Ohio History Journal

96                                                OHIO HISTORY

The Nomination of

Rutherford Hayes

for the Presidency

For the first time since the Civil War the Republican party faced the

possibility of defeat in 1876, so strong was public sentiment against the cor-

ruption of Grant's administration. The Republican candidate would have

the handicap of representing the scandal-torn party in power; his Demo-

cratic opponent would possess the great political advantage of being able

to attack the policies and personnel associated with a poor President. Thus

the choice of a safe Republican candidate acceptable to a majority of the

convention delegates but not intimately connected with Grant or any part

of the new coalition was of the greatest importance if the party wished to

stay in power. "The Great Unknown" became the manner of describing

this leader in the weeks preceding the Cincinnati Convention of June 1876.1

On the eye of the convention four major contenders vied for support:

Representative James G. Blaine of Maine, Senator Roscoe Conkling of New

York, Senator Oliver P. Morton of Indiana, and Secretary of the Treasury

Benjamin H. Bristow of Kentucky. Three other men were put forward as

favorite sons by their state delegations: Postmaster General Marshall Jewell

of Connecticut, Governor Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio, and Governor John

Hartranft of Pennsylvania. Of these three only Hayes was a serious con-

tender; the Jewell and Hartranft candidacies were intended merely as hold-

ing operations until the balloting narrowed down to two or three candi-

dates.

Blaine, the congressional candidate, held a commanding lead in delegate

strength, yet lacked nearly 100 votes to win the nomination on the first

ballot. He was the only national candidate in the group having first ballot

supporters in 36 of the 49 states and territories. Like Henry Clay before

him, he inspired great devotion among his followers. Blaine compensated

for his lack of a military record by using his great oratorical powers to

brand the South as tile region of rebellion. Such tactics won both firm

friends and bitter enemies. Although he became a member of the rules

committee and Speaker of the House, the striking weakness of Blaine on

Capitol Hill appeared in the notable lack of constructive legislation bear-

ing his name.

Senator Conkling, another brilliant orator, disliked Blaine intensely from

the day Blaine mercilessly described his "turkey gobbler strut." Conkling

who controlled the New York State Republican organization, was more

closely identified with President Grant than any other Republican and

hence was the acknowledged administration candidate. With only token

support outside his own state, Conkling could undoubtedly deliver the large

New York delegation as he willed. This represented alone nearly one fifth

of the votes needed to nominate a standard bearer.

NOTES ON PAGE 194

HAYES NOMINATION for the PRESIDENCY                              97

Senator Morton, Indiana's brilliant war governor and long a champion

of Negro rights, controlled the party machinery in his pivotal state, and

held the confidence of the southern carpetbag delegations. Morton, unlike

his major rivals, had a record of solid executive and legislative accomplish-

ment, in addition to outstanding oratorical skill. His great handicap was

physical; since 1865 he had suffered from paralysis of the legs. Hayes ad-

mired Morton and knew him best of the leading contenders.

Benjamin H. Bristow was the favorite of the reformers because as Secre-

tary of the Treasury he had vigorously prosecuted the Whiskey Ring con-

spirators. His backers included most of the Liberal Republicans of 1872,

eastern conservatives, Cincinnati newspaper editors and Chicago business

leaders. Although his delegate strength was thin, it was widely distributed

over New England, the South, and Middle West.

Hayes became a promising Republican presidential possibility when he

won an unprecedented third term as governor of Ohio on October 12, 1875.

Later that same month he stumped Pennsylvania with Governor John Hart-

ranft, everywhere addressing large crowds and receiving much attention as

a rising leader in the party. At Harrisburg the politically powerful Cam-

eron family entertained him. His age, war record, executive and legislative

experience, demonstrated vote-getting ability, and the importance of Ohio

in national politics all combined to make him an attractive candidate for

the party's highest honor.²

Ohio friends of Hayes began organizing in January 1876. Senator John

Sherman, after consulting with Representative Charles Foster, put his polit-

ical prestige behind the governor by writing a letter to state senator A. M.

Burns promoting Hayes as the favorite son choice of the Ohio convention

delegation. Hayes received a unanimous endorsement from the 750 member

state party convention on March 29, 1876.3

Hayes, inwardly calm and outwardly indifferent, gave no public sign of

seeking his party's nomination. Privately he kept in unbroken communica-

tion with his managers.⁴ Some of them feared he might break his silence,

declare himself an avowed candidate, and hurt his favorable position.

