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Written by William H. Rehnquist

• Format: Hardcover, 288 pages
• Publisher: Knopf
• On Sale: March 2, 2004
• Price: $26.00
• ISBN: 978-0-375-41387-2 (0-375-41387-1)

about this book

Near midnight on election night in November, 1876, the returns coming into the Republican National Headquarters in New York City signaled a victory for the Democratic presidential candidate, Samuel J. Tilden. But alert Republican leaders, checking over the figures, saw that if all of the states now doubtful or disputed went for Hayes, he would be elected. So word was sent out to four southern states, three of which were still occupied by federal troops, that those states’ returns were crucial for a Hayes victory. So began the famous disputed election of 1876, which was not resolved until the early morning of March 2, 1877, two days before Inauguration Day.

Instead of giving us another narrative account of the events of 1876-77, Rehnquist comes at the story by focusing on the people involved; the contrasts in the characters of Hayes and Tilden, the personal life of Bradley, the three men’s backgrounds—Tilden and Bradley born less than 50 miles apart in upstate New York, and Hayes from a small town in Ohio—all raised dirt-poor. Yet these three people—classic examples of a career open to the talents—met center stage in the great political drama of the nineteenth century. Rehnquist tells us also what was going on in the United States, how the parties nominated their candidates, what the complicated situation was on election night, and the various maneuvers (most of them corrupt) in each party to buy votes in the southern states.

Finally and poignantly, Rehnquist writes of the actual proceedings of the Commission and the attacks on its members and on Justice Bradley when he cast the vote that decided the election. He delves deeply into the cast of personalities and intertwined relationships involved to give us a far broader story—the human side of the issues involved, and how the issues then evolved in a very human way.


“In this terrific and valuable work, Chief Justice Rehnquist re-creates one of the most dramatic presidential elections in American history. The wealth of biographical detail and superb discussion of the intriguing issues involved bring the principal actors in this fascinating controversy to vivid life.” —Doris Kearns Goodwin, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt

“It’s impossible to read Chief Justice Rehquist’s fascinating Centennial Crisis without realizing the historic role he played in determining the outcome of the 2000 election. As a historian Rehnquist is first-rate. The story of the Hayes-Tilden square-off of 1876 is perhaps the most surreal political imbroglio America has ever produced. And this is the most literate, judicious, and wise retelling of that bizarre election ever written.” —Douglas Brinkley, director of the Eisenhower Center for American Studies at the University of New Orleans