President Garfield's ambidextrous parlor trick

By Jack Brummet, Presidents Ed.

He was only President 200 days (with a good chunk of that being mortally ill after being shot),   and is therefore considered one of the forgotten Presidents.

But. . .President Garfield was the first left handed President.  He was left-handed, and also ambidextrous.  He also knew a couple of other languages, and combined that with his ambidextrous hands to be able to write in two languages simultaneously, Greek with one hand and Latin with the other.  He would write a question with one hand, and write out the answer with the other. That was quite a parlor trick.

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Potus 20: President James A. Garfield - President for 200 days

President James A. Garfield, (POTUS 20) is another short-timer, whose Presidency ran from March-September, 1881. He was President for about 200 days when he was shot by a deranged lawyer. President Garfield survived but was finally killed, 80 days later, by his team of doctors.

Garfield is probably best remembered today as one of the four assassinated Presidents. His assassin, attorney Charles Guiteau, believed that God had ordered him to kill the President. Guiteau stalked the President for weeks, and passed up one opportunity to shoot Garfield because his wife was present.

James Garfield was the first left-handed President. And--is this cool, or what?--he sometimes entertained friends by simultaneously writing Latin with one hand and Greek with the other (woah!). He was the last president born in a log cabin; farewell to our prairie days.
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