PRESIDENTS DAYBorn: October 5, 1830 at Fairfield, Vermont. Education: Graduated from Union College at Schenectady, New York. Occupation: Lawyer, served with New York Militia in Civil War, held political posts in Army. Religion: Episcopalian. Family life: Married Ellen Herndon in 1859; they had two sons and a daughter. She died of pneumonia on January 12, 1880. Political career: Active in New York Republican party. Nominated for vice-president in 1880 to please pro-Grant wing of Republican party. Became president upon Garfield's death. Supported civil service reform and lost support of party leaders; not renominated in 1884. Highlights of his presidency: Recommended Civil Service Reform Act of 1883. Vetoed a Chinese Exclusion Bill, but he was overridden. Organized the Alaska territory. Appearance: Dignified, tall, and handsome, with clean-shaven chin and side-whiskers, Chester A. Arthur "looked like a President." Died: November 18, 1886 in New York, New York. Buried: Rural Cemetery in what is no longer a rural part of Albany, New York. Abraham Lincoln * Calvin Coolidge * Thomas Jefferson * Andrew Johnson Herbert Hoover * James Madison * Ulysses S. Grant * Franklin D. Roosevelt James Monroe * Rutherford B. Hayes * Harry S Truman John Quincy Adams * James A. Garfield * Dwight D. Eisenhower * Andrew Jackson Chester A. Arthur * John F. Kennedy * Martin Van Buren * Grover Cleveland Lyndon B. Johnson * William Henry Harrison * Benjamin Harrison * Richard M. Nixon John Tyler * Grover Cleveland * Gerald Ford * James K. Polk * William McKinley James E. Carter * Zachary Taylor * Theodore Roosevelt * Ronald W. Reagan Millard Fillmore * William Howard Taft * George Bush * Franklin Pierce Woodrow Wilson * William J. Clinton |