Legacies and Lessons Learnt

Abstract

James Garfield, the 20th president of the United States of America, was credited with the axiom: ‘Nobody but radicals have ever accomplished anything in a great crisis.’¹ Garfield’s worldview was forged during the American Civil War before he became a congressman who later ran for the presidency. Although he could not effectuate urgent civil service reforms and correlative initiatives before he was cut down by an assassin’s bullet, he is best remembered for his reconstruction and civil rights policies. Another White House resident, not as president but a chief of staff during a period of great economic turmoil in 2009, was Chicagoan Rahm Emanuel. Reputed to be one of President Barack Obama’s closest aides during his first term, Emanuel asserted that: ‘You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.’²