3 Topics for Monday October 30: Matthew Perry Dead at 54, End of DST Next Sunday, Driverless Cars?
Embedded Files
Matthew Perry, who gained sitcom superstardom as Chandler Bing on the show “Friends,” becoming a model of the ability to tease your pals as an expression of love, has died. He was 54.
Several news outlets reported, without a named source, that Mr. Perry was found unresponsive in a hot tub at his home in Los Angeles. He had publicly struggled with drinking and drug use for decades, leading to hospitalizations for a range of ailments. By his own account, he had spent more than half his life in treatment and rehab facilities.
“Friends” ran for 10 seasons from 1994 to 2004. It chronicled the never-too-dramatic dramas and in-jokes and exploits of a group of six young friends living in New York City. Chandler was the yuppie of the group, with a well-paying white-collar job his friends did not entirely understand. He wore sweater vests but also moodily smoked cigarettes.
Despite many Americans’ aversion to having to “spring forward” and “fall back” each year, all signs point to continued twice-yearly clock changes. No major legislative changes to daylight saving time (DST) have been enacted yet in 2023, so clocks will fall back on Sunday, November 5.
SAN FRANCISCO — Two months before Cruise’s driverless cars were yanked off the streets here for rolling over a pedestrian and dragging her about 20 feet, California regulators said they were confident in self-driving technology and gave the company permission to operate its robotaxi service around the city.
That approval was a pivotal moment for the self-driving car industry, as it expanded one of the biggest test cases in the world for the technology. But now, following a horrendous Oct. 2 crash that critically injured a jaywalking pedestrian — and Cruise’s initial misrepresentation over what actually happened that night — officials here are rethinking whether self-driving cars are ready for the road, and experts are encouraging other states to do the same.
Net Questions
Fan of Friends? Does this death hit hard?
Should time changes be eliminated? If yes, permanent DST or permanent standard time?
Will driverless cars really happen in the next decade?
Topics for Friday October 27: Red Sox & The Statue of Liberty
October 27,2004
Red Sox ended the “Curse of the Bambino"
The Boston Red Sox ended the “Curse of the Bambino”—an alleged hex on the team that resulted from its 1920 sale of Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees—by defeating the St. Louis Cardinals to win the World Series title, the team's first in 86 years.
October 28 1886
Statue of Liberty dedicated
On October 28 1886 U.S. President Grover Cleveland officially dedicated the Statue of Liberty—a gift from the people of France to the people of the United States—on Bedloe's (later Liberty) Island in Upper New York Bay.
The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, in the United States. The copper statue, a gift from the people of France, was designed by French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and its metal framework was built by Gustave Eiffel.
Topics for Wednesday October 25: John Adams & Teapot Dome Scandal
On October 25, 1764, future President John Adams marries Abigail Smith.
This devoted couple’s prolific correspondence during their married life has provided entertainment and a glimpse of early American life for generations of history buffs.
Future first lady Abigail Adams was the daughter of a parson. She was home-taught and read everything from the classics to contemporary law. When she met her future husband, Adams appreciated her intellect and outspokenness. Both were staunch Federalists and abolitionists, but when their views did diverge, Abigail never hesitated to debate her husband on political or social matters. Their letters to each other during long absences imposed by his ministerial duties in France and England have been archived, published and analyzed in great detail. They discuss an array of public issues of concern to early Americans and shed a special light on the debate over the role of women in the new nation.
While Adams was attending the first Continental Congress in 1774, Abigail wrote to him to “remember the ladies” when he and his revolutionary cohorts began drafting new laws for the fledgling nation. She asserted that “all men would be tyrants if they could” and pointed out that male Patriots who were fighting British tyranny would appear hypocritical if they should disregard the rights of half the population, the country’s women, when drafting a constitution. Abigail warned “if particular care and attention is not paid to the Ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice, or Representation.”
With the rise of political factions, Adams and his wife found themselves attacked in the press by their Republican opponents during his presidency (1797 – 1801) and unsuccessful reelection campaign against Thomas Jefferson in 1800. The couple subsequently returned to their home in Quincy, Massachusetts, where Adams spent his last years writing his memoirs.
Abigail Adams died in 1818 at the age of 73. Her grandson was the first to publish some of her letters 30 years later. John Adams died on July 4, 1826.
