Presidents' Highs and Lows: Rutherford B. Hayes
Rutherford Hayes served only one term in office as president from 1877 to 1881, long before the time when George Gallup and his employees started to poll people about whether or not they approved the job that their president was doing. If such things had been around at the time, it's likely that the approval rating for President Hayes probably wouldn't have started off on a high note. On the day that Hayes was inaugurated, many people were worried about the possibility of some sort of armed insurrection taking place to prevent the man pejoratively referred to by his enemies as "His Fraudulency" from taking office.
On election day in November of 1876, nobody was certain who had won the presidency. Three days after election day, it looked as if the Democratic Candidate, New York Governor Samuel Tilden had won 184 electoral votes, just one short of the 185 required for a majority. Hayes appeared to have a lock on 166 votes. There were 19 electoral votes from Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina that were still in doubt. Republicans and Democrats each claimed victory in those states, but the results were uncertain because of allegations of fraud levelled against both parties. To further complicate matters, one of the three electors from Oregon (a state Hayes had won) was disqualified, reducing Hayes's total to 165, and raising the disputed votes to 20. At that point Tilden needed just one of those disputed votes in send a Democrat to the White House for the first time in 20 years.
No one was sure who was authorized to decide between the competing slates of electors. The Republicans controlled the Senate and the Democrats controlled the House, and each claimed that they had authority in the matter. In January of 1877, the question was still unresolved. President Ulysses Grant convinced leaders in Congress to submit the matter to a bipartisan Electoral Commission, which would be authorized to determine the fate of the disputed electoral votes. The Commission was to be made up of five representatives, five senators, and five Supreme Court justices. To ensure partisan balance, there would be seven Democrats and seven Republicans, with Justice David Davis, an independent respected by both parties, as the fifteenth member.
But the balance was upset when Democrats in the Illinois legislature decided to elect Davis to the Senate. They had hoped that this would sway his vote. The plan backfired. Davis, a man of great integrity, agreed to serve in the Senate, but refused to serve on the Commission because of his election to the Senate. All of the remaining Justices on the Supreme Court were Republicans. Justice Joseph P. Bradley was selected to fill the vacancy because he was believed to be the most independent-minded among them.
The Commission met in February and the eight Republicans voted to award all 20 disputed electoral votes to Hayes. Democrats were outraged by the result and attempted a filibuster to prevent Congress from accepting the Commission's findings. As the March 4 inauguration day approached, Republican and Democratic Congressional leaders met at Wormley's Hotel in Washington to negotiate a compromise. Republicans promised to make concessions if Democrats would support the Committee's decision. The primary concession Hayes promised would be the withdrawal of federal troops from the South and an acceptance of the election of Democratic governments in the remaining "unredeemed" states of the former Confederacy. The Democrats agreed, and on March 2, the filibuster was ended. Hayes was elected. But the price of his election was the end of Reconstruction. In April, Hayes ordered the Secretary of War George W. McCrary to withdraw federal troops stationed in South Carolina and in New Orleans.
One of the most popular things that Hayes did as President was to institute the beginnings of civil service reform. Up to this point, civil service appointments had been based on the spoils system since the time of Andrew Jackson. The old adage was "to the victor goes the spoils" and it was understood that the party who won the election got to dole out government jobs to their friends, regardless of qualification or fitness for the job. Hayes wanted to change that. He wanted to see government jobs awarded on merit, according to an examination that all applicants would be required to take.
Hayes's call for reform brought him into conflict with the Stalwart, or pro-spoils, wing of the Republican party. Senators of both parties were accustomed to being consulted about political appointments in their state, and many of them decided to fight Hayes on this. The leader of the Stalwarts was New York Senator Roscoe Conkling, a key supporter of Ulysses Grant, and a man who fought Hayes's reform efforts vigorously.
Hayes appointed one of the best-known advocates of reform, Carl Schurz, to be Secretary of the Interior. He asked Schurz and William M. Evarts, his Secretary of State, to lead a special cabinet committee tasked with drawing up new rules for federal appointments. John Sherman, the Treasury Secretary, ordered John Jay to investigate the New York Custom House, which was stacked with Conkling's spoilsmen. The Custom House was the largest collector of government revenues and it overstaffed with political appointees. At least 20% of the employees were not required and held bogus positions meant to reward political friends and to have those employees kick back a portion of their salary (called "assessments") to the party.
