Research Catalog

The unexpected president : the life and times of Chester A. Arthur

Title
The unexpected president : the life and times of Chester A. Arthur / Scott S. Greenberger.
Author
Greenberger, Scott S.
Publication
New York, NY : Da Capo, 2017.

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TextUse in library JFE 17-10748Schwarzman Building - Main Reading Room 315

Details

Description
x, 304 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations; 24 cm
Summary
  • "An exquisitely written, comprehensive biography of Chester A. Arthur, our virtually forgotten 21st president, who unexpectedly occupied the nation's highest office and surprised everyone with his moral character and reformist policies"--Provided by publisher.
  • "When President James Garfield was shot, no one in the United States was more dismayed than his Vice President, Chester Arthur. For years Arthur had been perceived as unfit to govern, not only by critics and his fellow citizens but by his own conscience. From his promising start, Arthur had become a political hack, a shill for Roscoe Conkling, and Arthur knew better even than his detractors that he failed to meet the high standard a president must uphold. And yet, from the moment President Arthur took office, he proved to be not just honest but courageous, going up against the very forces that had controlled him for decades. Arthur surprised everyone--and gained many enemies--when he swept house and courageously took on corruption, civil rights for blacks, and issues of land for Native Americans. His short presidency proved to be a turning point of American history, in many ways a preview of our own times, and is a sterling example of how someone can 'rise to the occasion.' This beautifully written biography tells the dramatic, untold story of a virtually forgotten American president, a machine politician and man-about-town in Gilded Age New York who stumbled into the highest office in the land only to rediscover his better self, right when his nation needed him"--Provided by publisher.
Subjects
Genre/Form
  • Biographies.
  • Biography.
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references (pages 245-290) and index.
Contents
Prologue -- Elder Arthur -- "This Is the Place" -- Bleeding Kansas -- Playing the Game -- Barracks and Blankets -- The Shoddy Aristocracy -- The Lordly Roscoe -- The Collector -- From Grant to Hayes -- His Fraudulency, the President -- "The One I Loved Dearest" -- Dark Horse -- "A Great Deal of Soap" -- "An Ugly Wound" -- A Mysterious Correspondent -- "He Is Our President" -- "A Splendid Henry V" -- A Surprise Visit -- An Attack in Savannah -- "Between Two Stools" -- "Fame is a Bubble" -- Epilogue.
Call Number
JFE 17-10748
ISBN
  • 9780306823893 (hardback)
  • 0306823896 (hardback)
LCCN
  • 2017014581
  • 40027444766
OCLC
971512303
Author
Greenberger, Scott S., author.
Title
The unexpected president : the life and times of Chester A. Arthur / Scott S. Greenberger.
Publisher
New York, NY : Da Capo, 2017.
Edition
First edition.
Type of Content
text
Type of Medium
unmediated
Type of Carrier
volume
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 245-290) and index.
Chronological Term
1881-1885
Other Standard Identifier
40027444766
Research Call Number
JFE 17-10748
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