The Deadly Story of the U.S. Civil Service
April 24, 2025
49 min
339
Full
347 of 440
Episode 339 · April 24, 2025
The Deadly Story of the U.S. Civil Service
0:00 / 49:31
Excerpt playback isn’t available for this episode — use the full-episode link.
Search the Record
Moment search isn’t open for this episode yet
When it opens, you’ll be able to type any phrase and jump straight to the second it was said.
NPR Podcasts Episodes Around April 24, 2025
Episode 347 of 440 — walk the feed in the order it was published.
49:31This episodeThe Deadly Story of the U.S. Civil Service
Summary
When James Garfield won the Presidency in 1880, Charles Guiteau got ready to accept his new government job. No one had actually <em>offered</em> him a job – but he'd campaigned for Garfield, so he assumed he'd be rewarded. That was the spoils system, and it was how the government worked.<br /><br />But President Garfield didn't hire him. Guiteau was furious. And on July 2, 1881, he followed Garfield to a Washington D.C. train station and shot him.<br /><br />Today on the show: how an assassination meant to restore the spoils system instead led to its end, and birthed the modern federal workforce.<br /><br />See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.<br /><br /><a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy">NPR Privacy Policy</a>
Episode details and artwork are published by the show’s own feed. Sentinel plays short cited excerpts and links every episode back to its publisher.