James Rudolph Garfield

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James Rudolph Garfield (October 17, 1865 – March 24, 1950) was a U.S. politician, and son of President James A. Garfield.

1 Early life
2 College and early career
3 Political career
4 References

[edit] Early life

He was born in Hiram, Ohio, the third of eight children born to President Garfield and First Lady Lucretia Garfield. For a year prior to his father's presidency, he studied at St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire. On July 2, 1881, at the age of 15, he witnessed the shooting of his father by disgruntled office-seeker Charles J. Guiteau at the Baltimore and Potomac railroad station in Washington. The President and his son were waiting for a train enroute to Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, where young James had been recently accepted, when the shooting took place.

[edit] College and early career

Following his father's death on September 19, 1881, he studied at Williams College, graduating in 1885, before moving on to Columbia University where he studied law and earned his J.D. in 1888. That same year, he was admitted to the Ohio bar and established the Cleveland, Ohio-based law firm of Garfield and Garfield, with his brother Harry Augustus Garfield. From 1890 until her death in 1930, he was married to Helen Newell. Their grandson, Newell Garfield, later married Jane Harrison Walker, a granddaughter of President Benjamin Harrison and Harrison's second wife Mary Dimmick Harrison.

[edit] Political career

From 1896 to 1899, he served in the Ohio State Senate. He was an influential advisor to President Theodore Roosevelt, serving as a Member of the United States Civil Service Commission from 1902 to 1903. From 1903 to 1907, he served as Commissioner of Corporations at the Department of Commerce and Labor, where he conducted investigations of the meat-packing, petroleum, steel, and railroad industries. From 1907 to 1909, he served in Roosevelt's Cabinet as Secretary of the Interior, where he advocated for the conservation of natural resources. During the 1912 presidential election, he was a key supporter of Roosevelt's bid for a third term. In 1914, he made an unsuccessful bid for Ohio Lieutenant Governor on the Progressive Party ticket.