Obama birthplace flap evokes Arthur debate

FAIRFIELD, Vt. (AP) — Finding the “birthplace” of President Chester A. Arthur is easy: Turn left at Town Hall and its Chester A. Arthur Conference Room, go past Chester’s Bakery and turn right on Chester A. Arthur Road.

Nearly five miles up the winding two-lane country road, past rolling hills and dairy farms, is the tiny Chester A. Arthur Historic Site, proclaiming the spot where the nation’s 21st president was born in a cottage.

Or was he?

Nearly 123 years after his death, doubts about his U.S. citizenship linger, thanks to lack of documentation and a political foe’s claim that Arthur was born in Canada — and was therefore ineligible for the White House, where he served from 1881-85.

Long before “birthers” began questioning the citizenship of President Barack Obama, similar questions were raised about the early years of Arthur, an accidental president who ascended to the job after President James Garfield was assassinated.

“It’s an old rumor that won’t die, political slander,” said John Dumville, who runs Vermont’s historic sites “It’s a fun story, and it comes up every year.”