[Conkling] America is faced with a peril like never before.
[forceful, resolute music playing]
It's time for the true patriots to reveal themselves.
Take action.
Today,
we bring a reckoning.
I can no longer stay quiet about the dire state of affairs in Washington.
As vice president,
having sworn an oath to safeguard our republic,
I can't sit back and allow…
A tyrant!
A corrupted autocrat in sheep's clothes,
hell-bent on mining power from the states to stoke his own radical agenda.
[Arthur] It's tough to admit.
He's my president,
but Garfield has just not been square with those who put him where he is today.
Not a shred of loyalty.
Merely… broken promises.
-"Broken promises." -[Arthur] Broken promises.
Have you seen him lately? Has any of you?
Attribute me directly. Fuck it.
The president now dodges the American people altogether,
issuing blanket decrees from the closed doors
of his big White House.
[laughs]
Can you imagine?
For a few months, I actually got to be vice president.
[Conkling] I call on every honest, God-fearing citizen
to make their voices heard,
to march up to Pennsylvania Avenue
and demand that their so-called president honor his commitments.
Send him a message.
Loud and clear.
The people will not be ignored!
[music builds]
[opening theme music playing]
♪ I'll be glad when you're dead You, rascal, you ♪
[Levi] This is just about the ports!
Let New York keep its damn collector!
Conkling will call off his dogs.
He's too powerful an enemy.
He will grind regular government to a halt
until you rescind that nomination, sir.
You are some of the most powerful men in Congress!
Conkling casts one look and--
You're fomenting the discord.
You're the one that is tearing this party apart
on account of, I don't know, some petty vendetta that you have!
You're inviting me to knock the teeth out of your mouth…
Really? Violence?!
That's what you think is going to be the solution?
[clamoring]
[Blaine] Gentlemen, we have work to do! To do your jobs!
Gentlemen, calm yourselves this instant!
Or I will expel you from this building for good!
That includes you, Mr. Secretary.
[silence]
Now,
I made a vow to end the rot in our government.
Spoils, patronage, call it what you want.
It's no good.
Do-nothings siphoning taxpayer money for jobs that don't even exist!
Elected officials brazenly peddling their influence at auction.
This is not how democracy endures.
This is wrong.
And all of us know it.
This is our fight.
One day, years from now,
each one of us will be judged by what we do in this moment.
How will they talk about us, I wonder.
Hm.
Suspend all other points of order in the Senate
until Judge Robertson is heard for the collector's post.
[Levi] What?
Wait, can-- can he do that?
My mind is settled. It will not budge. I have to see my wife.
-Good day. -[Levi] No, wait! Mr. President!
Mr. President, could--
Weren't you idiots supposed to be a committee of conciliation?
The tide yawed a different way.
Gee, did it?
Then allow me to yaw it back for you.
Any senator that votes to proceed with Garfield's man,
that vote will be his last.
Have you considered
that the body might perhaps be swayed more by compassion than by threats?
Your voice makes me want to hang myself, Levi.
-How's that for compassion? -[exhales]
Out!
Okay, come on, let's go.
[door opens]
[door closes]
The seams are starting to show.
What do you feel?
You've got more horse sense than any of them.
Can a collectorship really be so important?
Is it worth expending all your capital on one front?
It's the ports. It's patronage. I have no legacy save for this.
No, you are loved.
Don't you know you're the most popular man in all of New York?
Patronage or no?
Street vendors on every corner tumble over themselves
just to shake your hand.
Parents name their children after you purely out of admiration.
It could all go away in a heartbeat.
You've got too low an opinion of other people,
what moves them.
A good leader
knows when to fight wars and when to bring peace.
You know, Mrs. Sprague…
I might truly be lost without you.
Which is why…
I ended things with the governor
earlier today.
I'm ready.
I don't want to live my whole life in the shadows.
No.
Your husband will blame me for this.
He'll come after me in the press
at a time I need every bit of support.
[pensive music playing]
[chuckles]
Is that all you can think about?
Kate, I have a family back in Albany.
Julia and our daughter.
We've hardly been shy.
The entirety of D.C. already knows about us.
Sure, sure.
That won't play in Albany.
