Rutherford B Hayes Biography
President of the United States

Conservative Hall of Fame

Rutherford B. Hayes, nineteenth president of the United States, was the fifth child born to Rutherford and Sophia Birchard Hayes. He was born October 4, 1822, at Delaware, Ohio, about two months after the death of his father. Hayes was educated at Kenyon College and Harvard Law School.

When the Civil War began, despite being nearly 40, Hayes joined as a three-year volunteer at the rank of major in the 23rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He rose to the rank of major general. He was severely wounded on September 14, 1862, at the Battle of South Mountain. In 1864, while still in the army, he was elected to Congress (despite his refusal to campaign). Hayes did not take his seat until the Union had won the war. He was reelected in 1866. The following year he was elected as governor of Ohio. After winning a third term in 1875, the Republican Party chose Hayes as its presidential candidate. He won the 1876 election only after the creation of a special commission to decide disputed electoral votes. Because of the tension surrounding his election, Hayes secretly took the oath of office on Saturday, March 3, 1877, in the Red Room of the White House.

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.

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. 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.

Beneficiary of the most fiercely disputed election in American history, Rutherford B. Hayes brought to the Executive Mansion dignity, honesty, and moderate reform.

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 signed a number of bills including one on February 15, 1879 which, for the first time, allowed female attorneys to argue cases before the Supreme Court of the United States.

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." 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.

Honoring his commitment not to accept a second term as president, Hayes retired to his home, Spiegel Grove, in Fremont, Ohio. Hayes continued to give of his time helping veterans, improving conditions in prisons, and promoting universal education. He died at Spiegel Grove January 17, 1893, at the age of seventy.

Ten facts about Rutherford B. Hayes from the archives of the Hayes Presidential Center Library...

*Hayes was the first president to take the oath of office in the White House.
* Hayes was the only president whose election was decided by a congressional commission.
* Hayes was the first president to travel to the West Coast during his term as president. Hayes was the first president to have a telephone in the White House.
* Hayes was the first president to have a typewriter in the White House.
* Though other presidents served in the Civil War, Hayes was the only one to have been wounded - four times!
* Hayes began the "Easter Egg Roll" for children on the White House Lawn (1878) - a tradition which still continues on the Monday after Easter.
* Lucy Webb Hayes was the first wife of a president to graduate from college,
* Lucy Webb Hayes was the first wife of a president to be called "First Lady".
* Hayes' best known quotation - "he serves his party best who serves his country best." Inaugural Address, 1877.

Sources:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/rh19.html

http://www.rbhayes.org/hayes/president/

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