United StatesWho was Chester A. Arthur?
Chester A. Arthur (1829-1886) was a New York lawyer who, as a young man, worked on cases for the rights of Black New Yorkers, then rose in Senator Roscoe Conkling's Republican machine to become collector of the Port of New York. President Hayes removed him from that post in 1878 as part of his civil service reform. Nominated for vice president in 1880 to balance the ticket, Arthur became president when Garfield died in September 1881. He surprised supporters and critics alike by signing the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, vetoing pork-barrel spending and seeking lower tariffs. He sought renomination in 1884 without success and died in 1886.
Political views
Signed the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883, which required competitive exams for a portion of federal jobs.
Source: millercenter.orgBacked a tariff commission's call for 20 to 25 percent reductions, breaking with Republican machine politicians and Eastern manufacturers.
Source: millercenter.orgVetoed the 1882 Rivers and Harbors Act as pork-barrel spending and argued the federal surplus should be cut by tax reductions.
Source: millercenter.orgVetoed a 20-year ban on Chinese immigration, then signed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, banning Chinese laborers for ten years and barring citizenship.
Source: millercenter.orgTook the first steps toward a modern steel navy and moved against corruption in the Navy Department.
Source: millercenter.orgSigned the Edmunds Act of 1882, which made polygamy a federal crime in the territories.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Legacy
Historians generally see Arthur as an unexpected reformer: a product of the spoils system who signed the law that began to dismantle it and who questioned his party's high-tariff orthodoxy. The Miller Center credits him with flexibility and a willingness to embrace reform, and with the beginnings of the modern navy. Critics point to his earlier role in the Conkling machine, where he collected political assessments from customs employees, and to the limits of the Pendleton Act, which at first covered only a minority of federal jobs. His signature on the Chinese Exclusion Act, the first federal law to bar a group from immigrating on the basis of nationality, is widely viewed today as a serious injustice. He is otherwise one of the less remembered presidents.