Rutherford B. Hayes

[[File:President Rutherford Hayes 1870 - 1880 Restored (cropped)(2).jpg|165px|thumb|right|President Rutherford Hayes]]
'''Rutherford Birchard Hayes''' {{lived|1822|1893}} was the nineteenth [[President of the United States]], serving from 1877 until 1881.<ref name=Hayes>[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rutherford-B-Hayes Rutherford B. Hayes] Britannica</ref> He served as a Union general during the [[American Civil War]], and after the war he would serve for one term as a [[Congress]]man and three terms as governor of [[Ohio]].<ref>[https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/rutherford-b-hayes/ Rutherford B. Hayes], ''whitehouse.gov''</ref> He has a {{wpl|Presidente Hayes Department|province|,}} {{wpl|Villa Hayes|city|,}} and even a {{wpl|Laudo Hayes Firm Day|holiday}} in [[Paraguay]] named after him due to his role in negotiating the end of the {{wpl|Paraguayan War}} and preventing the country from being entirely consumed by its neighbors [[Brazil]] and [[Argentina]].<ref>[https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna29186525 Paraguay celebrates Rutherford B. Hayes], Jorge Saenz, ''NBC News'' 14 February 2009</ref>

==The end of reconstruction==
Easily the most infamous aspect of Hayes's administration is not anything he did, but what was required in order for him to enter into office. In 1876, the results between Hayes and his opponent, Democrat {{wpl|Samuel Tilden||,}} were incredibly close, with three states ([[Florida]], [[Louisiana]], and [[South Carolina]]) having undetermined results. If Hayes were to have won all the electors from said state, he would be the victor of the election by one Electoral Vote over Tilden, who had amassed 184 Electoral Votes compared to Hayes's 165 from the states that were not in contention.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/event/United-States-presidential-election-of-1876 United States presidential election of 1876] Britannic</ref>
The fight to figure out who won the election was long, with the results not being made clear until the day before Hayes was inaugurated President.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/topic/Electoral-Commission Electoral Commission] Britannica</ref> However, what is important is how exactly the dispute was settled. The three states being disputed were "the only three states in the South with [[Reconstruction]]-era Republican governments still in power," and while results were being determined the "allies of the Republican Party candidate Rutherford Hayes met in secret with moderate southern Democrats in order to negotiate acceptance of Hayes’ election." The results? "The Democrats agreed not to block Hayes’ victory on the condition that Republicans withdraw all federal troops from the South, thus consolidating Democratic control over the region," also meaning an end to the era of Reconstruction.<ref>[https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/compromise-of-1877 Compromise of 1877] History</ref> In specific, one promise made by those trying to get Hayes into the White House was that "federal troops would be removed promptly from the former Confederate states."<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/topic/Electoral-Commission Electoral Commission] Britannica</ref> The reason for those federal troops, put there by a Republican Congress in 1867, was to create "governments based on universal (male) suffrage" in those areas of the nation.<ref>[https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/reconstruction Reconstruction] History</ref>

The results were predictably disastrous: "a new racial system had been put in place in the South, resting on the disenfranchisement of Black voters, a rigid system of racial segregation, the relegation of African Americans to low-wage agricultural and domestic employment, and legal and extralegal violence to punish those who challenged the new order."<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/event/Reconstruction-United-States-history/The-end-of-Reconstruction The end of Reconstruction] Britannica</ref> The creation of [[segregation]] within Southern States could easily be traced back to this one decision, making it arguably one of the most disastrous in United States history.

In fairness to Hayes, it is not as if this was what he expected to happen. In fact, Hayes believed, as he told a crowd it Atlanta, that black people's "rights and interests would be safer if this great mass of intelligent white men were let alone by the general Government."<ref>''Rutherford B. Hayes: Warrior and President'' by Ari Arthur Hoogenboom</ref>{{rp|317}} (Or at least, he ''pretended'' to believe that.) Of course, this is utterly nonsensical if one looks at what happened next.

===Only the most qualified racists===
Hayes's already confused federal policy was made worse by another political divide at the time: The half-breeds and the Stalwarts. You see, after [[Andrew Jackson]] brought the spoils system to the Executive Branch a disagreement occurred over whether such a thing was justified. A group called the Stalwarts believed that political appointments made by the President should be based on loyalty to the cause; essentially those who got the President into office should be the people who get the appointments in the administration. The Half-Breeds, where Hayes found himself, instead took the view that government appointments should be based on merit as opposed to ideology, and even viewed the biggest issue with the Grant Administration as that it relied too much on appointing those who supported Grant regardless of qualifications.<ref>[https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/stalwarts-half-breeds-and-political-assassination.htm Stalwarts, Half Breeds, and Political Assassination] National Park Service</ref>

Hayes "appointed Southerners to federal positions, and he made financial appropriations for Southern improvements,"<ref name=Hayes/> as one source notes:

{{quotebox|Although Republican members of Congress universally supported Hayes while the election was in dispute, several party leaders quickly became angered by his independence. In choosing his cabinet, Hayes ignored and offended leading Republican senators. He not only failed to appoint the political lieutenants of Blaine, Simon Cameron, and Roscoe Conkling, but he also named William M. Evarts (who challenged Conkling's control of New York Republicans) as secretary of state, Carl Schurz (who bolted the Republican Party to oppose Grant in 1872) as secretary of the interior, and David M. Key (who had been a Confederate and was a Democrat) as postmaster general. Hayes's appointment of Key was both a gesture of reconciliation and an attempt to attract white southern moderates to the Republican Party—a project that largely failed. Influential Republican Party leaders were enraged, but Hayes's demonstration that he was beholden to no one increased his credibility among reform-minded members of the GOP.<ref>[https://millercenter.org/president/hayes/domestic-affairs RUTHERFORD B. HAYES: DOMESTIC AFFAIRS] Miller Center</ref>}}

Although a President who is willing to break from his party can be a great one, it is important to remember that sometimes your party might oppose something because it is a horrible idea. Key was essentially appointed as a token Southern Democrat, which Hayes had promised to include in his cabinet because of the aforementioned compromise;<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/biography/David-M-Key David M. Key] Britannica</ref> however his appointment also serves as a good reminder for why qualifications should not be the only thing one looks to in politics. Although Key did have years of experience under his belt, much of that was spent working for the Confederacy, not helping the American public. Similarly, Evarts was not an abolitionist during his early years in politics, and even defended the Compromise of 1850 on numerous occasions.<ref>[https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/history/us-history-biographies/william-maxwell-evarts William Maxwell Evarts] Encyclopedia</ref> Regardless of how many qualifications he had, that is not something which should readily be overlooked, but Hayes was fine with this man having one of the most powerful jobs of the Executive Branch.

==References==
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[[Category:Former United States Governors]]
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Categories: Former United States Governors, Former United States Representatives, Government incompetence, Military, Ohio, Presidents of the United States, United States politicians