历届美国总统简介：切斯特·艾伦·阿瑟（在线收听）

切斯特·艾伦·阿瑟（Chester Alan Arthur，1829年10月5日—1886年11月18日），是美国第21任总统，是威廉·阿瑟和马尔维娜·斯通·阿瑟八个孩子中的第五个且阿瑟与埃伦·刘易斯·赫恩登于1857年结婚，生有二子一女。原为詹姆斯·加菲尔德的副总统。1881年7月2日总统詹姆斯·加菲尔德遇刺，于在9月19日死亡后，随即接任为美国第二十一任总统。任职期间他签署了《排华法案》和《文官改革法》，前者令他饱受争议，后者则令他倍受赞誉。

Chester Alan Arthur was born in Vermont in 1829. He was the 21st President of the United States, becoming President after the assassination of President James A. Garfield. His father was a preacher who had emigrated from Northern Ireland. He graduated from Union College in 1848 and was admitted to the bar. He started practising law in New York City before joining the Army to fight in the Civil War.

In 1871, Arthur was appointed by President Ulysses S. Grant to the politically powerful post of Collector of the Port of New York. He spent the next decade as a pawn in power struggles between different presidents. He was removed from his post by President Rutherford B. Hayes. In 1880, Arthur was nominated to run for the Vice Presidency. He assumed office as Vice President in March 1881.

During his brief tenure as Vice President, Arthur stood firmly beside President Garfield in internal struggles within the Republican Party. But when Arthur succeeded to the Presidency, he was eager to prove himself above his party’s political squabbling. In 1883 he passed an act that protected employees against removal for political reasons, as had happened to him in New York.

The Arthur Administration enacted the first general Federal immigration law. Arthur approved a measure in 1882. Congress suspended Chinese immigration for ten years, later making the restriction permanent. He had known since a year after he succeeded to the Presidency that he was suffering from a fatal kidney disease. He left office in 1885 and died a year later at the age of 57.