Rutherford B. Hayes

Rutherford Birchard Hayes (October 4, 1822 - January 17, 1893) was the 19th President of the United States. He served only one term, from 1877 to 1881. Hayes was a Republican. He was elected governor of Ohio three times before becoming president. Hayes barely won the election of 1876, only defeating Democratic opponent Samuel Tilden after a Congressional committee gave Hayes some disputed electoral votes.

Early life
Hayes was born in Delaware, Ohio. He went to Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, and then went to Harvard Law School. After graduating from law school, he became a lawyer. In 1849, he joined the Republican Party, which was new then, because he was against slavery. In 1852, he married Lucy Webb, a woman who was also against slavery. In the 1860s, he served in the American Civil War on the Union side, and became a major general. After the war ended, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a part of the Republican Party. In 1867, he became the governor of Ohio.

The election of 1876
Ulysses S. Grant had been president since 1869, and was not going to run for president a third time in 1876. Grant was a member of the Republican Party, and while he was president, became known for allowing corruption to go on around him. The Republican Party did not want people to think that everybody in the party was corrupt, so they decided to make Hayes their candidate. They thought he was a good candidate because he had made many changes in Ohio while he was governor there that people thought were good, and because he was thought to have been a hero in the Civil War.

Hayes ran against Samuel Tilden, whom the Democratic Party nominated. The election was close, and many people who did not think that Hayes fairly won the election called him "His Fraudulency". Tilden actually got more votes than Hayes, but Hayes got 185 votes in the Electoral College, while Tilden got 184, so Hayes won the election.

As president
While he was president, Hayes ended the Reconstruction period that followed the American Civil War. Rutherford B. Hayes ordered military forces that had been in the Southern states to leave. He also sent federal troops to end a railroad strike. Hayes refused to seek a second term as president.

After being president
After being president, Hayes retired to Fremont, Ohio where he would die of a heart attack on January 17, 1893. Meanwhile, He spent time talking about his beliefs that all children should have the chance to go to school, that people who had been in the military should get their fair payments for their service, and that people in prisons should be treated better.

Other websites

 * Hayes' White House biography