Ohio History Journal

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Public Opinion

and the Chinese

Question, 1876-1879

by GARY PENNANEN

Diplomatic problems are not considered to have been of much conse-

quence during the presidency of Rutherford B. Hayes. While not many pre-

World War I judgments concerning the history of the period have escaped

revisionism, an assessment of Hayes's diplomacy made by Charles R. Wil-

liams in 1914 has withstood the test of time: "Few subjects of large im-

portance in the foreign relations of the Government demanded action or

attention during the administration of Mr. Hayes. For the most part all

our dealings with foreign countries were amicable and were conducted

without feeling or friction."1 This conclusion is still accepted by diplomatic

historians even though several monographs and two scholarly biographies

NOTES ON PAGE 201