Rutherford B. Hayes was born in Delaware, Ohio on October 4, 1822. Hayes father died before he was born.

Hayes was 5' 8" tall.

He married Lucy Webb in 1852.

He was the first president to graduate from law school. (Other presidents who studied the law studied with lawyers who taught them the law.)

He was one of seven presidents to serve in the Civil War. He was wounded in the war. (See Military Service for the other presidents.)

According to some sources Rutherford Hayes lost his election for President. Samuel Tilden won the popular vote by over a quarter of a million votes. He probably the electoral college vote, but the results were fixed to give Hayes the majority. His was the most disputed election in US History. It took a recount of the votes from three southern states by the House and Senate to determine the election.

He was inaugurated three days after he was elected by Congress.

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He took the oath of office in private in the White House. Rutherford was the first President to take the oath in the White House. He took the oath in the Red Room.

Hayes had a beard and a mustache.

Rutherford B. Hayes.
Library of Congress
(Click for larger images.)

Upon becoming president in 1877, Hayes immediately banished wine and liquor from the White House. He was not a temperance fanatic but wanted to set a good example for the country. White House guests were not appreciative. He was ridiculed and his wife was called "Lemonade Lucy" since she refused to serve anything stronger than lemonade.

Lucy Hayes was the first president's wife to be called First Lady of the Land.

Rutherford Hayes's Vice President was William Wheeler (1877-1881).

Rutherford had a Greyhound dog named Grim. and an Elkhound named Weejie. He also had Sheperds named Hector and Nellie.

President Hayes had the first telephone installed in the White House. Then he talked to Alexander Graham Bell, who was 13 miles away. Their telephone number was "1".

The first White House Easter Egg Roll was held April 2, 1879. The presidential tie to the egg roll began when Congress abandoned its own long Easter Monday children's festival and declared in 1878 that the western slope of Capitol Hill and the Capitol lawns and terraces could no longer be used as "playgrounds or otherwise." Then on Easter Monday in 1879, Capitol police refused to admit the children to the grounds. They went to the grounds of the National Observatory and the White House, apparently at the invitation of the president.