October 25, 1929: Cabinet member Albert Fall found guilty in Teapot Dome scandal
The Teapot Dome Scandal of the 1920s shocked Americans by revealing an unprecedented level of greed and corruption within the federal government. The scandal involved ornery oil tycoons, poker-playing politicians, illegal liquor sales, a murder-suicide, a womanizing president and a bagful of bribery cash delivered on the sly. In the end, the scandal would empower the Senate to conduct rigorous investigations into government corruption. It also marked the first time a U.S. cabinet official served jail time for a felony committed while in office. Before the Watergate Scandal, the Teapot Dome Scandal was regarded as the most sensational example of high-level corruption in the history of U.S. politics.
During the Teapot Dome scandal, Albert B. Fall, who served as secretary of the interior in President Warren G. Harding’s cabinet, is found guilty of accepting a bribe while in office. Fall was the first individual to be convicted of a crime committed while a presidential cabinet member.
As a member of President Harding’s corruption-ridden cabinet in the early 1920s, Fall accepted a $100,000 interest-free “loan” from Edward Doheny of the Pan-American Petroleum and Transport Company, who wanted Fall to grant his firm a valuable oil lease in the Elk Hills naval oil reserve in California. The site, along with the Teapot Dome naval oil reserve in Wyoming, had been previously transferred to the Department of the Interior on the urging of Fall, who evidently realized the personal gains he could achieve by leasing the land to private corporations.
In October 1923, the Senate Public Lands Committee launched an investigation that revealed not only the $100,000 bribe that Fall received from Doheny but also that Harry Sinclair, president of Mammoth Oil, had given him some $300,000 in government bonds and cash in exchange for use of the Teapot Dome oil reserve in Wyoming.
In 1927, the oil fields were restored to the U.S. government by a Supreme Court decision. Two years later, Fall was convicted of bribery and sentenced to one year in prison and a fine of $100,000. Doheny escaped conviction, but Sinclair was imprisoned for contempt of Congress and jury tampering.
Topics for Friday October 20: Sydney Opera House & Handheld Radios
Sydney Opera House
Opened 20 October 1973; 49 years ago
Inaugurated 20 October 1973; 49 years ago
The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney, Australia. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architecture.
Designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, but completed by an Australian architectural team headed by Peter Hall, the building was formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 20 October 1973,16 years after Utzon's 1957 selection as winner of an international design competition. The Government of New South Wales, led by the premier, Joseph Cahill, authorised work to begin in 1958 with Utzon directing construction. The government's decision to build Utzon's design is often overshadowed by circumstances that followed, including cost and scheduling overruns as well as the architect's ultimate resignation.[6]
The building and its surrounds occupy the whole of Bennelong Point on Sydney Harbour, between Sydney Cove and Farm Cove, adjacent to the Sydney central business district and the Royal Botanic Gardens, and near to the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Sources: Bing AI & Wikipedia
Handheld radios!
Let's talk radios -
There is an enormous number of options for handheld ham radios, how many handheld radios do you have, and do you have a favorite one?
Topics for Wednesday October 18: Transistor Radios & The Mason-Dixon Line
1954 – Texas Instruments Announces the First Transistor Radio
A transistor radio is a small portable radio receiver that uses transistor-based circuitry. Following the invention of the transistor in 1947—which revolutionized the field of consumer electronics by introducing small but powerful, convenient hand-held devices—the Regency TR-1 was released in 1954 becoming the first commercial transistor radio. The mass-market success of the smaller and cheaper Sony TR-63, released in 1957, led to the transistor radio becoming the most popular electronic communication device of the 1960s and 1970s. Transistor radios are still commonly used as car radios. Billions of transistor radios are estimated to have been sold worldwide between the 1950s and 2012.
The pocket size of transistor radios sparked a change in popular music listening habits, allowing people to listen to music anywhere they went. Beginning around 1980, however, cheap AM transistor radios were superseded initially by the boombox and the Sony Walkman, and later on by digitally-based devices with higher audio quality such as portable CD players, personal audio players, MP3 players and (eventually) by smartphones, many of which contain FM radios. A transistor is a semiconductor device that amplifies and acts as an electronic switch.
