Book Description
Who was the real Rutherford B. Hayes? Was he a great or inconsequential president? How did his early life and career shape his later years? How did his triumphs and failures alter our history? And why should we care? Ari Hoogenboom's masterful life of Hayes definitively answers those questions and shows why our nineteenth president deserves far greater recognition than he's received in the past.
The first biography of Hayes in nearly fifty years, Hoogenboom's book recreates the rapidly changing world of Victorian America as experienced by one of its most reflective and perceptive figures. The Hayes that emerges is a much more progressive and far-sighted leader than previously suggested. He was, Hoogenboom argues, neither a Southern sympathizer nor an exemplar of the "Greedy Gilded Age." Rather, he was a devout, pragmatic champion of equal rights.
Hayes's colorful life was rooted in his frontier experiences in Ohio and galvanized on Civil War battlefields, where he survived five wounds and was ultimately promoted to major general. No other president was under fire on the front lines as much as Hayes.
Hayes's image as president (1877-1881), however, has not been quite so shining. He has been blamed for Reconstruction's failure and damned for an apparent bargain that guaranteed his election in exchange for withdrawing military support of Republican governments in the South. He has also been criticized for championing the gold standard, for breaking the Great Strike of 1877, for inconsistent support of civil-service reform, and for being an ineffectual politician.
Hoogenboom contends that these evaluations are largely false. Previous scholars, he says, have failed to appreciate Hayes's limited options and have misrepresented his actions in their depictions of an overly cautious, nonvisionary president. In fact, he was strikingly modern in his efforts to enlarge the power of the office, which he used as his own bully pulpit to rouse public support for his goals.
Chief among these goals, Hoogenboom shows, was equality for all Americans. Throughout his presidency and long afterwards, Hayes worked steadfastly for reforms that would encourage economic opportunity, distribute wealth more equitably, diminish the conflict between capital and labor, and ultimately enable African-Americans to achieve political equality. Although he fell far short of his ideals, his unwavering commitment deserves our attention and respect.
Customer Reviews:
An admiring biography.......2006-03-10
Quoting Mark Twain, who felt that Hayes's presidency "would steadily rise into higher and higher prominence, as time & distance give it a right perspective, until at last it would stand out against the horizon of history in its true proportions," Ari Hoogenboom states that his purpose in writing this biography is "in the hope of fulfilling Twain's prediction ...." Thus from the beginning we are warned that Hoogenboom is out to cast his subject in as favorable a light as possible. He doesn't distort the facts to attain this goal, but his judgments at times seem overstraining and one-sided. For example, a pragmatist to a fault, Hayes compromised on a number of issues (black voting rights in the South, the Chinese Immigration Bill), seeing no use in a fight to perhaps capture the high ground, yet the author is able to dismiss these moves as politically prudent. Hoogenboom includes a 5-page Afterward that is one defense after another of Hayes and his actions as president; it's such a glowing explication of the man that the only thing missing is a standing ovation.
That doesn't mean Hayes was unworthy of any praise. His Civil War career was noteworthy, serving with and leading the 23rd Ohio in many engagements, including South Mountain in Maryland where he was severely wounded. As president, his stand on civil service reform was generally commendable, fighting unsuccessfully against Congress for a civil service commission, introducing the idea of competitive exams for appointments in some departments, and ordering that federal officers not be permitted to take part in political activities. Although hardly mentioned by Hoogenboom, the Hayes administration also did much to stop the wanton destruction of much of the national forest lands. Hayes also was the one who appointed the great Supreme Court justice John Marshall Harlan to the bench.
Of course, Hoogenboom describes in detail the "stolen" election that got Hayes into office. He also relates admirably the post-presidency years of Hayes, his great interest in education and prison reform. Hoogenboom is also a competent writer, and he sweeps the reader along laudably with his narrative. The biography is an informative and interesting account of the nineteenth president; it's just that the author's singular purpose in writing the book must be kept in mind while reading it.
A pro-Hayes work.......2006-01-05
One of my favorite biographies, Ari Hoogenboom's "Hayes" is a positive and incisive look at the 19th president. Hayes is the prototypical Midwesterner, successful, yet humble, proper and reform minded, but not priggish or censorious. Hayes had a genuine concern for humanity and America. Though limited in the lengths he would travel to enact social changes we would today deem necessary (or that he himself would wish for), Hayes should be better-remembered. Hoogenboom's work is quite thorough, covering both Hayes's political and personal life.
