From Disputed Election to Gilded Age Leader: Rutherford B Hayes Part 2

Despite serving just a single term, Rutherford B. Hayes lived in some incredibly interesting times and his administration was a launchpad for so many themes found throughout the Gilded Age that it was simply impossible to cover everything and do it justice in a single episode. Last week I shared Hayes’ early days, including his legal career and his military service during the war. And if you’re looking to learn more about his election to the presidency, then make sure to check the show notes as I’ve included that episode for you. 

So this week, I am wrapping up my coverage of the first Gilded Age President - Rutherford B. Hayes. How did he choose to address the myriad of issues facing the nation? How did alienating members of his own party impact his ability to govern? And does he get a fair shake in terms of historic legacy?

Grab your cup of coffee, peeps. Let’s do this. 

When I last left you, Rutherford B. Hayes had just assumed the office of President of the United States and had several domestic problems requiring action. Everything from the economy to civil service reform seemed to demand the president’s attention. 

The most pressing issue was determining the best course of action in the south. In both South Carolina and Louisiana, two opposing state governments were in place - with the republican administrations dependent upon federal troops for support. Hayes - who had spent his time in Congress supporting the radical republicans in their push for Black political rights - was now looking for a way to unify the country - once and for all. The president understood that the public appetite for ongoing federal intervention in the south was quickly disappearing – even his predecessor Grant had begun to lose steam in the final months of his administration. Hayes believed that the only card he had was gaining commitments from southern leaders that they’d respect and protect the rights of Black Americans. Hayes also knew he had to time his decision to remove the federal troops just right so as to avoid the wrath of members of his own party - making this a more political rather than moral decision. 

Hayes went to work once the special session of Congress recessed - first in South Carolina, then in Louisiana. Securing promises that Democratic politicians would safeguard Black political rights, Hayes ordered the federal troops protecting the state houses to disperse. Despite the fact the promises made were broken and Black rights curbed almost immediately, Hayes truly believed he had accomplished something major, writing in his diary quote: “the result of my plans is to get from these states by their governors, legislatures, press, and people pledges that the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments shall be faithfully observed; that the colored people shall have equal rights to labor, education, and the privileges of citizenship,” end quote. There were some who felt that Hayes made a mistake - that he had betrayed the future of the Republican party - and any chance at electoral victory in the south - for little more than promise - while others felt the new president had few options and given the other issues at hand - little time to dedicate to the issue. 

In the President’s opinion, he made the right call. Sharing his thoughts in his first annual address in December 1877, Hayes shared quote: “Already, in the brief period which has elapsed, the immediate effectiveness, no less than the justice, of the course pursued is demonstrated, and I have an abiding faith that time will furnish its ample vindication in the minds of the great majority of my fellow-citizens.” Continuing his thoughts Hayes argued, “There has been a general reestablishment of order and of the orderly administration of justice. Instances of remaining lawlessness have become of rare occurrence; political turmoil and turbulence have disappeared; useful industries have been resumed; public credit in the Southern States has been greatly strengthened, and the encouraging benefits of a revival of commerce between the sections of the country lately embroiled in civil war are fully enjoyed. Such are some of the results already attained, upon which the country is to be congratulated,” end quote. 

Of course, what the President failed to account for in his assessment was the fact that without any viable mechanism of support - a governing body or entity upon which Black Americans could register a complaint or file a report without fear of harassment or, more likely, death, whatever quote unquote peace achieved in the South was one that was questionable at best and forced at worst. Regardless, in Hayes’ estimation the issue of Black political rights was settled. It was now time to turn to the next big hurdle facing the federal government: patronage. 

