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Outbyte Driver Updater FREEScan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Outbyte PC Repair FREERepair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Netflix’s Death by Lightning dramatizes the real assassination of President James A. Garfield by Charles Guiteau—and the 80-day illness that followed. The series is based on Candice Millard’s book Destiny of the Republic, but its dramatic scenes are not all historical record: creator Mike Makowsky has said at least one encounter in the series was invented.
What is Death by Lightning about?
The Netflix limited series tells the story of Garfield, the 20th president of the United States, and Guiteau, the office seeker who shot him. Netflix identifies Candice Millard’s Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President as the book behind the series. Penguin Random House describes Millard’s book as the inspiration for Death by Lightning.
Millard’s account is a useful way to explore the historical events beyond the screen version. The publisher lists paperback, ebook and audiobook editions; its paperback ISBN is 9780767929714.
How did Garfield and Guiteau’s paths cross?
Garfield was not the expected Republican presidential nominee in 1880. According to Netflix’s historical explainer, he was an Ohio congressman who gave a convention speech nominating Treasury Secretary John Sherman. Support shifted toward Garfield amid party factions and disputes over patronage. He selected Chester A. Arthur as his running mate in an effort to unite party interests.
Guiteau supported Garfield after the nomination and came to believe that his political efforts entitled him to a government appointment. Netflix says he briefly met Garfield and gave him a copy of a campaign speech. He later sought a consulship in Paris through Secretary of State James Blaine. After being turned down, he resolved to kill Garfield.
Netflix also places Guiteau at the Oneida Community, a Perfectionist communal society founded in New York by John Humphrey Noyes in 1848. The Social Welfare History Project at Virginia Commonwealth University describes its practice of “complex marriage,” a communal system of relationships. That historical context is more precise than simply treating the community as a sensational backdrop.
What happened after Garfield was shot?
Guiteau shot Garfield at a Washington train station on July 2, 1881. Garfield did not die at the scene: he survived for 80 days and died on September 19. The National Park Service’s account of the assassination documents the shooting, the prolonged illness and the search for the bullet.
The medical aftermath is central to the story. Alexander Graham Bell developed an induction-balance device to help locate the bullet. The first effort was unsuccessful amid interference. In a later search, Bell followed the location expected by Garfield’s physician, Willard Bliss. The autopsy found the bullet on the left side of Garfield’s body, opposite the location Bliss had asserted.
Netflix’s explainer, drawing on Millard’s comments, says modern medical opinion suggests Garfield might have survived the initial wound and that repeated probing contributed to infection and his death. That is a qualified counterfactual, not a certainty: no one can establish that different treatment would have saved him. The National Park Service account supports the chronology and Bell episode, but is not itself a medical consensus review.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Which parts are documented, and which are dramatized?
The broad historical spine is clear: Garfield’s rise to the presidency, Guiteau’s pursuit of patronage, the July 2 shooting, the extended illness and Garfield’s death. The motives and private exchanges depicted onscreen require more care. A series can build dialogue and scenes around documented events without every line or encounter being a preserved historical fact.
Netflix reports that Makowsky invented a scene in which Lucretia Garfield visits Guiteau. Treat that encounter as dramatic invention, not evidence that the visit happened. Makowsky has called the story “one of the great what-ifs in American history”; that is a present-day interpretation of the tragedy, not a historical quotation from the people involved.
Why the timeline matters
Netflix’s explainer describes Garfield as president for 120 days when he was shot; the National Park Service dates the shooting to July 2, 1881. The 80 days refers to the time he survived after the attack, not the length of his presidency. Keeping those intervals distinct prevents a compressed summary from making it sound as if the shooting and death occurred together.
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