Posted on 07/28/2006 2:25:42 PM PDT by neverdem
National Museum of Health and Medicine, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology
Garfield lingered on his deathbed for 80 days, attended by doctors who disagreed on his treatment, and by his wife and daughter. Even Alexander Graham Bell tried to help locate the bullet that was lodged in the president.
Correction Appended
WASHINGTON — Three vertebrae, removed from the body of President James A. Garfield, sit on a stretch of blue satin. A red plastic probe running through them marks the path of his assassin’s bullet, fired on July 2, 1881.
The vertebrae form the centerpiece of a new exhibit, commemorating the 125th anniversary of Garfield’s assassination. The exhibit also features photographs and other images that tell the story of the shooting and its aftermath, in which Garfield lingered on his deathbed for 80 days. Located at the National Museum of Health and Medicine, on the campus of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the exhibit opened on July 2 and will close, 80 days later, on Sept. 19.
Garfield was waiting at the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station in Washington, about to leave for New England, when he was shot twice by the assassin, Charles J. Guiteau.
The first bullet grazed Garfield’s arm, said Lenore Barbian, anatomical collections curator for the museum. But the second struck him in the right side of the back and lodged deep in the body.
“No one expected Garfield to live through the night,” Dr. Barbian said.
As the display makes clear, the second bullet pierced Garfield’s first lumbar vertebra, crossing from right to left.
At the time, however, without the benefit of modern diagnostics, Garfield’s doctors could not determine the location of the bullet. “Trying to understand its pathway became their primary concern,” Dr. Barbian said.
At least a dozen medical experts probed...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Johnny Cash
Mr. Garfield
Mr Garfield been shot down shot down shot down Mr Garfield been shot down low
Me and my brother was down close to the depot when I heard the report of a pistol
My brother run out and come back in all excited
And I said what was it and he said it was the report of a pistol and then he said
Mr Garfield been shot down shot down shot down Mr Garfield been shot down low
Lord I knew the President was supposed to be at the depot that day
And we just would't believe that he's shot
But we'd run over there and there was so many folks around
That we couldn't see him but some lady was standin' there cryin'
And I said m'am what was it that happened m'am and she said
Mr Garfield been shot down shot down shot down Mr Garfield been shot down low
Well everybody drifted off toward home finally
And they looked like they felt about as bad as I did
But in a few weeks I heard that the President was still alive
And I told my brother I said let's get on that train and go to where he's laid up hurt
Well when we got to his big house up there I asked the fellow
I said who was it that did it who was it that shoot the President
And he said it was Charlie Guiteau that shoot Mr Garfield and I said
Charlie Guiteau done shot down a good man good man
Charlie Guiteau done shot down a good man low
I heard some fellow there that had been in the house to see the President
And I sidled up him to listen to what he was tellin' and he said
Mrs Lucretia Garfield was always at his side
In the heat of the day fannin' him when he was hot
He said that just that day the President said to Mrs Lucretia
He said Crete honey (he called her Crete)
Said if somethin' worse happens to me after awhile you get yourself a good man
And Mrs Lucretia said James (she called him James)
She said I won't hear to that now she said I love you too much but he said
You'll make some good man a good wife good wife
You'll make some man a good good good wife
(Don't pull in single harness all your life good gal
Don't pull in single harness all your life)
That's what he said don't pull in single harness all your life
Well a few days later I come back to where the President was restin'
And it seems everybody was cryin'
The flag was hangin' halfway up to the flagpole in front of the house
And everybody looked so sad and I asked a soldier boy there
And I said is is is Mr Garfield and he said yeah he's gone
Gonna lay him in that cold lonesome ground down low
Gonna lay him in that cold lonesome ground
Well they laid the President by that long cold branch Mr Garfield's been laid down low
Mr Garfield has been shot dow Mr Garfield's been shot
(Mr Garfield been shot down shot down shot down Mr Garfield been shot down low)
Is it just me, or shouldn't these remains be buried with his body?
...and the point of this post is?
I was thinking the same thing. President Garfield's actual vertabrae? Macabre.
Another interesting angle is that the assassin said it did it to put Vice President Arthur into the presidency.
The volume on Garfield in "The American Presidents" series of short biographies on all the presidents was recently released, and most of it deals with his medical care after his assassination ... this one was actually written by a medical doctor ... and was quite an interesting read.
