Dr. Hartnell's Nutty the A.D.D. Squirrel
  • Home
  • All About Nutty
  • Nutty's Chapters
  • Ch. 1: How'd We Get Here?
    • Ch. 1: Table of Contents
    • Ch. 1: Summary
    • Why study history?
    • Is history a lie?
    • Geography 101
    • Ancient History: Dirt-476
    • Collapse & Rebirth: 476-1650
    • Colonialism: 1400-1763
    • Revolutions: 1763-1918
    • America: 1775-1900
  • Ch. 2: America 2.0
    • Ch. 2: Table of Contents
    • Ch. 2: Summary
    • Imperialism: 1850-1914
    • Immigration: 1492-Now
    • Reform: 1877-1920
  • Ch. 3: Ka-Boom to Bust
    • Ch. 3: Table of Contents
    • Ch. 3: Summary
    • America: 1914-1939
  • Ch. 4: King America
    • Ch. 4: Table of Contents
    • Ch. 4: Summary
    • America: 1939-1960
  • Ch. 5: The American Overhaul
    • Ch. 5: Table of Contents
    • Ch. 5: Summary
    • America: 1960-1975
  • Ch. 6: The U.S. of Awesome
    • Ch. 6: Table of Contents
    • Ch. 6: Summary
    • America: 1975-Now
  • Nutty's Nuts
  • References
Picture

Scramblin' thru... the U.S. Presidents

Picture

Picture

"The Dark-Horse President"
"Rutherfraud"
"His Fraudulency
"
"Old Eight to Seven"

Picture

Personal Information


Picture
October 4, 1822
Delaware, Ohio
Picture
January 17, 1893
(age 70)
Fremont, Ohio
Picture
Cause of Death:
Myocardial infarction
(a.k.a. heart attack)

Picture
Height: 5'8 1/2"
Picture
Weight: 173 lbs.
Picture
Methodist

Picture
Level: College +
(Kenyon College
& Harvard Law School)
Picture
Married: Once
(Lucy, 1852)
Picture
Biological Kids: 8

Picture
Wrote:
1 book
Picture
Career BEFORE Presidency:
soldier, lawyer,
U.S. Congressman
Picture
Career AFTER Presidency:
education activist, President of National Prison Reform Association

Picture

Presidential Information


Picture
Began: March 4, 1877
(age 54) 
Picture
Ended: March 4, 1881
(age 58)
Picture
# Months Served: 48
(1 full term)

Picture
# Vice Presidents: 1
(William A. Wheeler)
Picture
Political Affiliation:
Republican
Picture
Salary:
$50,000/year

Picture

Election Information


Election of 1876

Picture
[Click map for a larger version.]
Picture
[Click chart for a larger version.]

Picture

A Presidential Life in Review


Picture
Click on the banner above to go to the Rutherford B. Hayes homepage at the University of Virginia's Miller Center. Click on the buttons below for in-depth information about Hayes' Presidency.
A life in brief
Life before the presidency
Campaigns & elections
Domestic Affairs
Foreign Affairs
Key events in office
How Americans Lived
Life after the presidency
family life
Impact & legacy
Picture
Rutherford B. Hayes, the 19th U.S. President from 1877 to 1881, won a controversial and fiercely disputed election against Samuel Tilden in what became known as the Compromise of 1877. When Tilden failed to reach the majority in the Electoral College (by one vote), a deal was struck. The three Southern states that had voted for Hayes – but didn't count toward his Electoral College total since they had not officially rejoined the Union after the Civil War (1861-1865) – were counted, pushing Hayes past Tilden and into the White House. In exchange, Hayes removed Federal troops from the South, officially ending Reconstruction (1865-1877). He served a single term, as he had promised in his inaugural address, but accomplished little else. After leaving the White House, Hayes and his wife returned to their estate in Ohio, where Hayes devoted himself to humanitarian causes before passing away in 1893. Source: The History Channel
Picture