"Write no letters," said one. "Let well enough alone." "For God's sake

avoid all entangling alliances with the present administration," warned

another.⁵ Such advice was unnecessary. The Governor understood his polit-

ical situation perfectly, read his informant's dispatches diligently, and let

the nomination manage itself. At the very least, nearly everyone conceded,

the vice-presidential nomination would be his if he wished to accept it.6

Privately Hayes supported Bristow to head the ticket knowing full well this

would be to his benefit if the Kentuckian's chances faded.⁷

The choice of Cincinnati's Exposition Hall as the convention site, orig-

inally expected to aid the Bristow and Morton candidacies, ultimately

worked to aid the Hayes cause. Of all the cities in America, Cincinnati alone

could consider Hayes as her very own, for here he had begun his legal and

political career in earnest. Here he joined the famed Literary Club, mingled

in polite society, and married Lucy Webb. From here he went to war, to

Congress, and the State House.

98                                               OHIO HISTORY

A week of great excitement in Cincinnati began on Friday, June 9 as

many of the delegates to the national Republican convention, unofficial

supporters of the leading candidates, and total strangers poured into the

city. The Reform Club of New York, numbering about fifty or sixty men,

all for Bristow, arrived early Saturday morning at the Gibson House. The

New York City Republican Club, composed of 200 strong and accompanied

by a fine band, all in Conkling's interest, put up at the Grand Hotel. Other

groups from Philadelphia and Pittsburgh with two more splendid bands,

arrived on Monday and registered at the Arlington and Burnet House. A

whole host came from Indianapolis in Morton's behalf on Tuesday.⁸

The Bristow Club of Cincinnati, numbering between 2000 and 3000, en-

gaged Pike's Opera House and Currier's Band for the week of the conven-

tion. Flags were hung out all over the city, and the hotels were draped in

the American colors, and at night handsomely illuminated. The Grand

Hotel had a semi-circle of colored lights over the main entrance, and just

under them a row of gas jets arranged so as to spell the name of ROSCOE

CONKLING. The Burnet House had a similar row of gas jets in front of

the building spelling the name of JAMES G. BLAINE. The Bristow Club

hung a strip of muslin across Fourth Street in front of Pike's Opera House

bearing the inscription BRISTOW and REFORM. The Morton and Hayes

delegates were not quite so conspicuous in their display, although they too

had their respective headquarters and flags, and banners, with the names of

their favorites stitched on.

Excitement and enthusiasm grew feverish long before the convention as-

sembled on Wednesday morning. Each evening the hotels were brilliantly

illuminated and bands played in front of their respective headquarters.

People milled about in great masses choking traffic, and amid the din ora-

tors extolled the merits of the Republican party or their favorite candidate

for the nomination. Other crowds surged through the streets. Cheers and

fire works rent the air. Red and green lights burned on nearly every corner.

Meanwhile political workers sounded the sentiments of delegates and visi-

tors, attempting to win them over by argument, entreaty, or promises. Odd-

ly there was no fighting, no drunkeness to speak of, and little unseemly

conduct.

The supporters of Conkling were the first on the scene and they worked

hard in his cause. However, theirs was an up-hill struggle, and it was gen-

erally known before the convention opened that the New Yorker stood no

real chance of being nominated. The Morton men began with more votes

than Conkling, but they did not arrive so early or work so hard for their

candidate. By evening on Wednesday, the first day of the convention, they

conceded Morton could not be nominated either.

The Blaine backers also arrived early and in great numbers. They had

among the delegates nearly 200 who were instructed, or requested to vote

for him, and a large number among the uninstructed delegates who made

no concealment of their preference for him either at the time they were

elected or during the week of the convention. With so many votes already

secured, it was easy for his managers to persuade other uncommitted dele-

HAYES NOMINATION for the PRESIDENCY                             99

gates to come over to Blaine. They assured those who were tempted by pa-

tronage prospects that he was destined to win and they might as well join

the bandwagon early and thus merit his recognition and favor. Whenever

they found anyone with malice against the South, they boasted how James

G. Blaine's oratory discomfited the rebels in the House of Representatives.

They said if he were only elected President, his would be the most brilliant

administration the world ever saw. They spoke of his eloquence and power

as a speaker and claimed no one could make a livelier canvass or such a

glorious success as he. They said nothing about his using his position and

influence as Speaker of the House to forward railroad schemes in which he

was interested; they said nothing about his own letters which proved him

to be speculating in stocks, whose value depended wholly on Congressional

legislation. In short, they said nothing of all the disreputable and suspicious

circumstances surrounding his past life and overshadowing the future of

their candidate.