Hayes could not convince Congress to outlaw the spoils system. Like many presidents who lack sufficient support in Congress to accomplish something, Hayes issued an executive order that prohibited federal office holders from being required to make campaign contributions or otherwise taking part in party politics. At the time, the Collector of the Port of New York was future president Chester Alan Arthur, a key Stalwart and Conkling supporter. Arthur refused to obey the president's order. In September of 1877, Hayes demanded Arthur's resignation along with that of two other leading Stalwarts. The three refused to resign. Hayes submitted appointments of Theodore Roosevelt, Sr., L. Bradford Prince, and Edwin Merritt—all supporters of Conkling's New York rival—to the Senate for confirmation as their replacements. The Senate's Commerce Committee, which Conkling chaired, voted unanimously to reject the nominees. The full Senate rejected Roosevelt and Prince by a vote of 31–25, confirming only Merritt.
Hayes waited until July 1878, when Congress was in recess. At that time he fired Arthur and Alonzo Cornell and replaced them by recess appointments of Merritt and Silas W. Burt. Conkling was furious. When the Senate reconvened in February 1879, Merritt was approved by a vote of 31–25, and Burt by 31–19. This was Hayes' most significant civil service reform victory.
For the remainder of his term, Hayes pressed Congress to enact permanent reform legislation and fund the United States Civil Service Commission. He used his last annual message to Congress in 1880 to appeal for reform. Reform legislation did not pass during Hayes's presidency, but his advocacy raised the national profile for this issue and created a groundswell of popular support that let to the passage of the Pendleton Act of 1883. Ironically, that leading piece of civil service reform legislation was signed into law by none other than President Chester Arthur.
Hayes also gained popular support for addressing the issue of corruption in the postal service. In 1880, Schurz and Senator John A. Logan asked Hayes to shut down the "star route" rings, a system of corrupt contract profiteering in the Postal Service, and to fire Second Assistant Postmaster-General Thomas J. Brady, the alleged ring leader. Hayes stopped granting new star route contracts, but let existing contracts continue. Brady and others were later indicted for conspiracy in 1882. After two trials, the defendants were found not guilty in 1883.
In 1880, Hayes left Washington for a 71-day tour of a number of western states, becoming the first sitting President to travel west of the Rocky Mountains. Hayes traveled with his wife Lucy, as well as General William Tecumseh Sherman, who helped organize the trip. Hayes began his trip in September 1880, leaving from Chicago on the transcontinental railroad. He journeyed across the continent, ultimately arriving in California, stopping first in Wyoming and then Utah and Nevada, reaching Sacramento and San Francisco. By railroad and stagecoach, the party traveled north to Oregon, arriving in Portland, and from there to Vancouver, Washington. Going by steamship, they visited Seattle, and then returned to San Francisco. Hayes then toured several southwestern states before returning to Ohio in November, in time to cast a vote in the 1880 Presidential Election.
On election day in November of 1876, nobody was certain who had won the presidency. Three days after election day, it looked as if the Democratic Candidate, New York Governor Samuel Tilden had won 184 electoral votes, just one short of the 185 required for a majority. Hayes appeared to have a lock on 166 votes. There were 19 electoral votes from Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina that were still in doubt. Republicans and Democrats each claimed victory in those states, but the results were uncertain because of allegations of fraud levelled against both parties. To further complicate matters, one of the three electors from Oregon (a state Hayes had won) was disqualified, reducing Hayes's total to 165, and raising the disputed votes to 20. At that point Tilden needed just one of those disputed votes in send a Democrat to the White House for the first time in 20 years.
No one was sure who was authorized to decide between the competing slates of electors. The Republicans controlled the Senate and the Democrats controlled the House, and each claimed that they had authority in the matter. In January of 1877, the question was still unresolved. President Ulysses Grant convinced leaders in Congress to submit the matter to a bipartisan Electoral Commission, which would be authorized to determine the fate of the disputed electoral votes. The Commission was to be made up of five representatives, five senators, and five Supreme Court justices. To ensure partisan balance, there would be seven Democrats and seven Republicans, with Justice David Davis, an independent respected by both parties, as the fifteenth member.
But the balance was upset when Democrats in the Illinois legislature decided to elect Davis to the Senate. They had hoped that this would sway his vote. The plan backfired. Davis, a man of great integrity, agreed to serve in the Senate, but refused to serve on the Commission because of his election to the Senate. All of the remaining Justices on the Supreme Court were Republicans. Justice Joseph P. Bradley was selected to fill the vacancy because he was believed to be the most independent-minded among them.
