James Garfield and Chester Arthur have always been in the top tier of Presidents Who I Am Most Fascinated By, so I've been all-in on Netflix's upcoming limited series about President Garfield's assassination, Arthur's succession, and the insanity of Charles Guiteau's trial -- Death By Lightning -- since the moment it was announced. Not only is it a series about one of the crazier and often-overlooked chapters in American history and full of interesting (real) characters, but those characters are being played by some of my favorite actors: Michael Shannon, Betty Gilpin, Matthew Mcfadyen, Bradley Whitford, Nick Offerman, and more! Maybe I'm exaggerating, but this series might be the only good thing that's happened to America in the past ten years.
But I just want everybody to be prepared because we're finally getting a show where Roscoe Conkling appears to be a major character (and is being played by the brilliant Shea Whigham) and if you don't know anything about Roscoe Conkling, you are going to be obsessed with him. I don't want to spoil anything for you (although Garfield dies, sorry) but the series could easily be about just Conkling on his own and be wildly entertaining. And since there's no way they'll be able to include everything about him, here are a few resources that shed a little bit of light on the legendary "Lord Roscoe":
•The Remarkable Roscoe, Part I, The Remarkable Roscoe, Part II, and The Remarkable Roscoe, Part III, via the James A. Garfield National Historic Site. •Roscoe Conkling (1829-1888) via the Lehrman Institute's Mr. Lincoln and New York website. •Kate Chase Sprague and Roscoe Conkling: Beauty and the Boss via Feather Schwartz Foster's Presidential history blog. •The Strutting Senator: Roscoe Conkling, via the Mad Politics blog. •The Lordly Roscoe Conkling by Scott S. Greenberger via The History Reader newsletter.
[Death By Lightning is coming to Netflix on November 6th!]
