dorky-Rutherford Hayes, in a letter to his wife Lucy
The 19th Vice-President of the United States was William Almon Wheeler, who held the office during the administration of President Rutherford Hayes. As the italicized quote suggests, Wheeler wasn't exactly a household name at the time of his nomination. He had been a Representative from New York, but because he and the fellow at the top of the 1876 GOP ticket had served in the house at different times, the two men were strangers to one another.
Wheeler was born in Malone, New York on June 30, 1819. He attended Franklin Academy and the University of Vermont, but a lack of money forced him to drop out without graduating. He studied law and was admitted to the New York State bar in 1845. Wheele, practiced law in Malone, and was District Attorney of Franklin County from 1846 to 1849. He was elected as a member of the New York State Assembly representing Franklin County in 1850 and 1851, and he served in the New York State Senate in 1858 and 1859.
Wheeler was elected as a Republican to the 37th United States Congress, holding office from March 4, 1861, to March 3, 1863. He was out of congress for the next six years, but served as President of the New York State Constitutional Convention of 1867-68. He was also President of the New York Northern Railroad. Wheeler was elected to Congress in the election of 1868 and served from March 4, 1869, to March 3, 1877. As a Congressman Wheeler displayed principle in a number of areas, including fiscal responsibility. For example, when Congress voted itself a pay raise in 1873 and made it retroactive for five years, Wheeler not only voted against the raise, but returned his salary adjustment to the Treasury department. He earned a reputation for honesty to he point where he refused to be in the pocket of Senator and a political boss Roscoe Conkling. Conkling allegedly told the New York Congressman "Wheeler, if you will act with us, there is nothing in the gift of the State of New York to which you may not reasonably aspire." Wheeler replied "Mr. Conkling, there is nothing in the gift of the State of New York which will compensate me for the forfeiture of my self-respect." This anecdote is told in the book Profiles in Courage by John F. Kennedy.
Wheeler also spoke publicly in favor of racial equality. While presiding at the New York State Constitutional Convention in 1867, he said "We owe it to the cause of universal civil liberty...that every man within our state, of whatever race or color, or however poor, helpless, or lowly he may be, in virtue of his manhood, is entitled to the full employment of every right appertaining to the most exalted citizenship."
Wheeler was a delegate to the 1876 Republican National Convention, which nominated Rutherford B. Hayes on the seventh ballot. The party bosses strategized that the candidate for Vice-President should come from the New York delegation. In seeking a compromise candidate someone suggested Wheeler and to the surprise of many, he was nominated by acclamation. Hayes, when he heard of Wheeler's nomination, wrote to his wife Lucy: "I am ashamed to say: Who is Wheeler?" Hayes and Wheeler never served in the House of Representatives at the same time and had not met otherwise. Wheeler was almost certainly selected because, on the heels on certain scandals which occurred during the Grant administration, the party looked for candidates with squeaky clean reputations.
Wheeler became a widower just after the election. His wife having died in December of 1876, three months before he took the oath of office, and his term as Vice-President was filled with profound sadness at her loss. Wheeler was a frequent guest at the White House. Hayes wrote fondly of Wheeler in his diary, describing his vice-president as "one of the few Vice Presidents who were on cordial terms, intimate and friendly, with the President. Our family were heartily fond of him." But Wheeler did not impress his party as Presidential material. Hayes had always said that he would not run for a second term, and Wheeler was never seriously considered for the 1880 Republican presidential nomination. When his term was over, he retired from public life and active business pursuits because of ill health.
On June 4, 1887, Wheeler died in his Malone, New York home. He was 67 years old. He was interred next to wife in Morningside Cemetery, in Malone.