Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1877-1881)

Finally ended the War of the Rebellion with the removal of the last occupation troops from the South. He really ended the conflict and the healing started.

Mediocre and no vision, he was fraudulently installed; Samuel J. Tilden was the rightfully elected president, but in an election that was eerily echoed in 2000, Hayes was elected by one vote by a spurious "commission" who declared that Florida was in the Hayes coolumn. He is credited for withdrawing troops from the South, but was that such a good idea?

Came in under a cloud of megacontroversy.Tilden won the electoral vote,but deals were made giving it to this galoot.So he never really had a lot of support.

Though the controversial election of 1876 could have made Hayes's presidency a lameduck presidency, he instead chose men of merit to inhabit his cabinet and refused to appoint men based on political considerations. While Hayes did end Reconstruction, this process was already under way by the start of his administration and there was little he could do to stop it. Hayes also took the first real steps in ending rampant corruption within the civil service. Most historians simply do not give Hayes the credit he deserves. Though not a great president, he was a good one.

Congress gave him a job and he blew it.

Hayes had the most corrupt goverment this nation has ever seen, even worse then Clinton.

He came into office after demanding recounts and a "back room" deal to end Reconstruction. I find it hard to respect him.

Rutherford B. Hayes was put in office by one of the most controversial election's in history. It is now well-documented that his political party, the Republicans, not he himself, struck a deal with the Democrats in which the Democrats agreed to let Hayes have the Presidency in exchange for the withdraw of all federal troops from the South. Two days before inauguration day, Hayes officially won the election with 185 electoral votes to his opponent's 184. However, never before had a man entered office so scorned and disliked, and left so well-respected. He restored dignity and integrity to the office of the Presidency after it had been tarnished during the Johnson-Grant Years. [1. Crisis Leadership *** out of ***** Stars] Less than two months after assuming office, Hayes ordered the first troops to withdraw from the South. This policy, while calming the nation's troubled waters, allowed the white supremacist party to rise again and continue to suppress the rights of African Americans for... Read more

skippy doo!

I will just give him a 5 for the fact he is from Ohio.

He is my uncle.

Agreed!!

The first President to steal an election from the American people, setting the legal precedent for George W. Bush's theft.