How Chester Alan Arthur 'brightened' from a political spoilsman to a civil service reformer.

摘要

Chester Alan Arthur became the 21st President of the USA in 1881 when James Garfield finally succumbed to an assassin's bullet. Before being chosen as Garfield's vice-president, Arthur was known as the consummate political insider or 'Gentleman Boss' due to his fancy affire during an era that was marked by political patronage or the 'spoils system'. In fact, Arthur was only placed on Garfield's ticket to appease the Boss of New York City's political machine, Roscoe Conkling [2]. Thus, when Garfield died and Arthur assumed the presidential mantle, many considered him to be an unreconstructible 'spoilsman' with little interest in political reform. Yet, to the surprise of many, the Pendleton Act, which enacted civil service reform to combat the system of patronage, was passed during Arthur's administration. In response to Arthur's transformation, famed American author Mark Twain wrote, '...it would be hard indeed to better President Arthur's administration' [1].