#19: Rutherford B Hayes (1822-1893)

“He was one of the best-educated men to occupy the White House, was honest, evenhanded, and humane. Taking over the scandal-besmirched presidency from General Grant, he reestablished the good reputation of the country’s first office and was rewarded with the Republican success of 1880. This was his real achievement” (Trefousse, 129).

Okay, this may mean that I am, perhaps, one of the oddest people in the United States but I actually do remember Rutherford B Hayes. Not well, mind you, but well enough. Maybe it’s due to the fact that the election of 2000 was as screwed up as the election of 1876 or my American History AP class was just that good or I just have one of the superbest memories of the 21st century—I guess we’ll never know. Regardless, here I am sitting on the information that Rutherford B Hayes won a highly contested election resulting in the Compromise of 1877. And see? I remembered the date too! Awesome.

Anywho, since I already have such a fabulous grasp on Hayesian politics I guess I can just skip this one biography. Ha! No such luck, I’m afraid. I can’t remember anything more about this guy so it’s back to the library for me. Actually, the library didn’t have any adult books on Rutheford, the nerve, so I had to venture back onto Amazon. I bought the book, Rutherford B. Hayes: American Presidents Series by Hans L. Trefousse(New York: Times Books, 2002), and upon receiving it in the mail, put it right onto a bookshelf till it was needed. Do you believe in coincidences? Well when I resurrected Rutherford’s bio off the shelf I noticed that this book was written by none other than my old pal from Andrew Johnson days, Hans L. Trefousse! Isn’t that interesting? I guess it really is a small world in the realm of historical academia. Let’s see how old Hans works his magic with a very different gentleman from that of Johnson.

Rutherford Birchard Hayes was born on October 4, 1822 in Delaware, OH. Unfortunately, he was born the same year that his father died of fever and thus, his mother, having inherited some land, had to take care of Rutherford, his sister and a younger brother (who eventually died in a skating accident) by herself. Nicknamed “Rud,” Rutherford was a sandy-haired, blue-eyed boy, and was often sickly. In 1836, he was sent to Norwalk Seminary, a prep school in Connecticut and then in 1838 he moved on to Kenyon College in OH. There he showed Whig tendencies and graduated as the valedictorian in 1842.

He decided that he wanted to be a lawyer so he enrolled the next year at Harvard Law School, even though this was before the time that lawyers needed a special degree. He graduated in 1845 and was immediately admitted to the bar, leaving him free to settle in the small town of Fremont, OH. Not caring to conduct business in such a tiny location, Rutherford soon moved himself and his practice to Cincinnati.

It was around 1847 that Rutherford met the young, Lucy Ware Webb, while she was attending Ohio Wesleyan College. They married in 1850 and eventually had 8 children, although only 5 lived. Rutherford continued to make his name as a very good defense attorney and abolitionist lawyer. He was passionately against slavery and would frequently take on fugitive slave cases. In 1858 he was elected as the city’s solicitor and in 1860, the presidential election year, Hayes served as vice chairman of the Republican Executive Committee of Hamilton County. Slowly he was moving up in the world.

With the advent of the Civil War, Hayes volunteered and was made a major. “Toward the end of July, the regiment was ordered to move into what was soon to become West Virginia, to guard the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, secure the Kanawha Valley, and support the Unionists in the area” (p. 23). He was soon promoted to lieutenant colonel and then after Antietam, where he was wounded, he was made a full colonel. His regiment was then placed under Sheridan and Hayes made brigadier general which culminated in 1865 to being made brevet major general.

Also in 1865, with the war ending, Hayes, as a military hero, was voted to represent Ohio in the US House of Representatives. He served in congress during Reconstruction and he had very definitive ideas of where the Southern states stood after the war. “Like many other Republicans he believed that the Southern states had forfeited their rights and ought to be reconstructed by Congress, but unlike [Thaddeus] Stevens did not feel that they were conquered provinces and were thus no longer covered by the Constitution” (p. 41). This thinking brought Hayes into early conflict with President Johnson. “Voting to override the veto , Hayes thereafter strongly opposed Johnson, who, he felt, had fallen completely under the influence of former rebels” (p. 42).

He only served two years as a congressman before he resigned to run for governor of Ohio and won. In 1868 he also was an elector to the Republican National Convention where he voted and nominated Grant for president. In 1871, he resigned as governor and the very next year he lost an election to congress. During this forced retirement, Hayes got into real estate and was given the Assistant Treasurer position for the state.

He was voted in to an unprecedented third term as governor where he spent most of his time increasing educational awareness and other causes. “In his final message, on January 2, 1877, he was able to take credit for the reduction of the state’s debt, the establishment of various welfare institutions, and the geological survey” (p. 63). Before this final message however in 1876, Hayes had been nominated for president on the Republican National ticket. He was paired opposite Samuel Tilden, Democrat, and no one could tell which candidate would win, both being relatively unknown. It initially looked like Tilden would take the popular vote but it then came to everyone’s attention that votes had been mishandled in South Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana. The disputed election went to the House of Representatives but the Constitution was mum on this particular development, so Congress ended up voting a 15-man commission to decide the matter. Hayes won.

Although Hayes was the 19th President of the United States, the country was still divided over the results, while the Democrats fairly howling with rage and calling the president “Rutherfraud.” The “Bargain of 1876” was struck when Hayes declared that he would end all Reconstruction in the South by removing the military presence there.

As president, Hayes went immediately to work ending Reconstruction and promoting civil rights, civil service reform, and universal education. However, his early presidential years were marked by controversy. He had problems with his cabinet, with patronage appointments, with the way he ended Reconstruction and his adherence to the need of civil service reform. At that time office seekers simply stalked the president in the White House but Hayes wished to have civil service offices given by merit and wanted to institute an exam that would preclude promotion. There were also railroad strikes (which the government had to put down) and immigration policies. “All in all, the first two years of the Hayes administration were more successful than could have expected after the disputed election. As the Atlantic Monthly pointed out, interference in stated elections had been abandoned, financial obligations vindicated, burdens of taxation had been lifted, and national credit secured” (p. 109).

He worked hard the next few years as well but he was quite happy to leave the presidency after just one term. Hayes was adamant about not being re-nominated and was quite satisfied with the election of James Garfield. He was satisfied with the job he had done but was not anxious to have the job any longer. “I am now in my last year of the Presidency,” Hayes wrote “and look forward to its close as a schoolboy longs for the coming vacation” (p. 119).

This time his retirement was real. He became the director of the First National Bank of Fremont while taking the time to enlarge his own home, Spiegel Grove. He remained very active in several military and educational associations and he continued to travel. He was interested and active in promoting educational opportunities and civil rights for the rest of his life. In June 1889, his wife, Lucy, died of stroke, leaving Hayes bereft. He would follow her several years later, on January 7, 1893, when he died of a heart attack.