What if, either in 1868, 1876, or 1880, Winfield Scott Hancock was elected President of the United States. Would Hancock repeal civil rights amendments? What would be his policies on corruption and reform? What do you think?
IMO virtually no Democrat could beat Grant in 1868 because if need be, the Republicans could simply throw out the electoral votes of Georgia, as I explain at
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/soc.history.what-if/bUuhXVD9fFk/MAfkyeBPVBwJ
In 1876 or 1880, Hancock's election would make little difference on racial matters: On the one hand, the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments were safely part of the Constitution; on the other hand, Reconstruction was dying in 1876 and dead by 1880. Hancock, however, was unlikely to get the nomination in 1876 because most northeastern Democrats were convinced that the Pennsylvania Democracy was "unsound" on the money question. In 1880, his big problem was that Tammany boss "Honest John" Kelly does not seem to have been too anxious to help Hancock win the White House; Kelly hurt the national Democratic ticket in New York by backing a very controversial nominee for Mayor of New York City. (Perhaps Kelly feared that a successful Hancock could use federal patronage to build up a rival Democratic organization in New York City.)
As president, Hancock might advocate civil service reform. But one should remember that Hayes and Garfield were also considered favorable to civil service reform, yet nothing was done about it until Garfield's assassination. I doubt that Hancock would be especially effective in getting it enacted.