[cheerful waltz playing]
[loud crunch]
You want me to give up my Senate seat?
Both of us must resign, Tom.
I like being a senator, though.
Relax.
It's temporary.
A show of protest to cuckold the fucker at the other end of the avenue.
But with our vacant seats,
the Democrats get a majority in the Senate, we lose control.
For a few weeks, sure.
During which, chaos reigns the day.
We sit back and watch as Garfield sees his whole agenda sacked and pillaged.
That is, until our friends from New York
elect us right back to our old seats by a unanimous vote.
We waltz back into the Senate triumphant with a potent new mandate
and a feckless fucking president flinging himself at our feet, Tom.
Remind Garfield he can't so much as shit without New York's say-so.
[waltz ends]
[solemn organ music playing]
[priest] First Corinthians, 15:42.
"The body that is sown is perishable."
"It is raised imperishable."
"Now I declare to you, brothers and sisters,
flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God."
[ominous music plays]
"We will not sleep, but we will be changed."
"In a flash, the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet."
"For the trumpet will sound,
and the dead, they will be raised."
[tense music creeping in]
[priest] "O grave, where is thy victory?"
"O death, where is thy sting?"
"The sting of death is sin,
and in the power of sin we find law--"
What know ye of Christ?!
[murmuring]
This city gets stranger by the day.
Hm.
[murmuring continues]
Garfield!
Garfield, I need to speak with you. It will not wait a moment longer.
Certainly.
Do you mind if I do a bit of light packing while we chat?
I'm running dreadfully late as it stands. [chuckles]
You're taking off early?
I'm bringing Crete up to Monmouth to continue her recovery there.
Dr. Edson's advised a gentler air.
Mm.
Shore's good for that.
Mm-hm.
Brought Nellie there when she got sick.
I'm sorry, Chester. All this time, I've never asked you about her.
It's a funny thing.
Even among my closest friends, the topic of my late wife seldom comes up, so…
Mm.
No matter! It's not why I've come here today.
-Please. -No, no, no.
If it's all the same…
Surely you've read the papers.
You know that I spoke against you.
That sounds familiar, yes.
Does it?
Good.
Thusly, I…
submit my resignation as vice president.
Thank you.
I don't accept it.
-What? -I'm not going to take your resignation.
Not yet, anyway.
I'd really like it if you'd give the job one more go.
Hang on. Uh, no, you must not grasp…
-[chuckles] -[chuckling] I was openly disloyal.
I-- I called you all sorts of names in the press.
Then I hope you'll come to me first next time
prior to airing your concerns with the public.
I feel it my duty to explain to you that you really ought to fire me.
I'm a truly bad vice president.
Not always.
You didn't reject my other nominees on the Senate floor
when you had the chance to do so.
I didn't approve them in, either.
I didn't even show up to the Capitol!
Eh, sure, but that's not nothing, is it?
Our politics are not the same!
I'm aligned with Conkling.
In two days' time, I'll go to Albany to ensure his and Platt's re-elections.
Well, you must do what you feel is right.
[exhales]
I don't see your game in this!
For some reason, it eludes me!
There's no game.
You've made your views perfectly well-known.
As your leader at present,
I feel it's incumbent upon me to change them.
They'll not change!
They will not evolve!
They're fixed! For good!
Don't be a stranger, Mr. Arthur. My door is always open to you.
Fuck!
Finally! You canned the prick.
[Garfield] No.
I'm gonna give him another try.
Another try? He's the worst vice president in history.
Perhaps, but I feel there's some good in him, deep down.
[scoffs]
[Garfield] That, and he's the only one who knows
where the lion's share of our federal revenue is buried.
Yeah, it would be nice to see that again.
Wouldn't it?
[giggling]
[Garfield chuckling] Wow. When'd those two get so chummy?
[indistinct chatter]
What? Really?
-[both chuckling] -Oh, my.
You've been preoccupied.
When was the last time you got any sleep?
[sighs]
I don't know what I'm meant to do. Conkling is just…
too damn powerful.
[Crete sighs]
He bought every man in Albany his seat.
This vote is nothing but a big charade.
He'll be back on the Senate floor within days, him and Tom Platt.
They'll demand my head on a pike.
Probably.
