Wikipedia:Today's featured article/February 15, 2016
Chester A. Arthur (1829–1886) was the 21st President of the United States, from 1881 to 1885. After practicing law in New York City, he served as quartermaster general in the New York Militia during the American Civil War. Rising quickly in the Republican political machine run by Senator Roscoe Conkling, he was appointed to the lucrative post of Collector of the Port of New York in 1871. In 1878 the new president, Rutherford B. Hayes, fired Arthur as part of a reform measure. When James Garfield won the Republican nomination for president in 1880, Arthur was nominated for vice president to balance the ticket. After Garfield's assassination, Arthur took up the cause of reform, supporting the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act. He presided over the rebirth of the U.S. Navy but was criticized for failing to alleviate a growing federal budget surplus. Suffering from poor health, Arthur retired at the close of his term. Journalist Alexander McClure later wrote, "No man ever entered the Presidency so profoundly and widely distrusted as Chester Alan Arthur, and no one ever retired ... more generally respected, alike by political friend and foe." (Full article...)