Four part series, I thought was worth the watch. Good acting, sets and costumes. Michael Shannon did a good job, not the stone faced guy he's played in the past

The story of James Garfield, who rose from obscurity to become America's 20th President — and Charles Guiteau, the man who assassinated him.

I haven’t watched it yet but it is in my list to watch.

I finished the series yesterday. Definitely worth watching.

I'm struggling with it. Interesting, but Guiteau is so obviously batshit crazy...

I thought it was excellent. Obviously not giving anything away, but it was very sad at the end. The series had a number of very funny moments, though. I never knew a thing about James Garfield, but he seemed like a very good man and probably would've been an excellent president had he lived longer.

The series was announced in February, 2024. Ask yourself why a series on the assassination of a POTUS was brought forth at that time, and why it's airing now.

Let us instead have a series on the public, mass, summary execution by lynching of the executives and producers of TV shows and films in the United States.

Call it Absolute Justice, Finally

Purely fictional, of course.

It's no mistake that this assassin is a sympathetic character, nuts sure but maybe that's just eccentric and likeable in his way. Netflix + presidential politics + 2025, how could there not be an agenda? Waiting for shoes to drop, watching has been a chore.

I binge watched the mini-series the day it came out and was impressed. The writing, direction, acting, etc..., were all top rate and the message hit home: What IF this intelligent, ethical, and lawfully elected REPUBLICAN president could have served out his term? The good he could have done was blocked by a crazy narcissist, acting on his own and in an environment where the risks to the president and the country were amazingly discounted such a short period of time after President Lincoln was assassinated.

I don't think there was anything nefarious about this production or that Netflix had some kind of sick agenda, but historically this man (POTUS) should have had his story told and the fact it hasn't been dealt with (or his murder) as thoroughly as it should have been is creating a worse tragedy upon a tragedy. Regarding the assassin: I think it's a good thing that emphasis was placed on his dismissal as a legally sane, but screwed up nutcase that learned (abet too late) that he was a worthless POS who's name would be and WAS lost to history because of nature of his act (unlike notoriety received by the murderer of Abraham Lincoln).

The meeting between him and Garfield's widow (if true), was very poignant and spoke to the humanity of not only the president himself, but his family at a time (now) when the importance of real family ties are too often reduced to political narratives.

Isn't it interesting that for more than a century, interest in this assassination languished with our society's storytellers, and then all of a sudden:

American Experience season 28, episode 3: Murder of a President, which aired February 2, 2016, when Donald Trump's campaign was gaining momentum.

And here we are again, after two assassination attempts against President Trump. WHAT a coincidence.

Gentlemen, I am just about the most conspiracy-skeptical person in this forum, but...

I will watch this series and decide if this possible conspiracy strikes me.
If so, that will be the end of Netflix in my house.

It's not anything that might be contained in the series; it's that the series exists at all, at this time.

And there's only been about a thousand reasons over the last decade and a half to avoid Netflix.

quote:

Originally posted by pulicords:
The meeting between him and Garfield's widow (if true), was very poignant and spoke to the humanity of not only the president himself, but his family at a time (now) when the importance of real family ties are too often reduced to political narratives.

A perusal of "fact v. fiction" re the movie says that meeting never happened. And she never stopped publication of his book, etc. That scene was added for dramatic effect.

I did some research into the Garfield family. President Garfield was an elder for what was then the "Disciples Of Christ." A small, very fundamentalist Christian church. (Later split into the "Christian Church" and the "Church of Christ." There is a "Disciples of Christ" today, but they are extreme left wing.)

The tv series depicted Mrs. Garfield with a foul mouth using the 'F' word on more than one occasion. That's absolutely false. For the era and for a lady of her religious convictions.

Also, as depicted in the tv show, Garfield didn't die from the gunshot but from medical malpractice. Guiteau repeatedly said, at trial, “I did not kill the president. The doctors did that. I merely shot him.”

https://www.britannica.com/top...James-A-Garfield-Die

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
Isn't it interesting that for more than a century, interest in this assassination languished with our society's storytellers, and then all of a sudden:

American Experience season 28, episode 3: Murder of a President, which aired February 2, 2016, when Donald Trump's campaign was gaining momentum.

And here we are again, after two assassination attempts against President Trump. WHAT a coincidence.

Gentlemen, I am just about the most conspiracy-skeptical person in this forum, but...