Hayes has been criticized for giving up on Reconstruction and thus dooming blacks to a century of repression, but Hayes had genuine concern for blacks. However, by 1877 Hayes was quite limited in what he could do politically to maintain Reconstruction. Hayes was traditionally criticized for doing little to address the growing inequalities of the American economy. But, although he did help put down nation-wide strikes, Hayes was more sympathetic to labor than any other late 19th century president. I was also surprised to read about the extensive post-presidency work of Hayes, comparable to Jimmy Carter.
a better man than president.......2005-05-08
Over the last few years I've read more than 30 presidential biographies, usually using Amazon to guide me to the best book on each president. Hoogenboom's biography of Hayes seemed the best, and I was not disappointed. Hayes comes off as a courageous man of good intentions, but also as a man who was unable to overcome the nation`s problems while he was president. His childhood story is told in detail, and it reminds us just how difficult it was to survive from day to day 200 years ago. He was a genuine Civil War hero. 1876 was certainly the US's most contentious national election. There were so many deals and chicaneries in determining the outcome in 1876 that no one will ever know who should have won.
As president Hayes lacked anything resembling a mandate, and the Republican Party was divided between spoils men and those who wanted reform. Reconstruction had failed, and it is beyond me to imagine what anyone could have done to develop a better outcome for African Americans or national unity. Suffice it to say Hayes didn't solve either problem, and although he could be criticized for not trying harder to bring out civil service reforms and to insure ensure voting rights, there simply was not enough support for these efforts. He did work to make the US economy sound after a stiff recession and he was probably the only president that cared a wit for treating Native Americans in a respectful manner.
To my surprise Hayes was genuinely a good man rather than just another Ohio politician who became a 19th century president. Hayes actually considered his world and shaped his beliefs and actions according to his synthesis of the truth, rather than going along with the crowd. His reactions to the temperance movement and organized religion are worthy of our respect. Hayes made a genuine commitment to education and was a catalyst for funding black universities and Ohio State. He was appalled at excessive wealth and championed redistribution of wealth. At his core he was a man of the people and a good husband. He simply cannot be compared to most politicos of his time.
Hoogenboom's narrative lays out Hayes and his times in readable detail. He is not a great biographer in terms of bringing his characters to life, but this biography is well organized. This is a better than average biography about a fascinating time in US history.
The best Hayes biography available --- such as it is.......2004-01-21
I have to give Professor Hoogenboom credit for giving it the old college try. He does his very best to portray Hayes as an effective politician and as a real reformer. Unfortunately, the case he makes is simply not convincing.
To be fair to Hayes, this is not to say that his life was uninteresting. This biography shows that Hayes was not just some non-entity that was tapped for the GOP nomination by the power-brokers of the party, but that he had a pretty interesting life (a Civil War record of real consequence, plus an impressive career in Ohio politics) prior to ascending to the presidency.
Unfortunately, the only reason we are reading a Hayes biography is because he became President, not because he was a Civil War general or a governor of Ohio. It is when dealing with Hayes' record as President that Hoogenboom fails to persuade the reader of Hayes' impact & commitment to reform.
For one thing, Hoogenboom pulls way too many punches when it comes to the 1876 elections. He equivocates; he is not willing to say that the elections were on the up-and-up, but neither is he willing to concede that Hayes was involved in what was a truly stolen election. Anyone who thinks the 2000 election was stolen ought to take a good look at 1876. Like it or not, Hayes was complicit in this, and his credibility was compromised from the very beginning of his term.
It really doesn't get any better from there. Was Hayes a dynamic, reform-minded president? Good luck trying to prove that --- the record simply does not support that contention, no matter how hard Hoogenboom tries accentuate the positive. Granted, Hayes' administration was not the embarrassment of scandals that typified Ulysses Grant's administration, and certainly corrupt Republicans like Roscoe Conkling & James Blaine make Hayes look quite pure, but this does not mean that Hayes had any genuine tendency towards reform. One only has to examine the not particularly comfortable relationship between Hayes and Secretary of the Interior Carl Schurz to see how Hayes felt about the movement supporting civil service reform, for example.