Meanwhile, on Sunday, June 11, Blaine suffered a sunstroke on the steps

of a church in Washington. For two days he lay unconscious and the report

went out that he was dying. No one wished to say hard things against a man

who was lying at death's door, no matter how true they might be, and so

during the rest of Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, the friends of Blaine

worked on the sympathies and feelings of the crowd. Even Hayes, who felt

that Blaine's nomination would be fatal to the cause, was nonetheless moved

to send a highly emotional message, a rare response indeed for him:

I have just read with the deepest sorrow of your illness. My eyes are

almost blinded with tears as I write. All good men among your coun-

trymen will pray, as I do, for your immediate and complete recovery.

This affects me as did the death of Lincoln. God bless you and restore

you.9

On Tuesday Blaine's fever passed, and he sent a message of convalescence

to Eugene Hale and William P. Frye, his managers at Cincinnati. Reassur-

ing telegrams were sent nearly every hour of the day thereafter to some one

or other of his friends to be posted in the bar rooms of hotels and on the

bulletin boards in various newspaper offices.

Thus Blaine's friends were jubilant and confident of victory on Tuesday

night. They claimed more than 300 votes on the first ballot, and that they

would gain enough on the second ballot, from delegations who had to first

cast one complimentary vote for a "favorite son," to nominate their man.

But their very confidence was their undoing. From the fear and depression

created among other managers and delegates arose a desperate spirit to

combine and defeat Blaine. He was so far recovered that there was no longer

any fear for life. Speeches were made at meetings of the Bristow Club, held

in Pike's Opera House, on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, warning of the

great danger to the Republican party. The Cincinnati papers, the Commer-

cial and the Gazette, entered the fray with a will and said boldly that his

nomination would be the ruin of the Republican party and that they could

not support him. The New York Times did the same. Carl Schurz and

100                                              OHIO HISTORY

other Liberals and independents warned that if Blaine were nominated

they would either support the Democratic ticket, nominated at St. Louis,

or organize a third party movement. The claims of Bristow as a reform

candidate were pushed with great earnestness and too much zeal for his

own good. The Bristow men were determined that Blaine should not be

nominated if it was possible to prevent it, and they openly avowed their

intention to "kick" against the nomination if he won it. This attitude auto-

matically made all of Blaine's backers sworn enemies of Bristow. Supporters

of Morton and Conkling also were prejudiced against Bristow since he had

been put forward as "more holy than they." Further, the regular machine

politicians of the convention were opposed to him because they said he and

all his supporters were "kickers" and independents and dangerous fellows

and not true to the party. Others resented the idea of having a candidate

forced upon them as they insisted Bristow was, and said that when people

came to them and told them they must nominate Bristow or perish, they

would rather perish than do it. Thus Bristow's friends aroused a great deal

of opposition among the different elements in the convention, and thereby

sacrificed their candidate. They were loyal to a cause, and not to Bristow,

but in sacrificing him, they insured Blaine's defeat too. Furthermore, as his

subsequent career suggests, Bristow lacked presidential stature, and he failed

to effectively lead the reform forces.

