1/2 Dollar - Elizabeth II Garfield

Part of Cook Islands' long-running presidential series, this piece honors James A. Garfield, the twentieth U.S. president, who served just 200 days before dying from wounds sustained in an 1881 assassination attempt — though it was widely argued at the time, and has been argued since, that his attending physicians caused more damage than the bullet itself. The assassin, Charles Guiteau, was a disappointed office-seeker who felt entitled to a diplomatic post.