9 Things Netflix’s ‘Death by Lightning’ Got Right & Wrong About the Assassination of President Garfield
Netflix’s Death by Lightning is a riveting four-episode limited series that dramatizes the real-life story of James A. Garfield (Michael Shannon), the 20th President of the United States, and his eventual assassination by Charles J. Guiteau (Matthew Macfadyen) through parallel stories.
From his unexpected rise to the presidency, his reform ambitions (especially civil-service reform), and his status as a “reluctant” leader, Garfield was assassinated only three months into his presidency by a conman who believed he was owed a position in his cabinet. During his rise to the presidency, he has to contend with a corrupt political machine led by Senator Roscoe Conkling (Shea Whigham), whose right-hand man, Chester Arthur (Nick Offerman) became his running mate.
Riveting, ambitious, and doing its darndest to resurrect the memory of a forgotten president, the miniseries is a well-told story with a few embellishments here and there. Here is what it got right (and wrong) in the storytelling.
Death by Lightning, Streaming Now, Netflix
Did Garfield really not want to be president?
True.
There is credible evidence that James A. Garfield truly did not want to become president of the United States and that his nomination in 1880 was more a product of circumstances and party dynamics than his personal ambition.
In the series, Garfield becomes the unexpected nominee after delivering a rousing speech on behalf of John Sherman, a moment that sways delegates only because the other Republican factions can’t unite behind their own candidates.
One biographer quotes Garfield: “This honor comes to me unsought. I have never had the Presidential fever; not even for a day.”
In his formal letter of acceptance, he stated: “I accept the nomination with gratitude for the confidence it implies, and with a deep sense of the responsibilities it imposes.”
Was Chester Arthur a political strongarm, both literally and figuratively, before he was VP?
False, at least regarding his physical bullying.
Chester Alan Arthur rose within the Republican machine in New York under U.S. Senator Roscoe Conkling. He became chairman of the New York City Republican Executive Committee in 1868, a role steeped in party discipline and machine politics.
However, there is no credible historical evidence that indicates that Chester A. Arthur ever physically beat people up in the sense of assaulting someone with violence. In fact, he was known as a bit of a dandy, sometimes called “Elegant Arthur” or the “Gentleman Boss” because of his love of fine clothes.
It is also worth mentioning that he was a capable and talented attorney in his heyday, specializing in civil rights and transportation law. As a young lawyer, Arthur successfully represented Elizabeth Jennings in an 1854 case against a New York streetcar company, winning damages and helping end racial segregation on the city’s public transit.
Did Guiteau really live in a free-love commune?
True. And he sued them!
Charles J. Guiteau actually joined a 19th-century “free-love” commune called the Oneida Community in upstate New York. The utopian religious society practiced “complex marriage,” meaning everyone was theoretically married to everyone else. So yes, it was absolutely a real free-love experiment. . . just not a successful one for Guiteau. Though he worshiped its founder John Humphrey Noyes, he was not highly regarded by the community. He ended up leaving in a huff and suing the community out of spite.
Guiteau claimed he was owed money by the Oneida Community. In one account, he demanded about $9,000 for six years of work.
Did doctors really save Guiteau's brain?
True. His brain and spleen were preserved.
After Guiteau was hanged on June 30, 1882, for assassinating James A. Garfield, an autopsy was performed. His body was later disinterred and sent to what became the National Museum of Health and Medicine, where his brain, along with his enlarged spleen, were preserved.
A portion of his remains is currently housed in the National Museum of Health and Medicine, while his brain is still on display at the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia.
Did Garfield have a Black doctor who tended to his gunshot wound?
True.
Charles B. Purvis was a Black doctor who was present at the train station in Washington, D.C., shortly after Garfield was wounded and took part in the doctoring efforts. In the show, his efforts to help President Garfield are undermined by Dr. Willard Bliss (Zeljko Ivanek) and his unhygienic methods.
Dr. Purvis was the first African-American physician to attend to a sitting president. He was also the first Black physician to head a hospital under civilian authority when he was surgeon-in-charge of the Freedmen’s Hospital and the first Black person to serve on the D. C. Board of Medical Examiners, as well as the second Black instructor at an American medical school. Purvis was also a leading activist in civil rights and universal suffrage movements.
Did Garfield's doctor really make things worse?
True.
The overwhelming consensus among historians and modern medical experts is that President James A. Garfield likely would have survived his gunshot wound if not for the medical treatment he received — particularly from Dr. Willard Bliss, whose hands-on (and very unsterile) approach turned a survivable injury into a fatal infection.
Charles Guiteau shot Garfield on July 2, 1881, but the bullet missed every vital organ. He should have survived — maybe with a limp, but very much alive. Modern forensic reconstructions confirm that Garfield likely would not have died had he received proper, sterile care instead of Dr. Bliss’ version of medical improv.
Did Guiteau really almost hit his sister with an axe by accident?
False. There is a slight chance it might have been intentional. At least his sister seemed to think so.
In the series, Guiteau is chopping wood during a fit of rage, and his sister Franny (Paula Malcomson) interrupts him at an inopportune time. He swings around and almost strikes his sister. But in actuality, his sister believed he was not in his right mind, and might have tried to hit her intentionally. Franny ran for her life.
Did Roscoe Conkling orchestrate his own political demise?
True.
In 1881, Conkling resigned his U.S. Senate seat (and encouraged his ally Thomas C. Platt (Andrew Hefler) to do the same) in protest over James A. Garfield’s appointment of a rival who challenged Conkling’s patronage control. Conkling hoped the New York State Legislature would re-elect him, thereby affirming his dominance.
Instead of being re-elected, Conkling lost the special election because the New York State Legislature refused to reward his attempt to strong-arm President Garfield and the Republican Party, which ended his Senate career and substantially weakened his political influence.
Did Conkling really have an affair with Kate Sprague?
Unconfirmed, but likely true.
In the series, Senator Conkling has a fairly open affair with Kate Chase Sprague (Tuppence Middleton), the wife of William Sprague IV. However, there is no definitive proof that Conkling had an illicit relationship with Kate, just a lot of hearsay. Historians often treat it as plausible but unconfirmed.
There is a story that her husband once confronted Conkling with a shotgun. And according to Salmon Chase biographer John Niven, “Whether [Kate’s second] child…was Sprague’s or had been conceived by another is a matter of speculation.”
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