James Rudolph Garfield

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James Rudolph Garfield
James Rudolph Garfield, 1907

James Rudolph Garfield (born October 17, 1865 in Hiram , Ohio , †  March 24, 1950 in Washington, DC ) was an American politician ( Republican Party ) who belonged to the cabinet of US President Theodore Roosevelt as Secretary of the Interior . He was the son of US President James A. Garfield, who was fatally wounded in an assassination attempt in 1881 .

Early years

James Rudolph Garfield was born the third of seven children to James A. Garfield and his wife Lucretia . In 1880, the year before his father's brief presidency, he began training at St. Paul's School in Concord . On July 2, 1881, he wanted to go to his father's former college in Williamstown ( Massachusetts ), where he had recently been accepted. When the President entered the station, Charles J. Guiteau fired two shots at him that were not immediately fatal; Two and a half months later, however, Garfield succumbed to the injuries.

After graduating from Williams College in 1885, he studied law at Columbia University and earned his Juris Doctor in 1888 . In the same year he was inducted into the Ohio Bar Association and opened the law firm Garfield and Garfield with his brother Harry in Cleveland . In 1890 he married Helen Newell, who died in 1930.

Political career

From 1896 to 1899 Garfield was a member of the Ohio Senate . He was an influential adviser to President Roosevelt and a member of the United States Civil Service Commission from 1902 to 1903 . Between 1903 and 1907 he held a senior position in the Ministry of Commerce and Labor , where he was responsible for investigations at various commercial enterprises.

After the resignation of Home Secretary Ethan A. Hitchcock , Garfield took his place in Roosevelt's cabinet on March 5, 1907 . During his two-year tenure, he focused on the conservation of natural resources.

In the run-up to the 1912 presidential election , he supported Roosevelt in his attempt to be nominated by his party for another term. After the resulting split in the Republicans, he ran for the Progressive Party founded by Roosevelt in 1914 as governor of Ohio, but was defeated.

Another résumé

During the First World War , Theodore Roosevelt received congressional approval to set up several volunteer divisions for the infantry of the US Army . One of them, known as Roosevelt's World War I volunteers , included James Garfield, Seth Bullock , Frederick Russell Burnham and John M. Parker ; it was scheduled for use in France in 1917 . However, President Woodrow Wilson exercised his right as Commander-in-Chief and forbade the use of volunteers.

James Garfield died in Washington in 1950 as the last surviving member of the Roosevelt cabinet. He was buried in Mentor's cemetery next to his wife Helen.

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personal data
SURNAME Garfield, James Rudolph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American politician
DATE OF BIRTH October 17, 1865
PLACE OF BIRTH Hiram , Ohio
DATE OF DEATH March 24, 1950
Place of death Washington, DC