The Commission met in February and the eight Republicans voted to award all 20 disputed electoral votes to Hayes. Democrats were outraged by the result and attempted a filibuster to prevent Congress from accepting the Commission's findings. As the March 4 inauguration day approached, Republican and Democratic Congressional leaders met at Wormley's Hotel in Washington to negotiate a compromise. Republicans promised to make concessions if Democrats would support the Committee's decision. The primary concession Hayes promised would be the withdrawal of federal troops from the South and an acceptance of the election of Democratic governments in the remaining "unredeemed" states of the former Confederacy. The Democrats agreed, and on March 2, the filibuster was ended. Hayes was elected. But the price of his election was the end of Reconstruction. In April, Hayes ordered the Secretary of War George W. McCrary to withdraw federal troops stationed in South Carolina and in New Orleans.
One of the most popular things that Hayes did as President was to institute the beginnings of civil service reform. Up to this point, civil service appointments had been based on the spoils system since the time of Andrew Jackson. The old adage was "to the victor goes the spoils" and it was understood that the party who won the election got to dole out government jobs to their friends, regardless of qualification or fitness for the job. Hayes wanted to change that. He wanted to see government jobs awarded on merit, according to an examination that all applicants would be required to take.
Hayes's call for reform brought him into conflict with the Stalwart, or pro-spoils, wing of the Republican party. Senators of both parties were accustomed to being consulted about political appointments in their state, and many of them decided to fight Hayes on this. The leader of the Stalwarts was New York Senator Roscoe Conkling, a key supporter of Ulysses Grant, and a man who fought Hayes's reform efforts vigorously.
Hayes appointed one of the best-known advocates of reform, Carl Schurz, to be Secretary of the Interior. He asked Schurz and William M. Evarts, his Secretary of State, to lead a special cabinet committee tasked with drawing up new rules for federal appointments. John Sherman, the Treasury Secretary, ordered John Jay to investigate the New York Custom House, which was stacked with Conkling's spoilsmen. The Custom House was the largest collector of government revenues and it overstaffed with political appointees. At least 20% of the employees were not required and held bogus positions meant to reward political friends and to have those employees kick back a portion of their salary (called "assessments") to the party.
Hayes could not convince Congress to outlaw the spoils system. Like many presidents who lack sufficient support in Congress to accomplish something, Hayes issued an executive order that prohibited federal office holders from being required to make campaign contributions or otherwise taking part in party politics. At the time, the Collector of the Port of New York was future president Chester Alan Arthur, a key Stalwart and Conkling supporter. Arthur refused to obey the president's order. In September of 1877, Hayes demanded Arthur's resignation along with that of two other leading Stalwarts. The three refused to resign. Hayes submitted appointments of Theodore Roosevelt, Sr., L. Bradford Prince, and Edwin Merritt—all supporters of Conkling's New York rival—to the Senate for confirmation as their replacements. The Senate's Commerce Committee, which Conkling chaired, voted unanimously to reject the nominees. The full Senate rejected Roosevelt and Prince by a vote of 31–25, confirming only Merritt.
Hayes waited until July 1878, when Congress was in recess. At that time he fired Arthur and Alonzo Cornell and replaced them by recess appointments of Merritt and Silas W. Burt. Conkling was furious. When the Senate reconvened in February 1879, Merritt was approved by a vote of 31–25, and Burt by 31–19. This was Hayes' most significant civil service reform victory.
For the remainder of his term, Hayes pressed Congress to enact permanent reform legislation and fund the United States Civil Service Commission. He used his last annual message to Congress in 1880 to appeal for reform. Reform legislation did not pass during Hayes's presidency, but his advocacy raised the national profile for this issue and created a groundswell of popular support that let to the passage of the Pendleton Act of 1883. Ironically, that leading piece of civil service reform legislation was signed into law by none other than President Chester Arthur.
Hayes also gained popular support for addressing the issue of corruption in the postal service. In 1880, Schurz and Senator John A. Logan asked Hayes to shut down the "star route" rings, a system of corrupt contract profiteering in the Postal Service, and to fire Second Assistant Postmaster-General Thomas J. Brady, the alleged ring leader. Hayes stopped granting new star route contracts, but let existing contracts continue. Brady and others were later indicted for conspiracy in 1882. After two trials, the defendants were found not guilty in 1883.
In 1880, Hayes left Washington for a 71-day tour of a number of western states, becoming the first sitting President to travel west of the Rocky Mountains. Hayes traveled with his wife Lucy, as well as General William Tecumseh Sherman, who helped organize the trip. Hayes began his trip in September 1880, leaving from Chicago on the transcontinental railroad. He journeyed across the continent, ultimately arriving in California, stopping first in Wyoming and then Utah and Nevada, reaching Sacramento and San Francisco. By railroad and stagecoach, the party traveled north to Oregon, arriving in Portland, and from there to Vancouver, Washington. Going by steamship, they visited Seattle, and then returned to San Francisco. Hayes then toured several southwestern states before returning to Ohio in November, in time to cast a vote in the 1880 Presidential Election.