Calls for civil service reform had been brewing for a few years and Hayes' predecessor Ulysses S. Grant established a Civil Service Commission, though funding the agency proved to be quite the challenge. Hayes also asked Congress to fund the commission and called for examinations prior to hiring for federal positions. He initially achieved some moderate success - particularly in naming Carl Schurz as Secretary of the Interior where he made significant strides in combatting the pervasive corruption within the Indian Bureau. But much like he did when selecting members of his cabinet, Hayes achieved this minor victory at the expense of alienating members of his party in Congress - men who believed patronage was the life’s blood of Congressional life. And while the president may have enjoyed a small victory here and there - he remained incapable of effectuating change in cities such as New York where Roscoe Conkling held a firm grasp on party politics. Running up against a wall, the president tried another approach by issuing an executive order barring federal officials from being compelled to make political contributions or partake in party politics. This, too, did not work out in Hayes’ favor - but another domestic crisis quickly pulled his attention from the fight onto much larger matters: the great railroad strike.

There is a lot to cover about the strike that I will talk about in a future episode so I won’t go into too much detail here. Suffice it to say - labor and business interest collided, prompting one of the largest general strikes in American history. Several cities experienced violence, prompting state Governors - at the behest of Railroad owners - to call on the President for federal help - which he approved - and the massive labor stoppage was over pretty quickly. That left the other major domestic policy issue - the financial health of the country. 

Alienating members of his own party had put the president in a bad place. Add in the fact that Hayes began his term as a lame duck and the situation all but invited a bit of political chaos - and that is exactly what happened as the House of Representatives continued to challenge Hayes - passing the inflationary Bland Silver Bill over the president’s veto and repealing the Resumption Act of 1875. Tensions between the president and his party even led to talk about a potential impeachment, but Hayes enjoyed broad public support and thus nothing came of the rumors. After the midterms gave the Democrats control of the Senate and more power in Congress, they made several attempts to pass legislation that would weaken or otherwise defang the Enforcement Acts - the bills passed to ensure that the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments were more than ratified pronouncements. In a battle over appropriations - or funding government expenses - Democrats kept attaching riders that would prevent things like deploying federal troops as needed to guarantee safety at the polls, or other sneaky tricks that undermined the extension of civil rights for Black Americans. Each time the bills were sent to the president with said poisonous attachments, Hayes exercised his right to veto. This happened so often that even newspapers commented on the situation, with the New York Evening Post observing that the Democrats quote, “did not count on so stubborn a resistance as the president has made. They had so often described him as a poor creature without a mind of his own that they had come themselves to believe what they said,” end quote. 

While Hayes deserves credit for sticking to his guns about ensuring that appropriations bills were quote unquote clean - the president also knew that the law alone was falling short. When visited by a black delegation who shared complaints about being denied political rights, the President’s response was underwhelming. Unable - or unwilling - to get involved, Hayes told his visitors that he had done all he could do in requesting that federal officials make sure Black Americans received all the offices to which they were entitled - as if there wasn’t a constitutional amendment that provided some sort of framework that could be explored when states were denying political rights. According to Hayes biographer Hans Trefousse, in his final year in office, the president began to question whether he had handled the situation in the south appropriately.

Out west, Hayes faced growing racial discord aimed against Chinese immigration which threatened to jeopardize relations with the foreign nation. Chinese men - and women - had been coming to the United States for decades - ever since gold was discovered in the waterways of California. While some only came for short periods - enough to earn some money for their families back home - others chose to stay and make a permanent life for themselves and their families in America. Despite the fact that Chinese laborers often took on the most dangerous and lowest paying jobs, they faced continued harassment and claims that they were somehow stealing jobs from the white man. While these tensions bubbled along the surface, the United States and China signed the Burlingame Treaty in 1868, which established a more favorable immigration policy and lifted any prior restrictions. The influx of Chinese - and the pressure they put on the labor market - only intensified in the aftermath of the Great Panic of 1873 when credit dried up and employers - looking for ways to save money - hired Chinese immigrants for a fraction of what they would have to pay white laborers. In California, this anxiety compounded again after the Railroad strike and evolved into violence as anti-Chinese riots broke out in San Francisco. The new Workingman’s Party pushed to stop Chinese immigration at the state’s constitutional convention in 1878 - which was struck down by federal courts. Not to be deterred, members of Congress proposed legislation that would have directly violated the Burlingame Treaty - which the President vetoed. Despite the veto, Hayes did seek out a compromise and created a commission to re-negotiate the terms of the Burlingame Treaty that allowed the United States the authority to limit - but not exclude - Chinese laborers from entering the country. The new treaty was ratified shortly after Hayes left office in 1881. 