So we are left with a mixed bag. The only other Hayes biography I have read was written in the early 1930's and was so appallingly racist that I couldn't put it down fast enough. There has been precious little written on Hayes since then, so Hoogenboom has provided a great service. It is a well-written & well-researched biography, so there are no complaints in that regard. I simply do not feel that the author has convincingly made his case.
Best Hayes biography I know.......2001-12-07
Hayes had an interesting life and an active time in the Civil War. This book is aimed at presenting a favorable picture of him, and is written kind of like old-fashioned biographies. It pays excessive attention ro Hayes' diary, and contains considerable trivia. Some chapters are boring. The most interesting chapters are are, obviously, on 1876 and 1877 and the dramatic events around Hayes' election to the Presidency. And yes, the Republicans stole that election too!
Book Description
The disputed election of 1876 between Rutherford B. Hayes and Samuel Tilden, in which Congress set up a special electoral commission, handing the disputed electoral votes to Hayes, brings recent events into sharp focus.Historian Hans L. Trefousse explores Hayess new relevance and reconsiders what many have seen as the pitfalls of his presidency. While Hayes did officially terminate the Reconstruction, Trefousse points out that this process was already well under way by the start of his term and there was little he could do to stop it. A great intellectual and one of our best-educated presidents, Hayes did much more in the way of healing the nation and elevating the presidency.
Customer Reviews:
Our 19th President........2007-08-27
Despite what some have said of old Rutherford, he probably wasn't our worst president. In fact, if he had been elected in 2000, his compromising approach would have went a long way in meeting the opposition. As it was, his contested election was in 1876, and it polarized the country again between North and South. However, his compromising attitute healed the wounds of the Civil War and Reconstruction. This was at the expense of black civil rights.
I thought the author Trefousse did a good job of detailing Hayes life. Some of the previous reviewers might not be able to distinguish the subject from the author, but I believe Trefousse did a good job of summarizing his subject. The author comes to the same conclusion I have come to. The 1876 election was a flawed election where Democrats disenfranchised the black population in the South and then screamed bloody cheating to those contesting the South Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida ballots. Rutherford was not Rutherfraud, but an honest politician trying to make a difference.
An OK read on our 19th President.
Leaves a lot to to be desired.......2007-01-02
This book does a good job of outlining President Hayes life but it falls short in other areas. It does not give a sense of the country and how Hayes affected it. It suffers from being far too brief and does not even hit all of the highlights in his life. For those who want to get a sense of the president that is about all this can be used for. If you are looking for something that gives you information on the corrupt bargain or the start of the Gilded Age this book falls short.
An Excellent Biography, Though Maybe A Little Too Dry.......2006-12-20
This is the fourth Presidential biography I've read, if you count "Dark Horse" by Ken Ackerman as a biography (which is debatable). Each of the other three have their individual strengths ("Dark Horse" reads like a novel, Kevin Phillips' "William McKinley" deals with political philosophy, and Judith Ickes' book on Taft gives a psychological profile). This one does not accomplish any of the above.
This book gives a fair description of Hayes' life. However, I find that Trefousse's writing style is hard to follow. Some of the details, like Hayes' schedule at school, were not really necessary.
I am glad I read "Dark Horse" first. "Dark Horse" dealt with James Garfield, Hayes' immediate successor. That book introduced me to some people who had a role in Garfield's election and presidency, such as Roscoe Conklin and James Blaine. This enabled me to have a picture of these gentlemen while reading Trefousse.
Trefousse mentioned the similarities between Hayes' election in 1876 and Bush's in 2000. He concluded the book by saying Hayes' healed divisions while Bush has failed to do so. I disagree. The first half of Hayes' administration found him at odds with his party, which was not true with Bush. Also, Hayes was stronger in leadership after the Democrats took over congress in the midterms. Bush now has the opportunity to show what he can do inspite of legislative opposition.
Flawed, I agree.......2006-09-17
I enjoyed how Trefousse provided alot of insight into the type of person Hayes was. But, he didn't spend enough time on what the administration was like. Also, the author was very repetitive and seemed to be writing as if his audience would be high schoolers. It seemed a little dumbed down from other titles in this biographical series.
