"For mere vengeance I would do nothing. This nation is too great to look for mere revenge. But for security of the future I would do every thing."
— James A. Garfield

January 1, 1970

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Added on April 10, 2026
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Presidents of the United StatesMurdered peopleRepublican Party (United States) politiciansPoliticians from ClevelandUnited States presidential candidates, 1880
Original Language: English

Sources

Speech in New York City (15 April 1865) on the occasion of Abraham Lincoln's assassination, as reported in John Clark Ridpath, The Life and Work of James A. Garfield (1882 memorial edition), p. 194. Several biographers include this speech, but accounts of his remarks that day vary