Honor Kehde

U.S. History

Millard, Candice. Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and

the Murder of a President: Doubleday, 2011.
Medical care in the late 1800s was uncertain. Many of the
serialization practices that are common today were not widely used. In the
Destiny of the Republic, the author describes the lack of proper medical care
for President Garfield after his assassination by Charles Guiteau. The lack of
proper mental health practices certainly affected Guiteaus descent into
madness.
Candice Millard is an American writer and journalist. She graduated
with her masters degree in literature from Baker University. Millard is also
known for The River of Doubt. The New York Times Book Review, The
Washington Post Book World, the San Francisco Chronicle, The Christian
Science Monitor, USA Today, and The Kansas City Star named The River of
Doubt the Best Book of the Year. She was also an editor and writer for the
National Geographic magazine. She is married to Mark Uhlig, with three
children. She received the Edgar Award for Destiny of the Republic in April
2012.
Destiny of the Republic tells about the struggles in the medical field to
adapt to new ideas that would better the physical and mental health of the
nation. Candice Millard wanted to inform the readers about Garfields life
from his childhood to his presidency and how his life affected the United
State society. Millard also shows how the death of the president drew people

to recognize the needs for better medical care. The Destiny of the Republic
has a time span from 1880-1902.
Candace Millard has several primary sources including the private
journals of Garfield and Guiteau. Her secondary sources included the
National Museum of Health and Medicine and Library of Congress
manuscripts.
During the period of James Garfields life the United States made a lot
of advances in the medical field and inventions that helped shape the way
we live today. Destiny of the Republic shows the struggles and success of
Garfield, born into poverty but through hard work and dedication achieving
success. It also leads readers into the mind and motivation of Charles
Guiteau for targeting President Garfield in an attempt at assassination.
Millard also highlights the medical shortcomings which led to both mens
demise. Though different, Guiteau and Garfields destiny became
intertwined.

James Garfield shocked everyone. He was from a poverty struck family

and rose to great success. Garfield had such a passionate love of learning
that would define his life (7). He knew the United States needed progress,
and because he loved to learn new things he ended up at the centennial fair
where new inventions and ideas were shown. There was an exhibit dedicated
to the lost lives of loved ones who were lost to disease. Garfield had lost his
first child, Eliza to diphtheria. There were two inventions that Garfield saw
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great interest in, the telephone invented by Alexander Graham Bell, and
Joseph Listers discovery of antisepsis. Bells invention immediately drew in
everyones attention, while Lister struggled to convince anyone that his
theory would help keep out infection and save the lives of many people.
Soon after witnessing Listers arguments, Garfield lost yet another child to
whooping cough.
When Garfield was not even two, his father, Abram Garfield, had died
after saving their familys farm from a wild fire. It was not possible to get
Abram Garfield the medical attention he needed, because of their land being
so secluded. Abram Garfield lost his life within a couple days to exhaustion
and fever. Garfield was left with his mother and three other siblings. His
mother, Eliza Garfield, and oldest brother, Thomas Garfield, worked on the
land. Their hard work was necessary to keep from having to send the
younger children away to other families. Eliza Garfield wanted nothing more
than to give her second son, James Garfield, an education. She donated
some of her land for a school house to ensure that Garfield recieved an
education.
He later secured a job driving a canal. One night on the job, Garfield
had slipped in the canal and with everyone asleep, had no one to help save
him. As he searched for something that could save him, he came across a
rope that had knocked him in the canal. He began using the rope to pull
himself back on deck. Garfield found that the rope had miraculously gotten
stuck in a crack giving enough hold for Garfield to anchor himself on the
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ship. Garfield had written in his journal that night, I sat down in the cold of
the night and in my wet clothes and contemplated the matter I did not
believe that God had paid any attention to me on my own account but I
thought He had saved me for my mother and for something greater and
better that canaling (21). Garfield had caught malaria from the canal before
returning home. His family began to fear yet another loss in the family.
Shortly after returning home his, fever broke but then quickly returned.
When Garfield finally recovered his mother and brother had saved seventeen
dollars for him to go back to school. Garfield accepted their offer. He was
determined to be a man with a good education. When he did not have
enough money for school he traded labor for an education. Garfield was
such an extraordinary student that he went from working as a janitor to
being a professors assistant in his first year of school. Garfield met Lucretia
Crete when they attended school together in their late teen years. It was not
until later that she began to see Garfield in a new light. She had always
struggled to confess her feelings for him. When they finally did marry she
could tell Garfield was not in love with her. He had fallen in love with another
woman, Lucia Gilbert Calhoun. He confessed to the affair, but Lucretia
Garfield forgave him and wanted to look past it as long as he ended the
relationship. When Garfield saw her deal with the great pain of the
heartbreak he had cause, his own heart changed and he began to fall in love
with his wife. He was accepted into a college in Massachusetts called
Williams College in Williamstown. After he graduated with honors, he went
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to teach at the Eclectic Institute. He left his life of academics to pursue

