Who was the 19th President of the United States of America?

Rutherford Birchard Hayes (October 4, 1822 – January 17, 1893) was an American lawyer and politician who was the 19th president of the United States from 1877 to 1881.

In 1877, the Electoral College made Hayes president after the 1876 presidential election, one of the most contentious in U.S. history. He lost the popular vote to Democrat Samuel J. Tilden.

He narrowly won an intensely disputed electoral college vote after a Congressional commission awarded him 20 contested electoral votes.

Hayes's presidency was influenced by his belief in meritocratic government and in equal treatment without regard to wealth, social standing or race. One of the defining events of his presidency was the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, which he resolved by calling in the armed forces.

As president, Hayes implemented civil-service reforms that laid the groundwork for further reform in the 1880s and 1890s.

Hayes married Lucy Webb on December 30, 1852, at Lucy's mother's house. Over the next five years, Lucy gave birth to three sons: Birchard Austin (1853), Webb Cook (1856) and Rutherford Platt (1858).

Lucy died after suffering a stroke, age 57, on June 25, 1889.

Hayes died of complications of a heart attack at his home on January 17, 1893, at the age of 70. His last words were "I know that I'm going where Lucy is." President-elect Cleveland and Ohio Governor McKinley led the funeral procession. Hayes was interred in Oakwood Cemetery.