LIFE AFTER THE WHITE HOUSE, PART III


James A. Garfield was shot by a disappointed office-seeker, and was followed in office by his Vice President, Chester A. Arthur. Arthur failed to gain the Republican nomination for a full term of his own in 1884, and returned to his law practice in New York City. During his term as President, Arthur was diagnosed with Bright’s Disease, a kidney ailment. He died of the ailment on November 18, 1886.

Grover Cleveland retired from the White House twice. The first time was after his defeat for re-election at the end of his first term in 1888. Although he won the popular vote, he lost the electoral vote. (Sound familiar?) He was re-elected in 1892, becoming the only President to serve non-consecutive terms. He retired for real after his second term ended in 1897. In 1899, he was named Henry Stafford Little Lecturer in Public Affairs at Princeton University. In 1901, he was named to the University’s board of trustees, and became president of the board of trustees in 1904. He was an active board president, and clashed over policy matters with university president Woodrow Wilson. The two enjoyed each other’s company in spite of their differences in academic policy. From 1900-1906, he wrote numerous articles for the Saturday Evening Post. In 1904, he campaigned for Democratic presidential candidate Alton B. Parker in his hopeless race against Theodore Roosevelt. In 1906, he was hired as a consultant to help reorganize the Equitable Life Assurance Society after financial scandals had damaged the company’s reputation. The following year, he accepted a $25,000-a-year position as president of the Association of Presidents of Life Insurance Companies. After a three-month illness, he died of heart failure at his home in Princeton on June 24, 1908. His last words were, “I have tried so hard to do right.”

Benjamin Harrison served as President during the four years between Cleveland’s two terms. After his defeat by Cleveland, Harrison retired. His wife had died two weeks before his defeat in the presidential election. In 1896, he re-married. His new wife was Mary Dimmick, niece of his first wife, who had nursed the first Mrs. Harrison during her final illness. Harrison resumed his law practice and wrote articles for national magazines. In 1894, he delivered a series of lectures on constitutional law at Stanford University. Under pressure from the Republican Party to run again for President, in February 1896 he issued a formal statement

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