politics, but shortly after was drafted into the Civil War.
He became a lieutenant colonel and recruited men from Ohio to join
the 42nd regiment. His first battle, the Battle of Middle Creek, was a Union
victory. Garfield was very sad to hear that a man he greatly admired, John
Brown, was sentenced to be hung. Shortly after, Garfield retired from war
and was encouraged to run for a seat in congress. Garfield thought that he
would be more effective in his attempts to win the war from his seat in
Congress. Garfield went against every Americans beliefs and represented
Indians in the hope to revoke their death sentence, and he succeeded. After
the Civil War, the Republican Party was split between the Stalwarts and the
Half-Breeds. The Half-Breeds had two presidential hopefuls: James G. Blaine,
the secretary of treasury under Hayes, and Senator John Sherman, from
Ohio. Ulysses S. Grant was the Stalwarts only candidate. Because Garfield
was a great speaker, he was chosen to speak on Shermans behalf at the
Republican convention in Chicago. Before Garfields time to speak, Roscoe
Conkling captivated the audience with a speech about Grant. Conklings
speech had given Garfield a new idea for his own speech. His speech led to
a response that shocked Garfield, the crowd began to want him to run for
president, but Garfield still pressed for Sherman. He slowly received more
and more votes though he had never accepted the nomination. Garfield had
no control over the situation and did not seek the presidency. Sherman knew
what was to come and he made it so that Garfield received the Ohio vote.
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Garfield received twenty more votes than needed to become the nominee.
He was in complete shock, and he did not know how to handle the fact that
he, James A. Garfield, was running to be the President of the United States.
Garfield was a man who enjoyed his free time to work on experiments
and to study. Since the nomination it was hard to have this time. He was
finally given the time he wanted during the campaign. Hayes advised
Garfield not to give speeches for himself during this time. Therefore, Garfield
remained quiet, and his support began to grow. The freed slaves were the
biggest supporters of Garfield. A singing group from an all-black university in
Nashville sung to Garfield in front of his farmhouse. He addressed them
saying, And I tell you now, in the closing day of the campaign, that I would
rather be with you and defeated than against you and victorious (63). The
election of 1880 was a close race. As everyone laid awake in the early
morning of November 3rd to find out whom had won the election, Garfield
went to bed. When he woke the next morning he was greeted with the news
that he was the twentieth president of the United States. Though this was a
great accomplishment, he could not help but feel a loss of something he
could not even explain to himself.
Charles Guiteau was a man who tried hard for success, but he had
failure in almost all his efforts. He was thought to be insane and was almost
forced by his family to be put into a mental institute. He was even left by his
wife. He had found hope in James A. Garfield. Both men had a rough start to
their life, but unlike Guiteau, Garfield had much success. Guiteau was on
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board of the Narragansett during a ship wreck. He was one of the three
survivors from the Narragansett. Guiteau was certain that God had saved
him because he was meant to do something extraordinary.
Charles Guiteau was left motherless at the age of seven. He was
raised only by his father. He had always thought that God had made him to
have a great impact. When he was eighteen he left the University of
Michigan to join a commune. His mentor was John Humphrey Noyes. Noyes
had many odd views of life, he believed he was perfect and was sent by God
to shed the sins of others. He decided to leave the commune and he went in
search of a new profession. He decided to be involved in the law. This did
not go well for Guiteau, so he decided to go back to religion. Guiteau began
to threaten Noyes, asking for large sums of money. Noyes did not take him
seriously he simply thought Guiteau to be insane. Guiteaus whole family
worked to get him institutionalized, but he managed to avoid by leaving
them all. He became obsessed with politics. He had married a young
woman named Annie Bunn. She struggled living his lifestyle but would have
stayed with him had he not treated her so cruel.

