We're a little late with Rutherford Birchard Hayes' Birthday, as it was on Sunday. But, we were busy getting our seats upgraded to Club Level, so we weren't home to celebrate. With Chester Arthur's birthday on Monday, it had to be delayed even further. We finally got to celebrating today.
This is Sophia and Rutherford Hayes Sr., and they lived in Delaware, Ohio just outside of Columbus.
They had two kids: Lorenzo and Fanny, and Sophia was pregnant...
...when tragedy struck, and Rutherford Hayes Sr. died.
Ten weeks later on October 4, 1822, Rutherford Birchard Hayes was born. He wasn't the first president who would never know his father. Both Andrew Jackson and Bill Clinton lost their father's before they were even born.
Sophia's brother, Sardis Birchard, stepped in to help raise the kids. Rutherford, or Rud as his family called him was a sickly child though, and nobody was certain he would make it. Sophia didn't show him much love, not wanting to get "too attached". Obviously, Rud made it, and here starts a string of times when Rud should have lost, but overcame odds to become a winner.
Tragedy struck the family again, when Rud's older brother Lorenzo, fell through the ice while ice skating. He was only 9, and after that Sophia became very over protective of Fanny and Rud. For awhile she didn't even have them go to school because she was afraid she would lose one of them.
They weren't allowed to go play with other kids, and instead Fanny and Rud became best friends. Fanny was a tomboy, and a light-hearted girl despite her tragedies. Together they hunted, and Rud started a daily regimen of running. Historians say as a child he "developed an unusual strength", which will come in handy later. Rud didn't want to be weak and sickly he wanted to be big and strong, and be able to hold his own.
Eventually the kids were allowed to go to school, and they excelled. Rud was an especially good speller and won all kinds of Spelling Bees.
He went off to Kenyan College in Ohio, where he continued getting up with the roosters to run (he did that his WHOLE life, even while president, and even after he retired). He also excelled academically, and became interested in politics, where he supported the Whig Party. (Yay Henry Clay!)
As most brainiac presidents do, he went off to fancy shmacy Harvard Law School.
After college, Rud went off to practice law in a little town you may have heard of: Fremont, Ohio! Most of you know I was born in Fremont, and spent my entire childhood living on Hayes Avenue. Hayes is my hometown guy.
Ok, so he didn't actually move to "Fremont" because it wasn't Fremont yet. If you want a quick history lesson in my hometown, it was originally Lower Sandusky, but it was renamed after John C. Fremont. Fremont was a military officer, explorer, and politician who became the first candidate of the anti-slavery Republican party for the office of the President of the United States.
However, he lost to one James Buchanan. Historians disagree on Fremont's legacy. Some say he was a military hero of significant accomplishments, and some think he's a failure who defeated himself. But I mean, surely he could have done better than Jimmy B, right? RIGHT?
Anyway, back to Rud.... Business was slow at first, but Uncle Sardis hooked him up, and things were going ok until he contracted tuberculosis. Thinking a change of climate, and fighting in a war would surely cure what ails him, Rud thought about heading down to fight in the Mexican-American War. (you know, the Alamo.. but you'll learn more about that in November with Polk and Taylor)
Of course his doctors were like "Yea, not so sure going to war is gonna help out your tuberculosis. Maybe just hang out here and try and shake it." Obviously he gets better, because he's Rutherford Birchard Hayes: the guy who is supposed to lose, but always overcomes the odds.
Thinking he has more opportunities to him in a bigger city, Rud leaves Fremont for Cincinnati, where he reconnects with an old friend from Delaware, Lucy Webb. So, Lucy's kind of cool. She's fun, and sweet, and intelligent.
In fact, Lucy is the first First Lady to ever hold a college degree!
Lucy and Rud get married, and they have 8 kids, but only 5 of them live until adulthood: Birchard, Webb, Rutherford, Fanny and Scott. (Rud and Lucy totally win for best kids names!)
Lucy was opposed to slavery, so much so when her father died, Lucy and her mother freed all the family slaves and then made sure their freed slaves had somewhere to live and were always well fed and taken care of. (I told you she was cool.) With Lucy's urging, Rud left the Whigs for the newly formed anti-slavery Republican party. Going even further, Rud was now helping defend escaped slaves accused under the controversial Fugitive Slave Act (Ah, Millard Fillmore, do we all remember him? He was our very first birthday way back when!)
Rud's work was getting him noticed by the new Republican Party, and he ends up as City Attorney. But then a little thing called the Civil War breaks out, and a guy like Rud isn't just going to sit around. No, he's going to join the 23rd Ohio Volunteers, and kick some Confederate butt (FUN FACT: along with his newest political protege: William McKinley!) .
Rud was the last in a long run of truly badass presidents, old school men who chomped on cigars and fought in wars. He served in over 50 engagements in the Civil war, and was shot several times. Again, he should have been toast, but nothing can slow this guy down.
In one battle he was shot in the left arm (it was so bad in fact, doctors wanted to amputate), he lost a ton of blood and instead of bleeding to death like a normal person, he continued to give direction to his troops (between collapsing and puking-- seriously there's some graphic stuff about vomit in his beard in several books, you guys), and yelled at his men who were behaving cowardly (which you gotta wonder what in Rud's world constitutes "cowardly").
