Many biographers relay an early episode in Hayes’s life when he combined his “northern” Philomathesian Society with the dying “southern” Nu Pi Kappa at Kenyon College. These clubs were social organizations designed to help students develop their skills in oration, debate, and literary study. And, according to the story, just as Nu Pi Kappa was in danger of folding from lack of membership, Hayes stepped in and saved it from demise. This depiction, which readily paralleled with the larger sectional divide in the U.S., was too irresistible for biographers who hoped to foreshadow Hayes’s political career by claiming that since an early age he was predisposed to lessen the rifts between the North and the South in post-Civil War America (as he would attempt to do with his Reconstruction policy as president). While the story is quite remarkable, it almost feels too perfect to be true. And sure enough, digging into the sources I found that biographers had been imprecise in scrutinizing the sources that this story relies upon.
The foundation of this story seems to rest upon a letter from Guy Bryan (Hayes’s Democratic, Texan college friend), which was publicized by Scribner’s Monthly (Vol 15, No. 5, March 1878). This article’s intention was to discuss Kenyon College’s most prestigious alumni. It, of course, paid special attention to the most distinguished of its graduates, the sitting president, Rutherford B. Hayes. Scribner’s uses Bryan’s letter to point out that the incident was “prophetic” of Hayes’s later actions.
In this account, Bryan states:
By “the winter of 1841, there were so few Southern students in the college that the members of the Nu Pi Kappa were apprehensive that the society would cease to exist for want of new members …
I determined to open the subject to my intimate friend Hayes to see if we could not devise some mod to prevent the extinction of the society …
Hayes said, ‘Well, … we will send over a delegation from our society to yours, and then we can make new arrangements so that both societies can live in the old college’ …
Ten members of the Philomathesian joined the Nu Pi Kappa. A joint committee was then appointed from the two societies, that reported a plan by which students could enter either society without reference to north or south. Thus Hayes, by his magnamity, perpetuated the existence of the Nu Pi Kappa society,--and should he be elected president, I earnestly hope that he may be equally successful in his best efforts in behalf of a civil policy which will wipe out forever the distinction between north and south in the government of our common country.”
He refers to Hayes as 
“my intimate friend,” and was indeed very close to Rutherford. Their friendship, which started in Kenyon, continued throughout their lives despite the geographical distance between Ohio and Texas, the political difference between Republican and Democrat, and the outright violence between North and South. Considering this letter was written during Hayes’s presidential election campaign, however, Bryan must have been bolstering Hayes’s reputation as a political reconciler. Moreover, Bryan appears through this letter to be providing his endorsement of his friend, even if he may not have voted for him. Image: (From left to right) Rutherford B. Hayes, Guy Bryan, and Stanley Matthews as college students.
Reaching out to both the Kenyon College archives and The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, where the Guy Bryan papers are located, I have been unable to find this original letter. But, its transcription in Scribner’s Monthly does provide evidence of this event. So, (if I am to imitate one of those fact-check websites), I rate this story “mostly true.” But, I qualify that with the assumption that Bryan may have hyperbolized the story for purposes of supporting his friend.
In Kenyon College: Its First Century, which chronicles the history of the college, the author transcribes the story of these two societies working together, but makes no mention of Hayes’s special place in ensuring the reconciliation. Instead, it claims “a conference of committees from both the societies was held, and certain recommendations were presented to Philomathesian, which were adopted by that society … ten members of Philomathesian (not including R. B. Hayes) went over to Nu Pi Kappa.” In this account, Hayes was exempt from crossing sides as the president of the Philomathesian, and most assuredly would have been a major part of the decision making, but not necessarily the sole contributor to this cooperation. In fact, the initial impetus for this developed in July 1840, before Hayes’s tenure as the president of the Philomathesian, seemingly contradicting Bryan’s account.
Kenyon College: Its First Century goes on to describe: “Thereafter the societies were not divided by geographical or political lines.” Yet, that is somewhat contradicted by a letter from Hayes to Bryan on July 10, 1857. He wrote, “Quite a bitter rivalry has sprung up between the two old societies. An amusing partisanship is the result. All the bad passions belonging to the larger politics of the world are exhibited in miniature. You would have enjoyed looking on as I did.” Hayes’s amusement with these college kids shows a level of dismissal of the root concerns that were plaguing the nation at the time, at least when debated by younger minds. Or, writing to Bryan, he was being careful not to pick at the wounds of their disagreements.
Despite what is likely to be an imprecise retelling of this event by Hayes biographers, this story does say something about Hayes’s role as a reconciler. He even writes in his journal, on October 17, 1841, “Among the things which now mainly occupy my thoughts, the situation of the two literary societies of the institution, are a source of the most care and anxiety.” That tells us something about Hayes’s concern and willingness to be a bridge during a moment of hostility. And, I think it gives us an idea of his temperament as someone who was willing to overlook differences of opinion. If anything, this episode at least gives us insight into how Hayes learned to deal with conflict. Yet, it also shows that, at this young age, he was not yet as concerned with what Southern society meant for an oppressed population enduring slavery.
As we continue to chart Hayes’s development, we will see how he slowly grasps the gravity of that institution.