The Unexpected President: The Life and Times of Chester A. Arthur

Written by Scott S. Greenberger

Narrated by Paul Heitsch

Despite his promising start as a young man, by his early fifties Chester A. Arthur was known as the crooked crony of New York machine boss Roscoe Conkling. For years Arthur had been perceived as unfit to govern, not only by critics and the vast majority of his fellow citizens but by his own conscience. As President James A. Garfield struggled for his life, Arthur knew better than his detractors that he failed to meet the high standard a president must uphold.



And yet, from the moment President Arthur took office, he proved to be not just honest but brave, going up against the very forces that had controlled him for decades. He surprised everyone—and gained many enemies—when he swept house and took on corruption, civil rights for blacks, and issues of land for Native Americans.



A mysterious young woman deserves much of the credit for Arthur's remarkable transformation. Julia Sand, a bedridden New Yorker, wrote Arthur nearly two dozen letters urging him to put country over party, to find "the spark of true nobility" that lay within him. At a time when women were barred from political life, Sand's letters inspired Arthur to transcend his checkered past—and changed the course of American history.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Mar 6, 2018
• ISBN: 9781541485730

Reviews for The Unexpected President

[jztemple · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I found the book rather disappointing. The author was quite wordy at time, trying to set the scene but it felt like just padding. Also the narration seems more like a series of vignettes tied together rather than a comprehensive history. There was also an excess of extraneous details thrown in, like the type of coat Arthur was wearing or the color of someone's dress; these are occasionally nice to add to the story but in this book it again felt like padding.

[jbd1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A decent biography of Arthur, certainly better than many of the other recent attempts.

[briandrewz · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was a fantastic look at the life of one of America's more obscure presidents. Chester A. Arthur was part of the New York Republican political machine that traded favors for positions. Part of that trade was a spot as Vice President (the way a President and Vice President were chosen was way different than they are today). When Arthur ascended to the presidency after the assassination of James Garfield, the country was dismayed at the thought of a corrupt politician inhabiting the highest office in the land. However, Arthur proved them all wrong. By the time his term expired, people such as Mark Twain were praising Arthur's administration as something that couldn't be bettered.

The author had to rely heavily on newspaper accounts to write this book, as Arthur destroyed nearly all of his personal papers before his death. This in no way detracts from the book, but rather brings Arthur and the period in which he lived alive. A very unexpected surprise was the finding of some letters written to President Arthur by a woman who believed he could rise above his past and govern the nation with a clean slate.

All in all, a very engrossing read. Highly recommended.

[hardlyhardy · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

There was something almost biblical about Chester A. Arthur. He reminds me of men like Moses, David or the apostles of Jesus, ordinary men whose early lives gave no clue they would ever stand out in their own generation, let alone be remembered by generations to follow.

Arthur was hardly a nothing, but he settled early for wealth over worthwhile achievement, Scott S. Greenberger tells us in his fine 2017 biography “The Unexpected President: The Life and Times of Chester A. Arthur.” A pastor's son, he became a New York City lawyer and served briefly as a brigadier general in the Civil War, in which capacity he excelled at acquisition and organization of supplies. These skills caught the attention of Roscoe Conkling, the U.S. senator who ran New York's political machine. Soon Arthur was Conkling's righthand man in running the spoils system that handed out jobs to the party faithful, regardless of ability. To describe Arthur as a political hack might have been generous.

Conkling expected to be the Republican candidate for president in 1880, and Arthur went to the convention in support of his boss. He was still wearing his Conkling button when James Garfield, the surprise nominee, agreed to accept Arthur as his running mate in hopes of winning New York's electoral votes. The strategy worked, but nobody, least of all Arthur, expected he would ever occupy the White House. The new vice president spent more time in New York assisting Conkling than in Washington assisting Garfield. Then an assassin's bullet (and inept doctors) changed history.

Power corrupts, but not always. Sometimes power actually builds character. Consider Moses. Or consider Chester Arthur. In his brief presidency, he stood up to Conkling, championed civil service reforms to end the spoils system, took steps to build the U.S. Navy into a world power, became an advocate for civil rights and pushed for more protection for Yellowstone.

Greenberger gives much of the credit for this transformation to an invalid woman named Julia Sand, who wrote Arthur a series of at least 23 letters encouraging him and sometimes chastising him. Often he did precisely what she urged him to do. Arthur once paid a surprise visit to her home and had a long chat with Julia and her family. She wished for more, and sometimes her correspondence reads almost like love letters. The president read her letters, and kept them even when he had most of his papers destroyed at the end of his presidency, but his heart belonged to his late wife. And besides, before he left the White House he knew he was dying.

Chester Arthur is not remembered as one of the greatest U.S. presidents, and in fact he is hardly remembered at all. But Greenberger's book reminds us that even minor presidents may have a little bit of greatness within them.

