"Yes Jerry, I'm afraid he is," deadpanned Lt. John McClane (Bruce Willis) who had just shot the bad guy. "Yeah. I want you to get ahold of a guy named Cobb. Walter Cobb. He's the head of my police unit. Get him down here. Find him. Tell him you were with John McClane and tell him to find out who the 21st president was."
Jerry: "Chester A. Arthur."
McClane: "What?"
Jerry: "Chester A. Arthur. 1881 to 1885. Nominated vice-president in 1880. Did you know he was collector of customs right here in New York?"
McClane (amazed): "No, I didn't know that Jerry."
Neither did I, Jerry. Neither do most Americans, I bet. On this day in 1881, Chester A. Arthur became our 21st president following the assassination of James Garfield. A one-term president, Arthur won plaudits for overseeing civil service reform and the rebirth of the U.S. Navy. But, as NYU historian Louis W. Koenig writes, "Arthur is in no danger of ranking among the the hardest working presidents ... [he] was a champion procrastinator. His staff had to nudge him to attend to matters requiring action." Historian Thomas Reeves (author of "Gentleman Boss: The Life of Chester A. Arthur") quoted the New York World to sum up his presidency: "No duty was neglected in his administration, and no adventurous project alarmed the nation." See? Between these obscure facts, Bruce Willis and Die Hard, who says history has to be boring?
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