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Rutherford B. Hayes
Beneficiary of the most fiercely disputed election in American history,
Rutherford B. Hayes brought to the Executive Mansion dignity, honesty, and
moderate reform.
To the delight of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, Lucy Webb Hayes
carried out her husband's orders to banish wines and liquors from the White
House.
Born in Ohio in 1822, Hayes was educated at Kenyon College and Harvard Law
School. After five years of law practice in Lower Sandusky, he moved to
Cincinnati, where he flourished as a young Whig lawyer.
He fought in the Civil War, was wounded in action, and rose to the rank of
brevet major general. While he was still in the Army, Cincinnati Republicans ran
him for the House of Representatives. He accepted the nomination, but would not
campaign, explaining, "an officer fit for duty who at this crisis would abandon
his post to electioneer... ought to be scalped."
Elected by a heavy majority, Hayes entered Congress in December 1865, troubled
by the "Rebel influences ... ruling the White House." Between 1867 and 1876 he
served three terms as Governor of Ohio.
Safe liberalism, party loyalty, and a good war record made Hayes an acceptable
Republican candidate in 1876. He opposed Governor Samuel J. Tilden of New York.
Although a galaxy of famous Republican speakers, and even Mark Twain, stumped
for Hayes, he expected the Democrats to win. When the first returns seemed to
confirm this, Hayes went to bed, believing he had lost. But in New York,
Republican National Chairman Zachariah Chandler, aware of a loophole, wired
leaders to stand firm: "Hayes has 185 votes and is elected." The popular vote
apparently was 4,300,000 for Tilden to 4,036,000 for Hayes. Hayes's election
depended upon contested electoral votes in Louisiana, South Carolina, and
Florida. If all the disputed electoral votes went to Hayes, he would win; a
single one would elect Tilden.
Months of uncertainty followed. In January 1877 Congress established an
Electoral Commission to decide the dispute. The commission, made up of eight
Republicans and seven Democrats, determined all the contests in favor of Hayes
by eight to seven. The final electoral vote: 185 to 184.
Northern Republicans had been promising southern Democrats at least one Cabinet
post, Federal patronage, subsidies for internal improvements, and withdrawal of
troops from Louisiana and South Carolina.
Hayes insisted that his appointments must be made on merit, not political
considerations. For his Cabinet he chose men of high caliber, but outraged many
Republicans because one member was an ex-Confederate and another had bolted the
party as a Liberal Republican in 1872.
Hayes pledged protection of the rights of Negroes in the South, but at the same
time advocated the restoration of "wise, honest, and peaceful local
self-government." This meant the withdrawal of troops. Hayes hoped such
conciliatory policies would lead to the building of a "new Republican party" in
the South, to which white businessmen and conservatives would rally.
Many of the leaders of the new South did indeed favor Republican economic
policies and approved of Hayes's financial conservatism, but they faced
annihilation at the polls if they were to join the party of Reconstruction.
Hayes and his Republican successors were persistent in their efforts but could
not win over the "solid South."
Hayes had announced in advance that he would serve only one term, and retired to
Spiegel Grove, his home in Fremont, Ohio, in 1881. He died in 1893. |
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