Picture

Historical Rankings


Picture
Picture

Click here to lean more about the C-SPAN Survey

Picture

Picture

Rutherford B. Hayes Fun Facts


Picture
Picture
By the mid-1870s, people had grown tired of the Republican Party's obsession with Reconstruction (a period of time after the Civil War during which the South was "reconstructed"). In the Presidential Election of 1876, the Democratic candidate Samuel J. Tilden won the Popular Vote 50-47% and was beating the Republican candidate Hayes in the Electoral Vote (but was one Electroal Vote short of the necessary majority) when a deal was struck. The election hinged on three Southern states (Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina). Hayes had won these three states (and their 19 Electoral Votes), albeit questionably (just look at the map above - three random "red" states in a sea of "blue"), but they didn't "count" toward Hayes' Electoral Vote total since these three states had yet to officially rejoin the Union. Instead of sending the Election of 1876 to the House of Representatives (per the 12th Amendment), the Compromise of 1877 settled the issue. The Democrats allowed the three states to count, which pushed Hayes ahead of Tilden in the Electoral Vote (185-184) and made him the next President. In return, the Republicans withdrew Federal troops from the South and ended Reconstruction. The agreement, dubbed "The Corrupt Bargain", earned Hayes the nickname "Rutherfraud".

Picture
The Presidential Election of 1876 was a pretty shaddy ordeal. The results were contested for months and eventually ended with a "Special Electoral Commission" of five members each from the House, Senate, and Supreme Court deciding the results. With all but one Supreme Court Justice voting, the results were tied 7-7 between Hayes and Samuel J. Tilden. The last justice was David Davis, an Independent. However, before the Commission could make its decision, Davis was elected to the Senate by the legislature of Illinois. His replacement was Joseph P. Bradley, a Republican. Thus, the deciding Electoral Votes were awarded to Hayes by an 8 to 7 vote as part of the "Compromise of 1877". The nickname "Old 8 to 7" is a negative nickname given to Hayes in reference to the way in which he was elected.

Picture
There have been a total of five U.S. Presidents elected without winning the Popular Vote: John Quincy Adams (1824), Rutherford Hayes (1876), Benjamin Harrison (1888), George W. Bush (2000), and Donald Trump (2016).

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

Picture
While many of the Presidents that came before him were lawyers (or "read law" - which means they entered the profession before law schools existed), Hayes was the first President to actually graduate from a law school. After briefly "reading law" in Columbus, Ohio, Hayes moved out east to attend Harvard Law School. He received his LL.B. (Bachelor of Laws) in 1843, passed the Ohio Bar in 1845, and opened his own law office in Lower Sandusky (now Fremont).

Picture
Hayes' wife, Lucy, was a big supporter of the Temperance Movement (to ban alcohol). As such, historians have given her the nickname "Lemonade Lucy". Contrary to popular belief, it was Hayes (and not Lucy) that banned alcohol from the White House.

Picture
Hayes' wife, Lucy, was the 1st First Lady to graduate from college. She was a member of the Class of 1850 from Wesleyan Women's College (which later merged with Ohio Wesleyan University).

Picture
Hayes signed into law an act that permitted women to plead before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Picture
The first White House telephone was installed, by Alexander Graham Bell himself, when Hayes was President. The White House phone number was "1".

Picture
The first Easter Egg Roll on the White House lawn was conducted by Hayes and his wife, Lucy, in 1878. Originally, children in Washington, D.C., would flock to Capitol Hill the Monday after Easter for egg rolling and a day of activities. Members of Congress grew tired of the huge crowds and passed an Act of Congress that prohibited egg rolling on the Capitol grounds. (Typical Congress, right?) The event was moved to the White House in 1878 after President Hayes was approached by some children to use "his backyard" to roll eggs. Nearly every Easter since, the White House has invited children to roll eggs on the White House lawn.

Picture
Of the five Presidents that served in the Civil War, Hayes was the only one to be wounded. Hayes was shot in the shoulder during the Second Battle of Kernestown in 1864. Hayes' horse was also shot out from underneath him.

Picture
Hayes gained prominence as a defense attorney in Cincinnati and was heavily involved in defending escaped slaves accused under the controversial Fugitive Slave Act. As a staunch abolitionist and prominent lawyer, Hayes was noticed by the new abolitionist Republican Party, and was offered an opportunity to run for a seat as a Republican judge. He turned it down, however, and instead accepted an appointment as city attorney for Cincinnati.

Picture
Just as President James K. Polk had campaigned on the promise of running only once, Hayes also vowed to only serve one term. He followed through on that promise, choosing not to run for re-election in 1880. Instead, he became a trustee of Ohio State University and supported many causes and interests, most notably Federal Student Aid, civil rights, wealth disparity, and prison conditions.

Picture

Presidential Portrait


Picture
President Hayes had REAL steady hands...

Picture

Presidential Signature


Picture

Picture

Previous President

Picture
[Click picture to visit the previous President.]

Next President

Picture
[Click picture to visit the next President.]

Click here to return to the U.S. Presidential Index