The Hayes delegation led by former Governor Edward F. Noyes, though

present in Cincinnati since the Friday prior to the convention, kept quietly

in the background. They said nothing against any of the other candidates

and manifested no preferences for one over another. They did not even

make any fuss over Hayes, simply saying they were instructed to vote for

him and should do so while there was any chance of his success. They were

friendly with the supporters of every other candidate in the field, were

careful to arouse no opposition, and ultimately succeeded in making Hayes

the second choice of nearly every delegate. Young Webb Hayes, in Cincin-

nati as his father's private observer, wrote a summary of the situation on

Monday evening June 12: "Greatest good feeling prevails toward you on

all sides...The Ohio men are jubilant and willing to sleep with any other

of the delegates. All friends--no enemys" [sic].10

At a meeting of the Ohio delegation held a day or two before the con-

vention, the work of visitation and conference with delegates from other

states was assigned to different members. Among these was Clark Waggoner,

alternate-at-large and Hayes's Toledo friend. Waggoner kept a small record

book of his activities and carefully noted the situations of the delegations

visited by him.11 Meanwhile other Hayes managers, William Henry Smith,

James M. Comly, Ralph P. Buckland, and A. E. Lee, the Governor's secre-

tary, worked to promote Hayes's nomination. Another valuable ally inside

the Bristow camp was Stanley Matthews, intimate friend of Hayes since

Kenyon college days, and brother-in-law of Dr. Joseph T. Webb, a brother

of Mrs. Hayes. Matthews could take advantage of any change in Bristow's

fortunes to assist the Hayes cause, especially since Hayes himself was gen-

erally reported to favor Bristow's candidacy. By 8 P. M. on Monday evening

HAYES NOMINATION for the PRESIDENCY                            101

Smith wired the Governor: "At this hour I think I can safely predict that

Ohio will win."12

The national convention opened on Wednesday June 14 at noon, but

before they met, Murat Halstead and Richard Smith, both Bristow backers,

used their Cincinnati papers, the Commercial and Gazette, to print solid

columns of protest against the nomination of Blaine, and issued sheets con-

taining damaging correspondence [the Mulligan letters] of Blaine, arranged

in the order of their dates, with a running commentary on the inferences

to be drawn from them.

If the convention would have proceeded to ballot for president and vice-

president at once, the Blaine men felt they could have won, but the ballot-

ing was delayed by the tactics of Bristow's supporters who were endeavoring

to postpone action upon the nominations as long as possible. They sought

to stall for time so that sober second thoughts, which they expected would

come to many of the delegates, would save the party from making a blunder.

The first day was consumed in effecting a permanent organization,

speechmaking, and appointment of standing committees.13 Repeated ef-

forts to adjourn failed. That evening the speechmaking continued giving

time for more earnest talk with the delegates against the nomination of

Blaine. Thursday morning the papers renewed their attack on him. Still,

his support was so large that the Blaine forces had their way in regard to

every decision not directly connected with his actual nomination. Thus

when a motion was made to exclude the territories, since they had no elec-

toral votes, from voting for nominees, the Blaine contingent succeeded in

voting it down and thereby secured for their candidate twelve to fourteen

additional convention votes. In debating the report of the rules committee

the proposal to recess after each ballot was also defeated. Again, when a

vote was taken on the report of the committee on credentials in favor of

admitting the Jeremiah Haralson delegation from Alabama, instead of a

rival one headed by Senator George Spencer which was favorable to Morton

and Conkling, the Blaine men won again by a vote of 375 to 354. This

maneuver gained another sixteen votes for their column. On this ballot

the Kentucky delegation voted against seating the Spencer group, and this

action so antagonized the Indiana delegation that it probably prevented

Bristow from getting more than five votes from Indiana when Morton's

name was ultimately withdrawn on the fifth ballot.

Blaine's group, however, was defeated in all its attempts to force a vote

for president and vice-president. The delay, so precious to the candidate's

opponents and so dangerous to him, could not be overcome by his man-

agers. They had tried on Thursday morning to have a ballot taken before

the committee on resolutions was ready to report the platform. In this they

were frustrated. Again, after all the committees had reported and the plat-

form had been adopted, which happened during the afternoon of Thurs-

day, June 15, they tried to force the convention to a nomination. At 2:50

P. M. the same day, the roll of states was finally called and any with a candi-

date to present was allowed ten minutes for a speech in his favor. Ex-

Governor Stephen W. Kellogg of Connecticut nominated Postmaster Gen-

102                                             OHIO HISTORY

eral Marshall Jewell. This endorsement was understood to be complimen-

tary, perhaps it would put Jewell in a favorable position for the vice-presi-

dential nomination. Colonel Richard W. Thompson of Indiana, an orator

of the old school, nominated Senator Morton in a fine speech, evoking con-

siderable applause, and the nomination was seconded by a mulatto, ex-

Governor P. B. S. Pinchback of Louisiana. Then General John M. Harlan

arose to nominate Bristow. He made a telling speech, more loudly ap-

plauded by the people in the galleries than by the delegates, and the nom-

ination was seconded by Luke Poland of Vermont, George William Curtis,

editor of Harper's Weekly, and Richard H. Dana of Massachusetts. Curtis

made a fine speech, Poland a dull one, while Dana unwisely intimated that

Massachusetts would vote Democratic in November if the convention failed

to nominate Bristow.

