 Garfield 's biographers , and those who have studied his presidency , tend to think well of him , and that his presidency saw a promising start before its untimely end . Historian Justus D. Doenecke , while deeming Garfield a bit of an enigma , chronicles his achievements , " by winning a victory over the Stalwarts , he enhanced both the power and prestige of his office . As a man , he was intelligent , sensitive , and alert , and his knowledge of how government worked was unmatched . " Yet Doenecke criticizes Garfield 's dismissal of Merritt in Robertson 's favor , and wonders if the president was truly in command of the situation even after the latter 's confirmation . According to Caldwell , writing in 1931 , " If Garfield lives in history , it will be partly on account of the charm of his personality — but also because in life and in death , he struck the first shrewd blows against a dangerous system of boss rule which seemed for a time about to engulf the politics of the nation . Perhaps if he had lived he could have done no more . " Rutkow writes , " James Abram Garfield 's presidency is reduced to a tantalizing ' what if . ' " 
