About This Book

Rutherford B. Hayes was an honest, skillful leader who brought respect back to the presidency after a period of scandal. "Rud" was a sickly child, but his beloved older sister urged him to excel. He graduated from Harvard Law School and became a prominent Cincinnati lawyer known for defending runaway slaves and other people whose rights were being ignored. He was so outraged when the South left the Union that he joined the Union army--even though he was almost 40 years old. As president, he worked to pass laws against government corruption, helped the U.S. get out of a depression, and, with his wife, "Lemonade Lucy," turned the White House into a lively, happy place.