President James Garfield's Assassination

President James Garfield's Assassination

From History Notes by Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective

November 6, 2025 · 7 min

About this episode

This episode discusses the assassination of President James A. Garfield and the motivations behind it.

President James A. Garfield was shot on July 2, 1881, byCharles Guiteau, a disgruntled political hopeful. Months later, Garfield died from an infection which ravaged Garfield’s body for two and half months. Who was responsible and what was their motivation? Written by Lisa Zevorich Susner. Narration by Dr. NicholasB. Breyfogle. Video production by Laura Seeger, Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle, and Hannah Keller. A transcript is available at https://origins.osu.edu/milestones/july-2016-assassination-president-garfield-135-years-ago . This is a production of Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective at the Goldberg Center in the Department of History at The Ohio State University and the Department of History at Miami University. Be sure to subscribe to our channel to receive updates about our videos and podcasts. For more information about Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective , please visit origins.osu.edu .

People in this episode

Host: Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle

Topics covered

  • assassination
  • political history
  • James Garfield
  • Charles Guiteau
  • 19th century America

Keywords

  • James A. Garfield
  • Charles Guiteau
  • assassination
  • political history
  • infection
  • 19th century

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective, The Ohio State University, Miami University

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