The Presidency of Rutherford B. Hayes

by Ari Hoogenboom

Mark Twain, who captured the essence of the Gilded Age, predicted that, in time, the "real and substantial greatness" of the Hayes presidency would cause it to "stand out against the horizon of history in its true proportions." This volume, an assessment of all significant aspects of the Hayes administration, may bring about just such a reappraisal. It is an important reevaluation of the administration that officially ended the Reconstruction era.

Hoogenboom covers all issues, decisions, and developments of consequence during the Hayes presidency--from the withdrawal of troops from Louisiana and South Carolina that signaled the end of Reconstruction, through the Great Strike of 1877--the most violent general strike in American history--to the Nez Perce War and the removal of the Ponca's to the Indian Territory.

Hayes began his term with a vast segment of the population convinced that he had been elected by fraud. The election returns of four states were disputed in his race against Democrat Samuel J. Tilden; when a special commission awarded all disputed returns to Hayes, many indignant citizens concluded that he was not legally entitled to reside in the White House. In addition to that sever handicap, Hayes faced a hostile Congress, controversy over the last remaining Republican governments in the South, urgent demands for civil service reform, and severe economic depression.

Hoogenboom credits Hayes with being a patient reformer, principled but practical, cautious yet courageous. He vetoed popular legislation that would expand the currency and exclude Chinese laborers from the migrants allowed into the United States. He defeated congressional attempts to force him to make appointments. He vetoed appropriation bills that would destroy laws enforcing voting rights under the Fourteenth ad Fifteenth amendments. He did not attempt the impossible task of reforming the entire civil service, but supported the merit system in the New York Customhouse and Post Office and achieved excellent results. His restrained, legalistic response to the Great Strike saved lives and property. In foreign affairs, he took positions that anticipated both the Open Door with respect to China and the Theodore Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine. Against great odds, Hayes defended the prerogatives of his office and enhanced its power and prestige.

This new interpretation contradicts the widely held view that Hayes was an inept politician and an ineffective leader. It was Hayes's character and personality, Hoogenboom argues, that set his presidency apart in the Gilded Age. His honesty and decency echoed the pristine values of the early American Republic, while his attempts to rally support by emphasizing issues and policies--rather than by relying on political organization--anticipated the style of twentieth-century presidents.

Genres: Presidents, History, Us Presidents, Nonfiction

288 pages, Hardcover

First published October 17, 1988

About the author

Ari Arthur Hoogenboom was professor emeritus of history at Brooklyn College at the City University of New York. He was a scholar of the Gilded Age, particularly in the life and Presidency of Rutherford B. Hayes

Reviews

[Marion · Rating 3 out of 5]

I knew basically nothing about the Hayes presidency, so this information was all new to me. He was a decorated Union soldier, a Republican and a staunch abolitionist. As Governor of Ohio he supported the 15th & 16th amendments.

I was fascinated to learn that a Constitutional Crisis occurred over the 1876 Tilden - Hayes election. Tilden (Democrat) led in the popular and Electoral College votes. However, 4 states had not submitted their complete electoral ballots. Both parties made charges of voter fraud and vote suppression - challenging these state elections. An Electoral Commission was established in January, 1877 representing both parties and after much heated debate and a hammered out behind-the-scenes compromise, Hayes squeaked by with an 8-7 vote. In the compromise, he agreed to withdraw Federal troops from the South, abandoning the Reconstruction protections for black citizens and their voting rights. He left the freed slaves to fend for themselves and did not interfere with local self government, allowing Southern Democrats to pursue white supremacy agendas, which led to the Jim Crow laws that lasted well into the 1960’s.

This author tries to balance the accomplishments and failures of his one term in office. But for me, learning about how Hayes got elected and the consequences that resulted made a relatively boring history worth the time it took to read it.

[Gregory · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book examines Rutherford B. Hayes's one term in office, 1877-1881. Hayes came to office under a cloud due to the disputed election of 1876, which was decided by a special congressionally appointed electoral commission. He is probably most remembered for "ending" Reconstruction and withdrawing the few remaining federal troops in the South. Hayes was entirely too trusting of promises by white southerners to protect the rights of African Americans. He realized this too late. Several attempts by the Justice Department to protect African American rights had little impact. More effectively, Hayes vetoed bills containing riders to end all federal protections of African American rights. Other notable events of his term include the debate over currency and the resumption of the greenbacks, the great railroad strike of 1877, and his public battle over Civil Service positions with Senator Roscoe Conkling of New York. Hayes vetoed a bill restricting Chinese immigration because it violated the Burlingame Treaty, but negotiated a new agreement that allowed the United States to impose limits. Other than China, not much happened in the realm of foreign affairs.

