"HE SERVES HIS PARTY BEST WHO SERVES HIS COUNTRY BEST"

HAYES TAKES OATH IN PRIVATE

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On March 3, 1877, Rutherford B. Hayes was sworn in as POTUS in a private ceremony held in the Red Room at the White House.

Although losing the popular vote to Samuel Tilden in the Election of 1876*, Hayes was awarded 20 disputed popular votes in the Compromise of 1877**.  Hayes was determined to be the winner by a single electoral vote.

The standard date of presidential inaugurations at that time was March 4, but because that day was a Sunday in 1877, the official public inauguration was scheduled for March 5.  

Just like the election, there is some dispute concerning the reason for the private ceremony.  History.com says that the reason could be that there were threats on  Hayes' life.

In his inaugural address, given on March 5, 1877, President Hayes said...

"He serves his party best who serves his country best."

*Election of 1876:  Samuel Tilden (D) won the popular vote by 50,000+ out of 8.3 million votes cast but Rutherford B. Hayes (R) won the electoral vote 185-184.

**Compromise of 1877:  Republicans agree to end Reconstruction by withdrawing all Federal troops from the South.  In return, Democrats agree to 20 disputed electoral votes going to Hayes giving him the election victory. 

SOURCE

"Rutherford B. Hayes is inaugurated in a private ceremony," This Day in History, March 3, www.history.com 

 

 

Public Ceremony

Inauguration of Rutherford B. Hayes

March 5, 1877

Photo by Matthew Brady

Library of Congress Image

 

 

 

SWORN IN SECRECY

RUTHERFORD B. HAYES TAKES OATH IN WHITE HOUSE RED ROOM

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) Rutherford B. Hayes*, having been declared the winner of the presidential election of 1876 by a special election commission, was sworn in on March 3, 1877, in a private ceremony in the Red Room at the White House.

Hayes, a Republican from Ohio, lost the popular vote to Samuel J. Tilden** of New York, but because there were 20 disputed electoral votes, the House of Representatives, as required by the Constitution, determined the winner.

The official date of the inaugural was scheduled for March 4th, but since that date fell on a Sunday, another inaugural ceremony for the President was set for Monday, March 5.

SOURCE

The White House, www.georgebush-whitehouse.archives.gov/

*Rutherford Bichard Hayes (1822-1893) was born in Delaware, Ohio & earned his degree at Harvard Law School in 1845.  During the Civil War, RBH rose to the rank of Major General in the U.S. Army.  Afterwards he served in the U.S. Congress & as governor of Ohio before the presidency.  RBH was the 19th POTUS serving 1877-1881.

**Samuel Jones Tilden (1814-1886) was born in New Lebanon, NY & attended NYU, NYU School of Law & Yale University.  SJT served as NY governor 1875-1876.  He is the only person to win an outright majority of the popular vote for POTUS while losing the election.

The Red Room^

The White House

Photo by John White (2017)

^The portrait over the fireplace (c. 1842) is of Angelica Van Buren, daughter-in-law & official hostess of President Martin Van Buren.

Rutherford B. Hayes Inaugural

FIRST WHITE HOUSE TELEPHONE

JFK+50:  Volume 5, No. 1945

PRESIDENT HAYES GETS A TELEPHONE IN THE WHITE HOUSE

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) President Rutherford B. Hayes had a telephone installed at the White House 139 years ago today, May 10, 1877.

The President, who said he liked the new technology, did not have the luxury of using it in his office.  Mr. Hayes had to walk to the Telegraph Room in the Executive Mansion where the communications instrument was set up.

The only connection the White House telephone had at the time, however, was with the Treasury Department.  The new White House telephone number was the single digit #1.

Two years after telephone service was set up in the Nation's Capital there were only 190 subscribers.  President Hayes rarely used the telephone most likely because there were so few others who had one.

According to the Washington Post, President Barack Obama was critical of President Hayes' indifference to the communications device.  Mr. Obama's criticism was based on a historically unconfirmed comment in which Mr. Hayes reportedly said that the telephone was "a great invention, but who would ever want to use one."

President Hayes did not actually use the telephone until late June 1877 when he spoke with the inventor Professor Alexander Graham Bell.  Upon hearing Mr. Bell's voice over the line, Mr. Hayes said, "That is wonderful."

SOURCES

"Hayes has first phone installed in White House," May 10, www.history.com/

"Obama's whopper about Rutherford B. Hayes and the telephone," by Glenn Kessler, The Washington Post, March 16, 2012, www.washingtonpost.com/

\

1877 Telephone

PRESIDENT RUTHERFORD B. HAYES DIED 120 YEARS AGO TODAY

January 17, 2013

PRESIDENT RUTHERFORD B. HAYES DIED 120 YEARS AGO TODAY

Fremont, Ohio (JFK+50) 120 years ago today, January 17, 1893, the 19th President of the United States, Rutherford B. Hayes*, died at his home here in Fremont.

                    Rutherford B. Hayes
                  Matthew Brady Photo
             Library of Congress Image

Mr. Hayes', whose wife Lucy was deceased, last words were..."I know that I'm going where Lucy is."

The cause of death was given as complications of a heart attack.

President Benjamin Harrison signed an Executive Order establishing a 30 day period of mourning beginning the day following Hayes' death.

President-elect Grover Cleveland & Ohio Governor William McKinley led the procession to Oakwood Cemetery.

Before serving as President, Hayes rose to the rank of Major General in the Civil War & afterward served as a  U.S. Congressman & Governor of Ohio.

Rutherford B. Hayes, a Republican, was elected president by a special electoral commission after a disputed election in 1876.

His opponent, Democrat Samuel J. Tilden, was 1 vote short of a majority in the electoral college & received more popular votes than Hayes.

The commission, after compromise, awarded Hayes 20 disputed electoral votes, giving him the victory.

He was sworn in on Saturday, March 3, 1877 in the Red Room at the White House.

Hayes entered the White House pledging to serve only 1 term & the Republicans obliged by not renominating him in 1880.

Mr. Hayes first act as President was to end Reconstruction and restore home rule to the Southern states.  He later pushed for civil service reform.

Because his wife would not permit the serving of alcoholic beverages at White House functions, she became known as "Lemonade Lucy."

*Rutherford B. Hayes (1822-1893) was born in Delaware, Ohio. He graduated from Kenyon College with highest honors in 1838 & Harvard Law School in 1843.  He practiced law in Cincinnati where he met his future wife Lucy.  They married in 1852.  Hayes was wounded in the Battle of South Mountain during the Civil War.  


PRESIDENT HAYES SPEAKS AT THE LAMAR HOUSE IN KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE

Knoxville, Tennessee (JFK+50) In 1877, the President of the United States, Rutherford B. Hayes, paid a visit to Knoxville.

The President stayed at the LAMAR HOUSE on Gay Street & gave a speech to crowd of citizens from the balcony of the hotel.

                President Hayes Speaks
                    at the Lamar House
                    Knoxville, Tennessee
             Special Collections Online
                          Item #4302

http:kiva.lib.utk.edu/spc/items/show/4302.

The Lamar House had been turned into a hospital during the Civil War & it was there in one of the suites that Union General William P. Sanders died from wounds suffered in battle.  

The Union Fort west of the city was named in his honor.

During the 1920s the Lamar House became the Bijou Theater.  John Philip Sousa & his band performed there.

In 1969, the BIJOU was closed but it was renovated & reopened in 2006.

                             The Bijou 
                            Gay Street
                 Knoxville, Tennessee
     Photo by Brian Stansberry (2010)