never trust a doctor named doctor.

Ironic. He was brilliant, and the stupidity of others killed him.

At my school at the end of 5th grade you had to write a three-page essay on a president of your choice. but once a student had picked one, you had to pick a different one than one already chosen, I was last, and Garfield was the man I chose.(the other kids picked the more well known like Washington and Lincoln) I thought myself unlucky at the time, but after reading through this man's history and the assassination and the different attempts to save his life that are still ingrained in my head to this day, I'm very proud that I chose him to do my essay on, and certainly wish more children would be taught about this (mostly) unrecognized president.

Garfield survived the assassination, but his doctor killed him

I've always been fascinated by Garfield. next to Harrison, was the shortest lived presidency, and was assassinated for the stupidest reasons. rejection

I learned about Garfield only recently, and what an extraordinary person he was. If his presidency hadn't been cut short, perhaps he'd be regarded today as one of the great U.S. presidents.

Imagine going to college, and after your first year, they want you to teach.

So did this create the phrase, "Ignorance is Bliss?"

Robert Todd Lincoln witnessed three presidential deaths (Lincoln, McKinley and Garfield) that's crazy

i think a Garfield presidency would have been great

I'm back :)

Interesting side note about Robert Lincoln. It seems that while waiting for a train he fell off the platform and onto the tracks as the train was coming into the station. Luckily, he was pulled back onto the platform before the train got there. What was ironic was that the man that helped him was Edwin Boothe, actor and brother of John Wilkes Boothe.

Gives a whole new meaning to "ignorance is Bliss".

When I was a young girl in elementary school, we had had to pick a president to do a report on. I got in trouble for choosing "Garfield". Apparently even the teacher didn't remember this president, and as a kid I didn't yet know this president's first name. The teacher thought I was talking about Garfield the Cat and I got in trouble for not taking the assignment seriously. Somehow another teacher got involved and told mine that there was in fact a US President named Garfield. My punishment got dropped but I still wasn't allowed to write a report on Garfield, the teacher really didn't want to be wrong. Now I think about it, I really didn't have the best history teacher did I?

This has to be the worst luck in medical history.

"Swaimp, can't you stop the pain?" were the last words of Garfield. Gosh can't imagine the pain and agony that this man had to went through.

"Didn't believe in Anti-Septics." And some idiots in this country, want to drag us back to those times.... 🤦🏻‍♂️

Doctors also killed Washington. Good ole fashion doctors, those silly fellas.

James Garfield lived about 45 minutes from my hometown in Ohio. My dad took me to his house when i was younger as it is now a museum. I remember the tour lady stating that the assassin tried to argue that the doctors killed Garfield and he just injured him.

So basically it wasn't the bullet that killed him it was the doctors

Fun Fact: To this day, no one has been able to locate the gun that was used in the assassination. A .44 British Bulldog Revolver. It was photographed and later put on display at the Smithsonian, where it remained until the early 20th century -- only to go missing sometime later. And it has never been seen since...

This was a great video. Thank you to Mo, the interviewees, the editors, and everybody else who helped put this together!

One of the most underrated presidents of all time.

I think that's Beautiful that he once was a janitor once before becoming President.

“Your dentist’s name is ‘Crentist?’”

RIP James A. Garfield

"Ignorance is Bliss" - now we see where that infamous term comes from! As for President Garfield, he was a very bright and well-educated man: he graduated from Williams College with high honors. He married one of his former students and they had 7 children. His presidential library is the first such library established.

Who names their kid Doctor? Man, he must have been teased a lot as a kid... Also, glad we believe in germs and sterilization now.

His death was just a myriad of tragedies all the way around how sad.......

If Robert Todd Lincoln had lived long enough, he probably would have found himself in Dallas on November 22, 1963.

I am guessing that Garfield's IQ was off the charts.

This woman talking is beautiful and smart! 😀

5:02 I love how everyone else standing up and tense and Chester Arthur is just sitting there chill.

The lesson here is don't hang around Robert Todd Lincoln if you're president.

After he was shot, Garfield’s attacker shouted:“I am a stalwart. Arthur is president now,” which was the last name of Garfield’s vice president. Many believed that Arthur was involved in the attack somehow, because Arthur was a stalwart republican. Stalwarts believed in giving out jobs based on party loyalty, unlike Garfield, a moderate republican. Guito obviously thought he would be given a job by Arthur.

He survived the Assassination but not the doctor's stupidity

An apple a day keeps the doctor away

"This man has been shot! Quick, use that termite-infested board to lift him onto that dumpster in the back alley! Also, get me my rusty tool box, stat!"

Sad story but one that deserves to be remembered.

He could have been one of our greatest presidents, but the jealously and stupidity of others caused the death of a truly good man.

Oh, I've learned so much! :D I have many possible topics for my speech class.

Excellent historical presentation, great detail in such a short video.

Even taking to account standard practice at the time, that’s still no excuse for Bliss not using anesthesia, which WAS common at the time and would’ve prevented Garfield’s unnecessary pain. Then when Bell came, Bliss ignored his vital instructions to remove the bed box spring and only allowed to use the metal detector in the wrong side, causing Bell to receive media backlash because of Bliss’ fault. No wonder why many then saw him as guilty of malpractice EVEN back then…

I just got my James A. Garfield bobblehead... ~RIP James A. Garfield~

R.I.P. My homie J Garfield

Makes people wonder how different the nation would have been if Garfield lived out his term

how sad...😕

Mallards kind of hot

Extraordinary man. I do salute you Mr President.

