The story of Chester Arthur Chester Arthur, the 21st President of the United States, was an unlikely holder of the highest office in the country. Born in Vermont in 1830, he was the son of an Irish immigrant father and a New Hampshire mother. After becoming a lawyer in New York, he joined the Republican Party. He served as Quartermaster General in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Following the Civil War, he devoted more time to Republican politics and quickly rose in the political machine run by New York Senator Roscoe Conkling. He was appointed to the powerful position of Collector of Customs at the Port of New York in 1871. Though personally honest, Arthur's administration was marred by corruptive practices, and he was removed from office in 1878. When James Garfield was elected as the Republican Party's presidential candidate in1880, Arthur, who belonged to a faction that had supported the nomination of President Grant, was offered the vice-presidency as a conciliatory ( 调和的 ) gesture. Arthur accepted, and then, in 1881, he became President after Garfield was assassinated ( 暗杀 ). In view of his far-from-unblemished record and his lack of strong political support, even within his own party, Arthur's move to the White House was viewed with great concern by many Americans, but, to the astonishment of most, his administration proved to be an honest one. However, he never was elected President in his own right, being defeated for the nomination at his party's convention in 1884, and dying in November two years later during the presidency of a Democrat, Grover Cleveland.