Flawed.......2005-05-22
Too many minor factual errors and too much mediocre writing. Obviously, Schlesinger--or any other editor--never saw this work before it was printed.
Amazon.com
First issued in 1954, this seminal work of black history was one of the first books to reinterpret the Reconstruction and to show how the freedmen's hopes were cruelly thwarted by cynical politicians. It documents "in devastating detail the political, economic, and cultural story of the retreat from equality." And, as prize-winning historian Eric Foner notes in his introduction, The Betrayal of the Negro provided "an overall framework that still helps to guide interpretations of the era." Also worth noting is the book's middle section, in which Rayford Logan examines the images of blacks that appeared in popular media such as newspapers and magazines in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Book Description
Mark Twain, who captured the essence of the Gilded Age, predicted that, in time, the "real and substantial greatness" of the Hayes presidency would cause it to "stand out against the horizon of history in its true proportions." This volume, an assessment of all significant aspects of the Hayes administration, may bring about just such a reappraisal. It is am important reevaluation of the administration that officially ended the Reconstruction era.
Hoogenboom covers all issues, decisions, and developments of consequence during the Hayes presidency--from the withdrawal of troops from Louisiana and South Carolina that signaled the end of Reconstruction, through the Great Strike of 1877--the most violent general strike in American history--to the Nez Perce War and the removal of the Poncas to the Indian Territory.
Hayes began his term with a vast segment of the population convinced that he had been elected by fraud. The election returns of four states were disputed in his race against Democrat Samuel J. Tilden; when a special commission awarded all disputed returns to Hayes, many indignant citizens concluded that he was not legally entitled to reside in the White House. In addition to that sever handicap, Hayes faced a hostile Congress, controversy over the last remaining Republican governments in the South, urgent demands for civil service reform, and severe economic depression.
Hoogenboom credits Hayes with being a patient reformer, principled but practical, cautious yet courageous. He vetoed popular legislation that would expand the currency and exclude Chinese laborers from the migrants allowed into the United States. He defeated congressional attempts to force him to make appointments. He vetoed appropriation bills that would destroy laws enforcing voting rights under the Fourteenth ad Fifteenth amendments. He did not attempt the impossible task of reforming the entire civil service, but supported the merit system in the New York Customhouse and Post Office and achieved excellent results. His restrained, legalistic response to the Great Strike saved lives and property. In foreign affairs, he took positions that anticipated both the Open Door with respect to China and the Theodore Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine. Against great odds, Hayes defended the prerogatives of his office and enhanced its power and prestige.
This new interpretation contradicts the widely held view that Hayes was an inept politician and an ineffective leader. It was Hayes's character and personality, Hoogenboom argues, that set his presidency apart in the Gilded Age. His honesty and decency echoed the pristine values of the early American Republic, while his attempts to rally support by emphasizing issues and policies--rather than by relying on political organization--anticipated the style of twentieth-century presidents.
This book is part of the American Presidency Series.
Customer Reviews:
Hayes as an able administrator and honorable man.......2004-11-04
Rutherford B. Hayes' victory in the presidential election of 1876 was fraught with irregularities. In the end, he received 185 electoral votes to 184 for Samuel Tilden. After the initial election, Tilden had 184, Hayes 165 and the remaining 20 were disputed. To settle the dispute, a commission with fifteen members was appointed. Four were judges, 2 Democratic and 2 Republican, there were five Democratic and five Republican members of Congress and one additional judge that was supposed to be an independent. However, independent judge David Davis, who was slated to be the fifteenth member, could not serve and was replaced by Republican judge Joseph Bradley. By a series of eight-to-seven votes, all twenty disputed votes, and the presidency, were awarded to Hayes. As a consequence of the maneuvering that put him in the White House, Hayes was constantly referred to as "his fraudulency."
However, as Hoogenboom explains very well, the manipulations that ended with the Hayes victory involved a great deal of compromise. At the time he took office, federal troops still occupied several southern states, maintaining carpetbagger Republican governments that protected the voting rights of the recently freed black population. In exchange for Democratic acquiescence to his assumption of the Presidency, Hayes agreed to end the occupations. Hayes was concerned about black rights and extracted a hollow promise from the Democrats that they would not interfere with the voting rights of blacks. Once the troops were removed, the Democrats took over from the Republican governments and initiated the process of segregation.
