Rutherford B. Hayes

US President

1822 – 1893

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Who was Rutherford B. Hayes?

Rutherford Birchard Hayes was the 19th President of the United States. As president, he oversaw the end of Reconstruction, began the efforts that led to civil service reform, and attempted to reconcile the divisions left over from the Civil War and Reconstruction.

Hayes, an attorney in Ohio, became city solicitor of Cincinnati from 1858 to 1861. When the Civil War began, he left a fledgling political career to join the Union Army as an officer. Hayes was wounded five times, most seriously at the Battle of South Mountain; he earned a reputation for bravery in combat and was promoted to the rank of major general. After the war, he served in the U.S. Congress from 1865 to 1867 as a Republican. Hayes left Congress to run for Governor of Ohio and was elected to two consecutive terms, from 1868 to 1872, and then to a third term, from 1876 to 1877.

In 1876, Hayes was elected president in one of the most contentious and confused elections in national history. He lost the popular vote to Democrat Samuel J. Tilden but he won an intensely disputed electoral college vote after a Congressional commission awarded him twenty contested electoral votes. The result was the Compromise of 1877, in which the Democrats acquiesced to Hayes's election and Hayes ended all federal army intervention in Southern politics. That caused the collapse of Republican state governments and led to a solidly Democratic South.

Famous Quotes:

  • The President...should strive to be always mindful of the fact that he serves his party best who serves the country best.

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Born
Oct 4, 1822
Delaware
Also known as
  • Rutherford Birchard Hayes
  • Rutherford Hayes
Parents
Spouses
Children
Religion
  • Methodism
Ethnicity
  • Scottish American
  • Caucasian race
Nationality
  • United States of America
Profession
Education
  • Harvard Law School
  • Kenyon College
    ( - 1842/08)
  • Harvard University
Employment
  • President, Federal government of the United States
    (1877/03/04 - 1881/03/04)
Lived in
  • Ohio
Died
Jan 17, 1893
Fremont
Resting place
Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center

Submitted
on July 23, 2013

Citation

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