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The Presidency of Rutherford B. Hayes
Book by Davison, Kenneth E., Walker, Robert H.
266 pages, Hardcover
First published October 25, 1972
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August 1, 2026
I am so incredibly frustrated, because this book was so close to being amazing.
I wish to bring to light the positive things first, because there are many, and they are extremes. Firstly, the organization of this book in content is flawless. The order of chapters perfectly introduces the world of Rutherford Hayes to the reader in a way that doesn't confound unfamiliar readers while also being able to build upon history buffs' prior knowledge. Each of the major players in the Hayes administration and Congress (and the Supreme Court) get thorough and revealing summaries of their lives before the author talks about their role in the Hayes administration. Bravo for bringing to life people who turn out to be flat in books twice as long in relatively short passages. Additionally, each key figure comes back throughout the book, and at no point do any of the individuals given their own thorough bios ever feel forgotten about or unimportant. On top of this, the book is very well researched (each chapter, covering a individual topic succinctly, is self-contained in its notes and citations) and compellingly written for both general audiences and serious students of the Gilded Age (somehow?!).
There a two negatives that keep this book from being a perfect summation of Rutherford Hayes' presidency. The first one is significantly less of an issue, as that is addressed by the author (and I can kind of agree with it). This first one has to do with the election of 1876. Davison states that Hayes' biggest legacy is his disputed election, and that he had no interest in delving into something already thoroughly discussed by others. Davison wanted to focus on his presidency, and so he decided to write out the entire electoral dispute in less than 10 pages. While I too believe that delving into unnecessary detail would have been inappropriate for this topic (as the book is about the Hayes Presidency, not the 1876 election), I do with that a little more time would have been given to the election to thoroughly raise the stakes once Davison begins talking about the presidency years.
The second negative however is harder to defend. That being that Davison uses over 100 pages to catch the reader up on Hayes' life, the lives of his family, the lives of the other important politicians of his day that he interacted with, what social changes occurred during Hayes' presidency in America, and what Washington DC was like in the 1870s. However, fewer pages are dedicated to Hayes' term in office. As a result, the first half of the book flows perfectly in setting up a compelling narrative of his tumultuous administration, and then rushes through the administration as quickly as possible to get to Hayes' enlightened retirement. Seeing that fully academic analyses of Hayes and his time in office are incredibly rare (with the newest one from the early 90s), this book missed a very great opportunity with this one decision to undersell the Hayes presidency while going full-show into setting up his presidency and the actors in it. This saddened me immeasurably.
Overall, this book is still a greater sum of its parts and of its detractors. It really is a hidden gem (seeing how rare it is to come by), and I would recommend anybody who can get a hold of a copy to read it. As is, it is a great book. But for someone who probably has an unhealthy interest in obscure presidents like Hayes, this was so close to being amazing that it hurts to see it miss the 5-star mark.
I wish to bring to light the positive things first, because there are many, and they are extremes. Firstly, the organization of this book in content is flawless. The order of chapters perfectly introduces the world of Rutherford Hayes to the reader in a way that doesn't confound unfamiliar readers while also being able to build upon history buffs' prior knowledge. Each of the major players in the Hayes administration and Congress (and the Supreme Court) get thorough and revealing summaries of their lives before the author talks about their role in the Hayes administration. Bravo for bringing to life people who turn out to be flat in books twice as long in relatively short passages. Additionally, each key figure comes back throughout the book, and at no point do any of the individuals given their own thorough bios ever feel forgotten about or unimportant. On top of this, the book is very well researched (each chapter, covering a individual topic succinctly, is self-contained in its notes and citations) and compellingly written for both general audiences and serious students of the Gilded Age (somehow?!).
There a two negatives that keep this book from being a perfect summation of Rutherford Hayes' presidency. The first one is significantly less of an issue, as that is addressed by the author (and I can kind of agree with it). This first one has to do with the election of 1876. Davison states that Hayes' biggest legacy is his disputed election, and that he had no interest in delving into something already thoroughly discussed by others. Davison wanted to focus on his presidency, and so he decided to write out the entire electoral dispute in less than 10 pages. While I too believe that delving into unnecessary detail would have been inappropriate for this topic (as the book is about the Hayes Presidency, not the 1876 election), I do with that a little more time would have been given to the election to thoroughly raise the stakes once Davison begins talking about the presidency years.
The second negative however is harder to defend. That being that Davison uses over 100 pages to catch the reader up on Hayes' life, the lives of his family, the lives of the other important politicians of his day that he interacted with, what social changes occurred during Hayes' presidency in America, and what Washington DC was like in the 1870s. However, fewer pages are dedicated to Hayes' term in office. As a result, the first half of the book flows perfectly in setting up a compelling narrative of his tumultuous administration, and then rushes through the administration as quickly as possible to get to Hayes' enlightened retirement. Seeing that fully academic analyses of Hayes and his time in office are incredibly rare (with the newest one from the early 90s), this book missed a very great opportunity with this one decision to undersell the Hayes presidency while going full-show into setting up his presidency and the actors in it. This saddened me immeasurably.
Overall, this book is still a greater sum of its parts and of its detractors. It really is a hidden gem (seeing how rare it is to come by), and I would recommend anybody who can get a hold of a copy to read it. As is, it is a great book. But for someone who probably has an unhealthy interest in obscure presidents like Hayes, this was so close to being amazing that it hurts to see it miss the 5-star mark.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review