Actually, Arthur was eleccted Vice President. He was Veep when Garfield was shot. Arthur never filled the Veep spot.
He is called the accidental president both for that reason, and for the reason that he didn’t run for the office to begin with. His name got onto the ticket through a series of back room deals in the Nomination process. He was considered a safe choice. He had never been vetted before that, as he wasn’t a serious player in the highest politics of the day.
Thank you for your post. I was aware that Arthur was the accidental president. I was responding to another poster who tried to tell me that no other president or vice presidential candidate’s eligibility had ever been questioned until the fall of 2008. I should have said that there have been eligibility concerns for presidents and vice presidents back at least as far as Chester A Arthur.