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WASHINGTON (AP) – The losing presidential candidates have conceded their opponents in private talks, telegrams, phone calls and televised speeches nationwide. Al Gore conceded twice in the same race. President Donald Trump is not expected to concede at all – not even with a tweet.
There is no law that says he must concede, but if he does not, Trump will be the first modern-day presidential candidate to ignore a tradition that has marked peaceful transitions throughout the United States. American history.
Most of the concessions are gracious – less on the loser than on the shutdown of the country. Others have a bit of dry humor mixed in.
After failing to win re-election in 1992, George HW Bush quoted Winston Churchill as saying he had been awarded “the order of the boot,” according to presidential historian Michael Beschloss. Bush said he could accept defeat because of his “deep devotion to the political system in which this nation has thrived for two centuries.”
The tradition of concessions gasped in 2000 when Gore called George W. Bush to concede and then called him back to recant as Florida’s results went awry.
Their tight campaign ended with Florida voting in limbo.
“Let me make sure I understand correctly,” Bush told Gore over the phone. “Are you calling me back to withdraw your concession?”
When Bush was declared the winner after the Supreme Court halted any recount action, Gore issued his second concession.
“A few moments ago I spoke with George W. Bush and congratulated him on becoming the 43rd President of the United States. And I promised him I wouldn’t call him back this time, ”Gore said.
Democratic and Republican presidential primaries also give concession speeches. In 1976, after losing the race to be the Democratic presidential candidate, Congressman Morris Udall joked, “The voters have spoken – the bastards.
Most of the concession speeches are aimed at fixing the country.
After his loss in 2008, Republican Senator John McCain said, “The American people have spoken and they have spoken clearly. Not long ago, I had the honor of calling Senator Barack Obama to congratulate him on being elected the next president of the country we both love.
“I urge all Americans who have supported me to join me not only in congratulating him, but also in offering our next president our goodwill and sincere efforts to find ways to come together.
Richard Nixon, who lost to John F. Kennedy in 1960, said in his concession speech: “One of the individual characteristics of America is that we have political contests – that they are very hard fought because that – this is hard fought. And once the decision is made, we unite behind the man who was elected.
When Jimmy Carter lost in 1980, he said in a neutral tone, “The people of the United States made a choice and of course I accept that decision.”
Bob Dole had to concede in more than one race, but he did so both times with his signature humor.
After Gerald Ford and Dole lost the 1976 presidential election to Carter and Walter Mondale, Dole joked: “Contrary to reports that I took the loss badly, I mean I came home at night. last and slept like a baby – every two hours. I woke up and cried.
Dole relapsed into humor in 1996 during his concession speech following his loss to Bill Clinton. When Dole said he had just congratulated Clinton, he must have discouraged boos from the crowd.
He later silenced a particularly loud supporter by smiling and joking: “You won’t get this tax cut if you don’t stay silent.”
Trump isn’t the only candidate to be unhappy after a loss.
President John Adams was also gloomy. He was elected the nation’s second president in 1796, but was not reelected.
“Adams was very bitter after losing the election of 1800,” said John Vile, professor of political science at Middle Tennessee State University, who has written a book about presidents and their words of victory and concession. “He escaped Washington, DC the morning or the night before the election. He did not stay for the inauguration.
Vile said in all honesty, there was no clear precedent at the time on what Adams was supposed to do. “But it was interpreted at the time that at least he was really unhappy,” he said.
Vile said the tradition of acknowledging defeat began in the late 1890s when Democrat William Jennings Bryan sent Republican William McKinley a congratulatory telegram. He said, “We have brought the matter to the American people and their will is law.”
Vile says he thinks the funniest claim came from Thomas Dewey, who lost to Harry S. Truman in 1948. In his claim, Dewey compared himself to a corpse and told the story of one. drunkard at vigil.
Jokingly, the intoxicated man’s friends laid him down in a coffin with his hands folded across his chest holding a lily. In the morning he woke up confused.
“’If I’m alive, what am I doing in this coffin?’” Vile said, the man wondered. “If I’m dead, why do I have to go to the bathroom? It was kind of a humorous way to let people know that he was still alive and that everything would be fine.
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