Rutherford B. Hayes

On October 4, 1822, in Delaware, Ohio, Rutherford B. Hayes was born into a family that steered him toward education and law. He graduated from Kenyon College in 1842, studied at Harvard Law School, and built a legal career in Cincinnati that included antislavery and reform circles. Civil War service later gave him the reputation that pushed him into higher politics.

Hayes rose as a Union officer, served in Congress and as governor of Ohio, and then won the presidency through the fiercely contested election of 1876. The Electoral Commission and Compromise of 1877 placed him in office while effectively ending federal enforcement of Reconstruction in the South. In office he also promoted civil service reform and tried to limit the power of the Republican patronage machine.

Hayes's accession became inseparable from the political settlement that opened the door to Jim Crow and the long retreat from Reconstruction. His reform efforts also fed later legislation such as the Pendleton Civil Service Act, which carried forward the struggle against patronage politics.