Hayes, Rutherford

Hayes, Rutherford (1822–1893), nineteenth president of the United States.Born in Delaware, Ohio, Hayes graduated from Kenyon College and Harvard Law School and became a successful attorney in Cincinnati, Ohio. Strongly antislavery and pro‐Union, he led a company of volunteers in the Civil War, rising to the rank of major general. Severely wounded at the Battle of South Mountain in 1862, he recovered to fight in the 1864 Shenandoah campaign. After the war, he entered politics, serving a term in Congress (1865–1867) and three terms (1868–1872, 1876–1877) as governor of Ohio. Hayes won the 1876 Republican presidential nomination when the front‐runner, Senator James G. Blaine of Maine, became enmeshed in a financial scandal. In the general election, the Democratic candidate, Samuel Tilden of New York, received 250,000 more popular votes than Hayes and appeared to win the electoral tally as well, but the Republican managers contested the result, challenging the returns in three southern states and Oregon. The ensuing controversy threatened to revive sectional conflict until a special electoral commission appointed by Congress awarded the presidency to Hayes by a single electoral vote. The bargaining that produced this outcome, the so‐called Compromise of 1877, which involved Republican support for southern railroads and the withdrawal of federal troops from the South, marked the end of Reconstruction, opening the door to the restoration of white rule in the region and the suppression of freedmen's rights.

As president, Hayes's unruffled, sometimes deceptively optimistic personality helped to calm national politics and to shift attention from the “southern question.” While Hayes did what he could to support the Republican party in the South, he also focused on new issues, especially civil service reform, which he saw as essential to modernizing the federal government. He challenged Republican and Democratic leaders alike to implement his motto: “He serves his party best who serves his country best.” Hayes asserted executive power through his appointments and in general upheld the authority of the presidency. Not personally popular even within his own party, he gained respect as his administration proceeded. His wife Lucy promoted the cause of temperance, while the Hayes family epitomized the Victorian ideal of piety and domesticity. Believing in a single presidential term, Hayes did not seek reelection in 1880. As an ex‐president, he focused on higher education, philanthropy, and educational opportunities for African Americans. While his presidency had few dramatic accomplishments, Hayes did maintain the dignity of the office and raise new political and social issues.
See also Gilded Age; Temperance and Prohibition.

Bibliography

Ari Hoogenboom , The Presidency of Rutherford B. Hayes, 1988.
Ari Hoogenboom , Rutherford B. Hayes: Warrior and President, 1995.

H. Wayne Morgan