Chester A. Arthur

Like Andrew Johnson before him and Theodore Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson after him, Chester A. Arthur obtained the presidency in the moments following the tragic murder of an incumbent president. James A. Garfield, having suffered for weeks following an attack by the bitter and demented Charles Guiteau, died on September 19, 1881, handing the White House to Arthur. Arthur was now a part of the group of presidents tasked with guiding the American nation through the shock and grief that comes with the slaughter of any leader. And by the time his presidency concluded, Arthur cemented himself as the greatest of these 4 officials.

As president, Arthur dedicated copious amounts of efforts to fighting fraud and patronage and to increasing the government's efficiency. Throughout his tenure, Arthur drastically reduced corruption in the navy and purged incompetence from the institution. He also commissioned the first steel naval weapons and ships, modernizing the American armada in the process.

When Arthur took office, the Star Route Affair was drawing to a close. Throughout the 1870s and early 1880s, a group of officials in the post office were exploiting the star route, a feature of that government agency created by John Tyler in which the postal service could auction off certain mail routes in order to increase its funds. These bureaucrats would bribe Congressmen to commission new star routes and order additional funds under the pretext of improving the post office, but really just to set up more star routes. From there, they would anonymously submit high bids to artificially drive up the price. Once the auctions were complete, they'd just pocket the money for themselves. Arthur, who was friends with two of the men involved, was appalled and used this event as a motive to reduce corruption in the postal service.

These efforts, though, are minor in comparison to the crown jewel of Arthur's anti-corruption efforts: The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act. Signed by Arthur on January 16, 1883, this bill abolished the spoils system. The spoils system was established by Andrew Jackson and involved the act of granting political offices, such as ambassador, cabinet secretary, or department director, to supporters, rather than those actually qualified to perform those duties. By signing the 1883 law, Arthur required that all government officials have the merits needed to properly engage in the jobs they possess. This vital policy has helped the American government become far less corrupt and far more effective.

Before continuing, I should bring up some of Arthur's flaws. For example, he did have a somewhat imperialistic foreign policy. More specifically, he brokered a treaty with Nicaragua in which the country ceded some of its land in exchange for the construction of a canal in that territory. As an anti-expansionist, I dislike this decision. In fact, one of the few things I give Grover Cleveland credit for is his choice to withdraw from this document. Though, Arthur had some accomplishments in foreign policy, mainly all his trade deals. Arthur also signed the Edmunds Act, which banned polygamous relationships. I consider this an indefensible violation of civil liberties. As a protectionist, I also dislike his signing of the Tariff of 1883, which reduced the tariff rate. Although, this policy only decreased the tariff by 1.47%, so it isn't too bad in my opinion.

However, something that Arthur gets too much criticism for is signing the Chinese Exclusion Act. The story of that bill is often oversimplified to merely, "On May 6, 1882, Chester A. Arthur signed the Chinese Exclusion Act, banning all Chinese immigration to the US permanently." The true story, though, is more complex. In the early spring of 1882, Congress easily passed a bill that proposed a 20-year ban on Chinese immigration to the US. Arthur vetoed this bill. But he knew that if he left it at this, the bill would be passed anyway due to its popularity and that the simple veto would only serve to sour relations with the House of Representatives and the Senate.

So, Arthur, in a veto message in which he denounced the entire idea of banning Chinese immigration to America, brokered a compromise with Congress: If they drafted a second bill, which reduced the ban down from 20 years to 10, he would sign it. Congress agreed, and Arthur signed the resulting bill on May 6, 1882. You could criticize Arthur for signing any version of the bill; but if he vetoed this bill as well, it also would have been overridden. And, as previously mentioned, he would have damaged relations with Congress. That would have prevented him from doing the other good things he did, such as recognizing Korean independence, among the other things I've mentioned in this post.

Chester A. Arthur was a great president. He did everything in his power to block the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act, strengthened the navy, reduced corruption in the post office after a devastating scandal, abolished the spoils system, and supported Korean independence from imperialist forces. It is a tragedy that his name has been boiled down to an awful bill he was forced to sign and the circumstances at which he entered office.