Perhaps I can't… change anything.
I mean, what if I put my nominees, good, honest men, in harm's way?
I've gambled them off on a war I can't possibly win.
They will still see that there was one man who fought anyway for what was right.
And lost his presidency at that.
Then it's a good thing that you never wanted to be the president.
[chuckling]
Give it.
Mollie can take me up to Monmouth alone.
You need to stay here in Washington
and show them you will not run from the battle.
If you think I'd abandon my wife--
She will survive one week.
You come to me when this is finished.
[Garfield] Mm.
["A Life on the Ocean Wave" by Henry Russell playing]
[politician] Roscoe, it's a pleasure having you home.
Pleasure's all mine. William, thank you for that banner.
[William] Of course.
Upstate yokel fucks. They know who butters their bread.
[men chuckling]
[Arthur chuckles]
-What? What are you laughing at? -What, you didn't hear about Tom?
He's all anybody's talking about.
Why? He's duller than a bag of hay.
Word on the street is last night at Delavan House
some of our half-breed rivals caught Platt in flagrante.
You've been a naughty, naughty boy, Thomas.
-Some gal ought to teach you a lesson. -[winding mechanism]
[breathing heavily]
-[mechanism clicks] -[grunts]
-[banging on window] -[grunts]
-[muffled gasp] -[laughing]
[grunting]
[crowd laughing]
[chuckling]
I did not think Tom had it in him.
Well, I guess you never can tell with some men.
Cut him.
What?
He couldn't keep his cock in his pants for one night.
Now the whole delegation's openly mocking him.
Come on. It's just harmless fun.
He's a clown to them now.
A clown and a cheater.
Men like that don't get voted back into the Senate.
Either we cut ties, or the weight of him will drag us all under, Chester.
We have known Tom for 20 years.
I'm godfather to his kids.
He has always stood for us, and he is our friend.
You know better than anyone there isn't any such thing in politics.
Now, we'll do it quietly. Swap him off the ticket.
Replace his name with that of some other party loyal.
Can it really be as simple as that?
Murtha!
You want to move to D.C.?
I, uh… Well, the cherry blossoms--
Stupendous. Then it's settled.
Willie, my boy, welcome to the big leagues.
Now fuck off.
Whatever it takes. That's our law.
So, what's the good word, big man?
Chester? Is there something the matter?
Let's have a walk, Tom.
Just me and you.
Good evening, Father.
It's been a long time since my last confession,
but I have something to ask the Lord.
[priest] He listens always.
Speak freely.
[trembling breath]
I have been charged, you see,
with a great and terrible task.
And I know it must be done and that I am the man to carry it out.
There is no other who will.
But… [shuddering breaths]
[somber music playing]
But I'm-- I'm scared, Father.
I feel an evil
that pervades our earth.
I-- I-- I see it.
I see it proliferate day by day and infect the souls of other men,
and I fear that if left unchecked,
it will-- it will plunge us into a second great war.
But what is one life
when weighed against hundreds of thousands of others that may die if I do not act?
If I'm too weak?
[somber music continues]
It is God that grants me purpose.
[official] Gentlemen, last call for votes.
I mean, they sure are taking their sweet time.
[Conkling] I'd milk it too if I were them.
It's not often a band of Podunk state senators
gets to hold the nation's fate in their hands.
It's adorable.
The legislators' wives, I presume?
They show their faces before every big vote.
[intriguing music playing]
Julia.
Oh, shit.
[intriguing music heightens]
Stop the vote.
Stop the vote! Stop the vote!
Stop the vote!
[gavel banging]
The vote's already been rendered, Mr. Conkling.
[official clears his throat]
[exhales]
[official] The final combined tally.
Thirty-four for Senator Roscoe Conkling,
and 50 for Chauncey Depew.
-[gavel bangs] -[applause]
[laughs]
[telegraph tapping]
[intriguing music builds]
[Blaine] What is it?
[suspenseful music playing]
Son of a bitch.
Mm-hm.
Glory be!
[band launches into a hasty march]
-[band stops] -Shut up!
Put our nominees up for a floor vote, every single man!
Do it now!
[lively music playing]
[Garfield] My darling Crete…
I dare say, somehow, we live to fight another day.
