Who assassinated President James A. Garfield?

Charles Guiteau assassinated President James A. Garfield in 1881, shooting him at a Washington, D.C., train station. A disgruntled office-seeker, Guiteau believed he deserved a government job under the “spoils system.” Garfield died weeks later largely from infection caused by unsanitary medical treatment, not just the bullet, and Guiteau was executed in 1882. The killing spurred a national backlash against patronage and led to the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act (1883), which began merit-based federal hiring. To remember: match the G’s—Garfield was shot by Guiteau. And don’t mix them up with other assassins: Booth-Lincoln, Czolgosz-McKinley, Sirhan-RFK; Guiteau-Garfield closes the set.