The 19th President of The United States, Rutherford B. Hayes

Rutherford B. Hayes: The winner of the most fiercely disputed election in American history, Rutherford B. Hayes brought to the Executive Mansion dignity, honesty, and moderate reform. For the pleasure of Christian Temperance Union Women, Lucy Webb Hayes made requests her husband to ban wines and spirits at the White House. Born in Ohio in 1822, Hayes was educated at Kenyon College and Law School of Harvard University. 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 still serving in the Army, Cincinnati Republicans nominated him for the House of Representatives. He accepted the appointment, but would not campaign, explaining that, "an official fact for duty under this crisis leaves office to deal with elections ... should be flayed." Elected by a large majority, Hayes entered Congress in December 1865, concerned about the "rebel influence ... sending in 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. The Governor Samuel J. Tilden of New York faced.

Although a lot of famous Republican speakers, and even Mark Twain, supported Hayes, he expected the Democrats won. When the first few laps seemed to confirm this, Hayes went to rest, believing he had lost. But in New York, the president of Zachariah Chandler National Republican Party, aware of an irregularity, it telegrafeó all leaders to stand firm: "Hayes has 185 votes and has been elected." The popular vote was apparently 4,300 .000 for Tilden to 4,036,000 to Hayes. Hayes depended choice of electoral votes in Louisiana, South Carolina and Florida. If all disputed electoral votes were in favor of Hayes, he would win; only one vote would elect Tilden. Months of uncertainty followed. In January 1877, Congress established an electoral Commission to decide the conflict. The commission, composed of eight Republicans and seven Democrats, determined all voting in favor of Hayes by eight to seven. The final electoral vote was 185 to 184. Northern Republicans had been promising southern Democrats at least one Cabinet post, sponsored by the federal government, subsidies for internal improvements, and the withdrawal of troops from Louisiana and of south Carolina.

Hayes insisted that his appointments were due to conclude on merit, not political considerations. For his Cabinet he chose men of high caliber, but demoted many Republicans because one member was a former Confederate and another had divided the party as

a liberal Republican in 1872. Hayes promised the protection of the rights of blacks in the South, but also advocated the restoration "of a wise, honest local self-government, and peaceful". This meant the withdrawal of troops. Hayes hoped such conciliatory policies would lead to the building of a "new Republican party" in the south,

in which businessmen and white conservatives could muster. Many of the leaders of the new southern indeed favored Republican economic policies and approved the financial conservatism of Hayes, but faced annihilation in the

if they join the party polls reconstruction. Hayes and his Republican successors were persistent in their efforts but could not win on the "Solid South". Hayes had announced in advance that he would serve only one term, and had retired to Spiegel Grove, his home in Fremont, Ohio, in 1881. He died in 1893.