Samuel J. Tilden

Samuel Jones Tilden (1814-1886) was the 20th President of the United States, serving from 1877 to 1881. He was succeeded by James G. Blaine.

After the Confederate States won the War of Secession in 1862, President Abraham Lincoln and the Republican Party lost power to the Democrats, who maintained control for nearly twenty years. They took a conciliatory stance towards the C.S., electing a series of soft presidents, culminating in Tilden, who was elected in 1876. In the meantime, the American people grew progressively more frustrated with the Democrats' conciliatory stance. When Tilden removed the stars that represented the Confederate States from the U.S. flag, the voters turned back to the Republicans, electing James G. Blaine in 1880.

Tilden retired to a quiet life in his home state of New York. He died in 1886. He was the second bachelor president of the U.S., and reportedly confessed to a friend that he'd never had sexual intercourse with a woman in his entire life.