Following Dana, Blaine was nominated by Robert J. Ingersoll of Illinois,

who made the most effective speech of the day which is still considered to be

one of the great masterpieces of nominating oratory. He began by turning

on the preceding speaker and saying, "Gentlemen of the Convention:

Massachusetts may be satisfied with the loyalty of Benjamin H. Bristow. So

am I. But if any man nominated by tile convention can not carry the State

of Massachusetts, I am not satisfied with the loyalty of Massachusetts."14

This was said with tremendous force and emphasis and brought out an over-

whelming round of applause from the Blaine delegates. It was a wonderful

turn heaping contempt upon Bristow's supporters. Then Ingersoll went on

to laud and praise his hero, James G. Blaine, who "like an armed warrior,

like a plumed knight, marched down the halls of the American congress

and threw his shining lance full and fair against the brazen forehead of

every traitor to his country and every maligner of his fair reputation."¹⁵

So many in the convention hall rose and cheered until it seemed as

though Blaine must be nominated without a shadow of doubt or wavering.

He undoubtedly would have been if a ballot could have been taken just

then, or even that afternoon before adjournment. But this was not to be.

A Negro delegate from Georgia, Henry M. Turner, followed Ingersoll,

giving a poor speech which provoked the laughter of the hall a half dozen

times. He did not stop until the audience drowned him out with cries of

"time, time, you've said enough," and the chairman told him he had better

make room for others. He yielded, smiling and said "Lord bless you--I'se

got a dozen good points I could make yet.^"16 General Frye of Maine fol-

lowed with a speech seconding the nomination of Blaine. New York was

called. Stewart L. Woodford arose and delivered a masterful speech nom-

inating Senator Conkling. He gave Blaine a cruel stab by satirizing his re-

cent illness: ". . . that the God of all life would spare James G. Blaine; and

today, with the most loving of his friends, New York congratulates him that

his strength is renewed, and his health so fully restored."¹⁷

Then Ohio was called, and Governor Edward F. Noyes in his rich sono-

rous voice nominated Governor Hayes, stressing his candidate's war record,

financial independence, political experience, and especially three successive

gubernatorial victories over prominent Ohio Democrats, each one consid-

HAYES NOMINATION for the PRESIDENCY                            105

An analysis of the vote shows that the support of Morton and Conkling

dwindled steadily from the very start. Blaine gained fourteen and lost three

votes on the second ballot, for a net gain of eleven or 296 total, and re-

mained relatively static on the third and fourth ballots gaining six new

votes but losing ten for a net gain through four ballots of only seven votes.

His managers succeeded in offsetting a loss of six votes to Bristow and

three to Hayes by picking up eleven of Morton's original votes. Conkling's

net loss of fifteen votes over the first four ballots accrued principally to

Hartranft although he lost a few each to Blaine, Bristow, and Morton. Only

Hartranft, Hayes, and Bristow gained steadily through the first four bal-

lots, and Bristow actually stood higher at the end of the fourth ballot than

any other candidate except Blaine. On this ballot Michigan cast eleven

votes for Bristow while Morton lost sixteen votes and it was evident his

delegate strength was slipping away. On the fifth ballot Indiana ought

properly to have withdrawn Morton and cast her entire thirty votes for

Bristow; Michigan might then have cast her twenty-two votes for him. His

support then would have increased so rapidly that he undoubtedly would

have combined all straggling votes and won the nomination on the sixth

ballot. But the Morton men, acting under advice from Washington, still

clung to their candidate. As Bristow gained nothing from any other source,

Michigan decided to switch to Hayes on the fifth ballot. The chairman an-

nounced: "There is a man in this section of the country who has beaten

in succession three Democratic candidates for President in his own state,

and we want to give him a chance to beat another Democratic candidate for

the Presidency in the broader field of the United States. Michigan there-

fore casts her twenty-two votes for Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio!"²⁵ It

had the effect to send Hayes stock up at once. North Carolina gave him

eleven votes more, and he gained scattered support from other states, enough

to boost his strength above 100. Nine of the North Carolina votes were

transferred directly from Blaine to Hayes. This depressed Blaine stock and

left him but 286 votes, the lowest number since the first ballot.

A few days after the convention General Harlan, leader of the Kentucky

delegation, in a letter to Bristow, wrote his explanation of the turning

point:

The action of the Michigan delegation in consolidating its vote for

Hayes on the fifth ballot caused a stampede in our ranks. . . The union

of that delegation on Hayes was a surprise to us, and as soon as it was

done I felt that our cause was hopeless. The failure of the Indiana dele-

gation to change to you on the fifth ballot induced the Michigan folks

to make the break to Hayes.²⁶

William A. Howard, chairman of the Michigan delegation, in turn, wrote

to Hayes, explaining why his state voted for Hayes on the fifth ballot in-

stead of Bristow:

