Eight Men and a Binding Political Philosophy in the White House, 1841–1923

Ohio sent eight presidents to the White House—one Whig and seven Republicans—from 1841 to 1923: William Harrison, U.S. Grant, Rutherford Hayes, James Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, William Taft and Warren Harding. Collectively their social policies and beliefs formed a unified philosophy and legacy.

Ohio republicanism—an alliance of Christianity, populism, nationalism, industrialism and conservative economics—dominated politics across America from 1860 to 1930. Initially several factions in search of a party, it morphed from the anti-slavery Whig Party of Abraham Lincoln and swallowed up a group of single-issue parties, including the Abolition and Free Soil parties, under a national banner. The ghost of Ohio republicanism can still be seen today.