Rutherford B. Hayes (#19)

Rutherford B. Hayes (1822–1893) was the 19th President of the United States and the winner of the most disputed presidential election in American history. The 1876 election against Democrat Samuel Tilden ended with neither man having a clear electoral majority — three Southern states submitted competing sets of electoral votes, and Congress created a special Electoral Commission to resolve the dispute. The result was the 'Compromise of 1877': Hayes became president in exchange for withdrawing the last federal troops from the South, effectively ending Reconstruction and abandoning Black Americans to the mercy of former Confederates.

Hayes himself was a decent man by the standards of his era — an honest, reform-minded president who sought to professionalize the civil service and root out the corruption of the Grant era. He served only one term by choice, having pledged during the campaign not to seek re-election. His wife Lucy was the first college-educated First Lady and was nicknamed 'Lemonade Lucy' for her refusal to serve alcohol at White House functions. Hayes understood that his 'victory' was tainted and spent his post-presidential years advocating for education and prison reform.