It appears Conkling's invited himself straight out of the Senate.
His and Tom Platt's seats now belong to us.
Chauncey Depew for New York.
[Lapham] Elbridge Lapham for New York.
What happens now, Mr. Arthur?
We just lost our fucking collector.
William H. Robertson.
[Garfield] Time for us to confirm our men,
put them to work,
forge ahead on the agenda we swore to the people.
Conkling's chokehold over this country is finally at a close.
My heart is light for the first time since we left Ohio.
[yelling cheerfully]
Trust that the boys have been keeping me on my toes.
I'm counting down the hours till we're together again.
Always the same, and forever your own, Jim.
All my life I've had to hold my tongue and notch my wins discreetly.
I played the long game just to get my name on a piece of paper.
One they won't be able to deny.
Now…
every dollar bill printed in America will have a Black man's signature on it.
It's not everything.
But it is something.
[Garfield] Oh, dear.
We've been fielding inquiries from every newspaper in the country.
They all want to know how you did it.
Did what?
[Joe] How you won.
How you single-handedly dismantled
the most powerful force in all of politics.
You're a hero, sir.
How? Nothing's been done yet.
Three months in office, nearly a hundred days,
I haven't passed a single bill.
My only focus was on some petty partisan feud.
Sir, if you can outplay Roscoe Conkling…
There was no play, Joe.
Make no mistake, we got lucky this time.
Very lucky.
But for so long as America should stand,
there will always be more Roscoe Conklings.
-Now go enjoy a few days off. -[Joe chuckles]
Because after that,
the real work starts.
-I look forward to it. -I'm proud of you, Joe.
You're where you ought to be.
[chuckles]
[Garfield] Well, hopefully you'll enjoy the fireworks this weekend with your wife.
[Blaine] I shall be occupied toasting Conkling's demise.
[Garfield] Harriet changed the locks again?
[Blaine laughs] You bet.
Robert, you're Secretary of War now. You--
[sudden bang echoes]
[uneasy music rises beneath the silence]
Dad?
[uneasy music rising]
-[gunshot echoes] -[screams and gasps ripple through crowd]
Stop him!
Stop that man!
That's him!
[panicked murmuring spreads]
He shot Garfield!
[man] Get him!
-He shot him! -[outraged exclamations]
-Grab him! -Right there!
Get back!
I did it! I did it!
Take me to jail!
Now Chester Arthur will be president!
The Republic is saved!
-[man 1] Take him away! -[man 2] Take that man!
[Blaine] Move back! Move! Move!
Move, move!
-[Joe] Keep them back! -For God's sake, give him some air!
-Move back. Move. -[Garfield mumbles]
[retches]
Water. Water!
-Whoa, whoa, whoa. -I'm a doctor, Charles Purvis.
-Chief Surgeon at the Freedman's Hospital. -Then go tend to your freed men.
This is the president of the United States.
He won't be for much longer if you don't get the hell out of my way.
[Garfield groans]
-Sorry, Mr. President. -[groans]
[Garfield groans loudly]
[grunts]
[groaning]
[Garfield groans in pain]
The bullet hasn't left his body.
[Garfield groans]
I think you'd better telegraph Crete.
[horse whinnying]
You have them put me in a cell with a view of the park.
When this is all over, I'll have Arthur name you chief of police.
Oh! You'll want this, no doubt.
-Jesus Christ. -[chuckles]
It's quite something, isn't it?
My little pistol changed the course of history.
[Blaine] Here!
Sarah, have one of the men boil some water from downstairs
to fix in place on the lower extremities.
[Sarah] We need boiled water, quickly.
[door closes]
Freedman's Hospital, you say?
That's right, sir.
Hold this, please.
And before then, at Camp Barker, during the war…
[grunts in pain]
I believe I… passed through Barker once.
Yes, Mr. President. I remember.
[chuckles weakly]
What are my chances, you think?
They're not good.
I'd put you at a one in a hundred.
[breathing heavily]
Well, then we'll take that chance and make good use of it.
[murmuring]
Gentlemen,
I believe it possible,
but if he's to have any hope,
the offending bullet must be removed.
You will have the entire services of our nation at your disposal.
I require only a probe and scalpel.
