Rutherford B. Hayes: The American Presidents Series: The 19th President, 1877-1881

To be honest, I don't remember anything from this book, if that is any indication. Not our most memorable President, but I should remember something.

President Rutherford (called "Rud" by friends) is best known, probably, for being a (as his opponents put it) fraudulent president." Of course, this refers to (a) his becoming president while being whipped in the national popular vote and (b) the process by which a couple contested southern states (perhaps ironic given the 2000 contested presidential election, Florida) had their electoral votes assigned to Hayes. But what else do most people know about Hayes? Probably not much. And this slender volume, another in the series "The American Presidents" (edited by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.), can remedy that ignorance. Hayes was born in Vermont and ended up moving to Ohio while still young. He went to college at Kenyon and then studies law at Harvard. Politically, he became a Whig until the party began imploding, whereupon he joined the new Republican Party. When the Civil War began, he volunteered for service and had a career of which he was justly proud. He rose through the ranks and fought ably in West Virginia and with the Army of the Potomac. As the war closed, his political career began with a vengeance. He was elected to the United States House of Representatives. The book continues with his political ascent, from Congressman to Governor of Ohio and to the Republican nomination for President in 1876 (with a handful of defeats, by the way, scattered in between). There were a whole series of contenders for the nomination, and Hayes' eventual nomination occurred because none of the major players could get enough delegates to be nominated, and Hayes was settled upon as the party's choice. Then, of course, his contested victory. The book does an excellent job dissecting what actually happened, and the interpretation is different from the standard view. As President, one of his first actions was beginning to remove federal troops from the South while trying to assure that recently freed slaves would retain their rights. It appears that he naively thought that southern leaders would actually live up to their promises to maintain the rights of freed slaves. The book does a good job outlining his accomplishments (adequate but not earth shaking) as well as his travails (intraparty disputes, gridlock with Congress, and so on). Apparently, he was perceived as honest and just, even by many opponents. Assessment? The author notes (Page 129): "What did Hayes contribute to the presidency? His biographers have generally credited him with unifying the country, though faulting him for not succeeding in safeguarding blacks' rights." Then, his post-presidential career is outlined. This is another in a fine series of books. The thought dawns on me as I am reading books in this series that very few 19th century presidents really stood out and were transformational. I knew that intellectually, but reading these biographies emphasizes the point. Anyway, a good addition to the series and well worth reading if you wish to learn more about American presiden

This brief biography of Rutherford B. Hayes, the 19th president of the United States both benefits and suffers from being part of a series. The series is, of course, The American Presidents, under the editorship of Arthur M Schlesinger Jr. The aim of the series is to provide a brief biography of the presidents of the United States. Personally, I am finding this series to be very helpful on the lesser presidents like Hayes, but less helpful for presidents like Teddy Roosevelt, who has been written about quite extensively. Rutherford B. Hayes is a perfect subject for one of these brief biographies. Unless for some reason one wants to delve especially deep into Hayes's life, he is not one of the foremost presidents, and therefore not someone a great number of people want to spend a great deal of time studying. As Trefousse shows, he had some substantive achievements in his administration, including ending Reconstruction and the beginning of civil service reform. Moreover, he emerges as a likeable and admirable individual, as a person who did the office of president a great service. The book also is somewhat guilty of minimizing Hayes weaknesses as a president. However, Trefousse was not able to convince me that he is one of the pivotal figures in American history, and while I can't rule out going on to read another biography of Hayes at some point, I feel that 150 pages on Hayes was just about right. One thing that bothered me a bit in the book was Trefousse's attempt to stress parallels between Hayes's election and that of 2000. In both instances, the election was extremely close, with the loser winning more of the popular vote but losing on the electoral votes, with Florida playing a key role each time. The instances, however, are nonparallel in a number of other ways. In 1876 Hayes, the winner, was deprived of a vast number of black votes by Southerners harassing blacks as they attempted to vote, so that he probably would have won the popular vote as well as the electoral. In 2000, tens of thousands of black voters were illegally (in the strict since, for the Ashcroft Justice Department later ruled that the Civil Rights of black voters had been interfered with in the voter purge, not that it will reverse the outcome of the election) from the list of registered voters, depriving Gore of tens of thousands of votes. Also, although both Hayes and Bush became president of a deeply divided nation, Hayes worked very hard to unify the nation, while Bush has increased the division since being named president by the Supreme Court. Still, I do recommend this biography. It is likely to be all that one would need on Hayes. I do not think it is as strong as some of the other books I have read in the same series, for instance Garry Wills's superb little book on Madison or Remini's surprisingly good biography of John Quincy Adams (surprising because Remini is the foremost biographer of Jackson, and he and Adams were bitter political rivals).

If the lives and administrations of the U.S. Presidents are an interest of yours, then this series of short biographies is for you. At right around 200 pages, the books in the series give a good introduction to the fascinating men that have held this office. I especially enjoyed reading the author's discussion of the disputed election of 1876, and how it was very similar to what happened in the election of 2000. Even down to the state of Florida being one of the contested states. But in the end, Hayes was the president even without carrying a majority of the popular vote. The books in this series give a great overview of the president and his administration. For some, this will be enough. But for others, there could be enough interest generated for them to read more indepth biographies. Highly recommended

Recently I had a sixteen hour drive to see my daughter in Kansas, and I was fortunate enough to have RUTHERFORD B. HAYES: AMERICAN PRESIDENTS SERIES along for the trip. While Hayes might not be a particularly notable president, like Washington or Lincoln; or a racy one, like Warren G. Harding; or an interesting one, like JFK--Trefousse does a fine job of portraying a thwarted genius, a man between a rock and a hard place, a man for whom greatness was a possibility unfulfilled. Anyone can write an interesting bio of Lincoln--but Rutherford B. Hayes is a challenge and a half, and I commend Mr. Trefousse for depicting him with such character and nobility. One warning, however: the tape is not likely to keep you awake during the long hours of a drive, and I did, once or twice, wake up in a cornfield, having missed his Ohio governorship and most of the reconstruction. I would listen to it again, but my grandson has taken the audiocassette now and used it for some sort of DJ mix. Other than those minor mishaps--nothing compared to Hayes's mishap of withdrawing troops from the South--the tape was a solid five stars!