[gregdehler · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Chester Alan Arthur is one of the least written about presidents of the United States. When I wrote my biography (Chester Alan Arthur: The Life of a Gilded Age Politician and President, 2008) there were only a handful of books that focused on the twenty-first president. I could not locate any new primary sources (and my book was supposed to be largely synthetic anyway) so I tried to distinguish my work from previous books by incorporating the last thirty years of historiography in my account of Arthur. Greenberger, journalist tries to distinguish his account by keeping tight on Arthur, whom he presents as an idealistic young man who became a cynical machine politician before he unexpectedly president of the United States and redeemed himself to some measure. The strength of this book is presenting the personal side of an otherwise private man (he burned his papers before his death). The weakness is that it doesn't go deeply into the policy questions and does not include the writings of historians specializing the Gilded Age.

[queencersei · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Chester Arthur is one of those forgotten, late 19th Century post Civil War presidents. The son of an extremely religious abolitionist, Arthur left his humble New England roots behind and climbed to power through the mighty Republican New York political machine. Through back room dealing he unexpectedly was nominated as the V.P. on President Garfield's winning presidential ticket. As a life long Conckling man, no one really trusted Arthur, viewing him as a corrupt politician who was an avid backer of the spoils system. Early into Garfield's term though, an assassins bullet changed everything. Garfield dyed from his wound months after being shot, propelling Arthur to the White House. Democrats and Republicans of all stripes had no respect for the newly installed President.
It is said that the White House changes the occupant and this was certainly true for Chet Arthur. After spending decades as a loyal party man, doling out bribes and rewards, he became an ardent supporter of civil service reform, ushering in the first real changes in that area. Largely forgotten by most Americans, Arthur was actually a fairly successful President, with an amazing life story and one of the truly great political turnarounds in American history.

[schmerguls · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

5549. The Unexpected President The Life and Times of Chester A. Arthur, by Scott S. Greenberger (read 5 Apr 2018) While I read a biography of Arthur, Gentleman Boss by Thomas Reeves on 26 March 1983 when I saw this book I thought it would be fun to read. I was not wrong. It tells the story of Arthur, the 21st president of the United States in considerable detail,. but with far more attention to little details because it relies heavily on the newspaper accounts of the day-to-day events of Arthur's life--shortly before Arthur died he destroyed most of his papers so a biographer has to really dig to find material. But this author's account, while reciting a lot of trivia--telling what ladies wore, etc.-- is full of interest at times. For instance,in telling of the dramatic resignation of Senators Conkling and Platt in May,1881 in protest of President Garfield's appointment of a political opponent of Conkling as Collector of the Port pf New York and their effort to be re-elected by the Legislature we learn that legislators peeked through ,the window of a hotel room to see Platt in flagrante delicto with a woman not his wife, and Platt then ceased his effort, and Conkling 's effort to be re-elected failed.. The guy who killed Garfield did so because he wanted Arthur to be president and then expected to be appointed minister to France by Arthur! Arthur turned out to be a better president than anyone expected and this book tells the story well.

[santhony_35 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a biography of Chester Arthur, one of the more obscure United States Presidents of the 19th century. With the exception of the founding fathers and the Presidents surrounding the Civil War, most Presidents of the 19th century languish in obscurity, but none more so than Arthur.

Chester Arthur was a Republican from New York, who was part of the “machine” that controlled New York politics during the era. A protégé of New York Senator Roscoe Conkling, Arthur was little more than a puppet for Conkling when he was appointed as head of the New York City Customs House, the most lucrative position available during the years following the Civil War, when corruption and graft were at their peak. Arthur used his position to siphon off customs duties and distribute spoils to ensure continued control of his (Conkling’s) branch of the Republican Party (known as the Stalwarts).

With the election of Rutherford B. Hayes, a reform movement developed, leading to a rift in the Republican Party. A reform candidate, James Garfield was nominated in the next convention. In order to ensure that the Republicans would capture New York’s vital electoral votes, Arthur was added to the ticket as a sop to Conkling’s wing of the party. Generally considered to be a corrupt lightweight, the nation was shocked and appalled when he succeeded to the Presidency upon the assassination of Garfield.

However, it was the Stalwarts who were ultimately disappointed, when Arthur pledged to continue the reform policies of his predecessor instead of using the apparatus of the federal government to line the pockets of the Stalwarts, his previous associates. Arthur only served the remainder of Garfield’s term, not seriously pursuing reelection, as he knew that he was dying from Bright’s disease.

This is a relatively short biography, but not exceedingly so, as the subject is sufficiently covered to my satisfaction. After all, how much does one need to know about Chester Arthur? As often happens, the author tries hard to paint his subject in a favorable light, emphasizing the redemptive qualities of the story over the fact that the majority of Arthur’s life was spent as a venal, party hack. It is hard to believe, but maybe Roscoe Conkling was every bit the smarmy, evil bastard portrayed in this biography.

In addition to information obtained concerning Arthur, this is a good history lesson for the period covered, spanning roughly from the Civil War to the mid 1880s.