The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
‘James A. Garfield Day’ designated
State Reps. Troy, Callender thank colleagues, call legislation ‘long overdue’
State Reps. Daniel Troy, D-Willowick, and Jamie Callender, R-Concord Township, recently announced that House Bill 61, to designate Nov. 19 as “James A. Garfield Day,” has been passed by the Ohio Senate 31-0.
The Ohio House of Representatives unanimously passed the measure on May 24.
“At the request of National Park Service officials at the James A. Garfield National Historic Site in my district, I was asked to introduce this legislation,” Troy said. “James A. Garfield was a true son of Northeast Ohio who rose to the highest office in our nation. He had such promise, as someone who knew how to compromise and reach common ground on the important issues of his day. He was passionate in his efforts to end the spoils system and its blatant political patronage practices.
“Unfortunately, President Garfield became our second president to expire from an assassin’s bullet….sadly, his great promise was not realized,” he added. “I think it’s fitting that we formally declare November 19th (Garfield’s birthday) as James A. Garfield Day in Ohio.”
A native Ohioan, Garfield had a wide-ranging career, including serving as the president of the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute, now known as Hiram College.
He also served as an ordained minister,
attorney, and officer in the Union Army, in addition to being a nine-term congressman and U.S. senator.
Elected to the presidency in 1880, Garfield was shot twice at the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station in Washington, D.C., on July 2, 1881, and died 79 days later on Sept. 19 in New Elberon, New Jersey.
Garfield’s widow, Lucretia, is credited with creating the first presidential
library when she built an extension onto the family home in Mentor and filled the shelves with the president’s writings from both before and during his time in office.
Expressing gratitude to his colleagues in the Senate, Callender said the recognition of Garfield’s achievements, “not only as one of Ohio’s finest sons, but as an educator, public servant, and legislator,” is long overdue.
Gov. Mike DeWine signed House Bill 61 into bill, officials noted, on Oct. 12.