The Presidency of Rutherford B. Hayes

About this book

This new interpretation of the Hayes administration contradicts the widely held view that Hayes was an inept politician and an ineffective leader. Hoogenboom argues that it was Hayess character and personality that set his presidency apart in the Gilded Age. This volume covers all issues decisions and developments during the Hayes presidencyfrom the withdrawal of troops from Louisiana and South Carolina that signalled the end of Reconstruction through the Great Strike of 1877the most violent general strike in American historyand the Nez Perce War to the struggle for civil service reform and the fight to preserve voting rights. Hoogenboom credits Hayes with being a patient reformer principled but practical cautious yet courageous. His honesty and decency echoed the pristine values of the early American Republic while his attempts to rally support by emphasizing issues and policiesrather than by relying on political organizationanticipated the style of twentieth-century presidents.