On the 4th ballot 10 had voted for Bristow 5 for Hayes and 7 for

Blaine. All were admirers of Blaine but believing his nomination

would force upon the party a defensive campaign & perhaps defeat we

106                                              OHIO HISTORY

felt bound to prevent his nomination. The 5th ballot commenced and

13 win [went] for Bristow 5 for Hayes & 4 for Blaine. It was certain

that Conklin & Morton must soon be withdrawn & if the Bristow &

Hayes strength could be united & draw to itself the greater part of the

Conklin & Morton vote it would defeat Blaine. So I told the delega-

tion if they would unite & throw the vote solid & adhere firmly we

could make a nomination & perhaps save the party from defeat. The

Bristow men said unite on him, the minority ought to yield to ma-

jority &C. In the absence of facts we were obliged to rely on the sup-

posed logic of the situation. I thought the two N.Y. delegates must have

exasperated the other 68 by the persistency with which they had ad-

vocated the nomination of Bristow even refusing to join in a harmless

complimentary vote for Conklin. I said if we strike for Bristow we

shall fail for want of New York votes. It is not in human nature while

exasperated & heated that they, the 68 should take the candidate of

the two. If we strike for Hayes we shall win. They reluctantly yielded

--the last man after I was on my crutches to announce the vote.²⁷

People in the galleries and the supporters of other prominent candidates

now began to count Blaine out of the race, supposing he had reached his

greatest strength and therefore there was no serious effort to continue sup-

porting an opposition candidate in the sixth ballot. Hayes gained a few

more votes from Illinois, Iowa, Texas, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Vir-

ginia, some of them being transferred from Bristow, and came out two

ahead of Bristow on this ballot.

Meanwhile, North Carolina, not satisfied with the slow progress Hayes

was making and believing after all that Blaine was destined to win, took

twelve votes from Hayes and cast them for Blaine. This produced great

cheering made louder when Pennsylvania cast fourteen votes for Blaine.

South Carolina then increased her votes for Blaine from five to ten. With

308 votes on this ballot, it was apparent from the way the Blaine people be-

gan to move about among the southern delegates plus the confusion among

the Pennsylvania delegation, that a big push would be made on the next

ballot to nominate Blaine, and that the opposition must combine now or

never.

The Indiana and Kentucky delegates consulted earnestly together; Massa-

chusetts and New York retired for consultation. When the seventh ballot

started, everyone knew the end was near. Blaine gained one vote from Ala-

bama and eleven votes from Arkansas. California gave him sixteen, whereas

she had given him only six before. And so he kept gaining from every

state, until it seemed as though nothing could stop him. Every new gain

was cheered wildly by his supporters. When Indiana was reached, Blaine

had gained thirty-two votes. Amid intense excitement, Indiana was called

and chairman Will Cumbach walked slowly up to the platform. In a pa-

thetic and dignified speech, he withdrew the name of Morton, thanked tile

convention for the noble support they had given him, and announced In-

diana's vote as twenty-five for Rutherford B. Hayes and five for Benjamin

H. Bristow. At this point the anti-Blaine forces began shouting. The people

HAYES NOMINATION for the PRESIDENCY                          107

in the galleries rose to their feet, swung hats and handkerchiefs and gave

three long rounds of applause. Iowa delivered her twenty-two votes for

Blaine as before. Kentucky was called. General Harlan arose and walked

to the podium. He stood there, his lips trembling with emotion, waiting for

the storm of applause to be hushed, and then spoke grandly. He thanked

the convention for the support they had given Colonel Bristow, and the

thanks of Kentucky were especially due to those men of Massachusetts and

Vermont, who when it was whispered throughout the length and breadth

of the land that Benjamin H. Bristow was not to be president because he

was born and reared in the South, had come forward and said they were

satisfied that a Kentuckian could be loyal. Thereupon he withdrew Bris-

tow's name and cast Kentucky's entire vote for Rutherford B. Hayes. Wild

and tumultuous applause broke loose.

Louisiana, which had given Blaine only six votes, now cast fourteen for

him. This gave the Blaine forces another chance to cheer; and so the con-

test wavered. When Massachusetts cast twenty-one for Hayes, Michigan

twenty-two, and Mississippi sixteen, the applause was deafening. When New

York was called, there was a lull of anxious expectation. Governor Theo-

dore M. Pomeroy advanced to the platform and amid perfect silence, said:

"To indicate that New York is in favor of unity and victory, she casts sixty-

one votes for Rutherford B. Hayes," but the remainder of his sentence,

"and nine votes for James G. Blaine," was drowned out.²8 North Carolina

again swung over to Hayes and cast her solid vote of twenty for him. Ohio

followed as usual with forty-four, but now the vote seemed to count much

more, and the Exposition Hall rang with the cheers of the united opposi-

tion.

