This new interpretation of the Hayes administration contradicts the widely held view that Hayes was an inept politician and an ineffective leader. Hoogenboom argues that it was Hayes's character and personality that set his presidency apart in the Gilded Age.

This volume covers all issues, decisions, and developments during the Hayes presidency--from the withdrawal of troops from Louisiana and South Carolina that signalled the end of Reconstruction, through the Great Strike of 1877--the most violent general strike in American history--and the Nez Perce War, to the struggle for civil...