Chester A. Arthur
1829 – 1886 American 21st President of the United States
Twenty-first U.S. president and civil service reformer.
- Religion
- Episcopalian
- Affiliations
- Republican Party; not a Freemason.
Arthur, a machine politician, surprised critics by championing reform after Garfield's death. He signed the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883, creating a merit-based federal hiring system. He also signed the Chinese Exclusion Act.