The New Student's Reference Work/Hayes, Rutherford Birchard

Hayes, Rutherford Birchard, nineteenth president of the United States,
RUTHERFORD B. HAYES was born at Delaware, O., Oct. 4, 1822. He graduated at Kenyon College, Ohio, in 1842, and, after studying law at Harvard, practiced at Cincinnati from 1849 to 1861. During the Civil War he served with distinction and attained the rank of brevet major-general. He was sent to Congress in 1865, and was three times governor of Ohio. In 1876 he was the Republican candidate for president, Samuel J. Tilden being the Democratic candidate. The election developed many exciting complications and engendered great suspicions of unfairness. Congress appointed an electoral commission, which gave the office to Hayes by a vote of eight to seven. Under Hayes' administration the country recovered to a large extent from the financial panic of 1873. The two main features of his policy were civil-service reform and the withdrawal of United States troops from the south. See his Life by W. O. Stoddard. He died at Fremont, O., Jan. 17, 1893.