Regency TR-1
Two companies working together, Texas Instruments of Dallas, and Industrial Development Engineering Associates (I.D.E.A.) of Indianapolis, Indiana, were behind the unveiling of the Regency TR-1, the world's first commercially produced transistor radio. Previously, Texas Instruments was producing instrumentation for the oil industry and locating devices for the U.S. Navy and I.D.E.A. built home television antenna boosters. The two companies worked together on the TR-1, looking to grow revenues for their respective companies by breaking into this new product area. In May 1954, Texas Instruments had designed and built a prototype and was looking for an established radio manufacturer to develop and market a radio using their transistors. (The Chief Project Engineer for the radio design at Texas Instruments' headquarters in Dallas, Texas was Paul D. Davis, Jr., who had a degree in Electrical Engineering from Southern Methodist University. He was assigned the project due to his experience with radio engineering in World War II.) None of the major radio makers including RCA, GE, Philco, and Emerson were interested. The President of I.D.E.A. at the time, Ed Tudor, jumped at the opportunity to manufacture the TR-1, predicting sales of the transistor radios at "20 million radios in three years". The Regency TR-1 was announced on October 18, 1954, by the Regency Division of I.D.E.A., was put on sale in November 1954 and was the first practical transistor radio made in any significant numbers. Billboard reported in 1954 that "the radio has only four transistors. One acts as a combination mixer-oscillator, one as an audio amplifier, and two as intermediate-frequency amplifiers." One year after the release of the TR-1 sales approached the 100,000 mark. The look and size of the TR-1 were well received, but the reviews of the TR-1's performance were typically adverse. The Regency TR-1 was patented by Richard C. Koch, former Project Engineer of I.D.E.A.
Raytheon 8-TP-1
In February 1955, the second transistor radio, the 8-TP-1, was introduced by Raytheon. It was a larger portable transistor radio, including an expansive four-inch speaker and four additional transistors (the TR-1 used only four). As a result, the sound quality was much better than the TR-1. An additional benefit of the 8-TP-1 was its efficient battery consumption. In July 1955, the first positive review of a transistor radio appeared in the Consumer Reports that said, "The transistors in this set have not been used in an effort to build the smallest radio on the market, and good performance has not been sacrificed."
Following the success of the 8-TP-1, Zenith, RCA, DeWald, Westinghouse, and Crosley began flooding the market with additional transistor radio models.
Mason and Dixon Draw a Line
On October 18, 1767, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon complete their survey of the boundary between the colonies of Pennsylvania and Maryland as well as areas that would eventually become the states of Delaware and West Virginia. The Penn and Calvert families had hired Mason and Dixon, English surveyors, to settle their dispute over the boundary between their two proprietary colonies, Pennsylvania and Maryland.
In 1760, tired of border violence between the colonies’ settlers, the British crown demanded that the parties involved hold to an agreement reached in 1732. As part of Maryland and Pennsylvania’s adherence to this royal command, Mason and Dixon were asked to determine the exact whereabouts of the boundary between the two colonies. Though both colonies claimed the area between the 39th and 40th parallel, what is now referred to as the Mason-Dixon line finally settled the boundary at a northern latitude of 39 degrees and 43 minutes. The line was marked using stones, with Pennsylvania’s crest on one side and Maryland’s on the other.
When Mason and Dixon began their endeavor in 1763, colonists were protesting the Proclamation of 1763, which was intended to prevent colonists from settling beyond the Appalachians and angering Native Americans. As the Britons concluded their survey in 1767, the colonies were engaged in a dispute with the Parliament over the Townshend Acts, which were designed to raise revenue for the empire by taxing common imports including tea.
Twenty years later, in late 1700s, the states south of the Mason-Dixon line would begin arguing for the perpetuation of slavery in the new United States while those north of line hoped to phase out the ownership of human chattel. This period, which historians consider the era of “The New Republic,” drew to a close with the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which accepted the states south of the line as slaveholding and those north of the line as free. The compromise, along with those that followed it, eventually failed.
One hundred years after Mason and Dixon began their effort to chart the boundary, soldiers from opposite sides of the line let their blood stain the fields of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in the Southern states’ final and fatal attempt to breach the Mason-Dixon line during the Civil War. One hundred and one years after the Britons completed their line, the United States finally admitted men of any complexion born within the nation to the rights of citizenship with the ratification of the 14th Amendment.
Topics for Friday October 13: Solar Eclipse & Friday the 13th
‘Ring of fire’ solar eclipse
10-14-2023
On Saturday, the moon will pass in front of the sun, obscuring much of it but leaving behind a brilliant ring, or annulus, of unfiltered sunlight in parts of the western United States. This is known as an “annular” or “ring of fire” solar eclipse.
Info: A ‘ring of fire’ annular solar eclipse will pass over U.S. on Oct. 14 - The Washington Post
Today’s Friday the 13th – Are You Superstitious?
