Hayes, Rutherford B.

Hayes, Rutherford B. (Birchard) (1822–93) nineteenth U.S. president; born in Delaware, Ohio. After graduating from Ohio's Kenyon College in 1842 and attending Harvard Law School in 1845, he practiced law in Cincinnati. He took a military commission at the beginning of the Civil War, in which he served with modest distinction. In 1864 he won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives as a Republican but did not take it until after the end of the Civil War (1865–67). He became governor of Ohio (1868–76) and resigned to run for president against Samuel J. Tilden in 1876. The election was so close that a special commission had to decide the issue; the outcome in favor of Hayes was apparently due to the commission's Republican majority and promises to southern Democrats to restore power to the whites. He proved to be a competent and mildly reformist president, but alienated many supporters by insisting on ending patronage appointments and by pursuing civil service reform. Having pledged not to seek reelection, he left office in 1881; his later years were devoted to humanitarian and reform efforts.