Early US presidential candidates didn't campaign

In an era when candidates were expected to remain silent and appear disinterested, James A Garfield was the first to speak directly to voters

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When James A Garfield reluctantly accepted the Republican nomination for president in June 1880, he stepped into a fraught political culture that was governed by strict codes of restraint. Back then, a presidential candidate shouldn't appear eager for the job.

Publicly courting votes was distasteful, demeaning and incompatible with the dignity of the office. As CW Goodyear, author of President Garfield: From Radical to Unifier (Simon & Schuster, 2023), puts it: "If you are interested in the job, it's not for you." Campaigning was delegated to party operatives, loyal newspapers and travelling surrogates. The candidate was supposed to stay out of public view, maintaining lofty neutrality. "It was seen as being desperate and pathetic for a presidential candidate to go rally voters," says Goodyear.

Garfield, it seemed, never intended to become a nominee, let alone president. Yet, as Goodyear explains, Garfield's election campaign marked a turning point, upending the long-standing taboo against candidates speaking directly to voters.

Presidential ideals