[raw grunt of pain]
It's okay, sir.
[Garfield grunts]
We'll fix you up.
It would appear our bullet slid on past the first lumbar vertebra…
[wet squelching]
…and has lodged itself further.
[muffled inhale]
[dazed moan]
[Dr. Bliss] Close now, I sense.
Hm.
[Garfield groans]
-[groans] -[Dr. Bliss grunts]
-Doctor? -Thank you.
I need absolute silence.
[Garfield groans]
[wet squelching]
[guttural cry]
It's all right. Loss of consciousness is to be expected.
Lacerated tissue or relatively firm coagula.
Probably the latter.
Sir, this probe is damaging your patient,
and your equipment is not properly sanitized.
[Dr. Bliss] It's a critical moment.
-We can't waste time. -Forgive me, sir.
Have you heard of the new research coming out of Europe on antisepsis?
We are not in Europe!
Doctor Purvis, invisible monsters are a thing of superstition, not science.
The methods you question today
are the very same which saved thousands of lives in the war.
They are tested and true.
Simply, they work.
[faint sustained note lingers]
[grunt]
Now, sir,
do I have your permit to continue with my examination?
[solemn, somber music playing]
-Do you think he-- -No.
I would know.
[solemn music continues]
[Arthur] They think we're murderers.
This whole country.
This killer says he did it in my name, that… I'm a friend of his.
We're to blame.
Will you shut the fuck up?
Some poor jackass from off the street figured he'd make a name for himself.
The inquiry will run its course. We'll be clear.
Our president was shot down today like a stray fucking dog.
[Conkling] And he'll surely fucking die.
He may be dead even now, for all we know,
which will, in turn, trigger the process of succession.
What?
Don't tell me you haven't been thinking it.
-Wrangling over a couple of Senate seats. -No, don't say it.
We can rebuild what we had back in New York
on a national scale, Arthur.
No.
-I'll refuse the job outright. -[laughs]
I am not fit to be a president!
The beauty of America, my friend.
After everything we've been through,
are you so dense you can't grasp that we've just been gifted
the biggest windfall in the history of the country?
[tapping]
Stop the cab!
What the hell's the matter with you today?
To be frank, I'm not totally sure.
But I have a strong compulsion not to ride with you for a moment longer.
So… so what? Your plan is to hoof it all the way back to Washington instead?
Sometimes a man's just gotta walk.
-Jesus. -[bangs on carriage]
It's nearly 100 degrees out there, Arthur.
Your heart will give out within a mile.
Quit being a shit, get back in the goddamn carriage.
You're going to hurt my feelings, Chester.
Well,
then it's good there's no such thing as friends in politics.
You son of a bitch.
-You son of a bitch. -[bangs on carriage]
Don't you turn your back on me!
After everything I've done for you!
I fucking made you!
[decisive music playing]
Arthur!
Art--
[music swells]
[music turns languid]
-[Garfield] Oh, you're here. Thank God. -You stay down. Do not exert yourself.
Is it bad? Are you in a lot of pain?
Oh, the upper deck still functions, my dear.
It's only the hull that's been damaged.
[Joe] No major organs were hit.
Dr. Bliss says that he's nearly isolated the bullet's position, so once it's out…
We'll be in good shape.
Okay. And where are the boys?
They haven't been told yet.
-We'll see to them. -[Crete] All right.
[Joe] It's okay.
What am I going to do with you? [chuckles] I mean, I leave you alone for one week.
Mm.
There is no time.
We have to make arrangements.
No.
I don't accept that.
[voice breaking] I f-- I feel it everywhere.
I'm here now, and I'm going to bring you back to life.
[cries]
[Crete] Fight. You are going to fight.
-You do not speak to me of death again. -[Garfield cries]
[crowd clamoring]
[clamoring continues]
Hang him!
[brooding music playing]
[clamoring continues]
[crowd clamoring] Guiteau!
What would compel this devil Guiteau to go out and buy a gun?
You can't parse a deranged mind.
-Can he be in league with Conkling? -[Blaine] No.
Conkling may well have created the climate for a Guiteau,
but he did not facilitate this.
I can't help it. I know it's not right, but I want every one of them
to pay for what they did.
