To
many if not most Americans, Rutherford Birchard Hayes is one of a long line of
hirsute late-nineteenth century presidents of whom almost no one has ever
heard. To interested students of
American history, Hayes is known primarily as the president who gained his office
under shady circumstances and who then turned his back on Southern
African-Americans. In Rutherford B. Hayes,
part of the “American Presidents” series of biographies, historian Hans L.
Trefousse attempts to bring this obscure yet key president’s life and work to
light and to defend him, arguing that our nineteenth president was much more
effective than has generally been acknowledged.
Hayes’
path to the White House was fairly typical for politicians of his time. Service in the Civil War (by the end of which
he had risen to the rank of Major General) was followed by Hayes’ being elected
to the House of Representatives and then to the governorship of Ohio. As a successful governor of a major state,
Hayes naturally began to be mentioned as a presidential candidate, and when the
1876 Republican convention could not agree on any of the leading candidates,
they nominated the dark horse Hayes. The
election of 1876 resulted in controversy, with the razor-thin electoral vote
decided in favor of the Republicans on a party line vote by a committee consisting
of 8 Republicans and 7 Democrats.
Democrats accepted the result only in return for Hayes promising major
concessions, the most notable of which was his agreement to remove federal
troops from the South, effectively ending Reconstruction and any hope of civil
rights for the freedmen.
Regarding
Hayes’ monumental decision to withdraw federal troops from the South, a
decision for which he has been heavily criticized from his time right down to
the present, Trefousse argues that Hayes “had little choice. His predecessor,
General Grant, had decided to withdraw support from the disputed governments
even before the inauguration, and the country was no longer ready to tolerate
military interference in the South” (92). Hayes was no opponent to
African-Americans. Prior to removing the Army from the South, he obtained
promises to protect the civil rights of the freedman from several Southern
governors, although he was admittedly naïve to believe these pledges. Hayes also took steps such as appointing
Frederick Douglass as marshal for the District of Columbia and naming John
Marshall Harlan, an opponent of anti-black discrimination, to the Supreme
Court.
Hayes
also attempted to deal kindly with Native Americans, even though individual
Army commanders did not always follow his wishes. Hayes prevented the War
Department from taking over the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which surely would
have resulted in the Indians being treated even worse than they were. Trefousse also gives Hayes high marks for
foreign policy for presiding over an honest administration, and for laying the
groundwork for much-needed civil service reform. He summarizes Hayes’ administration thus:
What did Hayes contribute to the presidency? His biographers have generally credited him
with unifying the country, though faulting him for not succeeding in
safeguarding blacks’ rights. This
verdict is substantially correct. He was
one of the best-educated men to occupy the White House, was honest, evenhanded,
and humane. Taking over the
scandal-besmirched presidency from General Grant, he reestablished the good
reputation of the country’s first office and was rewarded with the Republican
success of 1880. This was his real achievement. (129)
With
Rutherford B. Hayes, Hans Trefousse
has succeeded in producing a balanced and well-written introduction to the life
and career of our nineteenth president.
Anyone who wants to gain an introductory understanding of Hayes would do
well to read it.
No comments:
Post a Comment