The fear of Friday the 13th is called paraskevidekatriaphobia. It is a superstition that has been around for centuries and is still prevalent in many cultures today. The origins of the Friday the 13th superstition are not entirely clear, but it is believed to have started in the Middle Ages. The number 13 has long been considered unlucky or dreaded, and in Christianity, there were 13 people at the table at the last supper and Jesus was crucified on a Friday. The seating arrangement at the Last Supper is believed to have given rise to a longstanding Christian superstition that having 13 guests at a table was a bad omen—specifically, that it was courting death. Though Friday’s negative associations are weaker, some have suggested they also have roots in Christian tradition: Just as Jesus was crucified on a Friday, Friday was also said to be the day Eve gave Adam the fateful apple from the Tree of Knowledge, as well as the day Cain killed his brother, Abel .
Source: Bing, 10/12/2023
Topics for Wednesday October 11: Polaroid & NearFest
Polaroid Corporation
Corporation filed for federal Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on October 11, 2001.
The original incarnation of Polaroid was an American company best known for its instant film and cameras, which now survives as a brand for consumer electronics. The company was founded in 1937 by Edwin H. Land, to exploit the use of his Polaroid polarizing polymer. Land and Polaroid created the first instant camera, the Land Camera, in 1948.
Land ran the company until 1981. Its peak employment was 21,000 in 1978, and its peak revenue was $3 billion in 1991.
Polaroid Corporation was declared bankrupt in 2001; its brand and assets were sold off. A new Polaroid company formed, and the brand assets changed hands multiple times before being sold to Polish billionaire Wiaczesław Smołokowski in 2017. This acquisition allowed Impossible Project, which had started producing instant films for older Polaroid cameras in 2008, to rebrand as Polaroid Originals in 2017, and eventually as Polaroid in 2020. Since the original company's downfall, Polaroid-branded products in other fields, such as LCD televisions and DVD players, have been developed and released by various licensees globally.
Bankruptcy (2001)
The original Polaroid Corporation filed for federal Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on October 11, 2001. The outcome was that within ten months, most of the business (including the "Polaroid" name itself and non-bankrupt foreign subsidiaries) had been sold to Bank One's One Equity Partners (OEP). OEP Imaging Corporation then changed its name to Polaroid Holding Company (PHC). However, this new company operated using the name of its bankrupt predecessor, Polaroid Corporation.
Significant criticism surrounded this "takeover" because the process left executives of the company with large bonuses, while stockholders, as well as current and retired employees, were left with nothing. The company announced a plan that gave the top 45 executives bonuses just for staying at their jobs. Meanwhile, other employees were restricted from selling their stock before leaving their jobs.
As part of the settlement, the original Polaroid Corporation changed its name to Primary PDC, Inc. Having sold its assets, it was now effectively nothing more than an administrative shell. Primary PDC received approximately 35 percent of the "new" Polaroid, which was to be distributed to its unsecured creditors (including bondholders). As of late 2006, Primary PDC remained in existence under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, but conducts no commercial business and has no employees.
Polaroid’s bankruptcy is widely attributed to the failure of senior management — unable to anticipate the impact of digital cameras on its film business. This type of managerial failure is also known as the success trap.
NearFest
FRIDAY 10/13/2023
10:00 - CW ACADEMY
Bruce Blain K1BG
Bruce will talk about CWops "CW Academy." CW Academy has trained an estimated 8,000 students in the past few years in the art of CW and telegraphy. If learning Morse code or improving your Morse code skills is of interest, this talk is for you!
11:00 - HINTS AND TOOLS FOR BOAT ANCHOR RESTORATION
Chuck Hurley K1TLI
Chuck will demonstrate the tools he uses which make restoration easier, along with paint recommendations, polishing recommendations, and aesthetics. Details will be provided about component removal and replacement tools. Finally, he will look at how far is too far when restoring equipment.
12:00 - HAMMING FROM MALI - AN AMERICAN IN AFRICA
Jeff Dorsey TZ4AM/K1MMB
Mali is a rare DX country in West Africa. You may not have heard of Mali, but you all know Timbuktu - which is in Mali and is now under siege by jihadists. Jeff got back on the air in 2015 as TZ4AM, after a b/rief 50-year hiatus away from amateur radio. He especially likes 30, 12 and 6m. He will tell us about the fun and challenges operating from the "end of the earth" in a country at war.
1:00 - WRTC: THE HAM RADIO OLYMPICS IN ITALY
Mitch Stern W1SJ
Every four years, the best operators in the world get together to see who can jump the highest multipliers and run the fastest rates in the WRTC - World Radio Team Championship. The WRTC was held this summer in Bologna, Italy. Mitch will take us behind the scenes to see just how the operation is set up and what the competitors do for fun! As an added bonus, he will also share some pictures of visits to Venice, Florence, Pisa and Rome and talk about operating from Italy, San Marino and the Vatican.
