"Here he was leader and master, not by combination of scheming, not by chicanery or caucus, but by the force of his cultivated mind, his keen and farseeing judgment, his unanswerable logic, his strength and power of speech, his thorough comprehension of the subjects of legislation. Always strong, he was strongest on his feet addressing the House or from the rostrum the assembled people. Who of us having heard him here or elsewhere speaking upon a question of great national concern can forget the might and majesty, the force and directness, the grace and beauty of his utterances? He was always just to his adversary, an open and manly opponent, and free from invective. He convinced the judgment with his searching logic, while he swayed his listeners with brilliant periods and glowing eloquence. He was always an educator of people. His thoughts were fresh, vigorous, and instructive."
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Presidents of the United StatesMurdered peopleRepublican Party (United States) politiciansPoliticians from ClevelandUnited States presidential candidates, 1880
Original Language: English
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Sources
William McKinley, in a eulogy during an unveiling of a statue of Garfield (19 January 1886), as quoted in One of the People : Life and Speeches of William McKinley (1896) by F. T. Neely also quoted in The Life and Letters of James Abram Garfield: 1831-1877 Vol. 2 (1925) by Theodore Clarke Smith
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_A._Garfield
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James A. Garfield
James Abram Garfield (19 November 1831 – 19 September 1881) was the 20th president of the United States of America in 1881, and the second U.S. president to be assassinated. His term was the second shortest in U.S. history, after William Henry Harrison's. Holding office from March to September of 1881, President Garfield was in office for a total of just six months and fifteen days. A Republican, he supported civil rights and freedoms for African Americans.
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