[Roger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hayes was a President I knew little about. Although he failed blacks on voting rights in the South, and was too trusting that Southern states would respect black rights, he was generally honest and at least started civil service reform to end the spoils system of awarding government jobs to the friends of the winning candidate, regardless of qualifications.

[Stevejs298 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Arguably one of the worst books that I have ever read. But, for my desire to read at least one biography on every President I would never have finished this book. It provided some information. Yet, it never told a story. The chapter on the Federal bureaucracy may be even more boring than the real bureaucracy. There just has to be a better book on Hayes out there.

[Quincy Wheeler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hoogenboom does an excellent job reviewing the main challenges faced by the Hayes' administration and the President's role in aptly handling most (if not all) of them with a moderated, centrist approach. My assessment of the Hayes' administration improved with this book.

[Mark Singer · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very dry, just the facts look at the Hayes presidency.

[Frank Stein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just what I was looking for, a good, solid description of one of our less noted Presidents's time in office, with a minimum spent on personal anecdote and a maximum spent on policy and process. This should be a model for other such presidential books.

The author, Ari Hoogenboom, goes into admirable detail on Hayes' battles against the Roscoe Conkling political machine in New York, and his firing, during a congressional adjournment in 1878, of Chester Arthur and Alonzo Cornell from the New York port collector's office, through which 70% of the country's revenue, and much of its patronage, flowed. Of course the outcomes of this battle were obscure in the long run. Cornell would win the New York governorship soon afterwards, and Arthur would of course go on to be Vice President and then President himself, but Conkling would never entirely recover. Hoogenboom also describes Hayes admirable restraint in the Great Strike of 1877. While many railroads and other Republicans called for massive militia intervention, Hayes was worried about exacerbating the violence, and limited federal involvement, with noted success.

Yet one can't help but see the election of 1876 and its messy aftermath as the center of this book. The recount of 2000 was nothing besides this. There were simply more twists, skullduggery, bribery, politicking, and profound consequences than in any other election dispute in our history, and Hoogenboom makes it all immensely exciting.

He shows that it all started when Daniel Sickles, the man who had plead temporary insanity when shooting the son of Francis Scott Key and who as a foreign minister to Spain seduced the deposed queen, committed another reckless act by wandering into the New York Republican National Committee headquarters after dinner, and, upon seeing that the returns were coming in negative for Hayes, sent out a telegram which claimed to be under the authorization of the then drunken chairman, ordering the three Southern states that still had Republican governors to "Hold your state." The "returning boards" of those states thus worked to throw out "fradulent votes" to ensure Hayes victory by 185 to Samuel Tilden's 184 electoral votes. In Florida, the votes thrown out from two precincts in Bakers County meant Hayes went ahead by 43 votes, as opposed to Tilden previously leading by 94. One of the Republican returners in Lousiana twice offered to sell the state and thus the Presidency to the Democrats for up to $1 million, and then unsuccessfully tried to sell it to his own party. The machinations multiplied. In Oregon, a single postmaster and elector who came afoul of the constitutional prohibition on electors holding office, almost allowed the Democratic governor to appoint a Democratic elector and throw the Presidency by one vote to Tilden. After more national consternation, Congress finally agreed to a bill that allowed a commission of 15, equally divided by party except for one independent, to decide which votes counted as they came into the Senate. The 15th member was originally to be selected by lot, but when both candidates refused to "raffle" for the Presidency, it was agreed that the commission would select an independent Supreme Court justice, David Davis, to hold the balance. A mistake by a local Illinois Democrat, however, who nominated Davis as Senator, supposedly with an "understanding" that he would stay on the commission, backfired, and Joseph P. Bradley, a Republican Justice, was put in his place. The author demonstrates the drama as the 14 other commissioners voted on party lines for the President, and then waited, along with the whole country, for one man, unlike any other in history, to decide who would capture the Presidency, which he did for Hayes. It's an incredible story, and I haven't even told the half of it.

Hoogenboom casts doubt on some of the "trades" Hayes supposedly made to get this result. The new transatlantic railroad advocated by the South was never promised by Hayes, and the end of the three Republican governorships was practically preordained since violent Democratic assaults meant they could not be sustained without military force, which a Democratic House refused to provide. Overall, the author argues that Hayes was a President who overcame his tainted election and exercised a subtle but valuable influence on history.