Rutherford B. Hayes

19th President of the United States (1877-1881) · Governor of Ohio · Union general in the Civil War · U.S. Representative from Ohio

Nineteenth U.S. president who took office after the disputed 1876 election, withdrew the last federal troops from the South, sent troops into the Great Strike of 1877 and pressed civil service reform.

Position
Solid, past the ring: second pole
Short, inside the ring: first pole
Balanced

★ Rutherford B. Hayes on 12 axes

Share of each pole

Economy

Equality / Markets

OwnershipMild: Private
35%65%
PublicPrivate
MarketsModerate: Free
30%70%
PlannedFree
WelfareMild: Self-reliant
43%57%
SharedSelf-reliant

State and liberty

Liberty / Authority

AuthorityModerate: Democratic
68%32%
DemocraticStrong leader
SecurityModerate: Order
30%70%
LibertyOrder
StructureMild: Local
55%45%
LocalCentral

Society

Progress / Tradition

MoralityModerate: Traditional
30%70%
ProgressiveTraditional
ReligionNo clear record
SecularReligious
TechnologyNo clear record
EmbraceCaution
CultureMild: National identity
35%65%
MulticulturalNational identity

World

Global / Nation

TradeNo clear record
GlobalProtected
Foreign policyMild: Strength
35%65%
CooperationStrength

How we placed it

Judgment calls

Positions summarize typical stances from primary sources and reference works. Where an axis is genuinely contested, the reasoning is below.

Ownership: No public ownership debate in his era; scored from his support for a private economy and sound money.
Markets: Opposed inflationary greenbacks and the free coinage of silver, favoring a gold-backed currency.
Welfare: Declined to ask for railroad subsidies but called for federal aid to education, arguing that universal suffrage should rest on universal education; scored near the middle.
Authority: Pledged a single term and pressed civil service reform against his own party's patronage system.
Security: Sent federal troops during the Great Strike of 1877, at the request of state authorities, setting a precedent for using the Army in labor disputes.
Structure: Withdrew the last federal troops supporting Republican governments in the South, though he later used vetoes to preserve some federal oversight of elections; scored slightly toward local.
Morality: Reflects the temperance household he and Lucy Hayes kept in the White House and the social conventions of his era.
Religion: No documented position on religion in public life in the sources used here; left null.
Technology: No documented view; 19th-century context.
Culture: Vetoed a bill limiting Chinese immigration that broke the Burlingame Treaty, but sought and obtained a treaty letting the United States regulate and suspend Chinese labor immigration.
Trade: No documented position on the tariff in the sources used here; left null.
Foreign policy: Declared that any canal across Central America must be under American control and authorized troops to pursue bandits into Mexico.

3 axes are marked as no clear record: there is no reasonable basis to place Rutherford B. Hayes there, so matching leaves them out.

Who was Rutherford B. Hayes?

Rutherford B. Hayes (1822-1893), an Ohio lawyer, was wounded several times as a Union officer in the Civil War and served in Congress and three terms as governor of Ohio. The 1876 election against Democrat Samuel Tilden produced disputed returns in three Southern states, and an electoral commission awarded them to Hayes amid an informal understanding that federal support for the remaining Republican governments in the South would end. In office he withdrew those troops, faced the nationwide railroad strike of 1877, defended a gold-backed currency and challenged his party's patronage machine. He kept his pledge to serve a single term and later worked for education and prison reform.

Political views

Removed the federal troops upholding Republican governments in Louisiana and South Carolina after Democratic leaders pledged to respect Black civil and voting rights.
Source: millercenter.org
Called for federal aid for education, arguing that universal suffrage should rest upon universal education.
Source: millercenter.org
Sent federal troops to preserve order during the Great Strike of 1877, the first deployment of the Army in states during a labor dispute.
Source: millercenter.org
Opposed greenbacks and the free coinage of silver, defending a currency backed by gold.
Source: millercenter.org
Pushed for a thorough reform of the civil service, angering Republican leaders who relied on patronage.
Source: millercenter.org
Vetoed a bill limiting Chinese passengers per ship as a breach of treaty, then negotiated a treaty allowing the United States to regulate and suspend Chinese labor immigration.
Source: millercenter.org
Declared in 1880 that the policy of the United States was a canal across the isthmus under American control.
Source: millercenter.org

Legacy

Historians often credit Hayes with restoring a measure of integrity to the presidency after the scandals of the Grant years and with early steps toward a merit-based civil service. Critics argue that the withdrawal of federal troops from the South, part of what is often called the Compromise of 1877, ended Reconstruction and abandoned Black Southerners to disenfranchisement and segregation, despite the assurances he sought. Labor historians also note that his use of the Army in the 1877 strike set a precedent for federal intervention on the side of employers. Opponents at the time disputed the legitimacy of his election, calling him 'His Fraudulency.'

In their words

The policy of this country is a canal under American control.

Special Message to Congress, 1880

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FAQ

Rutherford B. Hayes: questions

What political party was Rutherford B. Hayes?

Hayes was a Republican. He won the disputed 1876 election through an electoral commission and served one term.

What was the Compromise of 1877?

It is the name historians give to the informal understanding that settled the disputed 1876 election: Hayes became president and federal troops stopped supporting the last Republican governments in the South, ending Reconstruction.

Sources

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