July 2, 1881. President James Garfield walks through a Washington train station. Charles Guiteau steps forward, raises a revolver, and fires twice. As Garfield falls, Guiteau shouts: "I am a Stalwart of the Stalwarts! Arthur is president now!" In his mind, this isn't murder, it's a job application. In Episode 4, Aileen and Maia trace how a broken system that rewarded political loyalty over competence created the conditions for presidential assassination. The spoils system, also called patronage, meant the winning party could fire and replace up to 80% of the federal workforce, turning government jobs into political prizes. The Post Office, employing three-quarters of all federal workers, was the biggest prize of all. Every congressman controlled 200+ postmaster positions to hand out as rewards, creating a surveillance network that reported on communities, distributed campaign literature, and maintained party power. But the system was catastrophic: postmasters were drunk in saloons, mail sat undelivered in bags, and the Star Route scandal drained millions through fraud. When President Garfield tried to reform it, Charles Guiteau, a spectacular failure who'd been rejected for a diplomatic post, decided murder was patriotism. Garfield should have survived the gunshot, but doctors who didn't believe in germ theory probed his wound with unwashed hands for 79 days, creating a 20-inch infected gash that killed him. Then something unexpected happened: Chester Arthur, the ultimate machine politician who became president, faced his own mortality and championed the Pendleton Act, dismantling the very system that made his career. The reform worked: delivery errors dropped 22%, mail volume increased 14%, and merit-based hiring created the professional civil service that enabled Rural Free Delivery, Parcel Post, and modern government. But in 2025, we're watching it all unravel. Trump's Schedule F and DOGE have purged 211,000 federal workers, the largest peacetime attack on American civil service in history, replacing expertise with loyalty and turning government back into a weapon for the powerful. This episode reveals why that fight matters, what we lose when institutions serve machines instead of people, and why we need to remember that we've beaten the spoils system before, which means we can do it again. Key takeaways to listen for [00:00:00] Introduction [00:01:40 Act I - The System That Created a Killer: How the spoils system turned 50,000-70,000 Post Office jobs into political prizes, why every election meant mass firings and drunk postmasters, and how rewarding loyalty over competence created catastrophic incompetence, then and now with DOGE [00:19:49] Act II - The Turkey-Gobbler vs. The Dark Horse: The 1880 Republican Convention battle between machine politicians and reformers, how James Garfield accidentally became the nominee, and why his attacks on patronage made him a target [00:32:41] Act III - The Malpractice That Killed a President: Charles Guiteau's methodical assassination plan, why Garfield should have survived the gunshot, and how doctors who rejected germ theory turned a survivable wound into a 79-day death sentence [00:38:50] Act IV - Merit Proves Itself: How Chester Arthur, facing his own mortality, became an unlikely reform champion, what the Pendleton Act accomplished, and why merit-based hiring measurably improved postal service with 22% fewer errors [00:45:52] Act V - The Fight Happening Right Now: Why DOGE's purge of 211,000 federal workers is the largest peacetime attack on civil service in history, how replacing EPA scientists and air traffic controllers with Fox News personalities creates measurable harm, and why defending professional government is the fight of our time [00:58:03] Next Episode and Credits Follow Us On Social Media Instagram @Peopleof_Agency TikTok @Peopleof_Agency YouTube @Peopleof_Agency   Connect with Us Ready to explore how ordinary people built extraordinary public instituti