The presidency of Rutherford B. Hayes started in public controversy and ended with his having alienated the major factions of his own party. Winning the election of 1876 because of what many considered a corrupt political bargain, Hayes made his reputation by fighting the corrupt spoils system in which federal employees paid for their appointments by giving political support and cash donations to the politicians who selected them.

Early Years.

Hayes was born on 4 October 1822 on a farm near Delaware, Ohio, and graduated first in the class of 1842 from Kenyon College. After attending Harvard Law School (1843-1845), he passed the Ohio bar examination and practiced law in Lower Sandusky (later renamed Fremont) until 1850, when he moved to Cincinnati. On 30 December 1852 he married Lucy Webb, whose strong abolitionist and anti-alcohol sentiments influenced his own views on those issues. In 1855 he helped to organize the Ohio Republican...