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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Rutherford
Hayes