Horatio Alger’s “rags-to-riches, only in America” novels of the late 19th Century were so popular, and so iconic, that they were bestowed an entrant into the American vernacular – the so-called “Horatio Alger Myth.” Alger entertained America’s youth with dozens of tales about poverty-stricken boys who persevered through earnest hard work and a touch of good fortune to turn their lives into the envy of every American boy, rising up the social and economic ladder in a way that could only be possible in the free enterprise system of the United States of America. For the first 15 years of his writing career Alger stuck to fiction, mostly along this same theme. But, in 1881, he made an exception. He decided to relate to his loyal young readers a real-life Horatio Alger Myth come true. He decided to write a biography of a real-world American hero. His subject started dirt poor, born on the frontier in a one-room log hut shared by his fatherless family. He benefited from an education, and with his own perseverance, bravery, and work ethic became a general officer in the Union Army, a U.S. Congressman, a Senator-elect, and President of the United States. Alger told the story of the amazing rise of James Abram Garfield.
 
Unfortunately, this Alger story did not have a happy ending. This Alger story, in fact, took a sudden, catastrophic turn. The mythic life of this proud American servant fundamentally ended just 120 days into his presidency when a deranged office seeker fired two bullets into his back and arm. After 80 horrific days in which his doctors did more harm than good, he succumbed to the assassination just two months shy of his 50th birthday. Horatio Alger’s tale of this larger-than-life character was appropriately entitled From Canal Boy to President. Unlike Alger’s mythical rags-to-riches success stories, however, this one ended in tragedy as its final sequence played out before the sorrowful eyes of a grateful nation. This is the real-world story of a tragic American hero. James Garfield didn’t only live the American Dream, in many ways he defined it – he was the archetype – right up until an assassin’s bullet brought it all to a tragic end.