[Blaine] Here's your first victim.
Mrs. Garfield. [panting]
Lord, help me, ma'am. I traveled through the night.
Good God.
You reek of cow dung.
[exhales]
That makes sense.
I hitched a ride to D.C. in the back of a farm cart.
How's the president? Does he live?
He does. He's resting.
Thank Christ. [crying] Thank the Lord.
-Mr. Arthur. -[Arthur] I don't want it.
I didn't want any of it. It was ambition. It was--
Chester, pull yourself together.
You're vice president of the United States.
Fuck if I am.
I quit it all.
What are you talking about? The American people are afraid.
They are looking to us. They are looking to you, Chester.
Curse me!
I can't do it. I'm not fit!
This president put his faith in me, and I shanked him at every turn!
Lord, God, strike me down!
I am naught but a low-down, dirty pig!
You read me now, Chester Arthur, and you read me fucking well!
Great emergencies can rouse, shall we say, generous and long-dormant traits in men.
If there was even a shred of real nobility in you,
I think now is the time to let it shine.
[trembling cries]
So what will you do, Chester?
Will you resign like a coward in disgrace, or will you step up and reform?
Reform.
Reform, ma'am.
I'll change my ways.
You have my solemn oath.
I will change my ways.
[Crete] Good.
[exhales]
[twisting music playing]
Remember, that's a $25 royalty for all newspaper use.
Though I will give discounts to the local outlets.
Or will I?
[laughs]
[flash pops loudly]
I want to reaffirm that I bear no ill will towards the president.
It was…
It was an unfortunate political necessity.
My aim was to unite the party once and for all,
and to save the Republic.
Yes, I shot him, as I would a rebel pulling down a flag.
How many hundreds of thousands were sacrificed over the course of the war,
and to what end?
To protect our greatest of nations.
I sacrificed only one, to that same end.
Though I leave my justification to God and the American people.
Oh, and for added context, look no further than my diary, The Truth,
um, soon to be available wherever books are sold.
[chuckles]
[ice water drips beneath clanking machinery]
[Crete clears her throat]
Mm!
[chuckles]
-Let's give it a go. -[Crete] Ready?
Here we are.
[soft chuckle]
[weak swallow]
[coughs]
[chokes]
-All right, all right, all right. -[retching]
-It's okay. -[spits]
Okay. All right, it's all right.
-We're going to try again tomorrow. -[groans weakly]
He's growing weaker by the day.
It's the constant battery of well-wishers. They're placing strain on him.
We need the wing locked down outside of the immediate family.
When the president talks, he makes use of his diaphragm,
which will in turn agitate the liver, pushing the bullet,
impaling it deeper in.
He's breathing. Won't breathing cause the diaphragm to move just as well?
You're right, but breathing's gentle.
Talking is violent.
-[wet squelching] -[Garfield groans]
[groans]
[Garfield grunts]
[breathing heavily]
Healthy stream of pus.
I've been writing to Chester Arthur.
And he's not at all like Garfield.
He knows who his friends are,
and who, who more stalwart than I
that lifted him from… from a cipher to a president.
Charlie--
And very soon, uh, the public will be reading my book.
Your book?
The Truth.
It lays out my thinking in words that'll move
even the most fervent deniers,
and I've already had a dozen publishers ask for rights,
and I'm just-- I'm playing them off, one against the other.
You're speaking about this like it's some kind of game, Charlie.
Yes, it is!
Well, it is. That's exactly what it is. It's a big game, with winners and losers.
For once, Franny, for once in my fucking life, I am the winner.
And, of course, everything now will be different
because I have name recognition to spare to launch my syndicate,
The Daily Theocrat.
I did it, Fran.
-I did it for us. -[Franny sighs]
-Look. -[papers rustle]
Look at this.
These people are writing to me every day,
offering me support and-- and pledging money.
Franny, I was so scared, I thought I was alone!
But they're here! They were always here!
And now, they're coming out in droves!
Because I gave them something to believe in.
-I have to go. -Huh?
Oh.
-Fran? -[tapping on door]
-[Franny] Guard? -[Guiteau] Franny?
[Franny] Guard!
