
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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