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136: Shoot Your Shot pt.1: Life Long Loser

What are the forces that make us who we are? Many people with hard childhoods grow up into adults with fulfilling lives and careers. Others... get kicked out of a sex cult. Charles Guiteau is the latter. A man destined for greatness if he was not so consistently bad at everything. And a liar. And crazed. But in America, even a loser can hit it big. This week on Well, I Laughed the incredible forgettable life of a man who changed the course of American history. A Life Long Loser.


Chapters

00:00:00 Catch-Up

00:24:04 Life Long Loser

00:51:31 Early Failure Leads to ... Later Failure

01:04:28 But WHY?

01:16:02 New York, Where Dreams Come True

01:2:42 Politics, a Job for a Gentlemen

01:34:58 Election of 1880

01:46:09 A Time to Govern

01:56:28 One Final Job

02:23:52 Ending


Photos Referenced

Charles Guiteau, B&W photo of man in a suit looking past the camera with vacant eyes
Portrait of Charles Julius Guiteau (1841-1882) - Public Domain
Illustration depicting a large crowd - at the forefront are two men, one (Garfield) falling over, and another (Secretary of State) motioning for help while trying to catch Garfield
President James A. Garfield with Secretary of State James G. Blaine after being shot by Guiteau, as depicted in a period engraving from Frank Leslie's illustrated Newspaper - Public Domain
B&W photo of an old revolver
The Webley & Scott 0.44 in. British Bulldog revolver Guiteau used to shoot Garfield - Public Domain
B&W photo depicting a large family, in the middle is an elderly Lucretia Garfield
Lucretia Garfield (wife of President James Garfield) with her children and grandchildren, 1906 - Wikimedia Commons

Sources


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