Chester Alan Arthur by Zachary Karabell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
In a way, Arthur had not very much to fight for or against as the Gilded Age was in full swing. Yet he rose to the occasion. It makes sense that as a party man who kept to himself, was likeable and caused no controversy, that history should forget him. Yet it is because he had those characteristics that he was chosen as a placeholder for vice-president. When Garfield was assassinated, we did not know what kind of President Arthur would be — as he was a nonentity. Yet he proved to be the correct president for the times, one with a moral backbone. It is because he had that moral backbone however, that others in power sought to utilize him as their right hand man. He did not serve Conkling, as he went for VP without Conkling. And he did not serve the Republican party. He served America, thinking that America was best served by the Republicans. As president, he stood against corruption, although he rose through corruption. In that sense, he most likely was not introspective as a man, but merely did the best he could in the time that he had. Any presidential candidate seeking to reform or further their interests, to take a stand for something, would have had a hard time getting to Presidential office. The following president, Grover Cleveland made it his mark to stand against corruption. And for that, Arthur proved to be ahead of his time.
This author credits Arthur as being the president to help transform our American government from a rewards system for party goers to a bureaucracy that can administrate policy; in a sense, laying the groundwork for technocrats and the perpetuation of the economic administration as a different layer of government from politics qua corruption.
This of course, will lead to business corrupting administration, but that’s an entirely different topic.