He headed to New York to

the Republican campaign headquarters offering his support. Arthur finally

agreed to allow Guiteau to deliver a speech for Garfield at a small gathering
in New York. He believed that because of his speech Garfield had won the
presidency, which he hoped would result in a government office.
Alexander Graham Bell had become rich and famous from his invention
of the telephone. He seemed to be thankful for this, but he now lacked the
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time he would use to devote himself to the things he loved. The fame of the
telephone spread very fast. Along with the business from this invention
came competitors. He had offered to sell the telephone to the Western
Union, but they declined the offer. They later realized that they had made a
significant mistake. Bell had to face many lawsuits that accused him of
stealing their idea of the telephone. Everyone began seeing Bell as an
inventor, but he would always continue to see himself as a teacher. It was in
the hope to help those who were deaf that the telephone was invented. Bell
became so frustrated with the time the telephone consumed that he left his
company. He used all his time to work on new ideas. He did not care about
fame or fortune, just that he would be able to help people.
Bell, Guiteau, and Garfields lives will intersect in a moment in which
would change history and medical care in the country. On the morning of
Garfields inauguration, he arrived with President Hayes in the back of an
open carriage. Garfield delivered the address with a serious tone. He
addressed everything he wanted to accomplish as president and what he felt
was important. Garfield discussed the nations past involving the slaves. It
had become evident to Conkling that he would struggle to control Garfield.
The only deal Garfield had made with him was that he would attempt to put
stalwarts in his cabinet. Conkling made it so Garfield could not have the
people he wanted in his cabinet. Garfield had offered the Secretary of State
Position to James G. Blaine. This was a man who hated the stalwarts and
Roscoe Conkling. The only condition for Blaine to accept this position was
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that he could never run for the president. Blaine accepted the condition.
One of Garfields major problems was his Vice President Chester Arthur. He
was one of Conklings creations. In the beginning Conkling was furious about
his nomination. He later realized that because of his complete control over
Arthur he would have more power over the president.
Garfield liked living in the White house because of the time he could
spend with his five children and his wife. There was a lot to be done to fix up
the White House but Mrs. Garfield was eager to get the work done. Though
he liked his new home, he could never escape all the people trying to
impress him to gain a position in his administration. What hurt him the most
was that among the throng of people he would find his friends. Garfield
found the contest flow of people annoying but he did not consider them
dangerous. Though there were a lot of assassination attempts throughout
the world, Garfield felt it was unnecessary to have protection against it.
Garfield had met his private secretary, Joseph Stanley Brown, through
John Wesley Powell. Garfield was in need of a temporary secretary and
Powell offered Garfield his own secretary. Garfield came to know and adore
Brown. Brown had become a part of Garfields family. Brown had given
Garfield space after his nomination, but Garfield needed him. Brown did not
want to become a burden to his friend
Guiteau moved to Washington, D.C. in the hopes of gaining a cabinet
position from Garfield once he had won the presidency. Guiteau sent
Garfield a congratulatory letter as if they were close friends. Guiteau was
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also under the impression that he was to marry a rich heiress. She thought
he was a stalker. Guiteau also convinced himself that he was close to
Chester A. Arthur.

Guiteau took every opportunity to get closer to the

president.
On May 5th, Lucretia Garfield, Garfields wife woke with a fever. He
brought in many doctors but her fever continued to build. He refused to do
any business while his wife was sick. The White House was locked up to
protect Lucretia Garfield, while Guiteau tried to gain better association with
the president. He waited for his meeting with Garfield. He lived off of
assistance from friends. He sought out John Logan, the Republican Senator
in Illinois and asked him to sign a recommendation for him to obtain the
consul- general to France. He refused, but promised to mention him to
Blaine, but not in the way Guiteau had intended. Logan planned to mention
the mental instability of Guiteau. Guiteau began to harass Blaine. It became
unbearable for Blaine so to end it he told Guiteau that he did not want to
speak to him any more about the Paris consulship.
Garfield began to try to find a common ground with the Stalwarts. He
appointed five of Conklings men to New York posts. This was the start of a
political war between Conkling and Garfield. Conkling was much more
experienced in political battles than Garfield. After Lucretia Garfields fever
began to drop, Conkling had resigned from the New York Senate. Conklings
plan was to be elected in Albany, but he only gained one-third of the vote.
Everything had started to go in favor of Garfield. His wife was no longer ill,
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he did not have to devote his whole day to office seekers, and Conkling had
lost almost all his power.
Guiteau had the idea in his head that If the President was out of the
way everything would go better (113). He had felt that this strange idea
had come from God. He tried to look past it, but the idea just kept coming to
him. He felt that he had warned Garfield enough that Garfield had the
opportunity to save his life. Once Guiteau was no longer able to enter the
White House, he prayed to God, asking if he had misunderstood the
message. He received no sign that this was a misunderstanding.

