While growing his legal practice , Harlan also worked to build up the Republican Party organization in the state . He served as the Republican nominee for governor of Kentucky in 1871 ; though he finished a distant second to incumbent Democratic Governor Preston Leslie , Harlan nonetheless established himself as the leader of the Kentucky Republican Party during the campaign . Harlan 's views on Reconstruction shifted in the early 1870s , and he came to support Reconstruction measures such as the Enforcement Act of 1870 , though he still opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1875 as a federal overreach . Harlan reluctantly accepted the party 's gubernatorial nomination in 1875 , and he once again lost by a substantial margin , this time to Democrat James B. McCreary . The following year , Harlan worked to nominate Bristow at the 1876 Republican National Convention , seeking to position Bristow as a more electable alternative to Republican front-runner James G. Blaine . When Rutherford B. Hayes instead emerged as the compromise candidate , Harlan switched his delegation 's votes and subsequently campaigned on Hayes ' behalf in the 1876 election
1876 Republican National Convention
1876 Republican National Convention
John Marshall Harlan