2:30 - SHOP SAFETY AND PRACTICES
Stephen Nickerson N1BUS
Stephen will present an Interactive panel where attendees will be able to describe shop situations they have been in how they got things resolved.
SATURDAY
9:00 - ARRL FORUM
Fred Kemmerer AB1OC, ARRL New England Division Director
Fred will provide an update on ARRL activities and the work that the New England Division Team is doing.
10:00 - THE NUTS & BOLTS OF SETTING UP A SUPER PORTABLE STATION
Mitch Stern W1SJ
Anyone can drag a radio into the field and call CQ. But will anyone hear you? Our talk today will focus on the details needed to set up a super portable operation - one which will shoot fire and brimstone across the bands and result in pileups. Can you do that with a portable set up? You bet!
10:00 - VE SESSION
Bring ID, $15 exam fee and copy of license if you have one. Note: Applicants obtaining their license for the first time will have to pay a $35 fee to the FCC AFTER they pass the exam.
Location: basement of the Arts & Crafts Building. Enter in the back.
2:00 - CLOSING CEREMONIES
Topics for Friday October 6: Steve Jobs & Leaf Peeping
Steve Jobs
February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011
Steven Paul Jobs (born February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American business magnate, inventor, and investor. He was the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple; the chairman and majority shareholder of Pixar; a member of The Walt Disney Company's board of directors following its acquisition of Pixar; and the founder, chairman, and CEO of NeXT. He was a pioneer of the personal computer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s, along with his early business partner and fellow Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.
Jobs died at his Palo Alto, California, home around 3 p.m. (PDT) on October 5, 2011, due to complications from a relapse of his previously treated islet-cell pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor.
- Wikipedia
Leaf peeping
Leaf peeping is an informal term for traveling to view and photograph fall foliage. The term is thought to have originated in Vermont in the early 1900s. Columbus Day weekend is typically the best and most popular weekend of the year for leaf peeping in central and northern New England
Leaf peeping is popular in areas where leaves change colors in autumn, including:
Northern New England
Appalachia
The Pacific Northwest
The upper Midwest
Topics for Wednesday October 4: Bird Strikes & Lawyers
The Worst Bird Strike in U.S. History
Eastern Air Lines Flight 375, registration N5533, was a Lockheed L-188 Electra aircraft that crashed on takeoff from Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts, on October 4, 1960. Ten survived, nine with serious injuries, but 62 of 72 on board were killed in the accident.
Accident
N5533 and its crew came into Logan that day as Flight 444 from New York City's LaGuardia Airport. The plane and crew turned around in Boston as Flight 375, which was scheduled to travel to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Charlotte, North Carolina, and Atlanta, Georgia. The pilots had filed an IFR flight plan that would have had the aircraft cruising to Philadelphia at 10,000 feet. At 5:35 pm, the aircraft pulled away from the terminal and taxied to the threshold of Runway 09 for an easterly departure; the tower cleared it for takeoff at 5:39 pm.
The takeoff was normal until approximately six seconds after liftoff. At that point the aircraft encountered a large flock of starlings. The aircraft veered to the left for a moment then resumed the runway heading. At a height of about 120 feet small birds were sucked into the engines, causing the propeller on engine 1 to be feathered and shut down. Engines 2 and 4 lost thrust momentarily but recovered. At a height of 200 feet the airplane veered left again and sank nose-up to about 100 feet in altitude. It then rolled to the left, the nose dropped, and the aircraft crashed into Winthrop Bay.
The fuselage broke into two pieces; eight passengers and two flight attendants in the rear section were thrown out of their seats and were quickly picked up by boats already in the bay. The front section sank to the bottom of the bay, taking most passengers and flight crew with it. A Navy Reserve commander who arrived at the scene of the accident shortly afterwards stated many passengers were stuck in their seats and unable to get out before sinking into the bay. The entire accident sequence from the beginning of takeoff to the impact in the water took less than one minute.
Investigation
Investigators with the Civil Aeronautics Board (the predecessor of the NTSB) determined that engines 2 and 4 had each ingested at least one bird, and that engine 1 had ingested at least eight. The bird damage caused the number 1 propeller to autofeather and the engine to shut down at the same time that damage to engines 2 and 4 prevented them from developing full power at a critical stage of flight. The aircraft, unable to climb, went into a stall. The power interruption to the port engines probably caused the left wing to stall; the wing dropped, and the aircraft crashed into the water. There was also evidence that birds had crashed into the windscreen, reducing the pilots' visibility; in addition, bird remains had clogged the pitot tubes, making the pilots' airspeed indicators unreliable.
