THE MAKING OF A NATION - Vice President Chester Arthur Replaces Murdered Leader
By Frank Beardsley
Broadcast: Thursday, October 06, 2005
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VOICE ONE
THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a program in Special English.
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President James Garfield
President James Garfield was shot and seriously wounded in the summer of eighteen eighty-one. The man who shot him said he supported the political group that supported Vice President Chester Arthur.
The gunman was found to be insane. But some people were ready to believe the worst about Vice President Arthur. They knew that many of the Vice President's political allies disliked President Garfield. They thought the Vice President might have helped the gunman in some way.
I'm Kay Gallant. Today, Harry Monroe and I tell what happened after President Garfield was shot.
VOICE TWO:
Presidential Swearing-In
For a time, it seemed the President might get better. But the bullet wound became infected. He died of the infection two months after he was shot. Vice President Arthur took the oath of office a few hours after the President's death.
Chester Arthur had been a successful lawyer. He had worked in politics for a number of years. But he had never before held an elected office. Many Americans questioned his ability to serve in the White House. One person put it this way: "Chet Arthur -- President of the United States. Good God!"
VOICE ONE:
Almost everyone feared Arthur would be a tool of a Republican Party leader in New York, Roscoe Conkling. They were sure Conkling would be the real power in Arthur's administration. They were wrong. Chester Arthur surprised everyone. He broke all his ties with the Conkling political machine. He remained independent of any party group. Arthur asked Garfield's cabinet to resign. He chose new men for all but one department.
VOICE TWO:
In his first message to Congress, President Arthur asked for changes in the way government jobs were filled. He proposed a new civil service system that would let ability -- not politics -- decide who got government jobs. Republican Party leaders opposed these proposals. The civil service system would stop them from giving federal jobs to their supporters. It would destroy much of their power.
These Republican leaders controlled Congress. They refused to act on the civil service proposals. VOICE ONE:
Civil service reform, however, was an important issue. President Garfield had been assassinated by a man who believed he should have gotten a government job because of his politics. Also, new cases of dishonesty had been discovered in the Post Office department. The public began to demand laws to clean up the civil service.
In eighteen eighty-two, a new Congress was elected. The new Congress was controlled by the Democratic Party.
我QQ343131739 还有一小段~打不上去了 能帮我翻译下吗?
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