It’s Professor Dave, let’s talk about Rutherford Hayes.
Rutherford B. Hayes 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.
In some of these points he was modestly successful, but in others he was a disaster; his ending
of Reconstruction in the South reversed the social and political gains made by African-Americans
in the years immediately after the Civil War, leading to another century of racial subjugation.
After rising to the rank of general in the Civil War, Hayes served in Congress from 1865
to 1867 and was then elected three times to be Governor of Ohio.
He went on to win the Republican presidential nomination in 1876 and then the presidency.
If Hayes is remembered for anything, it’s for losing the popular vote to Democrat Samuel
J. Tilden, but then winning the disputed Electoral College vote after he was awarded twenty contested
electoral votes by a Congressional commission, a compromise achieved by the Democrats agreeing
to Hayes’s election if he would end all Federal military occupation of the South.
This deal, the so-called “Corrupt Bargain”, would have ramifications that stretched for
decades to come.
Hayes had been a firm supporter of Republican Reconstruction policies throughout his political
career, but the first major act of his presidency involved an end to Reconstruction and the
return of the South to home rule.
To be fair, Hayes would have been hard-pressed to continue the Reconstruction policies since
the House was controlled by Democrats who refused to appropriate funding for Federal
troops stationed in the South.
Even Republican support for the military presence was fading, due to continued Southern violence
and resistance to the military occupation.
By the time Hayes assumed the Presidency, there were only two states still under military
occupation, and without enough troops to enforce the voting rights laws, these were soon rendered
impotent.
Hayes did implement civil service reforms that led to further reform in the next two
decades, but despite his message of conciliation, he was plagued by charges of illegitimacy
by Democrats, who referred to him as “Rutherfraud” or “His Fraudulency.”
He kept his promise not to run for re-election and retired to his home in Ohio.
But the agreement that won him the presidency was a deep stain on his legacy, as it virtually
ended Reconstruction and eradicated the many gains African-Americans had made, leading
to the pre-war Jim Crow laws that kept Southern blacks disenfranchised for nearly another
century.
Hayes’ achievements were to stem the deterioration of executive power that set in after Lincoln’s
death, and his commitment to civil service reform.
Just as a series of weak presidents preceded the Civil War, another string followed it.
Hayes is generally ranked in the bottom half of U.S. presidents.