It was eventually determined that turboprop engines such as those on the Electra were highly sensitive to damage from bird strikes. The CAB recommended to the CAA, the predecessor of the FAA, that steps be taken to reduce the damage caused by bird strikes to turbine engines, and that ways be found to reduce the populations of birds around airports.
However, another possible factor that came to light later was a maintenance defect in the copilot's seat. During civil litigation by the family of a deceased passenger, it was discovered that the airplane's maintenance records showed that the adjustable seat had accidentally slid backward during takeoff about six weeks prior to Flight 375. Rather than perform the proper repair of replacing a metal rod, a mechanic used a strand of wire. A subsequent maintenance check on September 19 showed that the copilot's seat would not lock in any position; it was left in that condition. Expert testimony during the trial claimed that the co-pilot of Flight 375 (who during an emergency would typically be flying the plane while the pilot attempts to locate and solve the problem) most likely pushed the rudder pedal to compensate for unexpected yaw. In doing so, it was surmised that this foot pressure caused the seat to slide backward, which caused him to inadvertently pull back on the yoke. This nose-up condition could have been the decisive stall that caused the final plunge into the water.
-Wikipedia
Rutherford B. Hayes - Aka “His Fraudulency”
Rutherford Birchard Hayes; (October 4, 1822 – January 17, 1893) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 19th president of the United States from 1877 to 1881, after serving in the U.S. House of Representatives and as governor of Ohio. Before the American Civil War, Hayes was a lawyer and staunch abolitionist who defended refugee slaves in court proceedings. He served in the Union Army and the House of Representatives before assuming the presidency. His presidency represents a turning point in U.S. history, as historians consider it the formal end of Reconstruction. Hayes, a prominent member of the Republican "Half-Breed" faction, placated both Southern Democrats and Whiggish Republican businessmen by ending the federal government's involvement in the South.
As an attorney in Ohio, Hayes served as Cincinnati's city solicitor from 1858 to 1861. At the start of the American Civil War, he left a fledgling political career to join the Union Army as an officer. Hayes was wounded five times, most seriously at the Battle of South Mountain in 1862. He earned a reputation for bravery in combat and was promoted to brevet major general. After the war, he served in Congress from 1865 to 1867 as a Republican. Hayes left Congress to run for governor of Ohio and was elected to two consecutive terms, from 1868 to 1872. He served half of a third two-year term from 1876 to 1877 before his swearing-in as president.
In 1877, Hayes assumed the presidency following the 1876 United States presidential election, one of the most contentious in U.S. history. Hayes lost the popular vote to Democrat Samuel J. Tilden, and neither candidate secured enough electoral votes. According to the U.S. Constitution, if no candidate wins the Electoral College, the House of Representatives is tasked with selecting the new president. Hayes secured a victory when a Congressional Commission awarded him 20 contested electoral votes in the Compromise of 1877. The electoral dispute was resolved with a backroom deal whereby the Southern Democrats acquiesced to Hayes's election on the condition that he end both federal support for Reconstruction and the military occupation in the former Confederate States.
Hayes's administration was influenced by his belief in meritocratic government and in equal treatment without regard to wealth, social standing, or race. One of the defining events of his presidency was the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, which he resolved by calling in the US Army against the railroad workers. It remains the deadliest conflict between workers and strikebreakers in American history. As president, Hayes implemented modest civil-service reforms that laid the groundwork for further reform in the 1880s and 1890s. He vetoed the Bland–Allison Act of 1878, which put silver money into circulation and raised nominal prices; Hayes saw the maintenance of the gold standard as essential to economic recovery. His policy toward western Indians anticipated the assimilationist program of the Dawes Act of 1887.
At the end of his term, Hayes kept his pledge not to run for reelection and retired to his home in Ohio. He became an advocate of social and educational reform. Biographer Ari Hoogenboom has written that Hayes's greatest achievement was to restore popular faith in the presidency and to reverse the deterioration of executive power that had established itself after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in 1865. His supporters have praised his commitment to civil-service reform; his critics have derided his leniency toward former Confederate states as well as his withdrawal of federal support for African Americans' voting and civil rights. Historians and scholars generally rank Hayes as an average to below-average president.
-Wikipedia
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