29 December 2021 AMBUSHED: THE ASSASSINATION PLOT AGAINST PRESIDENT GARFIELD by Gail Jarrow, Calkins Creek, October 2021, 240p., ISBN: 978-1-68437-814-2

“Did you pay the other man with the piece in your hand

And leave him lying in the rain”

– Steely Dan, “With a Gun” (1974)

“Garfield’s wound continued discharging ‘healthy pus’ through a drainage tube, which the Bliss team interpreted as a sign of healing. Today, a physician would recognize that fever and a pus-producing wound pointed to a serious infection.”

140 years ago, President John Garfield was shot by a delusional wacko. Over the 140 years since then, medical care has evolved from the dark ages to the miracles of modern medicine.  Imagine if your doctor came in to treat you after sweeping the floor, changing a tire, or using the restroom and then started poking their fingers into your body without first washing his or her hands. The medical procedures deployed in support of saving President Garfield’s life, and the lack of rudimentary sanitation that is detailed in this jaw-dropping, stomach-churning read, will have both young and old readers appreciating that they live in a far more enlightened world. (Well, enlightened except for the anti-vaxxers, I suppose.)

Back when I studied child development, and began working with little kids, I learned in a hurry that it’s essential to constantly wash your hands. Otherwise, you end up sick.

Gail Jarrow combines a compelling true story with a rich collection of related illustrations and sidebars. The result is a high-interest tale that will seriously gross you out. AMBUSHED will readily grab the attention of ten- to fourteen-year-old readers.

“As Garfield’s progress slowed, and especially after his distressing relapse, the doctors began to consider removing the bullet in order to save his life. But precisely where was it? They hadn’t found it with their probes. Was there a way to pinpoint its location so that they could make an incision directly above that spot?

The public offered solutions for dealing with the bullet. One idea involved turning the president upside down for several hours and allowing gravity to pull the bullet toward the entry hole, where it could be easily lifted out. Another suggestion was to attach one end of a rubber tube to an air pump while sticking the other end into the wound until it reached the bullet. By turning on the pump, the bullet could be sucked out.”

As we know, things didn’t go well and Garfield died from infection. As a result of the press coverage, there was a surge in public awareness of germ theory. Another reform involved the “spoils system” in politics being largely replaced by the Civil Service Commission. 

Unfortunately, it would take yet another presidential assassination before the U.S. Secret Service would be tasked with its highest-profile job: protecting presidents from the now one-in-three Americans who own a gun.

Richie Partington, MLIS

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