Hayes was an able administrator and had the best of intentions in his attempts to aid the plight of blacks. However, the white leadership of the South was largely unrepentant and everyone wanted the conflict to finally be over. Therefore, while things did not go the way Hayes wanted in the South, what happened was probably inevitable. He was also a transitional figure, as the American economy was emerging from depression and the industrial revolution was about to explode. During his term, labor organizations were forming and the first major strike took place. Unlike other figures in power, Hayes at least had some empathy for the workers and worked only to keep the peace. He was very precise in staying within constitutional bounds and avoided taking sides as much as possible. As the author is careful to point out, Hayes did not break the strike. His role in ending it is limited to the consequences of his actions in maintaining the public order.
Hayes was also a transitional figure in terms of American foreign involvement. He is the last president to keep their focus within the borders of the United States and less than twenty pages are devoted to foreign affairs. All future presidents were forced by circumstances to pay a great deal of attention to the rest of the world. His involvement in the treatment of Native Americans was similar to what happened with southern blacks. His intentions were good and humane, however the circumstances prevented him from making a significant positive impact.
Hayes is often portrayed as an aloof and inept president, which is not the case. As Hoogenboom does an excellent job of explaining, Hayes was an honorable man who was pressed by circumstances to make compromises that he found distasteful. In reading this history of those times, I was convinced that Hayes did the best that anyone could have done, given the circumstances.
This book provides a new interpretation on Hayes........1998-12-02
This book is told from and unbiased standpoint. The author does an excellent job ofjust giving the facts and not letting his opinion or anyone else's get in the way. The best example of this is in the first two chapters which talks about his campaign and then the disputed election, where to sum it up quickly, Hayes did not have the popular majority and won by 1 electoral vote. The book supplies me quotes and historical references from both Republican and Democrats and then gets into of the details of the election. So before I know all the details I already have evidence from both sides. Once one gets to the details it is simply facts no opinions. Hoogenboom does an extraordinary job giving facts and references from the time period and making and unbiased point of view. That is tolled form all sides and does not just concentrate on Hayes' side. The book remarkably managed to take and unbiased stance and still attack the widely held belief that Hayes was and ineffective leader and an inept politician. The author bring an entire new perspective on how to view Hayes. According to the American Presidency Series this book is supposed to present historians and the general public with interesting, scholarly assessments of Hayes' administration. Yet I found this book to be geared to the historians and the scholarly. The book is obviously being written for someone with good amount of intelligence. After reading this book one gains an entire new respect for the 19th President of the United States, Rutherford B. Hayes. END
Amazon.com
Stop me if you've heard this one: election night comes and goes and the race between two American presidential candidates is too close to call. The popular vote supports the reticent Democrat, but the well-connected Republican is named president after a lengthy and controversial fight over recounts and electoral votes. Of course, we're speaking of the 1876 contest between Rutherford B. Hayes and Samuel Tilden as chronicled in Fraud of the Century by historian Roy Morris Jr. Morris spends much of the book setting the stage by illuminating the characters of both the folksy Hayes from Ohio and the urbane New Yorker Tilden. Though quite different, both men are presented as principled and, ironically enough, committed to wiping out corruption and chicanery. This helps the reader understand the players when the post-election mayhem ensues. The Electoral College is unable to declare a winner after Louisiana, South Carolina, and Florida submit multiple "official" ballots with different victorious candidates. Numerous shady deals are worked out to Hayes's favor while forces loyal to Tilden threaten to march on Washington and install their man by force, if necessary. The most damaging result of the mess, according to Morris, is the pervasive mood of distrust and acrimony on the part of Congress, a mood that would contribute to the South's notorious Jim Crow laws. History buffs will appreciate Morris's extensive research but everyone enjoys a good political thriller. --John Moe
Book Description
In this major work of popular history and scholarship, acclaimed historian and biographer Roy Morris, Jr., tells the extraordinary story of how, in America's centennial year, the presidency was stolen, the Civil War was almost reignited, and black Americans were consigned to nearly ninety years of legalized segregation in the South.
