Stupid Chester Arthur ... Guiteau should have shot hit as well.
Who would have been President? A President Pro Tempore and Speaker hadn’t been elected yet when Garfield died and this was before the Cabinet was in the line of succession. Chaos!!
Given that Guiteau declared he was a Stalwart upon his arrest, he wanted Arthur as President. If anything, if the assassination were to have occurred, it’s unfortunate that Guiteau didn’t kill Garfield on the spot, since it would’ve spared the poor man months of suffering with the medical misadventures of alleged professionals trying to “cure” him.
Had all this occurred a decade later, Garfield probably would’ve survived the injuries with proper (and sterile) medical treatment and bullet extraction. If his children were any indication of longevity, he would’ve served two terms and lived until the 1910s, perhaps as late as 1916 when he would’ve been 85 (and no doubt a beloved elder statesman).