President James Garfield’s Cleveland Connection Plays Major Role in Netflix Miniseries

Mike Makowsky’s tastes in reading run toward historical nonfiction, and one day, at his local bookstore, he picked up “Destiny of the Republic,” Candice Millard’s book on the life and assassination of James Garfield, who grew up in poverty in rural Northeast Ohio to Congress and ultimately to the presidency. He found the story tragic, poignant and even perversely absurd by turns — and irresistible.

“I ended up reading it in one sitting,” Makowsky says. “It was incredibly riveting. I was in awe. I got Candice on the phone and pitched my heart out, and she entrusted me with the book.”

Makowsky is the creator, producer and writer of “Death by Lightning,” a Netflix miniseries that premieres Thursday, Nov. 6, based on Millard’s book. (The title is taken from a quote by Garfield himself, who met with the general public regularly and didn’t use bodyguards, saying, “Assassination can no more be guarded against than death by lightning.”)

Michael Shannon plays Garfield, and Betty Gilpin is his wife, Lucretia. Matthew Macfadyen is Charles Guiteau, the assassin, and Chester Arthur, Garfield’s vice president, is played by Nick Offerman, in a bit of inspired casting.

“As soon as I started fleshing out who the character was, I was picturing Nick’s voice in my head the entire time,” Makowsky says.

The story begins with Garfield’s improbable nomination for president in 1880 and the paths he and his assassin go on, even meeting each other on occasion.

“It felt like fertile dramatic territory to present for the first time,” Makowsky says. “There are names so many Americans know, but know so little about. You have one man who falls upward toward greatness because he’s noble of spirit. And you have another man who just desperately tries to court greatness, and seems to bang his head against the brick wall and fails abjectly.”

The four-hour miniseries was filmed in its entirety in Budapest — the architecture there resembled late 1800s America — but drew inspiration from the James A. Garfield National Historic Site in Mentor, says Mary Lintern, who’s been a ranger there for 25 years.

“We had no official role in the production of the show,” she says. “But we were informally consulted.”

Makowsky made what he calls a pilgrimage to Northeast Ohio while he was developing the series, visiting Garfield’s tomb at Lake View Cemetery and his former home in Mentor, which appears in the miniseries. Lintern says the site also fielded questions for the sake of accuracy, from buttons on overcoats and lace on dresses to questions about invitations to Garfield’s inaugural ball (which turns out to be a plot point in the show).

As president for just six months, Garfield was the second-shortest tenured president, but he remains one of the great what-ifs of American history. Historians say that as a scholar, Civil War veteran and Congressman, he was one of the most prepared men for the presidency, Lintern says.

“I really think he could have been one of our most remarkable presidents,” Makowsky says. “He had a magnificent intellect. I really fell in love with the idea of a politician like him. His story deserved to be told.”

Lintern says that, much like when the book came out, she believes the miniseries will result in more people coming to the site.

“We’re so excited for this,” she says. “We love to share the story of Garfield. We think his story is worth knowing.”

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