That wasn't his only brush with death, out of the 7 presidents to serve in the Civil War (well, 5, if you don't count Chester Arthur and Andrew Johnson--- and you shouldn't), Rud was the only one wounded. He was shot at least 5 times (once in the head, but the bullet only grazed him), and hat at least four horses SHOT OUT FROM UNDER HIM.
Oh, and fun fact tidbit: Hayes started growing his impressive beard (albeit one that makes him hard to distinguish from Ben Harrison in pictures) during the Civil War. I guess after you get shot a bunch of times, you find shaving unimportant (because true story, he never shaved again).
Republicans must have taken note of all of Rud's badass-ery, and they decided he could bring that to the House of Representatives. Rud had other ideas. He'd accept their nomination, but he wasn't leaving his post to campaign.
Instead he found time between nearly bleeding to death and yelling at his cowardly men to write letters to the voters about why he should be a Representative.
And it worked! Meet Rutherford Hayes, Congressman. If you're wondering time frame here, he took office about a month before Lincoln was assassinated. He served for two years, working to ensure that the southern states would enforce protecting former slaves.
Then, it was on to another job, Governor of Ohio! Fun Fact: Rutherford Hayes and William McKinley are the only two Ohio governors to go on to be president.
Rud continued to champion black rights, and he was a staunch supporter of the impeachment of Andrew Johnson (I cannot BELIEVE I have to end this project on Andrew Johnson, yuck!)
But all this politicing was keeping Rud from his family, and so he decided not to run for Governor again. Instead he decided to move back to Fremont, Ohio in the home at good old Uncle Sardis had built for them, in a little place called Spiegel Grove.
But his stay out of politics was short-lived, and when the Republicans again nominated him for Governor, Hayes became a dark horse candidate for the next president of the United States.
1876 saw the end of the Grant administration. You might remember, Sam Grant wasn't exactly a stellar president, and while he might have been an honest guy his cabinet was so full of corruption, everyone knew it but him. For a great military guy, Grant sure seemed oblivious to what was going on around him. The Republicans didn't so much need a successful reformer, as they just needed some random guy.
Cue: Rutherford Birchard Hayes.
He wasn't so much chosen for his policies, his ability to speak, or his track records. He was chosen mostly because up to that point, he hadn't stolen anything or pissed anyone off (Remember that: he hadn't stolen ANYTHING). Republicans just wanted someone who had never stolen, and Rud had a clean record and was "generally inoffensive"....
Generally inoffensive? What more can we ask for? Let's making him president!
Rud was running against a man name Samuel Tilden, a guy the Democrats had picked him because he was a successful reformer who had fought corruption. He wasn't beloved by the voters, but he was respected.
Why exactly is Sam Tilden a Pez Dispenser you ask? Well, really, it's the least we could do for him. You see, Rud wasn't just supposed to lose battles, and his life (on several occasions), he was actually supposed to lose the presidential election.
When the votes started coming in on election night 1876, it was pretty clear that Tilden had won. Rud even wrote in his diary that he wasn't going to be president, and told Lucy "at least our lives will be easier without the added burden of the Presidency".
Sam Tilden went to bed that night knowing he was going to be the 19th president of the United States.
The next morning though, all hell broke loose. There were four states left to count, and it was a long shot, but if Hayes could sweep all of them, he would win the election by ONE electoral vote (he had clearly lost the popular vote.)
There was some dispute in Oregon about an illegal elector. He was removed, the state went to Hayes. Then all eyes turned to Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina. Republicans claimed they had won, Democrats claimed they had won.
So, ta few guys headed down to the South, to make sure the votes were "Counted correctly", and in most cases "Counted Correctly" meant "Counted Republican". There were weapons and bribery involved...
...and a whole bunch of ballots for Tilden in Key West was straight up thrown out.
Eventually, it became obvious that the election was tainted, so a special "bi-partisan" commission was selected to decide what to do. This "bi-partisan" commission contained 8 Republicans, and 7 Democrats. And you'll never guess how they voted?
Staright down party lines. They 8 Republicans awarded all three remaining states to Hayes, and he took the election by one vote. (He joins John Quincy Adams, Ben Harrison, and George W. Bush as the presidents who won without winning the popular vote).
People say an informal deal was struck with the Republicans to make Hayes president. The deal was called the "Compromise of 1877" and it involved the end of Reconstruction in the South. All the federal troops who had been there since the beginning of the Civil War would be removed, and the south would return to south rule. (Truth be told, Hayes was planning to do this anyway).
But either way, Hayes was in, and the Democrats felt Rutherford "At least I never stole anything" Hayes, had stolen the election. There were no inaugural balls (Hayes's house in Fremont had even been shot at a few times pre-inauguration, and President Grant increased troops around the Capital to make sure everything was on the up and up), and Hayes was sworn in at the Red Room in the White House (the next day he was sworn in at the capital).
