Rutherford B. Hayes

Rutherford Birchard Hayes, born October 4, 1822, in Delaware, Ohio, and died January 17, 1893, served as the nineteenth President of the United States from 1877 to 1881. He won one of the most disputed elections in American history against Samuel Tilden, who won the popular vote, after competing sets of electoral votes from several Southern states were resolved in Hayes's favor by a special electoral commission; the resulting Compromise of 1877 saw Hayes take office in exchange for the withdrawal of remaining federal troops from the South, effectively ending the Reconstruction era. He had pledged in advance to serve only one term and did not seek reelection.