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(Sort Of) Descended from Greatness

Rutherford B. Hayes, his greatgreat grandson admits, was not a great, great leader. He was "a good mediocre president." Still, Rutherford P. Hayes, a doctor of internal medicine at the UW Physicians Clinic, says he doesn't mind being the namesake of a man now remembered mainly for being unmemorable, and for having the longest beard of any U.S. president. As for the middle initial, he explains that in the years after the Hayes presidency the family produced four more Rutherford B.'s, none of whom lived past two months. "So they changed the middle initial to 'P'."

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