Julia Grant did throw a lovely luncheon, because you know Julia (you should at least), she LOVED being First Lady, and she was going to be First Lady until the very last second possible.
Oh, and Rutherford had gotten a new nickname: Rutherfraud.
But, lets take a second for our would-be 19th president. Sam Tilden, Governor of New York. He was a soft spoken, kind of a pushover type of a guy, and people say had he pressed the issue more, he likely could have/would have been president.
We would have celebrated his birthday with William Henry Harrison's (and they would have been the second set of presidents to share a birthday!)
He was also a bachelor, meaning James Buchanan wouldn't have been the only one. Democrats urged him to run again in 1880 and 1886, but instead we got James Garfield and Grover Cleveland.
Back in the White House, the Hayes's were having a blast. Reflecting Lucy's personality it was lively and informal. They were throwing parties for their friends.. the likes of Thomas Edison, Mark Twain and William and Ida McKinley.
They'd have so many people over, sometimes when the older Hayes boys (who were off at college/on their own) came to visit, they'd end up sleeping in a bathtub.
Plus there was the social event of the season, Lucy and Rud's 25th Anniversary. you know the one where a 15 year old Nellie Taft showed up and decided she was someday going to be First Lady.
There was some party staples notably missing from the Hayes White House though... like smoking, dancing, card playing... and drinking! Earning Lucy the nickname "Lemonade Lucy", and Hayes the nickname "Granny Hayes" (Which on the bright side is better than Rutherfraud or "His Fraudulency"
Hayes spent most of his presidency trying to protect the rights of black citizens in the southern states.
But most of his work was blocked by the Democratic majority in Congress (see, this problem goes back forever people, FOR. EVER.) Some Southern politicians liked Hayes's fiscal conservatism, but they couldn't support him, or they would have been annihilated in the polls.
Hayes also fought to end the spoils system. (And hey, he did manage to get Chester Arthur out as the Collector), but it fell on deaf ears. Ironically, Chester would be the one to end the Spoils System with his Pendleton Act.
There was also the Great Railroad Strike. It was unlike the Pullman Strike during Grover Cleveland's presidency because the labor workers were not as organized. There was little planning involved with their strike (though a burning of a station and violence did erupt in similar fashion).
So when Hayes sent in the troops, the workers returned to their posts with their paycuts still in effect. It did teach the workers a valuable lesson of organization and planning though.
The Hayes White House also saw some notable firsts..
But Rutherford's four years were up before he could get much of anything done. He had promised to only run once (though he did propose presidents should be limited to one, six year term), and he kept that promise.
He headed back to Fremont, where he spent his retirement working for civil rights, wealth disparity, better prison conditions and children's literacy.
James Garfield, meanwhile, became our next president. (With good old Chet waiting in the wings).
Lucy died, and Rud was devastated, but Fanny became his traveling companion and he enjoyed visits from his grandkids.
Four years after Lucy died, Rud was traveling on a train to Cleveland, when he suffered "a minor heart issue", which he decided to treat with some Brandy. (I mean, Lemonade Lucy is gone at this point, might as well live it up, right?)
Turns out that "minor heart issue" was actually a heart attack, and Rud (although still physically fit and active, running every.single.morning) died two days later at his home.
Rutherford and Lucy are buried at Spiegel Grove (Just a few blocks from my mom's house!) Fun fact: a couple of his horses are buried back on a trail just behind his grave.
In 1916, his library opened. It was the first presidential library.
Rud was a tough and well built man. He was known to say "fighting battle is like courting girls: those who make the boldest moves usually win." He was a man who should have lost his whole life. He should have died a sick, fatherless child, he should have died from his wounds in the Civil War, and he should have lost the election (because he literately did lose the election), but somehow he always managed to come out on top.
But Rud never did anything scandalous enough to earn him villain status, nor exciting and progressive enough for hero status in the history books. He joins our other obscure presidents in the high 20's/low 30's in the presidential ranking system.
We did the owl mail.
And the twitter handle. How could we not use #Rutherfraud....
...and made our birthday cards. (I have no idea what Calib is doing here, but we have been making him get up early ahead of his 5K, so weird stuff has been going on.)
Our activity was a nod to the First telephone in the White House. The Hayes's had the phone number 1, and it was installed by none other then Alexander Graham Bell. The first phone call from the White House? Well it was from Rud to Bell, who was just 13 miles away.
For dinner we had corn fritters...
plus Lucy's potato puff recipes, and some sausage.
Of course we all had some Lemonade as well in honor of Lemonade Lucy.
You might also remember we had celery on our table in a nod to Jefferson Davis a couple weeks ago. Well, my mom informed me they would do that at the Hayes house too. (She actually cooks there sometimes for special events with some of her friends and makes some of Hayes's favorite foods!)
And for desert, we had Hayes's favorite: white cake! I took some help on the Target bakery for this one, and it was actually REALLY good for being white cake with white icing. I felt like the simplicty of it was appropriate for our purposes, too.
That's it on Hayes! Only ELEVEN more to go. Can you believe I have done this 32 times?!
Next Up: Our last few days with James, another home game, and some LBD!
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