[202] Although Secretary Evarts quipped that at the White House dinners, "water flowed like wine," the policy was a success in convincing prohibitionists to vote Republican.[204]

Administration and Cabinet[edit]
Currier & Ives lithograph of the Hayes cabinet in 1877
The Hayes cabinetOfficeNameTermPresidentRutherford B. Hayes1877–1881Vice PresidentWilliam A. Wheeler1877–1881Secretary of StateWilliam M. Evarts1877–1881Secretary of the TreasuryJohn Sherman1877–1881Secretary of WarGeorge W. McCrary1877–1879Alexander Ramsey1879–1881Attorney GeneralCharles Devens1877–1881Postmaster GeneralDavid M. Key1877–1880Horace Maynard1880–1881Secretary of the NavyRichard W. Thompson1877–1880Nathan Goff Jr.1881Secretary of the InteriorCarl Schurz1877–1881
Judicial appointments[edit]
Main article: List of federal judges appointed by Rutherford B. Hayes
Stanley Matthews's confirmation to the Supreme Court was more difficult than Hayes expected.
Hayes appointed two Associate Justices to the Supreme Court. The first vacancy occurred when David Davis resigned to enter the Senate during the election controversy of 1876. On taking office, Hayes appointed John Marshall Harlan to the seat. A former candidate for governor of Kentucky, Harlan had been Benjamin Bristow's campaign manager at the 1876 Republican convention, and Hayes had earlier considered him for attorney general.[205] Hayes submitted the nomination in October 1877, but it aroused some dissent in the Senate because of Harlan's limited experience in public office.