On June

1st, he decided he was going to assassinate the president. He began his

preparations. He thought he would gain publicity for his book The Truth, and
for doing the work of God. On June 6th, he went to a sporting goods store to
look at pistols. He told the owner, John OMeara, that he would return.
Guiteau visited George Maynard and asked to borrow fifteen dollars.
Maynard knew there was no hope in being repaid the money, but he thought
Guiteau was a nice person. Guiteau bought the revolver, some cartridges,
and a pearl-handled penknife all for ten dollars. Guiteau began following
Garfield. Guiteau passed on two opportunities to assassinate the president.
One was at the Church Garfield attended. The other was at the train station
when Garfield and Lucretia Garfield were headed to New Jersey so she could
receive the bracing air of the sea. He could not go through with it because
the way Lucretia Garfield clung to Garfield for support, looking weak.

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On June 27th, Garfield returned to Washington, though he was reluctant

to leave his wife. Garfield had to meet with his cabinet that was finally
established. Three days after his return, he asked Robert Todd Lincoln if he
had ever had prophetic dreams about his fathers, Abraham Lincoln,
assassination. Robert Lincoln had had dreams of the death of his father.
Garfield did not believe in these dreams, but he had a dream that his son
Arthur had drowned. He had also always had a feeling that he would die an
early death. He wanted to visit Blaine and decided to walk to his house.
Guiteau was waiting outside and could have easily shot him, but decided
against it. Guiteau was not going to allow another perfect opportunity to
pass. He was going to kill the president.
It was July 2nd, when Garfield planned a visit to Lucretia Garfield in New
Jersey, from there, they headed together to their home in Ohio. He woke up
his two boys, Harry and Jim, with such joy for the day. He had Breakfast with
Brown, the last person to see him in the White house before he departed. He
left, sharing a Carriage with Blaine.
Guiteau had woken on that morning and got ready as he did every day,
preparing for the assassination. Guiteau had written a letter to General
William Tecumseh Sherman asking him to send his troops to the jail where he
would be placed after he killed the president to help free him. He had
arrived at the station before Blaine and Gutieau. He waited anxiously for
their arrival.

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Garfield arrived at the station with ten minutes until his train was set to
leave. Blaine wanted to escort him to the train. Garfield walked in the
station with an easy, natural confidence (131). Guiteau stood behind
Garfield as he came in the building, and without any hesitation he fired at
Garfield. Guiteau shot Garfield in the arm with confidence. He then began
firing out of control at Garfield. Garfield was shot in the back, buckling to the
floor. The station was filled with silence, and then everything turned to
chaos. The President of the United States had been shot.
Everyone went after Guiteau. He tried to fight them off but realized he
was far to out numbered. He asked if he could be taken to jail and was under
the impression that he was taken there for his own safety. He strongly
believed Sherman would be at the prison ready to break him out, also that he
would now receive the consulship of Paris.
The bullet did not kill Garfield. It had missed his spinal cord and all of
his vital organs. One of the doctors, Townshend stuck his finger into the
wound of Garfields back causing a slight hemorrhage and giving him an
infection that was more dangerous than the bullet itself. Lincoln called on
Doctor Bliss for assistance because he had attempted to save his father and
was familiar to Garfield. Bliss used a probe to search for the bullet, and as
he tried to remove it, it was caught on his rib. Once it was out he started
using his finger, and Purvis, one of the first black doctors, asked him to stop
his examination. Bliss refused and continued.