The bitter 1876 contest between Ohio Republican governor Rutherford B. Hayes and New York Democratic governor Samuel J. Tilden is the most sensational, ethically sordid, and legally questionable presidential election in American history. The first since Lincoln's in 1860 in which the Democrats had a real chance of recapturing the White House, the election was in some ways the last battle of the Civil War, as the two parties fought to preserve or overturn what had been decided by armies just eleven years earlier.
Riding a wave of popular revulsion at the numerous scandals of the Grant administration and a sluggish economy, Tilden received some 260,000 more votes than his opponent. But contested returns in Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina ultimately led to Hayes's being declared the winner by a specially created, Republican-dominated Electoral Commission after four tense months of political intrigue and threats of violence. President Grant took the threats seriously: he ordered armed federal troops into the streets of Washington to keep the peace.
Morris brings to life all the colorful personalities and high drama of this most remarkable -- and largely forgotten -- election. He presents vivid portraits of the bachelor lawyer Tilden, a wealthy New York sophisticate whose passion for clean government propelled him to the very brink of the presidency, and of Hayes, a family man whose midwestern simplicity masked a cunning political mind. We travel to Philadelphia, where the Centennial Exhibition celebrated America's industrial might and democratic ideals, and to the nation's heartland, where Republicans waged a cynical but effective "bloody shirt" campaign to tar the Demo-crats, once again, as the party of disunion and rebellion.
Morris dramatically recreates the suspenseful events of election night, when both candidates went to bed believing Tilden had won, and a one-legged former Union army general, "Devil Dan" Sickles, stumped into Republican headquarters and hastily improvised a devious plan to subvert the election in the three disputed southern states. We watch Hayes outmaneuver the curiously passive Tilden and his supporters in the days following the election, and witness the late-night backroom maneuvering of party leaders in the nation's capital, where democracy itself was ultimately subverted and the will of the people thwarted.
Fraud of the Century presents compelling evidence that fraud by Republican vote-counters in the three southern states, and especially in Louisiana, robbed Tilden of the presidency. It is at once a masterful example of political reporting and an absorbing read.
Customer Reviews:
Who stole what........2007-05-23
A classic case of a grand theft. But who really stole what. One party cheats the electorate in the states of Oregon, Florida, South Carolina, and Louisiana. The other party disenfranchises millions of former slaves in these states and the other 10 Southern states. Morris does a great job detailing the crimes of the board of election in the three states. He spends less time in detailing how a newly liberated people had their votes taken away. All that said, this is a great read on how the election was pushed away from the statistical winner (Sam Tilden). Both Hayes and Tilden were ethical men, it was their party people who were the decievers.
I like this book and believe that it is a great story. However it only tells part of the story.
An obviously partisan history.......2007-04-16
Roy Morris is obviously an extremely partisan Democrat. He clearly believes that Gore had the 2000 election stolen from him by the Supreme Court, and that a similar miscarriage of justice happened to Samuel Tilden in 1876. He thus makes a lot of analogies between the two elections, and apologizes for Tilden's flaws so as to make him out to be the superior Presidential candidate. (For example, he forgives Tilden for his working with Tammany Hall, because he later came to oppose the machine.)
The analogies are quite flawed, of course, because the issues were quite different. In particular, African-Americans in 1876 were by and large Republicans, while white supremacists were strong Democrats (even if Tilden was not himself a white supremacist), while those positions were reversed in 2000. Therefore, the issue of intimidation of African-Americans cut the opposite way. And one feature of the 1876 election was unique: the Illinois (Democratic-controlled) state legislature essentially elected Republican Hayes, because they chose David Davis, the "independent" Supreme Court Justice on the 15-member Electoral Commission that oversaw the vote review, to a Senate seat, forcing a new member to be chosen to the commission, and that one, Justice Bradley, while the most nearly independent justice they could find, was still a Republican who joined the others in an 8-7 party-line vote on all the disputed electors.
Trying to get the facts from this book, I conclude that Tilden probably did deserve to get the electoral vote of Louisiana (and thus the presidency), with Hayes deserving the other disputed votes. But the obvious partisanship of the book makes me doubt this conclusion, because I suspect relevant facts have been omitted.
I would wish for a more impartial treatment of this, the most controversial election ever up to 2000. Too bad.