When Pennsylvania was called, there was another lull of expectation.

Blaine could still win with a bloc vote here. Don Cameron, the young Sec-

retary of War, mounted a chair in front of his delegation, withdrew the

name of Hartranft, and announced thirty votes for Blaine and twenty-eight

for Hayes, which made both sides cheer long and loud. South Carolina

divided evenly, Texas gave all but one vote to Hayes. Tennessee added

eighteen more for Hayes, and Vermont her entire ten. Before the terri-

tories were reached some of the reporters who were quick at figures dis-

covered Hayes had a majority, jumped up in their seats, swung their hats

and shouted "Hayes! Hayes!" The territories were called amid great con-

fusion and the chairmen of all but Montana and Wyoming doggedly cast

their votes for James G. Blaine though they knew their man was beaten.

The tally showed Blaine 351; Bristow 21; Hayes 384.

Cheering lasted about fifteen or twenty minutes. The nomination of

Hayes was made unanimous, and the convention proceeded to nominate a

vice-president. The names of William A. Wheeler and Stewart L. Wood-

ford of New York, Joseph M. Hawley and Marshall Jewell of Connecticut,

and Frederick T. Frelinghuysen of New Jersey, were presented. Early in

the balloting it became evident that Wheeler was the favorite. All the

Blaine men voted for him, and Woodford withdrew his own name before

New York was reached. New York cast her solid vote for Wheeler, Penn-

108                                               OHIO HISTORY

sylvania voted for Frelinghuysen, Jewell was withdrawn, and before the

first ballot was completed, a motion to make Wheeler's nomination un-

animous carried by an overwhelming shout.

The outcome of the convention did not surprise William Henry Smith,

general agent for the Western Associated Press and the canniest of all the

Hayes managers. Smith not only guided the Hayes movement forward but

had confidently predicted the ticket of Hayes and Wheeler nearly five

months before the national convention assembled in Cincinnati, certainly

one of the more remarkable forecasts in American political history. Hayes

acknowledged his mentor's role:

Your sagacity in this matter, take it all in all, is beyond that of any

other friend . . . And the way it was to come you told to a letter. Others

of much sagacity have written, but nothing like yours. Not merely saga-

city either--how much you did to fulfill the prediction I shall perhaps

never know, but I know it was very potent.²⁹

A state by state re-examination of the seven ballots for the 1876 Repub-

lican presidential nomination reveals even more clearly how narrow a vic-

tory Hayes had won, and the remarkable race made by Blaine against the

field not only as the front runner on six ballots but also burdened by the

doubts raised before and during the convention concerning the Mulligan

letters and his illness. Despite his handicaps Blaine might have been nom-

inated if Hayes had not barely garnered enough votes on the seventh ballot.

Composite vote figures for all seven ballots by candidates demonstrate

Blaine's great appeal:

Composite Vote Analysis

Maximum support over   Maximum support on a

seven ballots          single ballot

Blaine                                                              398                                                                 351

Bristow                                                             149                                                                 126

Hayes                                                               388                                                                 384

Morton                                                            137                                                                 124

Conkling                                                          105                                                                 99

Hartranft                                                          80                                                                   71

Jewel                                                                 11                                                                   11

Wheeler                                                           3                                                                     3

Washburne                                                       4                                                                     4

These figures show that Blaine failed to hold forty-seven delegates who

had voted for him on earlier ballots. The North Carolina delegation with

twenty votes which he controlled on five of his first six ballots deserted him

on the crucial seventh poll. A floor fight over the unit rule during the sec-

ond ballot also boomeranged on Blaine's managers. When Pennsylvania was

called and her vote given as fifty-eight for Hartranft, it was challenged by

HAYES NOMINATION for the PRESIDENCY                           109

one of the delegates who stated that he and another delegate wanted to

vote for Blaine. They subsequently were joined by two others. McPherson,

the convention chairman and loyal to Blaine, ruled that "it is the right of

any and of every member equally, to vote his sentiments in this conven-

tion."³⁰ An appeal to this decision was put to the convention and the chair-

man's decision was declared sustained. Thereupon a motion to reconsider

the motion upholding the decision of the chair carried 381 to 359. On the

roll call, the decision of the convention chairman was again sustained 395

to 353. At the time, the vote was hailed as a victory for Blaine. However,

on the seventh ballot, when Pennsylvania divided thirty for Blaine and

twenty-eight for Hayes, it was a major factor in defeating him. As J. C. Lee

explained later to Hayes: "Had not McPherson ruled as he did on the Pa.

question, or had the Convention reversed his decision, the 28 votes for you

in Pa. would have been carried by the 30 Blaine votes to Blaine, and that

would have given Blaine 379, just enough to nominate him & more to

spare."³¹ In raising the unit rule question the Blaine faction won a minor

victory that paved the way to ultimate defeat.

