Home 
 
The Daily Dose/Election Day, 2008
By Gaylon Kent
The Writer's Shack

Notes from around the Human Experience, featuring a look at all US Presidential elections. The quotes at the start of each entry are taken from the winning candidate's inaugural address...

I was summoned by my country, whose voice I can never hear but with veneration and love: 1789: George Washington (69 electoral votes), defeated John Adams (34 electoral votes): Technically, Washington had several opponents, but all 69 electors, who each had two votes, voted for Washington, with the other votes being scattered amongst the others. Voting took place from 12/15/1788 through 1/10/1789. North Carolina and Rhode Island had not yet ratified the Constitution, and New York's legislature bickered and couldn't decide on electors.
 
I am again called upon by the voice of my country to execute the functions of its chief magistrate: 1792: George Washington (132) defeated John Adams (77): Though President Washington remains non-partisan and again runs unopposed, the first political parties start to read their ugly heads: the Federalists, championed by Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, and the Democratic-Republicans, led by Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson.
 
What other form of government, indeed, can so well deserve our esteem and love?: 1796: John Adams, Federalist (71) defeated Thomas Jefferson, Democratic-Republican (68): The only election where the President and Vice-President came from different parties. Adams and Jefferson, once friends, were by now estranged, and would not reconcile until 1812.
 
I shrink from the contemplation, and humble myself before the magnitude of the undertaking: 1800: Thomas Jefferson, Democratic-Republican (ten states) defeated Aaron Burr, Democratic-Republican (four states): 70 electoral votes were needed for election, and when Jefferson and Burr each received 73 because one elector forgot not to vote for Burr so Jefferson could win. Burr was actually running for Vice-President, but electors at the time cast two votes and both were for President. So the House was needed to decide a presidential election for the first time. After 35 ballots, the stalemate is broken by Alexander Hamilton, who hates both men but decides he hates Jefferson less, and Jefferson wins on the 36th ballot. Jefferson wins the popular vote by a margin of 22.8 percent over Adams, the largest ever for a challenger against an incumbent President.
 
We act on that conviction, that with nations as with individuals our interests soundly calculated will ever be found inseparable from our moral duties: 1804: Thomas Jefferson, Democratic-Republican (162) defeats Charles Pinckney, Federalist (14): The first election held under the new 12th Amendment, which specifies that presidential electors must specify their choice for President and Vice President. Previously, electors cast two votes for President, with the runner-up becoming Vice-President, and we saw what fun that led to in 1800. Jefferson, still enormously popular with the people, wins popular vote by 45 percentage points, a record for an election with multiple major party candidates.
 
The present situation of the world is indeed without a parallel, and that of our own country full of difficulties: 1808: James Madison, Democratic-Republican (122) defeats Charles Pinckney, Federalist (47): Though Jefferson's Embargo Act of 1807 was unpopular, it was not unpopular enough to prevent Madison from carrying 12 of 17 states. George Clinton is again elected vice-president, becoming the first vice-president to serve different presidents.
 
Our nation is…composed of a brave, a free, a virtuous, and an intelligent people: 1812: James Madison, Democratic-Republican (128), defeated DeWitt Clinton, Federalist, (89): With War of 1812 just starting, Madison scrapes by with modest popular vote win, but handily wins electoral vote.

Conscious of my own deficiency, I cannot enter on these duties without great anxiety for the result: 1816: James Monroe, Democratic-Republican (183), defeated Rufus King, Federalist (34): After four straight losses, this is the Federalists last election as a national party, but Monroe is not seriously challenged, handily winning both the popular and electoral votes.
 
Having no pretensions to the high and commanding claims of my predecessors…I consider myself rather as the instrument than the cause of the union which has prevailed: 1820: James Monroe, Democratic-Republican (228 or 231, depending on whether you think Missouri was a state or not): Square in the middle of the Era of Good Feelings, Monroe ran without serious opposition, the last candidate to do so.
 
