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The contestants for president in 1876 were Republican Rutherford B. Hayes and Democrat Samuel J. Tilden. Tilden received
about 250,000 more electoral votes than Hayes, but it was Hayes who won by one vote in the Electoral College. The final outcome
wasn't revealed until March 2, 1877, just three days before the Inauguration, when a special commission gave 20 disputed electoral
votes to Hayes. Many citizens in the country felt that the Republicans had stolen the election. Some people began calling
Hayes "His Fraudulency."
The normal day for the upcoming Inauguration, March 4, fell on a Sunday in 1877. Following the precedents set in 1821
and 1849, the plan was to have the ceremony take place on Monday, March 5.
But rumors began to fly that Tilden would have himself sworn in on March 4 and declare himself the real president. The
outgoing president, Ulysses S. Grant, invited Hayes to the White House on Saturday night, March 3. Grant had experienced
the horrors of the Civil War and didn't want to see the country head into another disaster, so he helped arrange for Hayes
to be sworn into office that night! Chief Justice Morrison R. Waite administered the oath of office to Hayes in the Red Room
of the White House, thereby making Hayes the only person to ever be sworn in prior to the official inauguration day. It also
meant that the United States technically had two presidents at the same time!
Sunday, March 4 passed without incident, then Hayes was sworn in again on Monday in a public ceremony at the Capitol.
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The above vignette -- along with another chapter called "Can't We All Get Along?" -- provided the basis
for op-ed columns written by Jim Bendat in the San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune and Baltimore Sun. For example, see
the Chronicle link below.
Also linked are the transcript of Mr. Bendat's January 18, 2001 live chat on CNN.com and an ABCNews.com article featuring
quotes from the author.
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