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Death by Lightning
2025 · TV series · 53 min episodes · 1 season
Created by Mike Makowsky
The story of James Garfield, who rose from obscurity to become America's 20th President — and Charles Guiteau, the man who assassinated him.
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Garfield was in many ways the most personally appealing and brilliant of the American presidents, rising from poverty and obscurity by being absurdly talented across many fields and eloquent.
He was assassinated early and barely got to serve. The story of his life, the shooting, and the subsequent medical drama (featuring even a cameo by Alexander Graham Bell improvising a diagnostic device) are so epic you have to wonder if time travelers are messing with us.
His legacy was the nonpartisan professional civil service, a key part of his agenda that his successor felt obligated to carry out, an accomplishment that recently came under particularly heavy attack.
Netflix just came out with the miniseries about him, 'Death by Lightning,' based on the book 'Destiny of the Republic.' His earlier life is featured prominently in '1861: The Civil War Awakening' by Adam Goodheart. There are a few great C-SPAN/Book TV videos by some of the authors that tell the story concisely and convey why some of us are so fascinated by that history.
Netflix recently released a mini-series on Garfield's election and presidency: https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/245219-death-by-lightning.