Chester Alan Arthur was born on October 5, 1830 in Fairfield, Vermont. His father was William Arthur and his mother was Malvina Stone Arthur. He was a graduate of Union College and, as Garfield’s Vice-President, went on to serve as our nation’s 21^st President from September 19, 1881 to March 3, 1885.

     Mr. Arthur was a lawyer. His election as Vice-President in 1880 marked the first and only time he would ever be elected to any public office. He did not stand for re-election at the end of his term of office as President. Mr. Arthur knew that he was suffering from a fatal kidney disease, but kept that information from the public. His administration concerned itself with civil service reform, tariffs on international trade and immigration control. In 1882, President Arthur signed into law a measure that excluded paupers, lunatics and criminals from immigrating to America. Congress similarly halted all Chinese immigration for ten years.

     Chester Arthur married Ellen Lewis Herndon in 1859. They had three children: William, Chester and Ellen. In the days before there was a personal income tax, the government collected tariffs on goods imported into our country from other nations. Mr. Arthur attempted to lower tariffs so that the government would not be embarrassed by the huge annual surpluses it was accumulating.

     President Chester Alan Arthur died on November 18, 1886 in New York City. He was 56 years old.