Rutherford B. Hayes

Rutherford Birchard Hayes (October 4, 1822 – January 17, 1893) was the 19th President of the United States (1877 – 1881).

Early political career

He was born in Delaware County, Ohio, October 4, 1822 to Rutherford Hayes and Sophia Birchard. Hayes' father died before Hayes was born. He attended the common schools, the Methodist Academy in Norwalk, Ohio, and the Webb Preparatory School in Middletown, Connecticut. He graduated from Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio, in August 1842 and from the Harvard Law School in January 1845. He was admitted to the bar on May 10, 1845, and commenced practice in Lower Sandusky, Ohio (now Fremont, Ohio). He moved to Cincinnati in 1849 and resumed the practice of law. He was city solicitor from 1857 to 1859. He was commissioned a major of the Twenty-third Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, on June 27, 1861, lieutenant colonel, on October 24, 1861, colonel on October 24, 1862, brigadier general of Volunteers on October 9, 1864, and brevetted major general of Volunteers on March 3, 1865.

He was rather close to his sister as can bee seen in his diary entry: July, 1856.--My dear only sister, my beloved Fanny, is dead! The dearest friend of childhood, the affectionate adviser, the confidante of all my life, the one I loved best, is gone; alas! never again to be seen on earth.

He was a Representative from Ohio prior to his Presidency. Hayes was elected as a Republican to the Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses and served from March 4, 1865, to July 20, 1867, when he resigned, having been nominated for Governor of Ohio. He was Governor from 1868 to 1872, and an unsuccessful candidate for election to the Forty-third Congress. He was again elected Governor and served from January 1876 to March 2, 1877, when he resigned, having been elected President of the United States. Since March 4, 1877 was a Sunday, Hayes took the oath of office in the Red Room of the White House on March 3. He took the oath again publicly on March 5 on the East Portico of the United States Capitol, and he served until March 4, 1881.

Presidency

Hayes became president after the tumultuous, scandal-ridden years of the Grant administration. He had a reputation for honesty dating back to his Civil War years, when as a major general he had refused to campaign for Congress, saying that any officer who left his command to run for office "ought to be scalped." As Governor of Ohio, his scrupulousness sometimes dismayed even his political allies, and Hayes was nicknamed "Old Granny." Nevertheless, his opponent in the presidential election, Democrat Samuel J. Tilden, was the favorite to win the presidential election and, in fact, won the popular vote by about 250,000 votes (with about 8.5 million voters in total).

Election of 1876

Four states' electoral college votes were contested. In order to win, the candidates had to muster 185 votes: Tilden was short just one, with 184 votes, Hayes had 165, with 20 votes representing four states which were contested. To make matters worse, three of these states (Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina) were in the South, which was still under military occupation, the fourth being Oregon.

After months of deliberation and bargaining, Southern Democrats were assured that if Hayes were elected, he would pull federal troops out of the South and end Reconstruction. An agreement was made between them and the Republicans -- if Hayes' cabinet consisted of at least one Southerner and he withdrew all Union troups from the South, then he would become president. This is sometimes considered to be a second Corrupt Bargain.

South America

In 1878 Hayes was asked by the Argentines to act as arbitrator following the War of the Triple Alliance between Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay against Paraguay. The Argentines hoped that Hayes would give the Chaco region to them, however he decided in favour of the Paraguayans. His descision made him a hero in Paraguay, and a city (Villa Hayes) and a region (Presidente Hayes) was named in his honour.

Notable legislation

During his presidency Hayes signed a number of bills including one signed on February 15, 1879 which, for the first time, allowed female attorneys to argue cases before the Supreme Court of the United States.

Cabinet

Supreme Court appointments

Hayes appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States:

• John Marshall Harlan - 1877
• William Burnham Woods - 1881

Significant events during his presidency

• Compromise of 1877 (1877)
• Desert Land Act (1877)
• Munn v. Illinois (1877)
• Great Railroad Strike (1877)
• Bland-Allison Act (1878)
• Timber and Stone Act (1878)

Post-Presidency

Hayes did not seek re-election in 1880, keeping his pledge that he would not run for a second term. He had, in his inaugural address, proposed a one-term limit for the presidency combined with an increase in the term length to six years. Rutherford Birchard Hayes died of complications of a heart attack in Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio, at 11:00 p.m. on Tuesday January 17, 1893. Interment was in Oakwood Cemetery. Following the gift of his home to the State of Ohio for the Spiegel Grove State Park he was reinterred there in 1915.

Related articles

• U.S. presidential election, 1876
• History of the United States (1865-1918)
• Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center