Erased by Lightning: The Truth of Chester Arthur’s Redemption

The new Netflix series “Death by Lightning” (based on the fantastic book, “Destiny of the Republic”) tells the true story of President James Garfield’s assassination in 1881 and portrays the beginning of Chester Arthur’s presidency that followed. Yet in this retelling of the national trauma, the show tragically erases a pivotal figure who helped change history: Julia Sand, the impassioned young woman who wrote 23 letters to Arthur challenging him to reject his corrupt past and seek reform of the political patronage system.

Julia Sand’s story is crucial, not only to Arthur’s narrative but to our nation’s history. 

First, Sand, an ordinary citizen from New York, had the nerve to confront corruption with strong moral clarity. As “Death by Lightning” viewers are made aware, Arthur had a dubious political record. He was chosen as vice president not for his virtue or to be a potential successor, but for his political connections as a leading member of the powerful New York political machine. This machine relied on patronage, aka the spoils system, by which government jobs were handed to people based on political favors rather than merit.

Garfield had established himself as an idealist reformer with political beliefs that were antithetical to the man who was to become his vice president. But the bullet of assassin Charles Guiteau ended the life of Garfield and thrust Arthur unprepared into the presidency. Enter Julia Sand. She seized an opportunity to boldly petition the new president to abandon his corrupt past and instead do what was best for the country. “You have been connected with the side which represents the wrong—the machine—the thing which I politely request you to smash,” she admonished him in an October 1881 letter.

Second, the timing mattered. Sand was there when Arthur most desperately needed someone to believe in him. Arthur’s wife had died, Garfield’s cabinet members resigned within months of Arthur taking over, and the press echoed the public’s overwhelming lack of trust in their new president. Yet Sand took it upon herself to write to him consistently, with honest feedback and encouragement. It was a critical lifeline Arthur wasn’t getting elsewhere. Sand evidently deemed this task as something of a calling:

“You have it in your power to do so much good — & so much harm—that it is impossible to be indifferent as to your actions. If I could know that you had resolved in the depths of your heart to serve the country faithfully & never let any small or selfish aim drag you from the path of duty, if I should never see you, I would be willing to give up all I have gained in health & lie here & suffer till the end of my life. And if I could think that I had influenced you in the smallest degree toward forming that resolution, I should feel that I had not lived in vain.”

Finally, Sand’s story is compelling because her words and efforts made a real difference. Arthur remade himself into a respectable president and reformer, initiating the country’s move away from patronage politics and toward a civil service system based on merit. Though Arthur never wrote back to Sand, he not only kept all of her letters but made a surprise personal visit to her family’s home to thank her for what she had done for him.

Sand’s letters changed the trajectory of a president and helped set a new vision for a grieving country. Though her contribution to history was left unknown for 50 years (discovered by Arthur’s grandson), we know it now. We must elevate her story so that other citizens with a vision for reform will be inspired to take action. The words offered to Arthur after Garfield was shot, incorrectly ascribed to Garfield’s wife Lucretia in the Netflix series, should be restored in the public mind to the real-life hero, Julia Sand:

“Great emergencies awaken generous traits which have lain dormant half a life. If there is a spark of true nobility in you, now is the occasion to let it shine. Faith in your better nature forces me to write to you—but not to beg you to resign. Do what is more difficult & more brave. Reform!”

While you won’t hear of Julia Sand’s legacy in “Death by Lightning,” you can learn more about her story in my new award-winning documentary, “Dear Mr. President: the Letters of Julia Sand,” now available on YouTube.

The letters of Julia Sand are available in their entirety here.

We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal.

The post Erased by Lightning: The Truth of Chester Arthur’s Redemption appeared first on The Daily Signal.