Rutherford B. Hayes
 | |
| Term of office | March 4, 1877 – March 3,1881 |
| Preceded by | Ulysses S. Grant |
| Succeeded by | James A. Garfield |
| Date of birth | October 4, 1822 |
| Place of birth | Delaware, Ohio |
| Date of death | January 17, 1893 |
| Place of death | Fremont, Ohio |
| Spouse | Lucy Ware Hayes |
| Political party | Republican |
Rutherford Birchard Hayes (October 4, 1822 – January 17, 1893) was an American politician, lawyer, military leader and the 19th President of the United States (1877-1881).
Early life
Hayes was born in Delaware, Ohio, on October 4, 1822. He was born to Rutherford Hayes and Sophia Birchard and was the youngest of five children. Hayes' father died ten weeks before Rutherford was born. His uncle Sardis Birchard, served as Rutherford's father figure and benefactor for his college education. Rutherford became very close to his sister, Fanny, who encouraged him to achieve his dreams. Fanny and Rutherford were the only two of the five siblings who survived through adulthood.
He was home schooled for a time and then attended the common schools and the Methodist Academy in Norwalk, Ohio. He graduated from Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio in August 1842 and from Harvard Law School in January 1845. He was admitted to the bar on May 10, 1845, and commenced practice in Lower Sandusky now Fremont, Ohio. However, there was very little opportunity in the community for success. For this reason he moved to Cincinnati, Ohio in 1849 and resumed the practice of law. He was city solicitor from 1857 to 1859.
It was in Cincinnati that he married his childhood sweetheart, Lucy Ware Webb in 1852. The couple had eight children together. Although, three of their sons died before reaching adulthood.
Civil War Service
Hayes was nearly forty years old, his wife was carring their fourth child, at the outbreak of the Civil War. Hayes joined as a three-year volunteer and was commissioned as a major of the 23rd Ohio Infantry, on June 27, 1861. He had no previous military experience. He was wounded five times in the war. He said he would rather die in the war than do nothing for the Union side. He kept fighting the war and became a brigadier general by the end of the Civil War. While he still in the military the Republicans of Ohio made him their canidate for the house of representatives. He accepted the nomination, although he didn't campaign,stating, "an officer fit for duty who at this crisis would abandon his post to electioneer... ought to be scalped."
Political service
He was elected in 1864 to and served in the Thirty-ninth United States Congress and again to the Fortieth United States Congress but refused to take his seat until the conclusion of the war in 1865. He won re-election in 1866. He served in congress from March 4, 1865, to July 20, 1867, when he resigned, having been nominated for governor of Ohio. Hayes served two terms as governor of Ohio from 1868-1871. During his time as governor he elected officials on their ability rather than their political party. This was an unusual practice for the time under the spoils system. He refused to run for a third term as governor yet he sought a seat in Congress, however he was defeated.
He happily retired to private life in Spiegel Grove, Ohio. However, his retirement was short lived as the Repulican party persuaded him to run for governor in 1876. Since he won this election, his followers saw the next step as being the White House.
Election of 1876
U.S. presidential election, 1876 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. As Governor of Ohio, his scrupulousness sometimes dismayed even his political allies. Hayes was quite famous for his ability to not offend anyone. Henry Adams, a prominent politician at the time, asserted that Hayes was "a third rate nonentity, whose only recommendation is that he is obnoxious to no one." 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.
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 the 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 was Oregon). Additionally, historians note, the election was not fair because of the improper fraud and intimidation perpetrated from both sides. A popular phrase of the day called it an election without "a free ballot and a fair count."
To peacefully decide the results of the election, the two houses of Congress set up the Electoral Commission to investigate and decide upon the actual winner. The commission constituted 15 members: five from the House, five from the Senate and five from the Supreme Court. Additionally, the Commission was bi-partisan consisting of 7 Democrats, 7 Republicans and a "swing" vote in Joseph P. Bradley, a Supreme Court Justice. Bradley, however, was a Republican at heart and thus the ruling followed party lines: 8 to 7 voted for Hayes winning in all of the contested 20 electoral votes.
Key Ohio Republicans like James A. Garfield and the Democrats, however, agreed at a Washington hotel on the Wormley House Agreement. Southern Democrats were given assurances that if Hayes became president, he would pull federal troops out of the South and end Reconstruction. An agreement was made between them and the Republicans: if Hayes's cabinet consisted of at least one Southerner and he withdrew all Union troops from the South, then he would become President. This Compromise of 1877 is sometimes considered to be the second Corrupt Bargain.
Presidency 1877-1881
Since there was so much controversy surrounding the election, Hayes was sworn in on March 3, 1877. Hayes took the oath of office in the Red Room of the White House. He took the oath again publicly on March 5 on the East Portico of the United States Capitol, and he served until March 3, 1881.
