Scott Greenberger’s story of Chester Arthur and his ascent to the Presidency is, besides a fine yarn, an impressive scholarly achievement. The author explains in the preface that Arthur, nearing the end of his life and expecting to live just days or weeks longer, had the vast majority of his personal and official papers burned.
The resulting scarcity of primary sources makes for a daunting challenge for any historian, one to which Greenberger rises admirably.
Fortunately, Arthur lived in a time of significant change in how Americans viewed the nation and, especially, the political class. Myriad newspapers chronicled the struggles over civil rights, civil service reform and public resentment of big city political machines, providing a colorful background to Arthur’s rise and political transformation.
Greenberger complements the central story with riveting narratives of two marine disasters that influenced the course of Arthur’s life, and with lively portraits of the day’s political villains.
I was only taken slightly aback by the author’s considerable reliance, in covering Arthur’s time in the White House, on the unsolicited letters Arthur received from a New York woman he did not know; letters that offered personal and political advice in an incongruously intimate and familiar tone (Arthur was several years a widower by then). Arthur obviously valued them, having kept and hidden them until their discovery years after his death. Whether the letters constitute a unique insight for understanding Arthur, or they are simply “the only show in town” for a serious historian, is for the reader to ponder. Still, Greenberger makes it work to deliver a fine, fun read about a man and era that we too often overlook.