Starting with 1800
President John Adams rose early on inauguration day March 4, 1801. It was dark and just a few hours after midnight. He would be the first President that was voted out of the highest post in the land of the young country. He wasn’t happy about it. Adams felt betrayed, unappreciated and anyone that knows anything about Adams and his personality, he was pissed off. Thomas Jefferson, his Vice-President, had run against him and won. Embarrassed and ready to just ride off into the sunset to his home in Quincy, it was time to slip off without fanfare. He left town at four in the morning before Jefferson’s swearing in at noon. Adams would be a no-show.
This election would gone down in the history of this country as many “first”. A shocking view into what was to come in the political spectrum of political parties that our first President, George Washington, was so concerned about would saturate the political system for the next 220 years after Washington’s departure back to Mount Vernon. The Federalist vs. the Democrat-Republicans was a fierce, backstabbing and even some would say the most divisive time in our country’s political history, was about to test the new country’s Constitution and unity.
Fast-forward to the election of 2020. President Donald Trump, Republican, would try for re-election for a second term against the Democrat candidate, Joe Biden. The stakes were high because the ideology of the two parties and candidates, couldn’t be further apart. The Republicans are pro-life, low taxes, “Build That Wall”, anti-Obama Care, liberty and freedom. The Democrats are pro-choice, higher taxes, open border immigration, healthcare for all and safety over freedoms. This is a very divisive time in our country’s history. But, in the sphere of the entirety of our country, is this really that divisive a time compared to other era’s in our country? Just ask John Adams, Abraham Lincoln, Aaron Burr, John F Kennedy, Richard Nixon and even Franklin Roosevelt. They would probably say no.
The election of 1864 was brutal to the country and the people. We were in the middle of the Civil War. One candidate was Abraham Lincoln, Republican of the National Union Party, was going after the “Big One” slavery. The Democrat nominee was George McClellan. The Democrat party was split between the “War Democrats” and the “Peace Democrats”. The Democrats pushed for and nominated a War Democrat in McClellan. We are concerned about electoral votes and every vote counts today. But, in the election of 1864, no electoral votes of the eleven Southern states that left the Union and became the Confederate States of the United States, were considered or counted. Imagine the uproar today from the side that lost the election. This election was so much more divisive that our current situation, but it is hard for us compare from an objective view.
Donald Trump months before the election of November 2020 set the stage for an election that would be contested. He spoke of election fraud and possibly not even leaving office if the votes didn’t come in for him to keep him in the White House. The Trump supporters were set-up to be ready for anything that looked suspicious by the enemy Democrats. The Democrats had done a similar call in the 2016 election when their chosen candidate Hillary Clinton, lost as a heavy favorite. The Democrats shouted, “The Russian’s had to do it” because they wanted Donald Trump to be President. The nation divide could easily be seen by switching the channel between Fox News and MSNBC. Watch one and then the other would make you think you were living in two different countries.
The election of 1960 was as suspicious as an election can be. The Democrat candidate for President was, John Kennedy. The Republican candidate was Richard Nixon. One of the big and divisive issues of the 1960 election was Kennedy’s religion. He was a Roman Catholic. Many groups of people, even other religious groups, were concerned he would be at the beckon call to the Pope of the day in the nation’s affairs, Pope Paul VI. Also, the Civil Rights Movement had many in both parties choosing sides. For instance, when a young Rev. Martin Luther King was arrested in a “Sit-in” Nixon asked President Eisenhower to pardon Dr. King, but he refused to do so. Nixon then dropped the matter. But, Kennedy took the initiative to contact the local authorities and secured a release from jail for King. This maneuver got King’s father to endorse Kennedy and help secure the black vote and his win.
We also can’t forget that election night in Illinois, many had Nixon winning the important state over Kennedy. But, at 7:00am, the state was called for Kennedy. Years later we now know that Chicago Mayer, Richard Daley was in charge of “Stuffing the Ballots” in Chicago with the help of the Chicago Mob. Kennedy took Illinois by a small margin.
In the pandemic filled 2020, another issue became a major debate in the election. Civil Rights was the 1950–1960’s issue, but the early part of the twenty-first century has been racial injustice. There were three or four main issues of racial injustice that came up in early 2020. The way the two candidates handled this, was a big deal when it came to the younger, minority and progressive people of the country. The Right would shout how much better it is now that in the past and that the police weren’t the bad people. The Left shouted how for decades people of color were treated differently by the justice system and the police. President Donald Trump continued to push the divisiveness by not addressing any of the issues that were perceived by these groups. The Democratic nominee, Biden and other Democrats, stated that they understood the differences and pushed for change. This was a major voting issue going into November.
The election of 2000 between George W Bush, Republican, and Al Gore, Democrat, was the craziest and one of the closest elections in our country’s election history. Election day started out with the polls having the election at a toss-up. As the early night election results started coming in, it was easy to see the election was coming down to one state, Florida. At about 7:00pm some of the networks called Florida for Al Gore, the Vice-President. But, people on the Bush election team started calling the networks and complaining they called the race too soon because people in the Panhandle of Florida could still vote and this could change the outcome. The networks took Florida out of the win column for Gore. Just a few hours later the networks then called the winner for Bush in Florida, essentially giving him the Presidency. Al Gore called to concede a little after midnight, but on his way to speak at his after party to his supporters, he called Bush back and took back his concession. This started 36 days of back and forth in the courts. On December 12, 2000, the United States Supreme Court stopped the recount in a 5–4 decision for Bush, giving George W Bush the White House.
When looking back at 2020 , the election of 2020 will not go down as anything different than most elections. The electoral vote for the winner, Joe Biden, will be 306. The electoral vote for the soon to be former President, Donald Trump, will be 232. Not really a close election historically. Yes, we had more mail in votes, but we also dealt with a pandemic. Yes, the rural areas again went majority for Trump. Yes, the majority of the cities went Democrat. In the eyes of the election history of this country I would say this was a pretty easy election to predict.
Later in life, the wise John Adams let go of the frustration and anger of the election of 1800. He accepted his place in the history of our country. Adams had been a lawyer for the British soldiers charged with murder at the famous Boston Massacre. He had been on the committee of five that wrote the Declaration of Independence. Adams had been a representative of the new country that went and ask for a working relationship with King George III after we had fled British rule and started our own country. He had been not only the first Vice-President, but the first President of the United States to call the White House in Washington, DC. Adams was the first to lose his position as President to an election. He was the ultimate stateman, founder, and honorable representative of the people.
Donald J. Trump has yet to leave the post he lost in the election of 2020. He has made statements that he would and wouldn’t leave and or concede the election results of 2020. For the sake of the country we hope he takes the example of the first President to lose his position as a sitting President. He would be better to do so for his place in history. It is time for the transition to begin. As Thomas Jefferson needed in 1801, Joe Biden needs it as well in 2021; a unified country. This happens when the loser tells the country, his supporters and the other side I want what is best for the county. I would hope this would be the case. But knowing the history of the behavior of Donald Trump, I just don’t see it. I hope I am proved wrong. God Bless the United Stated of America!
The Coach-John Brent
Originally published at https://shop.thecoachandthevet.com on December 4, 2020.
