Editing Roscoe Conkling (section)

===1876 campaign===
{{Main|1876 Republican National Convention}}
Soon after his re-election to the Senate, Conkling became a leading choice to succeed President Grant. He had the support of Grant and the unanimous backing of the New York Republicans.{{sfn|A.R. Conkling|p=451}} A public meeting was held in Utica on March 2 to endorse his candidacy,{{sfn|A.R. Conkling|p=495}} and the Republican state convention on March 22 endorsed Conkling for president.{{sfn|A.R. Conkling|p=498}} Conkling named as his own second choice Governor [[Rutherford B. Hayes]] of Ohio,{{sfn|A.R. Conkling|p=499}} likely to block his rival [[James G. Blaine]] from winning the nomination.

At the Republican Convention in Cincinnati on June 14, the New York delegation actively worked to secure Conkling's nomination,{{sfn|A.R. Conkling|p=499}}{{efn|[[George William Curtis]] was the lone New York delegate to oppose Conkling's nomination; he supported Benjamin Bristow.{{sfn|A.R. Conkling|pp=503–04}}}} and his name was placed forward by [[Stewart L. Woodford]].{{sfn|A.R. Conkling|p=501}} The other candidates named were [[Marshall Jewell]], [[Oliver P. Morton]], [[Benjamin Bristow]], [[John Hartranft]], Hayes, and Conkling's personal rival [[James G. Blaine]].

After Conkling's vote slipped lower on the first five ballots, a member of the Indiana delegation began a stampede to Hayes, who was nominated. New Yorker [[William A. Wheeler]] was nominated for vice president.{{sfn|A.R. Conkling|pp=506–07}} Conkling pledged to make four speeches on behalf of Hayes, but made only one, claiming ill health.{{sfn|A.R. Conkling|p=511}}

Conkling played an active part in resolving the disputed election. Acting on the advice of President Grant, he helped write and pass the bill establishing the Electoral Commission of 1877, tasked with resolving the dispute between Hayes and [[Samuel Tilden]]. He gave a powerful speech urging its constitutionality and its passage as a means of avoiding violence, but declined to serve on the Committee himself.{{sfn|A.R. Conkling|pp=518–21}} Conkling's own position on the controversy was that neither Tilden nor Hayes should be inaugurated, frequently reported as an implicit endorsement of Tilden.{{sfn|A.R. Conkling|p=528}}