[door unlocks and creaks open]
[dramatic music playing]
[crying]
[door slams shut, then locks]
Thank you for coming on such short notice, Professor Graham Bell.
It's just Bell, Mr. Brown.
If you could show us to the president, we may yet be able to save his life.
The induction balance.
Designed to detect traces of metal in a system
by means of an electric current.
-Tainter, cue the power source. -[Tainter] Yes, Professor Bell.
[soft crackle]
[Dr. Bliss] We know the bullet's made a home
somewhere in his right side.
-Mr. President, if you'd be so kind. -[Garfield grunts] Okay.
-[grunts] -[Arthur] I got you. I got you.
-Don't you worry, sir. -[Garfield groans loudly]
Steady down.
[grunt]
I will require absolute silence, please.
[rapid clicking from device]
What's happening? What are you hearing?
Something's not right.
In success, it's meant to tick, but this isn't--
It's gone haywire with excitement.
[Garfield groans]
No, no.
The bullet's here.
Right where we always knew it to be.
-By the liver. -[Bell] Doctor--
I can hear it perfectly.
Is it meant to sound like a sputtering?
-[cries in pain] -Tainter, shut off the power.
No, no, no, no. Nearly there.
-I just need-- -[screams in agony]
I don't think he can take much more.
-I'm not going to lose him. -[Garfield grunts]
-Doctor! -Someone hold the patient still!
-Dr. Bliss, stop this right now. -I am the ranking physician here!
Drop that scalpel!
Or I'll drive it through your fucking eyehole.
[Garfield grunts weakly]
[grunting]
[Garfield] What is it, dear?
It's metal.
The bed, it's made of springs, so it might have interfered with--
-We can still-- -[Garfield] No.
But the bullet isn't the culprit, my dear.
There's something else in me now.
I'm not going to be able to…
I want you to know how proud you've made us,
me and your mother.
[cries]
I honestly don't know what I'm supposed to do without you.
[Garfield, softly] Dear…
you don't need me.
Mark my words.
You, my brilliant, beautiful daughter,
are going to be great.
[poignant music playing]
[knocking on door]
[Dr. Bliss] What's this about the president leaving Washington today?
He's asked to be by the ocean to resume his trip up to Monmouth.
No. As his surgeon, I must refuse.
I have watched my husband preyed upon and picked apart.
And I think I'm done.
And he is done.
We are days away from finding the bullet.
I would advise you to choose your next words very carefully, Dr. Bliss.
I think that's enough.
[elegiac music playing]
[grunts softly]
I don't even know where to begin.
[Garfield] You will.
I believe in you.
When you see the way, you'll know.
[hooves clop slowly]
[elegiac music swells]
[elegiac music soaring]
[Garfield, weakly] As a boy, I dreamed of the ocean.
Sailing to parts unknown like some sort of Crusoe.
[Crete] Awfully ambitious dream for a boy that never learned to swim.
[chuckles softly] Well, my head's always been a bit big for my station.
Well…
Why did I give that speech in Chicago?
I knew what I was doing
when I walked up to that podium.
I wanted them to know me.
You gave the speech because what you had in your heart
could not be contained to Ohio.
Do you think my name will have some place in human history?
Yes, a grand one.
Mm.
[Crete] But a grander place still in human hearts.
[sniffles]
[solo violin mourns gently]
It's all right.
[Garfield breathing slow and thin]
I will be right here with you all night long.
[Garfield grunts weakly]
[sorrowful violin continues gently]
[knocking on door]
[sorrowful music soaring]
May the Lord carry him home.
Amen.
Note that the shot migrated left,
tucked neatly behind the pancreas.
[soft click]
It would seem the shot interrupted not one of the president's organs,
that the wound healed on its own.
What could have killed him then?
Septic poisoning.
Evidenced by the abscesses throughout the body.
Infection.
I don't understand.
Do you mean he would have recovered naturally
if the bullet had been left alone?
I…
I think we may have made a mistake.
[Conkling] I heard Arthur asked you to stay on.
[Blaine] Mm-hm.
Can you imagine?
All the years we spent working for it.
Job's handed to that fat fuck.
He's… He's come a long way.
Truly.
In time, he-- he may even make a good president.
[laughs]
-I believe it. -[chuckling]
I'm not sure he can win in '84, though.
