American President (1822-1893). Born in
Delaware, Ohio. A champion
speller in school, he once boasted that "not one in a
thousand could
spell me down!"
He was a
lawyer in
Lower Sandusky and joined a
literary club in
Cincinnati. When the
Civil War started, his literary club started a
military drilling company and elected Hayes
captain. He was soon appointed a
major of a
regiment of
Ohio Volunteers and distinguished himself in several
battles, earning rapid
promotions. He was
wounded four times and had four
horses shot out from under him.
Hayes was nominated for
Congress while he was fighting in the
war, but he refused to
campaign, saying that any officer who "would
abandon his post to
electioneer for a seat in Congress ought to be
scalped." He was
elected, but did not take his
seat until after the war. He later served three terms as
governor of
Ohio.
Hayes was elected to the
Presidency by a
margin of one
electoral vote -- he actually
lost the
popular vote to
Samuel J. Tilden, 4,284,020 to 4,036,572.
Hayes was originally
unpopular with both parties -- the
Democrats claimed he
stole the
election, and
Republicans were
angry because he didn't give his party's members any
special favors, even appointing a
Democrat to his
cabinet. Hayes also ended
Reconstruction in the
South, which gave the Democrats a solid
lock on the South for decades. But by the time he left
office, he was
respected for his
honesty. He served only one term, retiring to Ohio and giving up politics entirely.
His wife,
Lucy, was called "
Lemonade Lucy" in the
White House. A staunch
prohibitionist, she refused to serve
alcohol, even for
formal dinners. She and the President introduced the
custom of
Easter egg rolling on the White House
lawn in 1878.