Forget Lincoln or Washington. Hayes β a one-term U. After a regional war in the late s, Argentina and Paraguay asked the United States to decide a bitter dispute over Paraguay's Chaco region β a swath of blistering-hot terrain about the size of Michigan that today is an important source of cattle ranching. Archives indicate that a low-level State Department official most likely drew up the ruling that Secretary of State William Evarts then handed to Hayes to sign, said Tom Culbertson, executive director of Rutherford B.
Hayes Presidential Center in Fremont, Ohio. And last year the U. Embassy held a Rutherford B. Hayes postage stamp design contest, awarding a digital camera to the winner on the th anniversary of the ruling. In the late s, a Paraguayan TV show fulfilled a year-old girl's wish after she miraculously emerged from a coma by giving her an all-expense-paid trip to Ohio to see the Hayes Presidential Center.
Rather, the 19th U. A special congressional commission sorting out disputed electoral college votes named him the winner in Harding or the one who got stuck in the bathtub William H. Taft , Hayes was the only U. He was also long considered to have turned his back on freed slaves by pulling back federal troops in the post-Civil War South, allowing white former slave owners to retake power β although historians now say the end of Reconstruction was inevitable.
Hayes stories," said presidential historian Brooks D. In fact, details of Hayes' arbitration decision are fading even in Villa Hayes, where on a recent morning 10 adults waiting for treatment at a public hospital confessed to not knowing who he was. Copyright The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Show discussion. Want more world news? Join us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter. Americas on NBCNews. Paraguay celebrates Rutherford B. Hayes 19th U. It was a decision that "only occupied a few hours of his life," Culbertson said. No matter. The Nov. Discuss: Discussion comments. Expand Collapse. View all comments. Leave your comment. Most active discussions votes comments. Related: Americas Advertise. More Americas. More world news. Search Most popular on msnbc.
