There was no drinking, smoking or dancing allowed in the Hayes White House, giving rise to Mrs. Hayes' nickname "Lemonade Lucy." Although Secretary of State William M. Evarts quipped that at the White House dinners, "water flowed like wine," the policy was a success in convincing prohibitionists to vote Republican.

In 1876 Alexander Graham Bell was awarded the first U.S. Patent for the telephone. A year later the sitting President of the United States, Rutherford B. Hayes, installed this new technology in the White House's telegraph room. The White House phone number was #1. At the time, the only other number in Washington was to the Treasury Department.

Beginning in the 1870s, Washingtonians from all social levels celebrated Easter Monday on the west grounds of the U.S. Capitol where children rolled brilliantly dyed hard-boiled eggs down the terraced lawn. This practice ended in 1876, however, when lawmakers complained that eggs shells were destroying the grass and passed the Turf Protection Act which banned egg rolls from Capital grounds. But Rutherford and Lucy Hayes revived the tradition in 1878 by inviting children to roll Easter eggs on the White House lawn, a tradition that has continued ever since.

Hayes had a number of dogs, including a Cocker Spaniel named Dot, a Newfoundland named Hector, an English Mastiff named Duke, a Greyhound named Grim, and a Miniature Schnauzer named Otis.

Hayes appointed two Associate Justices to the Supreme Court. He unsuccessfully attempted to fill a third vacancy in 1881. Justice Noah Haynes Swayne resigned with the expectation that Hayes would fill his seat by appointing Stanley Matthews, a friend of both men. Many senators objected to the appointment, however, believing that Matthews was too close to corporate and railroad interests, and the Senate adjourned without voting on the nomination.

Hayes died of complications of a heart attack at his home on January 17, 1893, at the age of 70. His last words were "I know that I'm going where Lucy is."