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Rutherford B. Hayes: Presidents
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Rutherford Birchard Hayes, 19th president of the United States (1877–81), came to office under the difficult circumstances of the disputed election of 1876. President during what he described as "a period when old questions are settled, and the new ones are not yet brought forward," he was a competent executive who restored Republican morale and the dignity of his office after the scandals of the Ulysses S. Grant presidency.
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Hayes became president following a contested election. The winner was chosen by a Congressional Commission, following the Constitution of the United States; in other words, it was done correctly that time. There was no usurper. The presidency was not a happy time for the Hayeses; he was glad to leave when the time came.
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After his single term as president, Hayes returned to his home in Fremont, Ohio. During the last decade of his life, he devoted himself to humanitarian causes. He worked for more educational and job-training opportunities for African-Americans and better conditions in prisons. Hayes died on January 17, 1893.
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In retirement Hayes vigorously advocated a larger role for the federal government in promoting the public welfare. Having as president signed the Arrears of Pension Act (1879), he continued his fight to better support needy veterans. His denunciation of giant monopolistic corporations and his support of federal regulation of industry (for example, the 1887 Interstate Commerce Act), make Hayes a precursor of progressivism.
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Hayes was one of only three presidents to keep a diary while serving office. Actually, his ‘diary keeping days’ dated a few years back, from the age of twelve. He would maintain a diary until his death at age seventy in 1893.
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During his presidency, Hayes effectively ended the Reconstruction period that followed the American Civil War. He ordered the withdrawal of military forces that had occupied the Southern states. Hayes refused to seek a second term as president.
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