Presidential losers tend to be gracious, but there’s an exception
What do segregationist MLB Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis, four-time Alabama Gov. George Wallace and Vietnam-era Defense Secretary Robert McNamara have in common?
All of them labored on the wrong side of history. It’s a place most losing presidential candidates have worked hard to avoid.
Say what you will about Hillary Clinton, but remember what she said in her concession speech four years ago:
“We have seen that our nation is more deeply divided than we thought. But I still believe in America and I always will. And if you do, then we must accept this result and then look to the future. Donald Trump is going to be our president. We owe him an open mind and the chance to lead.”
President Herbert Hoover lost to Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932, when nearly 1 in 4 Americans was out of work. Roosevelt had a daunting new job. Hoover tried to make it easier.
“I congratulate you on the opportunity that has come to you to be of service to the country, and I wish for you a most successful administration,” Hoover wrote. “In the common purpose of all of us, I shall dedicate myself to every possible helpful effort.”
Former President Theodore Roosevelt lost a comeback campaign to Woodrow Wilson in 1912. Roosevelt had become the nation’s youngest president at age 42 in 1901. Having fallen from the mountaintop to the valley, he knew what to write after the votes were counted.
“Governor Wilson, the American people by a great plurality have conferred upon you the highest honor in their government. I congratulate you thereon.”
Bully for Roosevelt and his Bull Moose Party, dissidents who didn’t want to be known as dividers.
Barry Goldwater sent a note to President Lyndon Johnson after Goldwater’s landslide loss in the 1964 election.
“Congratulations on your victory. I will help you in any way I can toward achieving a growing and better America and a secure and dignified peace.”
William Jennings Bryan lost three presidential elections, including one to William McKinley in 1896.
“I hasten to congratulate you,” Bryan wrote. “We have submitted the issue to the American people and their will is law.”
After losing big to Dwight Eisenhower in 1952, Adlai Stevenson said elections have starting points and finish lines.
“It is traditional for Americans to fight hard before an election. It is traditional, also, to close ranks after an election. The people have rendered their verdict, and I gladly accept it,” Stevenson said.
“General Eisenhower was a great leader in the war; a vigorous and valiant opponent in the campaign. He will lead us in the next four years.”
Stevenson’s mention of one term carried significance. He ran a second time in 1956. Eisenhower trounced him again, and Stevenson offered another conciliatory message.
Like Stevenson, Thomas Dewey lost two presidential elections in succession. The second defeat in 1948 was more painful, as Dewey believed he had a real chance to unseat President Harry Truman.
Dewey, realizing he would never be president, cabled Truman.
“My heartiest congratulations to you on your election and every good wish for a successful administration. And I urge all Americans to unite behind you in support of every effort to keep our nation strong and free and establish
peace in the world.”
Some of these statements of goodwill might have been more dutiful than sincere. But none was as two-faced as Richard Nixon’s in 1960 after he lost the presidency to John F. Kennedy.
“I want to repeat through this wire the congratulations and best wishes I extended to you on television last night. I know that you will have united support of all Americans as you lead the nation in the cause of peace and freedom in the next four years,” Nixon wrote.
Then Nixon’s surrogates did his dirty work, questioning the election results in eight hardfought states, including New Mexico.
Trump, having lost the Electoral College and popular vote by wide margins to Joe Biden, has a flimsier case than Nixon did 60 years ago.
No purgatory exists for someone who, without evidence, wants judges to claim a presidential election was rigged.
Trump finished far behind Biden, but the sitting president is running hard again. His sprint is to the wrong side of history.
Ringside Seat is an opinion column about people, politics and news. Contact Milan Simonich at msimonich@sfnewmexican.com or 505-986-3080.