On September 20, 1881, Chester Arthur was inaugurated, making him the third person to serve as president that year . The year 1881 commenced with Republican Rutherford B. Hayes in office. He served out his first and only term and officially handed the reins of government to his friend James A. Garfield in March. Just four months into his term, on July 2, Garfield was shot by a deranged assassin named Charles Guiteau, who claimed to have killed Garfield because he failed to grant him a a political appointment. Garfield sustained wounds to his abdomen and back and struggled to recover that summer. Though it seemed he'd pull through in early September, the autopsy report showed that the internal bullet wound contributed to an aneurysm that ultimately killed Garfield on September 19. The next day, Vice President Chester Arthur was sworn in as president. Garfield’s assassin wrote to the new president from jail, taking credit for propelling Arthur into the White House. Arthur ser...

Below are two key historic events that took place on March 29 -- 139 years apart: 1790 : Future President John Tyler is born in Charles City County, Virginia. He was the last president to hail from the colonial Virginia planter class that also gave us Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe. Family connections helped him secure a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates in 1811. He then went on to serve in the army during the War of 1812 and in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1816 to 1821. Tyler was elected as William Henry Harrison's vice president in 1841 and became acting president when Harrison died one month into his term. Because of this, Tyler was given the derisive moniker "His Accidency." No commander has had more children than Tyler, a whopping 15 in total. He had eight with his first wife, Letitia (who died early into his presidency) and seven with his second wife, Julia, who was 30 years his junior. He w...