the mullican letters involved a very questionable stock deal involving one of the railroads, and thathe picture for him in 1876. >> the nomination went to? >> james a. garfield. blaine recognized this was happening at the convention. actually was -- i'm sorry, actually in '76 it went to hayes. >> rutherford b. hayes. >> that's right. >> '80 was garfield. >> he ran again in 1880. were the facts we talked about, the half breeds and the stalwarts still active in the party by then? >> i'm not so sure they had those terms anymore, that they were thinking along the same lines. there were still, of course, divisions within the party. >> that year james garfield did get the nomination thanks to blaine in many ways. >> yes. >> and can you explain why. >> blaine, although he very much wanted the nomination himself came after many, many ballots if i do understand that that was not going to happen -- >> i think the 36th ballot. >> something like that. he threw his votes to garfield in order to make sure he would get the election. >> and then what happened to him after that? >> became secretary of

>> i think the mullican letters were the accusation as opposed to being his defense.e tried very hard to make them seem as if they had no value. slamming them down on the desk and daring people to read the letters. once he had stolen them from whoever had them in the first place, went to the hotel, let me see the letters and took them with them and disappeared and never returned them. so he tried to use them as the way to protect himself. i don't think there's any clarity that he was not guilty. i think it's pretty clear that he was somebody called him j. gould's handyman or busboy or something to that effect, that he was so tight with the railroad industry, it was unlikely he was innocent. >> they continued to dog him. in the 1884 campaign someone published what was believed to be a version of the mullican letters and pamphlet and never resolved that in his career. >> we're going involve some of never quite resolve that had in his career. >> we'll involve some of our viewers into the discussion of james g. blaine, 1880s america. first caller from roger who is watchin

the mullican letters involved a questionable deal involving one of the railroads and that clouded there for him in 1876. >> the nomination went to? >> james a. garfield and blaine recognized this was happening at the convention. he actually was -- i'm sorry, actually in '76 it went to hayes. >> that's right. >> '80 was garfield. >> was the faction still the half breeds and stalwarts still active in the party by then? >> i'm not so sure they had those terms anymore, thinking along the same lines. there were of course divisions within the party. >> that year james garfield did get the nomination. >> thanks to blaine in many ways. blaine came after many ballots, if i understand that that was not going to happen -- >> i think it was 36. >> he threw his votes to garfield in order to make sure he would get the election. >> then what happened to him after that? >> became secretary of state in 1881. >> now james garfield of course was struck by an assassin's bullet in 1881. i read that james blainewas with him in the train station? >> yes. i know he was nearby and they were walking arm and ar