Rutherford Birchard Hayes

19th President of the United States
(March 4, 1877 to March 3, 1881)

Nickname: "Dark-Horse President"

Born: October 4, 1822, in Delaware, Ohio
Died: January 17, 1893, at Spiegel Grove in Fremont, Ohio

Father: Rutherford Hayes
Mother: Sophia Birchard Hayes
Married: Lucy Ware Webb (1831-1889), on December 30, 1852
Children: Birchard Austin Hayes (1853-1926); James Webb Cook Hayes (1856-1934); Rutherford Platt Hayes (1858-1927); Joseph Thompson Hayes (1861-63); George Crook Hayes (1864-66); Fanny Hayes (1867-1950); Scott Russell Hayes (1871-1923); Manning Force Hayes (1873-74)

Religion: No formal affiliation
Education: Graduated from Kenyon College (1842) and Harvard Law School (1845)
Occupation: Lawyer
Political Party: Republican
Other Government Positions:

• Member of U.S. House of Representatives, 1865-67

• Governor of Ohio, 1868-72

• Governor of Ohio, 1876-77

Presidential Salary: $50,000/year

Vice President: William A. Wheeler (1877-81)

Cabinet:

Secretary of State

William M. Evarts (1877-81)

Secretary of the Treasury

John Sherman (1877-81)

Secretary of War

George W. McCrary (1877-79)

Alexander Ramsey (1879-81)

Attorney General

Charles Devens (1877-81)

Postmaster General

David M. Key (1877-80)

Horace Maynard (1880-81)

Secretary of the Navy

Richard W. Thompson (1877-80)

Nathan Goff, Jr. (1881)

Secretary of the Interior

Carl Schurz (1877-81)

Notable Events:

• 1877

  • Federal troops withdrew from the South ending Reconstruction..
    Striking railroad workers and federal troops clashed.

• 1878

  • Bland-Allison Silver Purchase Act passed despite Hayes veto.

Internet Biographies:

Rutherford B. Hayes -- from The Presidents of the United States of America

Compiled by the White House.

Rutherford B. Hayes -- from Table of Presidents and Vice Presidents of the United States - MSN Encarta

Grolier Online has created this resource from its collection of print articles in Encyclopedia Americana. Contains a full biography, written by Harry Barnard, author of Rutherford B. Hayes and His America, along with suggestions for further reading.

Rutherford B. Hayes -- from The American President

From the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia, in addition to information on the Presidents themselves, they have first lady and cabinet member biographies, listings of presidential staff and advisers, and timelines detailing significant events in the lives of each administration.

Rutherford Hayes's Obituary -- from Dead Presidents

The text from page 1 of The New York Times, January 18, 1893. Placed on the web by Manus Hand.

Historical Documents:

Inaugural Address (1877)

Other Internet Resources:

Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center

The first presidential library, the home, tomb and museum about the life of Hayes. Biographical and tourist information available.

Spiegel Grove

History of the Hayes Family home in Fremont, Ohio from 1873.

Points of Interest:

• Hayes' father died a few months before he was born.

• Of the five presidents who served in the Civil War, Hayes was the only one to be wounded.

• Arriving in San Francisco on September 8, 1880, Hayes became the first president to visit the West Coast while in office.

• Hayes was the first president to graduate from law school.

• Mrs. Hayes was known as "Lemonade Lucy" because she refused to serve alcohol in the White House.

• Lucy Hayes was the first First Lady to have graduated from college.

• He won the presidency by only one electoral vote.

• He signed the act that permitted women to plead before the Supreme Court.

• The first White House telephone was installed, by Alexander Graham Bell himself, during the Hayes administration.

• The first Easter egg roll on the White House lawn was conducted by Hayes and his wife.

Rutherford B. Hayes

19th President of the United States
(March 4, 1877 to March 3, 1881)

Lucy Hayes

Videos