President Ulysses S. Grant had considered seeking a third term, but with various scandals, a poor economy and heavy Democratic gains in the House of Representatives that led many Republicans to repudiate him, he declined to run.

James Russell Lowell, well-known poet and a professor at Harvard College, spoke on behalf of Hayes.

After the sixth ballot, the Bristow, Conkling, Morton, and Hartranft supporters withdrew their candidates' names from consideration, leaving Hayes as the sole focus of opposition to Blaine.

Representative William A. Wheeler of New York was thirteen votes shy of a majority on a partial first ballot when the rules were suspended so that he could be nominated by acclamation.

Wheeler defeated Frederick T. Frelinghuysen of New Jersey, Marshall Jewell and Joseph R. Hawley of Connecticut for the nomination.