In the twenty-first of a series on American presidents, C-SPAN came to campus in early August to examine the life and career of Chester Arthur.
Arthur, of course, was a member of the Class of 1848, and his ascension to the presidency after the assassination of James Garfield caused one Republican party boss to exclaim, “Chet Arthur, president of the United States? Good God.”
The exclamation was a reaction to Arthur's early and active participation in the political patronage system. But, as Thomas Reeves, a biographer of Arthur, noted on the television show, Arthur rose above his background. The late nineteenth century was a time when political power lay with the Congress, Reeves said, and the people expected the chief executive to be a leader of some dignity. Arthur became known for his honesty and efficiency as president, and his legacy included Civil Service reform.
Reeves, a professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, is the author of Gentleman Boss: The Life of Chester Alan Arthur. Other C-SPAN guests were Mark Will '99, a history major, and Jim Underwood, professor of political science.
Will showed C-SPAN viewers a number of items from the College's archives — the 1884 book that claimed Arthur was born in Canada (“absolutely untrue,” Reeves said); books showing Arthur's grades (a 99 in attendance was his lowest, and he ranked in the top one-third of his class of seventy-nine); a record of charges (room and board was $125 a year, tuition was $28); the famous wooden windowsill from North College with “C.A. Arthur” carved into it (with the year “1848” also carved, very faintly); and some of the Thomas Nast cartoons in Harper's Weekly, which savaged Arthur regularly until he became president.
Underwood noted that the Union of Arthur's time was a very political campus, full of students whose fathers were in public life. “Arthur had a lot of contacts as a result of being at Union, many because of President Eliphalet Nott, who, in his lectures, gave specific examples of how to attain political office,” Underwood said.
The lectures must have worked; in addition to Arthur and his presidency, ninety of Nott's students were elected to the House of Representatives, twelve became U.S. senators, and another dozen served as governors.
Underwood also noted that if Arthur were to return today he would find some striking similarities, both academically and physically. “Arthur chose the classical curriculum, but he still had to take science courses, just as today's students have to take liberal arts and science courses,” Underwood said. “And he would feel fairly comfortable in the central part of the campus, with North and South Colleges and Jackson's Garden.”
C-SPAN, the national public affairs television network, arrived on campus two days before the broadcast. As technicians set up miles of cable (there were three sites for the show — inside the Nott Memorial, inside Schaffer Library, and next to the statue of Arthur), schoolchildren and visitors were welcomed aboard the C-SPAN school bus — a forty-five foot motor coach, traveling production studio, and media demonstration center.
The day of the program had ideal weather, and from the opening panorama, taken from a crane high above campus, to the closing, the College received wonderful national exposure.
Those interested in seeing the program anytime via computer may go to the C-SPAN web page (www.c-span.org), click on the American Presidents icon, and then choose Arthur when asked to pick a president.