You really are one craven bastard.
So you won't be joining my ticket, then?
[both chuckling]
[Conkling] That son of a bitch.
He stole my ports and…
he killed my whole career.
May we see his like again one day.
[somber music playing]
[Guiteau] Fran?
Franny?
[exclaims] Oh! I knew you'd come.
[Crete] I lied to my family.
Told them I was seeing to affairs in New York.
Nobody knows I'm here aside from the warden.
But I… could not let you go.
I had to meet you first.
Well, we have met before, Mrs. Garfield.
We spoke at the ball at your husband's inauguration.
You struck me as kind, and I pray for all your family--
If you think I welcome prayer from you, you are fiercely mistaken.
I'm not here to give you absolution.
I think about the last question he ever asked me the day he died.
He said, "Do you figure my name might have some place in history?"
That question has some merit in it.
And I said history would remember him grandly.
But it felt…
so strange coming out of my mouth because I…
I didn't believe it.
My last words to him were a lie.
Because in reality, I know history
won't remember him at all.
Be no reason to.
Be a minor footnote at best.
An idle piece of trivia.
Do you recall poor old what's-his-name
who was shot three months into his presidency?
And they won't ever know about the man that he truly was.
The hero who waged wars.
Who would slip me stupid little love poems in made-up Latin.
Who would do headstands and sing show tunes
just to see his children laugh.
No.
Surely no one will ever know that man.
America may mourn him today, but as the years pass by, they'll forget.
And I can…
feel him waning away.
[voice breaks] Even now.
[sniffles]
In no time, he'll just be another face on the wall.
Lost to history.
But then again…
so will you.
This is your destiny also.
Only in your case, there will be no portraits.
No children will learn your name.
You don't know what you're saying.
I do.
In fact, I'm going to see to it myself.
I understand you've written a book.
I will make sure it is never printed. Ever.
Not while anyone who cares still draws breath.
You will have no voice once you exit from this world.
I will erase you…
as you did to the man I loved most.
No.
You can't because you don't have the right.
I've already done it, Mr. Guiteau.
I came here because I wanted you to know
when you are on your way up to those gallows…
they will forget you.
Wait.
-Wait. -[footsteps recede]
Wait!
Wait, wait!
Wai…
[exhales and chuckles]
I stubbed my toe on the gallows.
[priest] My son.
From Matthew 10, verse 28.
"And fear not them which kill the body,
but are not able to kill the soul,
but rather fear him, which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."
Also from Matthew,
"Except that you become as a child,
ye cannot enter the kingdom of Heaven."
♪ I'm going to the Lordy I'm so glad ♪
♪ Oh, glory hallelujah! ♪
♪ Glory hallelu-- ♪
♪ I saved my party, I saved my land ♪
♪ I'm gone to the Lordy ♪
♪ I'm so glad! ♪
[laughing]
Oh.
[footsteps approaching]
[breathes heavily]
Glory, glory.
Glory.
Glory. Glory.
[crack]
[distant music creeping in]
[music turns solemn]
[Joe] Sir.
Thank you, sir.
[cheering]
[solemn music continues]
[inaudible]
[solemn music builds, grave and moving]
[music ends]
[closing music playing]
♪ So I'm going to the Lordy ♪
♪ I'm so glad ♪
♪ And I'm going to the Lordy ♪
♪ Ha-hallelujah ♪
♪ Yeah ♪
♪ I'm going to the Lordy ♪
♪ Hallelujah ♪
♪ Whoa, glory ♪
♪ I'm going to the Lordy ♪
♪ I'm so glad ♪
♪ I wonder what I'll do When I get to the Lordy ♪
♪ I wonder what I'll do when I get ♪
♪ I wonder what I will see When I get to the Lordy ♪
♪ I wonder what I will see when I get to ♪
♪ So I'm going to the Lordy ♪
♪ I'm so glad ♪
♪ And I'm going to the Lordy ♪
♪ Ha-hallelujah ♪
♪ And love the Lordy with all my soul ♪
♪ Oh, whoa ♪
♪ I'm going to the Lordy ♪
♪ I'm so glad ♪
♪ Glory, I will weep no more ♪
[music ends]