Hayes, on the other hand, won the nomination because his managers

were shrewd enough to let Bristow's supporters make the fight against

Blaine, and after it was over, they gathered in the victory. Furthermore, by

concentrating on second choice support for Hayes, he became the only

candidate to gain strength on every ballot and take votes away from each

of his rivals. Hayes in the end received most of the Bristow and Conkling

support, about one-half of the Morton and Hartranft votes, and even took

votes away from Blaine. Over all seven ballots Hayes lost only four delegates

who had on some ballot voted for him, but even with this remarkable

holding power he had only five votes to spare. In retrospect, the shift of

Michigan away from Blaine and Bristow to Hayes may be considered the

decisive turning point in the balloting. A. B. Watson, a member of the

Michigan delegation, later revealed how when Hayes was nominated "the

Ohio delegation rushed forward, and embracing the veteran chairman of

the Michigan delegation, exclaimed 'You have nominated the next Presi-

dent.' "32 John C. Lee of Ohio conceded: "I must not forget to say that in

Gov. Bagley and Wm. A. Howard of Michigan we formed original and most

effective friends. They had taken in the situation much more completely

than many, yes, 9/10 of our own delegates."³³

William Henry Smith praised the leadership of Noyes as:

The one who above all others deserves praise. It was something to

have noble men in the Ohio delegation: and to have such long-time

friends and new friends as Stephenson, Comly, Gano, Thrall, Morrill,

McLaughlin, King, Bickham, Wykoff, Foos, Mitchell, Buckland, Kess-

ler, Nash, etc. of the old Literary Club and later associations, to whom

delegates from abroad could go for personal information. But it was of

first importance to have a leader as Edward F. Noyes. Better manage-

ment I never saw. It was able, judicious, untiring, unselfish, inspiring,

adroit. If there was a mistake made I did not discover it. The disloyalty

that attempted on the part of one or two well-known Ohioans in the

110                                               OHIO HISTORY

interest of Blaine, was anticipated and cleverly disarmed. The General

seemingly never slept. His eyes were everywhere and discipline was

preserved with as much vigor as on the field of battle. He compre-

hended fully the situation and inspired the confidence of the men of

New England, New York, Kentucky, and Indiana. His personal friend-

ship for Gens. Bristow and Harlan did not as some mischief makers

asserted would be the case, lessen his loyalty to you, but served an im-

portant purpose at a critical moment."³⁴

As for Bristow, if, in a square fight with Blaine, on the seventh ballot

the attempt had been made to nominate him it would undoubtedly have

failed, as the Ohio delegation would either have held firm for Hayes, or

broken up so as to give Blaine sixteen votes. Blaine also would have picked

up ten more in Pennsylvania, some in New York, and some scalawags in

southern delegations. Harlan also later confessed to W. Q. Gresham that

he had made a deal with the Hayes men. Hayes carried out his part of the

bargain by placing Harlan on the Supreme Court in 1877. Bristow, piqued

over failure to receive the justiceship for himself, and feeling that Harlan

had betrayed him, never spoke to Harlan after the latter's appointment.³⁵

Two weeks after the Republican convention the Democrats met in St.

Louis and chose Governor Samuel J. Tilden of New York as their standard

bearer. Tilden, a bachelor and multimillionaire, helped expose and prose-

cute the notorious Tweed Ring of New York City. This activity aided in

his election to the governorship in 1874 where he further enhanced his

reputation as a reformer. Aloof and shy, constantly brooding over his rather

poor health, Tilden devoted many hours to his fine library. His will later

provided funds to establish the now famous New York Public Library.

Thomas A. Hendricks of Indiana, second in the balloting to Tilden at St.

Louis, received the vice-presidential nomination by acclamation. They made

a strange pair with Tilden supporting the hard money views of the eastern

wing of the party, and Hendricks advocating the greenback position of the

western Democrats.

The stage was set for the most extraordinary presidential election in

American history.

THE AUTHOR: Kenneth E. Davison is

Professor of History and chairman of the

American Studies program at Heidelberg

College.