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Garfield requested that a telegram be set to Lucretia Garfield. He gave

her as little information because he did not want to cause her too much
stress. Grant was the one who told her that he had been shot, but the
wounds were not fatal. As soon as she could, she got on a special railroad
car that took her straight to Washington.
Garfield asked to be taken home to the White House. When Brown
heard that Garfield was returning home, he quickly set up a miniature
hospital room and got everything ready for the presidents arrival. He was in
such shock he did not know how to quite handle it. When Lucretia Garfield
arrived Garfield knew she was there. He tried to talk to her about what he
wanted her to do with the children if he died, but she did not want to hear
about death. Lucretia hoped that Garfield would live. Bliss had taken
complete control over the presidents recovery. He even sent away
Garfields Physician, Dr. Jedediah Hyde Baxter. Lucretia Garfield had called
for Dr. Susan Ann Edson and Dr. Silas Boynton. Bliss agreed to let them stay
as long as they only performed nursing duties. Both doctors agreed just to
stay close to the president when Lucretia Garfield could not.
Bliss along with many other doctors of this time did not believe in
invisible germs or the use of antisepsis. Lucretia Garfield received letters
from some doctors warning her to make sure the equipment was sterile
before their use. Bliss called in the biggest critics of Listers theories, David
Hayes Agnew and Frank Hamilton. They did little to help the president.
While nothing new was happening with the president, Alexander Graham Bell
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was certain he could find the bullet. He made a metal detector from his
knowledge of the telephones currents. With this the bullet would upset the
balance of the coils and Bell would be able to pinpoint the location of the
bullet. This invention could be Garfields only hope of avoiding death at his
doctors hands (162).
Guiteau sent a letter to Arthur about his cabinet positions and he was
planning Arthurs first term. Arthur was not excited about possibly becoming
the president, but he turned to Conkling unsure of what he should do.
Rumors began to spread that the assassination was a plan formed by
Conkling. He and Arthur were no longer safe from the nations fury. The
hotel where Conkling stayed received an anonymous note saying that
Conkling and his company were to be hung.
Bell sent a letter to Bliss asking to assist him with finding the bullet,
assuring Bliss he would be able to help. The only reason Bliss agreed was
because he was nervous because the presidents condition had not
improved, Garfields fever continued to raise. Bell went to complete his
invention and returned later. Though Garfield grew weaker, he still tried to
reassure everyone as much as he could. He also made sure everyone knew
that he did not believe Conkling or Arthur had any role in the shooting.
Guiteau felt no guilt for shooting the president. He continued to see
himself as a national hero. He thought he would make bail in the fall. After
he was released he thought he would make a lot of money from a speaking

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tour and from his book. He planned to be nominated president and he

believed the whole Union would welcome this idea.
Bell tried to get his idea of the metal detector to work. Slowly he
increased the reading range. He did not leave his lab or stop working until
he completed his task. He worked with so much determination, his wife
feared his health, she was afraid he would work himself to death. While
Mabel Bell continued to worry about her husband, Lucretia Garfield put on a
brave face. The Nation began to respect her and look to her for strength.
Though Garfield was still in pain, he seemed to be recovering well.
Bliss placed daily bulletins about the health of Garfield. This brought hope to
the nation that their president would live. The only complaint from Garfield
was his loneliness. He was not allowed visitors, because Bliss claimed
talking might make his situation worse. The movement of his diaphragm
from talking would move his liver and disrupt the placement of the bullet.
Garfield seemed so strong that everyone was certain he would make a full
recovery. Then one day they were dressing his wound and the cloth in his
body taken by the bullet and a piece of bone came out with pus. All of the
progress he had made was lost. The doctors began using a slight amount
antisepsis, but this did little help when they were putting unsterilized fingers
and instruments into his back every day. Each time this happened they were
introducing bacteria which caused an infection in the wound. Little did the
doctors know the pus was spreading through an open cavity in Garfields
body infecting many of his vital organs. They received many letters from
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doctors claiming they had the cure for the president. One doctor claimed
that the bullet rested on Garfields left side rather that his right. Bliss did not
even consider this theory.
Bell was finally prepared to attempt to find the bullet in the president.
As he prepared for the experiment, he realized something had gone wrong
with his invention. He decided to go on with the trial because it could still
find a bullet. The experiment was a failure. After, he found his mistake
which would have found the bullet.
Three days before Bell arrived to perform his experiment at the White
House, Conkling decided he was done with politics and would no longer
attempt to gain a position in the senate. The only thing he was left with now
was the control over Arthur. Everyone thought that he would seek out
Conkling for advice about the presidency. Arthur had actually begun to pull
away from Conkling. Arthur began to seek political advice from a woman
named Julia Sand. She wanted to inspire him and help him be a better man.
He thought as Garfields condition improved he was becoming a better man.
Garfield did not make any progress. Bliss had given up on assistance
from other doctors. He was the only one giving Garfield medical attention.
Bliss asked Bell to return to give his experiment another try. Bell had not
forgotten the humiliation of the previous test, but he had managed to extend
the range of the instrument to more than five inches. When bell returned to
the White House to perform the experiment, Bliss told them they were only
allowed to search the right side of Garfields body. They heard a faint sound
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in the same area where Bliss suspected the bullet would be. Bell was uneasy
about this discovery. He had later found out that the president had been on
a spring mattress, this had been what was interfering with the test. Bliss
refused to agree that there had been a problem with the experiment.
There were many signs that the president had a blood infection. Bliss
ignored the fever, chills, vomiting, and the pus filled sores on his back. Bliss
had cut himself with a knife and pus had entered the wound. His hand had
been infected and he could barely use it. Garfield lost weight at an
extremely fast rate. He could not keep anything down, and he had lost
interest in eating. All Garfield truly wanted now was to get away. He wanted
to go home to Ohio or to visit the sea. The only people who refused to give
up hope on Garfield were Lucretia Garfield and Brown. Garfield insisted that
he be taken to the sea. Bliss did not think he should, but he allowed it.
Garfields health still did not improve. He had all his doctors sent home. On
September 19th, James A. Garfield woke gasping and struggling to breath.
Lucretia Garfield asked Bliss what was happening. Bliss did not hesitate to
tell her that her husband was dying. The room was completely quiet except
for Garfields harsh breathing. Garfield took his last breath at 10:35 pm.
Lucretia Garfield stayed with her husband watching his lifeless body.
When Bell heard of the presidents death, he decided to seek out war
veterans who wanted to locate a bullet in their body. He did not want all the
time he used on his invention to go to waste.

