Rutherford B. Hayes: the record and the legends

The Good Colonel. The 19th president, 1877-1881, from Ohio. Every story here is tagged Record, meaning it’s documented, or Legend, meaning it gets told a lot and doesn’t hold up. Each one links to its source.

President: 19th
In office: 1877-1881
Home state: Ohio
Party: Republican
Height: 5'8½"

The record

RecordAt South Mountain in 1862, a musket ball broke Hayes's left arm while he was leading his regiment. He went down between the lines until his own men pulled him out. His diary said he was in pain, but very happy, because they'd won.Source: Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library, The Good Colonel
RecordIn 1876 Congress banned kids from rolling Easter eggs on the Capitol lawn. On Easter Monday 1878 they showed up at the White House gates instead, and Hayes told the guards to let them in. The Easter Egg Roll has been there ever since.Source: White House Historical Association, Easter Egg Roll: President Hayes Saves the Day
RecordThe 1876 election was so bitter that people feared an uprising, and Inauguration Day fell on a Sunday. So Hayes took the oath in secret in the Red Room on Saturday night, two days early, then did it again in public on Monday.Source: White House Historical Association, Presidential Inaugurations: I Do Solemnly Swear
RecordHayes promised before the 1876 election that he'd serve only one term. He kept it and went home to Ohio in 1881.Source: Miller Center, Hayes: Life in Brief

The legends

LegendFirst Lady Lucy Hayes banned alcohol at White House events and got the nickname Lemonade Lucy. The ban was real. The story that it was airtight isn't: a rum punch reportedly made it onto the table anyway.Source: White House Historical Association, Lucy Hayes, Temperance, and the White House Dinner Table

What he cared about

Hiring government workers on merit instead of as political favors.
Putting the country back on the gold standard, which happened in 1879.
Public education, which he kept pushing long after he left office.

The full record

He pulled the last federal troops protecting Reconstruction governments out of the South, and over the next decades Black Southerners lost the vote to poll taxes, literacy tests and violence.

How he fights in POTUS KO

Civil War colonel who didn't stay down

Hayes was wounded again and again in the Civil War and kept going back to his men. In the ring he's a brawler who takes a hit to land one.

See POTUS KO

Questions about Rutherford B. Hayes

Who started the White House Easter Egg Roll?

In 1876 Congress banned kids from rolling Easter eggs on the Capitol lawn. On Easter Monday 1878 they showed up at the White House gates instead, and Hayes told the guards to let them in. The Easter Egg Roll has been there ever since.

Why was Lucy Hayes called Lemonade Lucy?

First Lady Lucy Hayes banned alcohol at White House events and got the nickname Lemonade Lucy. The ban was real. The story that it was airtight isn't: a rum punch reportedly made it onto the table anyway.

Why was Rutherford B. Hayes sworn in secretly?

The 1876 election was so bitter that people feared an uprising, and Inauguration Day fell on a Sunday. So Hayes took the oath in secret in the Red Room on Saturday night, two days early, then did it again in public on Monday.