Posted October 5, 2017
Yesterday I mentioned that October has the most presidential birthdays of any month.
And, to make that point even more strongly - today is another presidential birthday!
Today's birthday president was born on this date in 1829.
Chester Arthur was born in Vermont but grew up in upstate New York and started his adult career, as a lawyer, in New York City. He served on the Union side during the Civil War, and he became a politician after the war.
Get this - yesterday's birthday president fired today's birthday president from a very well-paying job!
You see, there was this system called the "spoils system" or the "patronage system" - whoever got elected president would pass out good jobs in the White House and in the administration, generally, to all the loyal people from his party, and sometimes to his friends and family.
That seems to make sense - you end up rewarding loyalty, right? - but then you realize that that usually means that a bunch of people who don't know anything about a field are now supposedly in charge of that field. And maybe "loyalty" isn't as important as good character, expertise, good ideas, and hard work.
Chester Arthur had been given the job of Collector of the Port of New York by President Ulysses Grant. When Rutherford Hayes was elected, he wanted to end the spoils system, and so - even though he was the same political party (Republican) as both Grant and Arthur - he fired Arthur and others who'd been rewarded with "spoils" by Grant.
Flash forward a few years - and Republican President James Garfield tried to make sure the spoils system would never come back. He helped to proposed a law by which most of the governmental positions were filled by non-partisan workers who had to earn their positions by showing ability and knowledge. You know, like any other job seeker!
But Garfield wasn't able to see his reforms passed into law, because he was assassinated by a guy with a gun and grievance.
So...Garfield's Vice President suddenly became president. And that fellow was none other than Chester Arthur. I bet some people thought he would not want to sign into law the reform that had, after all, cost him a very cushy job. But Arthur dove right in and helped motivate the passage of the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act.
So...Garfield's Vice President suddenly became president. And that fellow was none other than Chester Arthur. I bet some people thought he would not want to sign into law the reform that had, after all, cost him a very cushy job. But Arthur dove right in and helped motivate the passage of the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act.
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| When I looked up old cartoons about the "spoils system," I found this picture of Chester Arthur giving out jobs to a grasping, greedy horde. But Arthur pushed through and signed a bill that ENDED the spoils system! He didn't deserve the rep that this cartoon gives him! |
When Arthur became president, he was apparently quite distrusted, but when he left office he was respected by Republicans and Democrats alike. Author Mark Twain wrote, "[I]t would be hard indeed to better President Arthur's administration."
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