Who Was James Garfield?

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The Netflix mini-series "Death By Lightning" brings to life a largely overlooked — and troubled — period in American history and one of its admirable figures, a minor president named James Garfield. The Republican Garfield was assassinated by a delusional patronage-seeker named Charles Guiteau only months into his term. The series makes for entertaining television with a terrific cast, but is it sound history? Historian Jeremi Suri is our guest.

Excerpts are courtesy Netflix. Music in this episode is from the soundtrack for "Death by Lightning," composed by Ramin Djawadi.

Recommended reading:

Civil War By Other Means by Jeremi Suri

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