Charles Julius Guiteau
Charles Julius Guiteau was born on September 8, 1841, in Freeport, Illinois. He experienced a tumultuous early life marked by the death of his mother and a strict upbringing under his father, a banker and local politician. Guiteau's erratic behavior became apparent during his attempts at various careers, including journalism and law, ultimately leading him to become involved in politics. He became an ardent supporter of President James A. Garfield but later believed that Garfield's assassination was necessary to restore power to a faction of the Republican Party known as the Stalwarts.
On July 2, 1881, Guiteau shot Garfield in a train depot, leading to the president's prolonged suffering before his death on September 19 of that year. Guiteau's subsequent trial was notable for its use of the insanity defense, as he claimed divine inspiration for his actions. Despite these claims, he was found guilty and executed in June 1882. His assassination of Garfield had significant political repercussions, spurring civil service reforms and raising ongoing discussions regarding mental health in legal contexts. Guiteau's life and actions remain a complex intersection of personal turmoil, political ambition, and societal impact.
Charles Julius Guiteau
- Born: September 8, 1841
- Birthplace: Freeport, Illinois
- Died: June 30, 1882
- Place of death: Washington, D.C.
American assassin of U.S. president
Major offense: Shot President James A. Garfield, who later died of his injuries
Active: July 2, 1881
Locale: Washington, D.C.
Sentence: Death by hanging
Early Life
Born to Luther and Jane (Howe) Guiteau on September 8, 1841, Charles Julius Guiteau (GEE-toh) was the fourth of six children raised in Freeport, Illinois. His mother died when he was seven, but his father soon remarried. Luther, a banker and local politician who practiced the theological teachings of John H. Noyes, was a strict disciplinarian who physically abused his son to correct a speech impediment. After receiving a small inheritance, the young Guiteau spent the Civil War years in Oneida, New York, in a colony dedicated to Noyes’s teaching of Bible Communism, the belief in plural marriages, perfectionism, and the second coming of Christ.
Guiteau left the community in 1865 for New York City. He tried his hand at journalism and publishing religious tracts, but he soon ran out of money. He moved in with his sister, Frances, who began to notice his erratic behavior, but before she could commit him to a sanatorium, he left for Chicago in 1869. Because of the laxity of the bar exam, Guiteau was admitted to the Illinois bar. He failed to make an effective courtroom attorney and ended up as a debt collector. During his time in the city, he married Annie Bunn, a teenager who worked in the library at the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA). He became an itinerant preacher for the next three years and sold a series of publications titled The Truth: A Companion to the Bible, based largely on Noyes’s beliefs. Eventually, meager earnings, poor living conditions, and the emotional strain caused Annie to seek a divorce in 1873.
Criminal Career
Guiteau had turned his attention to politics by the 1880’s. He offered to help James Garfield’s presidential campaign in New York City by passing out copies of a speech titled “Garfield Against Hancock” (Winfield Scott Hancock was Garfield’s Democratic opponent). Guiteau then moved to Washington, D.C., once Garfield assumed the presidency and began appearing at State Department offices saying that he should be given a consulate post in Paris or Vienna. After being spurned by Secretary of State James G. Blaine, Guiteau turned away from the liberal “Half-Breeds” faction of the Republican Party (represented by Garfield) and toward the conservative “Stalwart” faction. The Stalwarts originally backed Ulysses S. Grant for a third term in office, opposed the civil service reform policies of President Rutherford B. Hayes, and opposed his attempts to reconcile with the South. Republican Party divisions increased when New York senators Roscoe Conkling and Thomas C. Pratt resigned in protest of Garfield’s nomination for collector of customs in their state. Guiteau began to believe that Garfield’s death was a political necessity that would return the Stalwarts, represented by Vice President Chester A. Arthur, to power.
Guiteau bought a .44 British caliber gun with an ivory handle because he thought it would make a good museum exhibit. He began to practice with the handgun in a local park. He made two attempts on Garfield’s life, the first being in a church on Vermont Avenue in mid-June. The plan was abruptly halted when the president left the church to go visit his recuperating wife in New Jersey. The next attempt took place in a train depot, but Guiteau took pity on seeing the feeble form of the First Lady.
On July 2, 1881, Garfield, accompanied by Blaine, was about to board a train to attend the twenty-fifth reunion of his college class when Guiteau intercepted him in the ladies’ waiting room. He fired two shots; one bullet hit the president in the back and lodged near his spinal column. Garfield lingered for a few months. Doctors were unable to find and extricate the bullet, and the president died on September 19.
Legal Action and Outcome
Guiteau’s trial began on November 14 in the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia with Walter S. Cox presiding. Guiteau’s brother-in-law, George Scoville, was his attorney throughout the trial. The defense case relied heavily on the insanity plea, but Scoville also maintained that Garfield died as a result of physician negligence. Guiteau’s actions in court led to questions of his mental state. He constantly disrupted court proceedings by making long speeches and reading aloud newspaper accounts of the trial. Nevertheless, the jury found Guiteau guilty, and he was hanged in late June, 1882.
Impact
The assassination of President James Garfield caused the passage of widespread civil service reform. Charles Guiteau’s trial represented one of the most famous cases using insanity as a defense argument; legal ramifications involving such pleas still persist. According to Guiteau, divine inspiration had convinced him that the president must die, but he was found to be a troubled man possessed by an enormous ego who craved recognition and fame.
Bibliography
Ackerman, Kenneth D. Dark Horse: The Surprise Election and Political Murder of President James A. Garfield. New York: Carroll & Graf, 2003. Author recounts the important political figures in the Republican Party, Garfield’s presidency, and how his assassination impacted the country and politics.
Clark, James C. The Murder of James A. Garfield: The President’s Last Days and the Trial and Execution of His Assassin. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 1993. Clark interweaves the lives and events of Guiteau and Garfield, addressing the political climate, legal system, and medical establishment of the late nineteenth century.
Peskin, Allan. “Charles Guiteau of Illinois: President Garfield’s Assassin.” Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 70, no. 2 (May, 1977): 130-139. The author provides a brief biographical account of Guiteau.
Rosenberg, Charles E. The Trial of Assassin Guiteau. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1968. Rosenberg examines the public reaction and legal implication of mental illness during the Gilded Age by focusing on Guiteau’s trial.