When it came to addressing the quote unquote Indian question, President Hayes - like his contemporaries - has a mixed legacy. His views were paternalistic, to be sure. Hayes moved away from the reservation system and tried to get indigenous americans into accepting the idea of land ownership. The President also pushed for the remaining tribes to assimilate into quote unquote American culture, supporting the establishment of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School whose founder was infamously committed to the motto kill the Indian, save the man. But Hayes, like Grant, was trying to find a peaceful forward - which was in and of itself progress.  

Throughout his presidency, Hayes traveled the country extensively - visiting 32 out of what was then 38 states. Hayes was the first president to travel west of Salt Lake City, including an 1880 tour where he spent a total of 71 days visiting 80 cities in 11 states giving speeches on policy matters that were important to him. Hayes understood that the press would cover his remarks in local papers and that it was an effective way at using the media to communicate with the people in an era before public relations and media campaigns were a part and parcel with being an elected official. 

Whether the product of serving a single term or the volume of domestic issues needing attention, the Hayes administration did not engage in many foreign affairs. There were a few issues related to border disputes between the United States and Mexico but other than tempering the racist vitriol coming from out west that threatened relationships with China, the president was largely a domestic commander in chief. 

Committed to serving a single term, President Hayes looked forward to the day he could vacate his office - and was happy to hand over the keys to James Garfield upon his election in 1880. The men had a decently close relationship - in fact the two shared a lunch at the White House just after Garfield won the presidential nomination - and Hayes was absolutely devastated upon hearing the news that Garfield had been shot and was very worried about what would come from a Chester Arthur presidency. 

In his retirement, Hayes became the director of the First National Bank of Fremont and was awarded various trusteeships. The former president got involved in various causes particularly education and prison reform - and traveled extensively. He outlived his wife Lucy, who passed away in 1889, before passing away from a heart attack on January 17, 1893. 

When considering the impact and legacy of Rutherford B Hayes, it is more nuanced than some might initially believe. Although Hayes did enter the White House under an odd set of circumstances, there is - to date - nothing in the historical record that points to his involvement in making any deals or extending any promises to secure victory. In fact, what historians do have access to tends to tell the exact opposite story. Hayes was and is seen as a largely ethical man in an era where ethics and integrity were in short supply. Yet there is no doubt that his decision to pull the troops out of the two remaining state houses in the south proved to be the final nail in the proverbial coffin for Black political rights in the south. Hayes does not deserve the entirety of the blame - he was, just like President Grant before him - responding to the growing apathy and disinterest of the moderates living in the north who were increasingly vocal about their displeasure of reconstruction policies and constant federal intervention in the south. As historian Robert D. Johnston argues quote, “for all practical purposes, Reconstruction was over when Hayes took office. His only real choice was not whether but when troops had to cease protecting Republican governments in South Carolina and Louisiana,” end quote. Yet, as a man who was known for his integrity and belief in what was right, one has to wonder what could have been had Hayes chosen a different path. 

In a self-assessment, Hayes believed that only Abraham Lincoln had entered the office under a similarly tense situation. Reflecting, Hayes wrote quote “it would be difficult to find one which began with so rough a situation, and few which closed with so smooth a sea." Was Hayes right? Most historians agree that Hayes did succeed in unifying the country - but that he did so at the expense of Black political and civil rights. He was one of the first modern presidents of the era in that he traveled the country, making speeches and utilizing the press to drum up public support for initiatives he believed in. He helped lay the groundwork for civil service reform - bucking against his own party in the process - and did what he could to curtail the pervasive racism out west against Chinese immigrants. Serving just a single term, Rutherford B. Hayes helped patch together a nation still trying to heal old wounds, but he did so in a way that failed to protect the rights of those who still needed it.