I'm not going to deny that your speculation isn't without foundation, but correlation does not automatically prove causation. For years I was (as a LEO) paid to investigate crimes that involved conspiracies and if there's one thing I've learned, it's the fact that the bigger the incident is, the more people are involved, the higher the probability is that some of them will talk. They don't immediately talk to the police, but they do talk to friends, family, co-workers (including others involved in criminal activity), and these conversations result in someone going to law enforcement. I'd say the same thing happens within the LE community and their willingness to talk. Because of this, I don't think these stories are being told due to an ongoing conspiracy to overtly inspire potential assassins.

Crime stories do interest the public and I believe the "forgotten" assassinations and assassination attempts of major figures in history are important, but neglected because in current times history is so neglected. Who knows when these media projects were initially proposed? Maybe they were screenplays that were ignored for years, and only became "relevant" after a current incident made them so?

I will say this about the timing of the American Experience episode and Candidate Trump's campaign: At the time (February of 2016), Hillary Clinton's campaign had far more momentum and it was assumed by many that she would succeed. If one would form the belief that the episode was intended to inspire some borderline personality to kill a candidate, I'd think the person most at risk would be Clinton. Think back on the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy after his winning of the California primary in 1968. His assassin knew how great the chance was that RFK would become president (based upon his popularity) and the support he urged for Israel. Note too, that there were/are plenty of people claiming a conspiracy surrounded JFK's murder, but I don't think there's any real evidence to support it.

IMHO: The biggest threat to Trump was the malignant "neglect" the Biden administration demonstrated towards protection the candidate was provided, KNOWING the risks he faced. There was/is plenty of hate inspired via social media that lets potential assassins believe they'll be hailed as heroes by a large segment of the population, just like radical Islamists are groomed to blow themselves and innocent victims to pieces. These aren't covert (conspiratorial) efforts. They are clearly OVERT acts, but (IMHO) created outside the walls of our government. Just leaving the "doors" open to potential assassins could be sufficient, without saying or doing anything recognizable or unlawful. Sorry for repeating myself, but I think the key to what happened to Garfield (like Abraham Lincoln) involved negligence and the same to a degree applied to the attacks on Donald Trump, though in the later case that "negligence" was malicious and sometimes (as we've learned) that's sufficient.

quote:

Originally posted by pulicords:
I'm not going to deny that your speculation isn't without foundation, but correlation does not automatically prove causation.

I know what I see, and it's so very obvious.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:

quote:

Originally posted by pulicords:
I'm not going to deny that your speculation isn't without foundation, but correlation does not automatically prove causation.

I know what I see, and it's so very obvious.

You're clearly an intelligent man, but beware of confirmation bias. It can and does effect all of us to some degree.

You're telling me things I've never heard before, nor contemplated on my own.

Little could I have imagined the paradigm-shattering experience of hearing the phrase "confirmation bias" for the first time, ever.

From here on out, I must doubt myself, and then doubt the doubting, and question questions where there was no questioning before.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
You're telling me things I've never heard before, nor contemplated on my own.

Little could I have imagined the paradigm-shattering experience of hearing the phrase "confirmation bias" for the first time, ever.

From here on out, I must doubt myself, and then doubt the doubting, and question questions where there was no questioning before.

I guess you can't see it, but I am treating you with the respect I hoped you'd show me. The problem with confirmation bias isn't whether or not it exists, but whether we as individuals are willing to make a concerted effort to challenge ourselves and recognize the potential that we're being handicapped by it.

Yeah, more stuff that I just don't see, huh?

quote:

The problem with confirmation bias isn't whether or not it exists, but whether we as individuals are willing to make a concerted effort to challenge ourselves and recognize the potential that we're being handicapped by it.

Spread some of that manure in your vegetable garden and you'll be bringing home the blue ribbon from the county fair. Tomatoes the size of basketballs.

I watched, as much for a touch of history as anything. Even if for that reason, I realize ‘artistic license’ is no doubt present.

I thought it was ok, gave an idea of politics back in the day. There are similarities with current politics.

He barely got started as President. As often is the case, the assassin was a loony toon.

quote:

Originally posted by sourdough44:
He barely got started as President.

Yep. Only Harrison's length in office was shorter. He died in office after only two months.

Re politics in that era, they had the Spoils System. Where the newly installed president was expected to hand out jobs to key allies, etc.

Harrison was so inundated with jobs/favor seekers, it's said he climbed out a window to go around the White House.

A bit of that was depicted in "Death By Lightening."