The unexpected president The life and times of Chester A. Arthur

Presidents assume they will live to complete the terms to which they have been elected, so much so that they often give little thought to their vice-presidential choice. Vice-presidents have little to do but preside over the Senate; however, one may occasionally pick up an extra assignment at the president's request. Journalist Greenberger (coauthor with Tom Daschle and Jeanne Lambrew, Critical: What We Can Do about the Health-Care Crisis, 2009) reminds readers of the importance of the choice for this office by offering a biography of Chester A. Arthur, who came to be president unexpectedly upon the death of James A. Garfield in 1881. No political novice, New Yorker Arthur had been part of Roscoe Conkling's patronage-ridden political machine. He shed this relationship over time in office, with Greenberger asserting that this alteration of conscience was partially the result of letters Arthur received from a young woman, Julia Sands, who urged Arthur to be moral and exemplary. Much to his credit, he took Ms. Sands's advice. Dated but helpful is Thomas C. Reeves's Gentleman Boss: The Life of Chester Alan Arthur (rev. ed., 1991.) Summing Up: Recommended. All levels/libraries. --Paul D. Travis, Texas Woman's University