November 7, 1876: Samuel Tilden Is Elected President, But Not Really

November 7, 1876: Samuel Jones Tilden, former Governor of New York, wins the popular vote and the Electoral Vote in the Presidential election, defeating the Governor of Ohio, Rutherford B. Hayes. Tilden got 51 percent of the popular vote, to Hayes' 48; and 204 Electoral Votes, to Hayes' 165.

What's that? You've never heard of Tilden? That's not surprising, unless you're a history buff, or are from Brooklyn where there's a high school named for him, or Nebraska where there's a town named for him (the hometown of Baseball Hall-of-Famer Richie Ashburn). He didn't get to become President, because the Republicans stole the Electoral Votes of Louisiana (8), South Carolina (7) and Florida (4), plus 1 in Oregon.

So the final count, not made official until the Electoral Commission made its ruling on a pure party-line vote of 8-7 on March 2, 1877 -- 2 days before the Inauguration -- was Hayes 185, Tilden 184.

Hayes, nicknamed "Rutherfraud," "His Fraudulency" and "Old 8 to 7," announced he would serve only 1 term, and kept his promise. Tilden was convinced he was robbed, but did not run again in 1880 or 1884, due to ill health, and died in 1886.

But was he robbed? The Democrats, then the nation's conservative party, may have engaged in serious intimidation of newly-enfranchised black voters in Southern States. It's possible they tried every bit as hard to steal those States on Election Day as the Republicans did afterward. We may never know who truly deserved to win. Regardless, there is absolutely no known evidence that either Hayes or Tilden participated in any election fraud on his own behalf.

Hayes' home in Delaware, Ohio, Spiegel Grove, was converted into one of the earliest Presidential Libraries. Tilden didn't get one, although there is a high school in Brooklyn named after him. Hayes was played by John Dilson in the 1944 film Buffalo Bill. The USS President Hayes, an attack transport, was in service from 1941 to 1949.

Hayes Statue, Delaware, Ohio

The only high school named for Hayes is in his hometown of Delaware. Tilden, being a former Governor of New York, got a high school named for him in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn. Fort Tilden, an Army base, was in service in the Rockaways section of Queens from 1914 to 1978.

Nathan Goff Jr. was the last surviving member of Hayes' Cabinet. He served as Secretary of the Navy for the final 2 months of Hayes' presidency, January 7 to March 4, 1881, and lived until 1920.

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November 7, 1876 was a Tuesday. No sporting events were played that day.