Nelson Lewis of Washington D.C. take an in depth look at America's most famous forgetable president

1. AMERICA’S MOST FAMOUS
FORGETTABLE PRESIDENT
BY: NELSON LEWIS

2. RUTHERFORD B. HAYES
• Rutherford B. Hayes isn’t a terribly
memorable President
• Really, the most interesting thing
about this one-termer was that he
was one of the four Presidents in
US history to lose the popular
vote, but still win the electoral
• The other three times being
John Quincy Adams in 1824,
Benjamin Harrison in 1888 and,
most recently, George W. Bush
in 2000)

3. THE BEGINNING
• From the beginning, his
Presidency was ill-fated
• As part of the compromise
that allowed him to take
office, Hayes was only
allowed to serve one term
• During that time, he didn’t do
a whole lot in the US, being
reduced to nothing more than
a footnote in the history
books

4. SOUTH AMERICA’S VIEW
• In another part of the world, however,
Rutherford B. Hayes is a very big deal
• The tiny South American nation of
Paraguay
• They revere Hayes as a national hero,
with cities, regions, postage stamps
and even soccer teams being named in
the former President’s honor
• I recently came across an article
discussing this bizarre phenomenon,
where a forgettable President received
almost godlike adoration from a country
most Americans rarely think about

5. WAR OF THE TRIPLE ALLIANCE
• Back in 1864, the dangerously ambitious (and
arguably insane) President of Paraguay,
Francisco Solano López, led his country into a
massive war
• This war pitted the small country against
Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina in a “War of the
Triple Alliance”
• The war ended in 1870, with the death of
López and the victorious Triple Alliance
claiming massive chunks of the defeated
country
• Paraguay was devastated by the conflict; an
estimated ⅔ of the country’s male population
was killed in the fighting, and it took decades
for the country to recover from the war’s chaos
and demographic imbalance

6. PARAGUAY RECOVERING
• In 1877, when Hayes took
office, the country was still
reeling from its losses
• Argentina tried to claim the
Chaco, a vast wilderness
region in northern Paraguay.
• Since there was no United
Nations or World Court at this
time, the two sides asked
Rutherford B Hayes to
mediate the dispute.

7. HAYES TO THE RESCUE
• When asked to mediate the
dispute, Hayes sided with
Paraguay, giving the country
60% of its current territory
• In the eyes of many
Paraguayans, Hayes helped
to guarantee this tiny South
American nation’s survival
• Amongst Paraguayans,
Hayes is now regarded as an
immortal figure

8. VILLA HAYES
• In the city of Villa Hayes, named in
the President’s honor, there is a
museum where his portrait hangs,
• There is also a copy of his
handwritten decision favoring
Paraguay
• The day the decision was signed,
November 12, 1878, is now a
holiday in the city of Villa Hayes
• Many Paraguayans are astounded
that in the US, so few people know
(or care) about President Hayes