Both Sides.......2006-06-27
Like the Election of 1960 there was fraud on both sides. It is truely unlikely to know who actually won the vote. Tilden was a Tammey Hall puppet. Hayes was a liberal republican who wanted to be president and was willing on calling an end to reconstruction
to get the post. The democrats did not protest becuase of the true deal.
"Was there a Compromise of 1877?" -- revisited.......2004-07-20
If you're looking for a fresh account of the 1876 presidential election that will provide the relevant background, relate the principal facts, and describe the roles of the various players in the drama, Roy Morris' book will do fine. (His vivid retelling of the actual "counting" of the Electoral College votes would by itself recommend the book to such a reader.) If instead you are seeking an in-depth, defensible interpretation of the events, one that will make use of the latest scholarship, then I feel "Fraud of the Century" falls short.
Author Roy Morris, Jr. relies heavily on cliches in his recounting of the campaign, election, and aftermath. Pejorative terms and expressions such as scalawag, carpetbagger, and "waving the bloody shirt" abound, used by Morris without reservation or even definition. The "bloody shirt" characterization is applied whenever he tells of a speech defending black voting rights in the South. Overall, the impression builds that Morris' sympathies are distinctly on the side of those who sought to restore the pre-war power balance in the Confederate states. While forthrightly condemning the means -- thus the "stolen election" of the subtitle -- he nevertheless sees the result as a necessary and inevitable restoration of "home rule". His treatment of the various Reconstruction state governments -- particularly that in Mississippi under the estimable Adelbert Ames -- fails to properly recognize the validity of what those regimes were trying to accomplish. Instances of fraud, incompetence, and the use of force in those Reconstruction governments are presented as if they were defining and unique characteristics, rather than attributes at least equally found in the preceding and succeeding white regimes. And by and large he accepts the self-serving accounts in Hayes' diary as truth, while always casting aspersions on the motives of the Radical Republicans.
Was there was an explicit quid-pro-quo that motivated Southern Democrats to acquiesce in the reversal of the actual results and to give the presidency to the Republican Hayes? This question has been a significant one in the historiography of the period and has been framed in part as "Was there a Compromise of 1877?" Morris seems to conclusively build the case that there was such an arrangement and then surprisingly to write that the resolution of the electoral crisis "did not depend on any secret deals."
This could possibly be read as a nuanced view that pivots on what actually constitutes a "secret deal." Or that there was such a deal, but that delivery of the presidency was only the occasion for it and not actually an element in the deal. But to this reader, Morris' interpretation seems to be simply that, since the "understandings" were never embodied in a written contract, and since Hayes managed to retain deniability of any such deal, one therefore did not exist. This seems to me to be a naive view, and the events Morris relates argue against it.
Overall, the author accepts the interpretation of Reconstruction -- and thus the merits of its demise -- that dominated both scholarly works and textbooks in various forms for over a hundred years. Generally, that view claimed that the end of Radical Republican governments in the South "marked the end of force as an element in American political life and a return to the ways of conciliation" (Randall and Donald). That view has recently been effectively challenged by works such as the well-documented "Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory" by David Blight. Although Morris cites that work in his bibliography, he seems to have ignored its uncovering of how our collective perception of Reconstruction had been warped by the need to reintegrate the (white) South back into the Union.
Putting aside this somewhat stale interpretation and the effect it seemingly has on the way Morris characterizes many events, his book otherwise serves as a compelling look at the circumstances that produced a turning point in American history.
War by other means.......2004-03-29
It is unfortunate that the election of 1876 continues to be described in terms the Ku Klux Klan would smile upon. Consider the casual use of honored Klan terms such as 'carpetbagger' (any northern federalist) and 'scalawag' (any southern federalist). For Democrat Tilden, Morris quotes but immediately rebuts newspaper slander. For black election commissioners, the newspaper slander is gospel. When white 'rifle clubs'murder former members of federal colored units in Edgefield, it is explained away with conflicting testimony. When (federalist) South Carolina election officials throw out the Edgefield votes, Morris tells us the black vote was probably split. When former slaves lose the right to vote, we are told their 'rights' were just an 'experiment.'
Just what was the 'Fraud of the Century'? Morris concludes the book by claiming he finds Hayes 'personally blameless'. I wondered just what Morris thought the fraud to be until discovering the book is an elaboration of a 1988 article and the title is a quoted headline used to conclude the article. Morris makes no argument for a specific 'fraud', instead he is simply sharing one contemporary opinion.
