Why makes Chester Arthur so appealing?
I know you're into clean shaven dudes, but forgive him: it's the 1800s.
But seriously, civil service reform was a huge deal, and iirc, pretty shocking that he made it a priority considering he came from a pretty corrupt nyc political machine.
The Chinese Exclusion Act surely comes across negatively, but I'm not familiar with the finer details of that. I reckon it could have had some economic truth to it, but even if not, it's tame compared to the worsts of other presidents. Plus he reduced the period of time prohibiting citizenship by vetoing the initial bill.
Those are the two most notable things about him.
I also think there was a budget surplus that he used to build infrastructure. Modern day democrats should like that.
As a person, he was very in favor of civil rights though I don't recall specific legislation. He did sign the Garfield-initiated law banning polygamy that was intended to repress the Mormons.
There's probably a few more things, but that's what I remember from obsessive middle school presentations about him. He's pretty decent.
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