James Garfield was the twentieth president of the United States.  His mother was the first President's mother to watch her son be inaugurated.  The first thing he did after he became President was to kiss his mother.  His mother also lived with him at the White House.

Important events during President Garfield's administration were:

• The American Red Cross was organized on May 21, 1881 by Clara Barton, a Civil War nurse.

• Booker T. Washington opened the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama on July 4, 1881 so slaves could go to school.

James Garfield was:

• the third President born in Ohio.

• the first President whose mother saw him inaugurated and the sixth President whose mother was alive when he was inaugurated.

• the second President whose mother lived after him.

• the fourth President to die in office.

• the second President to be assassinated.

• the first President to watch an inaugural parade from the front of the White House.

• the first left-handed President.