I came to the book to read about Hayes and his fraud. The fraud I was interested in reading about was not covered, though. I thought the fraud of 1876 was Hayes' 'bargain' with Wade Hampton and other Southern slave-ocrats. In return for the presidency, Hayes agreed to forget the 15th amendment to the US constitution.
Morris convinced me the fraud lay elsewhere. If nothing else, Morris argues the election of 1876 was 'war by other means.' Both Republican and Democrats were led by former generals. Prior to 1876, the activity was called a 'canvass'. After 1876, it was called a 'campaign'. Tilden, a man without military connections and experience in command of troops, never had a chance.
Consider a less Klanish version of events in Charleston. On Feb 18th, 1865, Charleston fell to units of the 21st US Colored Troops, followed by two companies of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteers (colored). After Lincoln's death, slave-ocrat leaning President Johnson kept southerners of color who had served in the federal army from voting and allowed the election of slave-ocrat colonel, James Orr. Orr's term in office was cut short by Federal General Robert K. Scott, who establish voting rights for federal colored soldiers. In 1874, a former lieutenant of Colored calvary, with the support of former colored South Carolina troops was elected governor, Daniel Chamberlain. This brings us to 4 murders in Edgefield, rifle clubs, night riders and the election of slavo-crat hero Wade Hampton.
Which brings us back to locating the 'fraud of the century' and its meaning in the context of 'war by other means.' Until the readmission of rebel states, the civil rights of the slavo-crat soldiers were suspended, including their right to vote in elections. In fact, because the Rebels had taken up arms against their own nation - an act of treason according to the Constitution ("Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying war against them . . ." Art. III, Sec. 3, cl. 1), they could have been executed (Art. III, Sec. 3, cl. 2). Instead, amnesty was granted to the Rebels if they took an oath of fidelity to the United States, including the 15th Amendment which guaranteed the voting rights of former federal colored soldiers. Maybe, the artful way these oaths were circumvented represented the 'fraud of the century.' Morris was right. Hayes could do little to change the reality of politics south of the Mason-Dixon line.
The US is now engaged the preliminaries to another election in-lieu of war. The issues regarding post-war elections should not be lost on us. After all, what is the meaning of 'fraud' when war-by-other-means is the focus?
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Rutherford B. Hayes: One of the Good Colonels (Civil War Campaigns and Commanders)
Ari Hoogenboom
Manufacturer: McWhiney Foundation Press
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1893114023 |
Customer Reviews:
One Good Soldier.......2003-03-24
This book is another well done look at Rutherford B. Hayes by Dr. Ari Hoogenboom. In this volume the author tells the story of Hayes' Civil War experiences.
Before joining up Hayes was not enthused about the War. But as a soldier he quickly became convinced of the value of his mission. By the end of 1861 he had come to see the war as "a crusade against slavery."
Hayes started out as a major in the 23rd Regiment of Ohio Volunteers. He soon rose to colonel. By the end of the war he was a general. He served four years in all (1861-1865). Hayes last battle was in October, 1864. While still on active duty the voters of Cincinnati elected him to Congress.
Hayes' war action was mostly in Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland. William McKinley stated that when Hayes was in battle he was "intense and ferocious." He was wounded five times in action but maintained his enthusiasm for being a soldier. He proved himself a capable officer who earned the respect of his men. He often defeated the enemy and helped achieve ultimate Union victory.
Hayes had the luxury of seeing his family several times during the War. He wrote numerous letters home and kept a diary. These writings proved invaluable sources for this book.
This book provides numerous detailed maps of the battles which Hayes fought in. There are also several bios given of the various generals Hayes served under or against.
Dr. Hoogenboom clearly understood Rutherford B. Hayes and described him accurately. The reader gets a clear picture of the 19th President before he attained that office.
Customer Reviews:
A well done biography of a forgotten President.......2007-04-18
It does a very good job of laying out the facts of the Hayes administration. However, I was left with little sense of the man. Also, on the audio version the reader consistently mispronounces the names of Ohio cities (Chillicothe, Gallipolis). He should have done more research on this.
All in all a good effort. Not on the same level of McCullough's work on Truman and Adams, but not intended to be either.
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