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Garfields doctors performed an autopsy. They had found that the

bullet was lodged into his left side behind his pancreas. This was the
complete opposite side of which they had been searching. His body was
almost completely infected with septic poisoning. Garfield was covered in
abscesses which had induced pneumonia in both of his lungs. Near his liver
was an abscess that measured to half of a foot. The immediate cause of his
death was a cavity nearly four-tenths of an inch long in his splenic artery. All
of Garfields doctors realized this was far more fatal than they had thought;
they had made a mistake.
September 20th, Chester Arthur had become the next president. Arthur
had become a new man and was willing to take his place as the president.
His new advisor told him that the nation needed rest from all the excitement
from the past two months.
Garfields body was returned to Washington D.C. There were so many
people who wanted to honor the presidents death. There was only one man
who did not take part in the nations mourning, Charles Guiteau. He was not
told about the presidents death, but he had overheard his guards talking
about it. Sergeant William Mason attempted to shoot Guiteau, but he
missed.
Guiteaus trial was on November 14th, in the case The United States v.
Charles Guiteau, no one wanted Guiteau to get away with the murder. The
only hope he had was to plead insanity. Guiteau did not believe he was
insane, but the more he spoke the more people began to believe it. Finally,
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Guiteau agreed to claim to be insane only during the shooting of the

president. Guiteau was found guilty and sentenced to death, but he still
believed he would be set free. There was no hope for him to be saved.
Guiteau was hung on June 30, 1882. Two-hundred and fifty people attended
his execution. His death was greeted with great triumph.
Garfields death had brought the nation together. It was no longer the
southerners and the northerners but the nation. Arthur turned out to be a
great president. Though he lost the republican candidacy to James G. Blaine,
he was still a respected leader. Joseph Lister and Alexander Graham Bell
lived the rest of their lives continuing to come up with new ideas. These
ideas the hoped would better the world.
Destiny of the Republic was a well written book. Taking in different
perspectives helped show why certain events took place. Two completely
different people were linked together in not just an assassination, but also in
a conflict that showed problems in the medical field. The author used great
pictures; these helped give better picture of the events. The order in which
the book was written was great; switching perspectives helped the book flow
together. Millard supported her purpose and thesis very well. Candace
Millard wrote into each person, giving the feel of who they were and what
they were like. The Epilogue was dry and hard to get through. It would have
been better if it was shortened and left to real readers in for the ending
Overall the author did a great job writing the book.

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Destiny of the Republic helped the United Stated develop a much

better medical system. There were a lot of advances in the medical field
that were developed because of the death of the president. Guiteaus case
helped realize the lack of medical attention given to those who were insane.
Without this important event in history it may have taken years before any
serious changes were made.

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