ALS as president signed “R. B. Hayes,” one page, 5.75 x 9.25, Executive Mansion letterhead, October 28, 1877. Letter to Wayne MacVeigh, in part: "I thank you…for your suggestion and valued letter. Mr…has been much misrepresented in this affair, but I take it the truth will gradually find its way to the public without special effort on his part." In fine condition, with light creasing along the top and bottom edges.
In 1877, President Hayes, eager to find a 'reconciliation' candidate for the Supreme Court, namely a moderate Republican acceptable to the South, solicited the advice of Wayne MacVeigh, who was heading a commission to smooth over difficulties in Louisiana, a former Confederate state that was still occupied by federal troops. MacVeigh, a Pennsylvanian, cautioned the president against choosing a Southerner from the Deep South and suggested he pick a candidate from one of the more northern of the Southern states. Under MacVeigh's guidance, Hayes appointed Kentucky lawyer John Marshall Harlan, who would serve with distinction on the Supreme Court for 34 years.
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