What if James Garfield hadn't been shot in 1881 by Charles Guiteau and survived? NOTE: If Emperor Norton decides to do a Garfield Lives TL he is free to use this as a discussion thread.
Well it would certainly help if people would answer this question. If you want me to write a timeline, you gotta contribute a little to the intellectual melting pot that goes into making it.
All I know about Garfield is Civil Service reform. If he's shot and survives, that gives him enough sympathy and credit (since Guiteau symbolized patronage gone insane) to pass reform. I also have a sneaking suspicion he could have enforced economic regulations and taken on the rising monopolies like a premature TR, but I don't know how true that is.
This also interests me. Does anyone know anything further on this?:
In foreign affairs, Garfield's Secretary of State invited all American republics to a conference to meet in Washington in 1882. But the conference never took place. On July 2, 1881, in a Washington railroad station, an embittered attorney who had sought a consular post shot the President.