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The unexpected president : the life and times of Chester A. Arthur /
"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.
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| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
New York, NY :
Da Capo,
2017.
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| Edition: | First edition. |
| Subjects and Genres: | |
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| 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. "Despite his promising start as a young man, by his early fifties Chester A. Arthur was known as the crooked crony of New York machine boss Roscoe Conkling. For years Arthur had been perceived as unfit to govern, not only by critics and the vast majority of his fellow citizens but by his own conscience. As President James A. Garfield struggled for his life, Arthur knew better 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 brave, going up against the very forces that had controlled him for decades. He surprised everyone-and gained many enemies-when he swept house and took on corruption, civil rights for blacks, and issues of land for Native Americans. A mysterious young woman deserves much of the credit for Arthur's remarkable transformation. Julia Sand, a bedridden New Yorker, wrote Arthur nearly two dozen letters urging him to put country over party, to find "the spark of true nobility" that lay within him. At a time when women were barred from political life, Sand's letters inspired Arthur to transcend his checkered past-and changed the course of American history. This beautifully written biography tells the dramatic, untold story of a virtually forgotten American president. It is the tale of 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 when his nation needed him." -- Publisher's description |
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| Physical Description: |
x, 304 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm |
| Bibliography: |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 245-290) and index. |
| ISBN: |
9780306823893 0306823896 |