CLEVELAND — It’s Presidents Day and those superstar, glory hog Presidents Lincoln and Washington are monopolizing all the patriotism as usual. Don’t get me wrong, well deserved. They were the elite, no arguments there.
But if today were really supposed to be exclusively about these two overexposed overachievers, they’d call it “The Elite American Presidents Day," but they didn’t. It’s just “Presidents Day”. It does not discriminate based on presidential quality, which means this holiday also belongs to 43 other guys who were NOT named George Washington or Abe Lincoln.
So remember to pour one out for Millard Fillmore. Also don’t forget that Ohio was home to EIGHT -- count 'em -- EIGHT non-Washington/Lincoln presidents.
That’s almost 18% of all presidents, despite representing 2% of the United States. Meanwhile, we got ZERO presidents from EITHER Dakota, which, fine, I’ll say it, really only needs to be one big Dakota.
Now, were the Ohio presidents perfect? Of course not! Some had unremarkable terms, some were tarnished by the specter of corruption, and some had their presidencies cut short by tragedy, so we’ll never know what they might have been able to accomplish in office.
One such prez was CLEVELAND’S OWN James A. Garfield. He's a man who many historians believe could have been a top-tier prez had he not been shot just three months into his presidency. He was, by all accounts, a remarkable person. So I thought on this Presidents Day we’d pay homage to local boy James A. Garfield. Because his history is all over this town, most notably in Mentor at the James A. Garfield National Historic Site.
James. A Garfield was born on November 19th, 1831 in Orange Township, which is now Moreland Hills. That's Cleveland-y. There were seven US presidents that were born in log cabins, James A. Garfield was the last one. He was born in poverty. His father died young and he was raised by his mother. The "A" in his name stands for Abram, his first name James comes from an older brother James, who died during childhood. Yes, he's named after his deceased older brother...it's weird. James Garfield also served as a mule team driver, a janitor, and a carpenter.
Did you know that James A. Garfield was not only a student at what would become Hiram College, but he was also the president of that school until leaving for the Civil War. Cleveland connections galore!
Garfield joined the Union Army in 1861. He was a huge abolitionist and he quickly rose to the status of major general at the age of 31. Very impressive. James A. Garfield did not seek the presidency. He was a compromised candidate when his party could not decide on who to nominate. They went with James.
James Garfield was a big supporter of civil rights. He actually appointed several former slaves to positions within his government. Well, if this little journey didn't convince you that James a Garfield is an underrated president, I'll give you one more fascinating fact. His favorite food of all time, squirrel soup. No lie!
On behalf of me and America's most Cleveland-y president, we're wishing you a very happy Presidents Day.