REHNQUIST, WILLIAM H. Centennial Crisis: The Disputed Election of 1876. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004. ix + 273 pp. Illustrations, notes, bibliography, and index. $26.00 (cloth), ISBN 0-375-41387-1.

     The disputed election of 2000, raised again the issues of how presidential elections are determinedÑthe role of the Electoral College, the popular vote, Congress, and the Supreme Court. Ever since the 1800 election between Federalists and Democratic-Republicans, controversial issues have arisen about how the President of the United States is selected. In Centennial Crisis: The Disputed Election of 1876, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist revisits the fascinating and riveting 1876 Gilded Age presidential election between Democrat Samuel Tilden and Republican Rutherford B. Hayes, which was debated and discussed for over four months, before the choice was announced on March 2, 1877. This is a bold and introspective view of a turning point in late-nineteenth-century history. Rehnquist looks back to an historical episode that has relevance and instruction for the scholar, the student of American politics and history, and those seeking greater understandings of the workings of American democracy.

     While there are some parallels between the Bush-Gore election of 2000 and the Hayes-Tilden election of 1876 and obviously Rehnquist examines the two contests with an interest in the role of the two major parties, Congress, special Electoral Commissions, and the Supreme Court in extra-judiciary roles and what strikes the reader immediately are the huge divergences and distance between the nineteenth century and the last election of the twentieth century. Gilded Age politics was still the provenance of the caucus, intrigue of patronage, Stalwarts and Half-Breeds, and political machines, despite the effort for political reform by advocates of civil service. These times were vastly different from recent presidential elections and campaigns driven by financial contributions, the media, and popular pressure groups, not to mention the emergence of an America with a global mission and leadership and the development of new technologies, such as the internet.