Happy 196th, Mr. President!

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Happy 196th birthday to our 19th President, Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1877-1881), born October 4, 1822 in Delaware, Ohio. A well-respected Attorney in Cincinnati, he joined the Union forces at the outbreak of the Civil War and barely survived serious combat injuries. He attained the rank of major, and when he was nominated for the US House of Representatives in 1864, he refused to come home to campaign, saying anyone who would do so “ought to be scalped.” After a scandal-ridden Grant Administration, the Republicans nominated Hayes in 1876, believing his honest record and support for civil service reform would help restore trust in government. On election night, 20 electoral votes in Louisiana, Florida and South Carolina were disputed. In a controversial move, they were awarded to Hayes with a promise to remove all remaining federal troops from the South and accept Democratic governments in the former Confederacy. He and his wife, Lucy, banned alcohol in the White House and founded the annual Easter Egg Roll tradition. Hayes got the ball rolling on civil service reform, issuing an executive order banning civil servants from taking part in party politics or being required to make campaign contributions. Among those he fired for violating this was Collector of the Port of New York, Chester A. Arthur, who would later become our 21st president. Hayes also supported equal treatment and opportunities for blacks, but without much success. He angered labor leaders by sending in federal troops to end the violent Great Railroad Strike of 1877, though workers’ demands were eventually met. He honored his one-term pledged and returned to his estate, Spiegel Grove, in Fremont, Ohio in 1881. In his retirement, he advocated for increased federal funding for education and improving conditions for mental health patients. He died of heart disease on January 17, 1893 at the age of 70.

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