addition to the established rating systems we use to evaluate presidents, a new set of criteria is in order — presidents who do no harm, ignite no blazing controversies, do some measurable good, comport themselves with restraint and dignity, and leave office quietly, with the nation a little better for their stewardship, may deserve unique consideration.
If such a category were adopted, President Chester Arthur, as portrayed by John Pafford, would rank near the top, mutton chops or not.
• John R. Coyne Jr., a former White House speechwriter, is co-author of “Strictly Right: William F. Buckley Jr. and the American Conservative Movement” (Wiley).
• • •
THE ACCIDENTAL PRESIDENT: CHESTER A. ARTHUR
By John M. Pafford
Regnery History, $27.99, 256 pages
Please read our comment policy before commenting.