Man, it really sucks in how much Garfield seemed like a good man. While I do feel Arthur is an underrated president, Garfield really seemed to have something, and the country was made worse by his death

I feel really bad for him. He was condemned to a slow and painful death because of the incompetence of the people he trusted to save him.

The Garfield National Historic Site in Mentor, OH (near Cleveland) is excellent. The tours through Garfield’s house are personal, educational, and inspiring. Highly recommended.

So......people with no skill, talent, ability, or experience could get a government position? What a strange and unusual time!

James Garfield died at the Jersey Shore....Elberon, next to Long Branch. The Franklyn House where he lay toward the end of his life was razed in 1920 but an Historic marker was placed at the spot, and he is memorialized as one of the Seven Presidents of the Oceanfront Park there and with a granite statue.

I read her book about Garfield, the assassin and Alexander Graham Bell. In the book the author stated that the British believed in germs but 90% of American doctors didn't. If Garfield was shot in London he would have survived. O It really was tragic because Garfield (in my opinion) was shaping up to be a good President.

Robert Todd Lincoln only actually witnessed Garfield’s. He was at the same event as McKinleys but did not witness and he was not at fords theater he went to the house after the shooting

I learned a very valuable lesson today Never trust your doctor if you get shot

my great great great grandpa was born 1899 died 2011

Millard's love of this man spread to ME

It is ridiculous how little protection Garfield had that some idiot could walk right up to him and shoot him. For me this is the crux of the issue in his shooting.

Is this from where we get the phrase “ignorance is bliss”.....?

Fun Fact:President Garfield introduced an alternative proof of the Pythagorean theorem,where you prove it using algebra.In that sense,he was not only a politician but also a mathematician.

Rest In Heavenly Peace Sir.

I like how even the shooter was like “yea the doctors could’ve done a better job”.

YES HE WAS A GREAT MAN PEOPLE NEED TO STUDY HIS HISTORY

I have never heard the claim that Garfield was going to Massachusetts they day he was shot. I've always heard he was going to the Jersey shore to see his wife who was there to recuperate.

They did not mention how Garfiel's wife had a rigged up cooling system to deal with the sweltering heat. It was one of the first "air conditioning" systems. (I don't recall the specifics but just remembered this particular "footnotes.)

its sad they tore down the Station where he was shot.

Garfield was a superstar and Candice Millard is one of the hottest historians in the field 😀🤯

Charles Guiteau was right about the doctors killing Garfield

God bless. Mercy on all of us. Thanks.

It's like no one has ever heard of James Garfield.. sad

That "Charles Get out" name was savage. Love it! I do feel bad for Garfield though. He was a smart man surrounded by ignorant people. That's what really killed him.

He definitely would have survived this today

James Garfield was only in for 90 days and then he gets himself assassinated. Chester Arthur finished his term and told Rosco Conkling he can not be bought. Conkling paid Charles Guiteau to do the job and later disavowed him when he found out he was insane. Guiteau carried out his mission he assassinated the president and became the most wanted man in America. Seconds after the president was shot Secret Service pounced on him and Guiteau was arrested and as they dragged him out she shouted "I did it Garfield is dead arrest me if you want. I am a stalwart of the stalwarts and Chester Arthur is now the president!" Garfield lived for a few days and died on September 19th Chester Arthur was sworn in at the moment of death and told Conkling he can not be bought.

Utterly fascinating!!

"I hate mondays,it's what i do best"

How terribly tragic, that he died unnecessarily as he did. We will never know what contributions he could have made to our nation during a fragile time in our history. President Garfield, I pray that you are at eternal peace in the loving presence of our Heavenly Father. Amen.

I have Ms. Millard's book saved in my Want To Read list on GoodReads. Based on what I watched here and the ratings on there, it has got to be a must-read! Can't wait!

This is the only time you could say googling your symptoms was better than trusting your doctor. I'm surprised they didn't try getting him hopped up on cocaine.

Those doctors really messed me up, didn’t they?

Too bad. A CT scan and a good surgeon and he would have been just fine. Life in the 1880s certainly had it's limitations

Is this where the saying "ignorance is bliss" come from? your thoughts UKposts...

Charles Guiteau was my great-grandmother's cousin, or my cousin three times removed.

He suffered so much 😯

Its amazing how far medicine has come.

just cause you can't see it doesn't mean it isn't there

To this day, due to Dr. Doctor Bliss being ignorant, is the reason we have the saying “ignorance is bliss”.

Garfield did a proof for the Pythagorean theorem

Poor Garfield. I bet he would have been a great President. I wish no US president would have died. The one that I will miss the most is Kennedy though. He was a great guy.

his widow lived up the street from my house in south Pasadena, ca, she built a beautiful craftsman

Perhaps the same could be said of our first president George Washington. Although he was not shot, the treatment he received at the hands of the woefully incomplete doctors for his severe throat infection contributed greatly to his demise after first suffering terribly. A simple tracheotomy, a procedure quite new in 1799. could have probably saved the president but none of physicians attending Washington wanted to try it due to its risks and the fact also that none of them wanted to be remembered in history as the physician who caused the death of the father of his country. Unfortunately, all of them collectively contributed to his death.

Garfield was amazing Grace period

I'm so glad that people today fully embrace science, and no one dies unnecessary deaths anymore. Wouldn't that be tragic.

Excellent Information, CooL,

He would have been one of the greatest presidents if he didn’t die

This guy was astonishing.

He sounds interesting!!! I’d love to read her book!!😁

Candace has an enormous crush on Garfield. you can tell

Some things never change.