Medical & American History
The significance of the Arthur presidency is that he took steps that led to civil service reforms which in turn institutionalized a permanent federal bureaucracy.
After shooting Garfield, he shouted "I am a Stalwart. Arthur is now President." For what that meant, see http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0970006322/ref=ase_republicanbasi04/104-3830562-8872717?redirect=true&n=283155&tagActionCode=republicanbasi04.
The vertebrae were removed for reasons of medical research, surely. Macabre? No more so than cadavers dissected by medical students.
Then there is the case of Lenin. It has been said that the only body part remaining in the Moscow mausoleum that actually belonged to Lenin is the skull. The brain was removed and studied for decades as the communists attempted to discover the secret of Lenin's `genius'.
No problem with the research angle, but you don't see a lot of actual cadavers on display in museums, either.
That Lenin in state thing is creepy, too.
Not in a Rosa Luxembourg, but in one Charles Guiteau.
Great posts!
"That Lenin in state thing is creepy, too."
That Mao in state thing, too. An excellent point.
OK. The excerpt didn't seem to have a point and I don't have an account at the Slimes, so I was left wondering....
As tragic as any presidential assassination may be, hours and hours can be spent contemplating "what if" any president who met his death at the hands of an assassin, had in fact survived.
Let's start with the greatest who DID survive, Ronald Wilson Reagan. Can ANYONE imagine what the years of 1981 through 1988 would have been like had George Herbert Walker Bush become president upon the death of Ronald Reagan?
First, I submit that he would still have been a one term president, and my mind shudders at the thought of Walter Mondale becoming President in 1984. Ye Gawds.
What if Gerald Ford had been slain by Squeaky Fromme or any of those wackos who had it in for him? Think of what it would have meant for America if Nelson Rockefeller had become president, and then run for a term in his own right in 1976 against that twerp Jimmy Carter?
As liberal, as much a RINO as Rockefeller was, I would have held my nose and thrown the lever for the GOP, because Jimmy Carter was and is one of the worst things to EVER happen to our great Nation.
Robert F. Kennedy? Had he lived, or never been shot, there is no doubt in my mind that he would have been elected President in 1968, and while he would most likely have unilaterally withdrawn from Vietnam and the same bloodbath would have taken place as it did in 1975, RFK was a staunch supporter of Israel, and I suspect he would have been re-elected in 1972. It would have been the figurative "fifth term of FDR" because RFK was a liberal in that tradition.
John F. Kennedy? I've often thought that had JFK not been killed, that he might well have lost the presidency to Barry Goldwater in 1964, because both men knew and respected each other and had discussed plans to debate each other extensively in the '64 campaign, presuming that Goldwater received the GOP nomination. It is possible that had JFK not been shot, followed by his brother and Martin Luther King Jr., that we might not have seen the rioting and violence of the mid to late 60's, but who can say?
Going back, WAY back now -- I had the pleasure of reading a book that was published in the wake of the assassination of President William McKinley in 1901. It was the sort of tribute and unabashed worship of a fallen hero that almost makes you cringe a bit, the artwork in the book included an artists conception of the soul of McKinley being escorted into the presence of God by a multitude of angels, and while I would certainly like to think that McKinley's eternity is a pleasant one, the artwork would lead one to believe that the 25th President was some sort of great American Christian Patriot/Prophet, and while he was by all reports a good and decent man, he was ONLY a man.
But consider if McKinley had lived. Would Teddy Roosevelt ever have become President? And what if he had not?
Like I said, "hours and hours".... ;)
Point of trivia: Garfield was shot while heading for the train to go back to his class reunion at Williams College. His son Harry later became president of the college.
Not a problem. I just love history and study it no matter what the source or context. Of course it doesn't seem to be in favor these days. I'm a World War II buff and have put together a vast library of WWII books by purchasing them used or as closeouts for sometimes as little as a penny at Amazon, etc. And I'm talking about recent books. I got a copy of World War II magazine's "book of the year" from 2005, hardback, for 39 cents in mint condition. Another anecdote, I work with someone who has a master's degree in English and is basically a genius as far as "book learning," the IQ of the room gets driven up significantly every time this person walks in, but this person told me the other day that he detests the study of history because he finds it "boring." That simply does not compute in my brain.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.