The first example of a concession is said to be John Adams private congratulations to Jefferson after the latter’s victory in 1800. While concession speeches did not become a thing until the 1920s when radio became a popular medium. Still concessions by telegram were common.
But the election I want to focus on here is the Election of 1916.

Democrat Woodrow Wilson was running for re-election against Charles Evans Hughes, who had resigned from the Supreme Court in order to run for President. Hughes was a compromise candidate for the GOP.
1912 had famously split the party between Taft and Roosevelt, which allowed Wilson to coast to victory. 1916 was different, especially among the early returns. The race was close but early returns were pointing to a Hughes victory. Indeed crowds began to gather in Times Square...
...expecting a speech. However Hughes declined to speak that night, saying “If I have been elected President, it is because the people of this country think that I’ll keep my shirt on in an emergency.” Still, many people went to bed that night believing Hughes had won.
As the week continued and the votes continued to be tallied it became clear that Hughes had, albeit narrowly, lost the election to Wilson. But it took until Friday to get enough votes from rural California for confirm that Wilson had won.

Wilson won CA by fewer than 4,000 votes
Some high ranking Republican officials believed that the could make the case of fraud because the vote took so long to come in. Hughes, however, saw no evidence of fraud and refused to consider their request to contest the election.
It did take Hughes two weeks to ultimately concede to Hoover, but he did so and made it clear he was doing so because it was what was best for the country.

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More from @WillMcAvoyACN

8 Nov
Some people seem to think “back to normal” means that we will revert to where we were. That is impossible. Too much has been lost, and I’m not even talking about the 238,000 who died of COVID-19.

What returning to normal means is the ship has been turned in the right direction.
“Back to normal” has little to do with policy, which will in all likelihood be hindered by an obstructionist Republican Senate led by Mitch McConnell.

It instead has to do with tone, decency and values, which transcend politics in ways that aren’t always exactly clear.
Joe Biden cannot fix all of our problems just by becoming President. Our disagreements are too entrenched, our opinions too hardened by algorithms that are designed not to challenge those beliefs, but to reinforce them, no matter how detached from reality they may be.
Read 9 tweets
7 Nov
CNN has projected that Joe Biden will be the 46th President of the United States.
NBC AND CBS JOIN
ABC joins
Read 5 tweets
3 Nov
As we head into an election night that has more uncertainty than anyone would like, I think it is a good time to take stock of what we know and what we don't know, and how to be good consumers and conveyors of information at a time where America is on edge and simmering.
Here's what we know: There will be massive numbers of early voters, but some states have not yet begun to count those votes. As such, we will have large vote totals for some states early, and other states will take much longer to count the votes.
WE KNOW: that the demographic for absentee ballots, early voting and day of voting are different, politically.
WE DON'T KNOW: Exactly what those numbers are and how they will be reported state-by-state.
Read 19 tweets
5 Oct
So, tonight I'd like to talk about James A. Garfield. I realize that isn't a statement that is said very often, but I think there might something we can learn from his life, or, more accurately, his death.
And I'm not talking about his assassination by an entitled charlatan who demanded a position he was not qualified for, and became convinced that the only way to stop infighting from his political party. Instead, I'm going to talk about what happened AFTER he was shot.
After Garfield was shot he was taken to an office where he was laid on a mattress, before being moved back to the White House at Garfield's request. The doctor who took charge was not using sterilized equipment or hands when he began exploring the wound.
Read 11 tweets
26 Sep
So, tonight I'm going to talk about abortion, because it is clear that abortion is going to be a major topic through election day and perhaps beyond, even more-so than usual.

This thread is going to look beyond the moral debate into policy and facts surrounding abortion.
We often talk about abortion as a moral absolute, either it's an inherent right or it is literally child murder, with very little gray area. But when you dig into the statistics American opinions on abortion are varied and often counter-intuitive.
You may have noticed I've turned off @ replies for this thread. This will not be a normal thing, but because of the nature of this topic and the ease at which it can go off the rails, I thought this was best. Once I finish I will have a post for people to share their thoughts.
Read 27 tweets
19 Sep
You have to have beliefs in order to have disagreements based on beliefs, and the Republican Party no longer has any beliefs aside from “fuck liberals”, so I honestly don’t know what the hell you’re going on about David.
Like, I can disagree with people about issues, but the current Republican Party doesn’t have any issues they actually believe in. All they care about is getting power, keeping power, and keeping liberals out of power, that’s literally it.
I know because I used to be a Republican. But they don’t believe in anything except fuck liberals, which is why McConnell has that statement announcing they were going to have a vote already written and just waiting to hit send.
Read 4 tweets

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