Inauguration of Rutherford B. Hayes

Presidential inauguration of
Rutherford B. Hayes

Rutherford B. Hayes being sworn in as the 19th president of the United States.
Date	March 3, 1877; 147 years ago (1877-03-03) (private) March 5, 1877 (public)
Location	White House (private) United States Capitol, Washington, D.C. (public)
Participants	Rutherford B. Hayes 19th president of the United States — Assuming office Morrison Waite Chief Justice of the United States — Administering oath William A. Wheeler 19th vice president of the United States — Assuming office Thomas W. Ferry President pro tempore of the United States Senate — Administering oath
← 1873 1881 →

This article is part of a series about Rutherford B. Hayes
Early life Civil war service Public image Spiegel Grove 29th and 32nd Governor of Ohio Governorship Gubernatorial elections 1867 1869 1875 19th President of the United States Presidency Inauguration Foreign policy Cabinet appointment Judicial appointment Great Railroad Strike (1877) Bland–Allison Act Posse Comitatus Act Meeker Massacre Presidential campaigns 1876 convention election Electoral Commission Compromise of 1877 Post-presidency Death Presidential Center
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The inauguration of Rutherford B. Hayes as the 19th president of the United States took place publicly on Monday, March 5, 1877, at the East Portico of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. This was the 23rd inauguration and marked the commencement of the only four-year term of Rutherford B. Hayes as president and William A. Wheeler as vice president.^[1]

As March 4, 1877, fell on a Sunday, Hayes was sworn in at the Red Room of the White House on March 3, becoming the first president to take the presidential oath of office in the White House.^[2] This ceremony was held in secret under tight security, as the previous year's election had been so bitterly divisive to the point that outgoing President Ulysses S. Grant feared an insurrection by Samuel J. Tilden's supporters, while assuring any Democratic Party attempt to hijack a public inauguration ceremony would fail.

Having been sworn in already in private, Hayes took the oath again publicly two days later, and served until March 4, 1881. Hayes' best known quotation, "He serves his party best who serves his country best," is from his inaugural address. Hayes became the first president not to invoke God or a supreme being in his inaugural address.^[3]