President Hayes tirelessly worked to resolve the country's problems. One of the biggest difficulties was protecting the freedmen in the south. Many thought using the army to protect the civil rights of the freed slaves was a waste of time and money. Unfortunately, so did congress. He had no choice but to reassign the few service men guarding the statehouses in the south. He did manage to secure promises from state leaders for the freedmen's safety and security.
Domestic policy
In domestic affairs, aside from reconciliation with the South, his administration was noteworthy for two achievements, both giving evidence of a strong president resolute in his relations with Congress: resumption of specie mainly gold backing of the paper currency and bonds that financed the war, and the beginning of civil service reform. Hayes' first step in civil service reform was to issue an executive order in June 1877 forbidding federal civil servants to take an active part in politics. This order brought him into fateful collision with congressional spoilsmen. In this mainly victorious test, Hayes removed not only a subordinate, Alonzo B. Cornell, from the New York custom house but also the port collector, Chester A. Arthur, both Republicans.
Foreign policy
In 1878, Hayes was asked by Argentina 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 favor of the Paraguayans. His decision made him a hero in Paraguay, and a city Villa Hayes and a department were named in his honor.
But for the most time, Hayes wasn't very much involved in foreign policy. Most of the problems during his time in office were small and insignificant.
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.
Other acts include:
- Compromise of 1877
- Desert Land Act (1877)
- Bland-Allison Act (1878)
- Timber and Stone Act (1878)
Significant events during his presidency
- Munn v. Illinois (1876)
- Great Railroad Strike (1877)
Administration and Cabinet
| OFFICE | NAME | TERM |
| President | Rutherford B. Hayes | 1877–1881 |
| Vice President | William A. Wheeler | 1877–1881 |
| Secretary of State | William M. Evarts | 1877–1881 |
| Secretary of the Treasury | John Sherman | 1877–1881 |
| Secretary of War | George W. McCrary | 1877–1879 |
| Alex Ramsey | 1879–1881 | |
| Attorney General | Charles Devens | 1877–1881 |
| Postmaster General | David M. Key | 1877–1880 |
| Horace Maynard | 1880–1881 | |
| Secretary of the Navy | Richard W. Thompson | 1877–1880 |
| Nathan Goff, Jr. | 1881 | |
| Secretary of the Interior | Carl Schurz | 1877–1881 |
Supreme Court appointments
Hayes appointed two Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States:
- John Marshall Harlan – 1877
- William Burnham Woods – 1881
States admitted to the Union
None
Post-Presidency
Hayes did not seek re-election in U.S. presidential election, 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, Ohio, 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.
Trivia
- Hayes was the last U.S. President born before the Monroe Doctrine came into effect.
- Hayes was the first U.S. President to visit the West Coast of the United States while in office.
- Hayes is also reputed to be the first President to have had his voice recorded—by Thomas Edison in 1877 with his newly-invented phonograph. Unfortunately, the tin it was recorded on has been lost. As the recording cannot be located, some say that it never existed, and that therefore the first President to have his voice recorded was Benjamin Harrison in the 1890s.
- Hayes has both a city (Villa Hayes) and a department (Presidente Hayes) named after him in Paraguay. Hayes arbitrated a dispute between Argentina and Paraguay in Paraguay's favor and was honored in gratitude.
External links
- Inaugural Address
- The Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center Fremont, Ohio
- White House Biography
- Grant Succumbs to Temptation, Hayes Gets the Nod (1876) William Archibald Dunning recounts how President Grant refuses a third term in language so equivocal that it amounts to encouragement for his partisans. The result is a Congressional warning and the nomination of Rutherford B. Hayes.
- http://www.ohiohistory.org/onlinedoc/hayes/chapterxii.html
- Works by Rutherford B. Hayes. Project Gutenberg
- Rutherford Hayes' Gravesite
| Preceded by: Alexander Long |
U.S. Congressman for Ohio's 2nd district 1865 – 1867 |
Succeeded by: Samuel F. Cary |
| Preceded by: Jacob D. Cox |
Governor of Ohio 1868 – 1872 |
Succeeded by: Edward F. Noyes |
| Preceded by: William Allen |
Governor of Ohio 1876 – 1877 |
Succeeded by: Thomas L. Young |
| Preceded by: Ulysses S. Grant |
Republican Party presidential candidate U.S. presidential election, 1876 (won) |
Succeeded by: James A. Garfield |
| Preceded by: Ulysses S. Grant |
President of the United States March 4, 1877 – March 3, 1881 |
Succeeded by: James A. Garfield |
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