Chester A. Arthur

EARLY LIFE 

Chester Alan Arthur was born October 5, 1829, in Fairfield, Vermont. He was the fifth of nine children.

Chester A Arthur

He was named "Chester" after Chester Abell, the physician and family friend who assisted in his birth, and "Alan" for his paternal grandfather.

His father, William Arthur was a poor preacher in the Free Will Baptists denomination, a group of people that believe in free grace, free salvation and free will.

William Arthur became an outspoken abolitionist, which often made him unpopular with some members of his congregations and contributed to the family's frequent moves to different parishes.

Arthur joined other young Whigs in support of Henry Clay's presidential bid while he was in school, even participating in a brawl against students who supported James K. Polk.

LEGAL CAREER

In 1848 Arthur began to pursue an education in law. While studying, he was appointed Principal of North Pownal Academy in Vermont for a brief period of time. North Pownal Academy was a rather small institution, holding classes in the basement of Arthur’s father’s church.

Oddly enough, despite its size, future president James A. Garfield taught penmanship at the same school three years later, but the two did not cross paths during their teaching careers.

Arthur opened a law practice in New York City before the American Civil War. A moderate abolitionist, he defended several runaway slaves and was an early activist in the New York Republican party.

Arthur as a young lawyer

Elizabeth Jennings Graham was a black woman who in 1854, insisted that she ride in a segregated streetcar. Chester A Arthur was her main lawyer; he won the case and all streetcars in New York became desegregated.

POLITICAL CAREER 

Arthur served as quartermaster general in the New York Militia during the American Civil War in charge of supplying the state’s volunteers with equipment. He performed this huge administrative task with efficiency and scrupulous honesty, earning an important place for himself in the state Republican organization.

Rising quickly in the Republican political machine run by Senator Roscoe Conkling, Arthur was appointed to the lucrative post of Collector of the Port of New York in 1871.

In 1878 the new president, Rutherford B. Hayes, fired Arthur as part of a reform measure.

When James Garfield won the Republican nomination for president in 1880, Arthur was nominated for vice president to balance the ticket.

PRESIDENCY 

On September 20, 1881, one day after President James A. Garfield finally succumbed to a gunshot wound, Chester A. Arthur was sworn in as the 21st president of the United States.

Chester A. Arthur took the oath of office at his own New York City house.

Arthur taking the oath of office at his home

After Garfield's assassination, Arthur took up the cause of reform, supporting the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act. He presided over the rebirth of the U.S. Navy but was criticized for failing to alleviate a growing federal budget surplus.

President Chester A. Arthur signed the Chinese Exclusion Act into law in 1882, implementing a ban on Chinese immigration to the United States that eventually lasted for over 60 years until the 1943 Magnuson Act.

President Arthur was known to be a man with a taste for the finer things in life, so he hired Louis Comfort Tiffany as his decorator for his stay in the White House. He needed money to pay for all the new furniture and to fund it he held a White House yard sale. Actually, they called it a “public auction.” Among the items up for sale was furniture dating as far back as the John Adams presidency, one of John Quincy Adams’ hats and a pair of pants worn by Abraham Lincoln.

The redecoration wasn’t the only luxury he took; he also owned elaborate clothing, including 80 different pairs of pants, earning him the nickname "Elegant Arthur” for his sense of style.

Suffering from poor health, Arthur retired at the close of his term.

PERSONAL LIFE

Arthur  married Ellen "Nell" Herndon on October 25, 1859, at Calvary Episcopal Church in New York City. The couple were known for their parties in their Lexington Avenue townhouse in Manhattan.

Ellen Herndon

The couple had three children together. One of them, William died of convulsions at age two and a half, devastating his parents.

Nell Arthur, President Arthur’s wife, never lived to see her husband become president. In fact, she died of pneumonia before he became vice president in 1880.

In Nell’s absence, Arthur’s sister, Mary Arthur McElroy, took over duties as White House hostess during her brother’s presidency.

To honor his wife, President Arthur had fresh flowers placed in front of Nell’s White House portrait every day he was in residence there.

LAST YEARS AND DEATH 

Unknown to his contemporaries, Arthur was diagnosed with the kidney ailment Bright's disease, later known as nephritis, soon after taking the oath of office. He effectively hid his illness from the public and even made desultory attempts at the Republican nomination for 1884, but this was probably only because of intense pride.

Leaving office in 1885, he returned to his New York City home. honored but unlamented.

By November 1886, Arthur had become seriously ill, and on November 16, he ordered nearly all of his papers, both personal and official, burned. The next morning, Arthur suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and never regained consciousness; he died the following day, November 18, at the age of 57.

Sources Commdiginews, KQED