Since that period a population of four millions has multiplied to twelve. a territory bounded by the Mississippi has been extended from sea to sea: 1824: John Quincy Adams, Democratic-Republican (13 states) defeated Andrew Jackson, Democratic-Republican (seven states) and William H. Crawford, Democratic (four states): Era of Good Feelings comes to screeching halt with the second election to be decided by the House of Representatives, after Jackson comfortably won the popular and electoral vote, but failed to get a majority of electoral votes. Without a Federalist Party to pick on, Democratic-Republicans are left to squabble amongst themselves, a dispute which would lead to the founding of the Democratic Party, the National Republican Party and, eventually, the Whig Party. Adams, the son of John Adams, is the first direct descendant of a President to be elected.
 
About to undertake the arduous duties that I have been appointed to perform by the choice of a free people..." 1828: Andrew Jackson, Democrat (178), defeated John Quincy Adams, National Republican (83): One of the first great mudslinging campaigns, with the Adams camp saying Jackson had married his wife when she wasn't yet divorced, and the Jackson camp saying Adams had given a servant girl to the Tsar of Russia to play with while he was Minister there. John C. Calhoun, who once called slavery a 'positive good', again elected vice-president, becoming second and final person to hold that office under different presidents.
The time at which I stand before you is full of interest. the eyes of all nations are fixed on our republic: 1832: Andrew Jackson, Democrat (219), defeats Henry Clay, National Republican, (49): For the first time candidates were nominated by national convention. This was the second and final national campaign for the National Republican Party.
 
Half a century, teeming with extraordinary events…from a small community we have risen to a people powerful in numbers and in strength: 1836: Martin Van Buren, Democrat (170), defeats various Whig candidates: Confused in their first national election, the Whigs nominate four candidates, hoping they could collectively keep Van Buren from receiving a majority of electoral votes. Thanks to some malcontents in Virginia, the vice-presidential election is thrown into the Senate for the only time in US history, with Van Buren's running mate, Richard M. Johnson, winning.
 
We admit of no government by divine right…the only legitimate right to govern is an express grant of power from the governed: 1840: William Henry Harrison, Whig (234), defeated Martin Van Buren, Democrat, (60): Though his Electoral College victory was resounding, Harrison garnered just 52 percent of the popular vote. This was also the only election in history where electoral votes were received by four men who were or would be president, with future presidents John Tyler and James K. Polk, who ran for vice-president, each getting votes. Harrison would die of natural causes a month after being inaugurated.
 
Well may the boldest fear and the wisest tremble when incurring responsibilities on which may depend our country's peace and prosperity: 1844: James K. Polk, Democrat (170), defeated Henry Clay, Whig (105): Incumbent John Tyler, who became President after Harrison died, was not renominated by the Whigs, the first incumbent president eligible for, and desirous of, reelection not to be nominated by his party. The annexation of Texas is a big issue, with some wanting it simply for the hell of it, and others wanting it to expand slavery. This was the final presidential election where balloting was held on different days in the several states.
 
I am conscious that the position which i have been called to fill, though sufficient to satisfy the loftiest ambition, is surrounded by fearful responsibilities: 1848: Zachary Taylor, Whig (163), defeated Lewis Cass, Democrat (127): The first election held on the first Tuesday following the first Monday in November, and the second straight not featuring an incumbent eligible for reelection, as Polk chose not to run. This would be the last presidential victory for the Whigs.
 
Our country has…thus far fulfilled its highest duty to suffering humanity. It has spoken and will continue to speak, not only by its words, but by its acts, the language of sympathy, encouragement, and hope…: 1852: Franklin Pierce, Democrat, (254), defeated Winfield Scott, Whig, (42): Incumbent Millard Fillmore, who ascended to office after Taylor died, becomes the second sitting president eligible for reelection not to be nominated by his party. This was last call for the Whigs, who were participating in their last national election.
 
I owe my election to the inherent love for the constitution and the union which still animates the hearts of the American people: 1856: James Buchanan, Democrat (174), defeated John C. Fremont, Republican (114): The first classic Democrat/Republican tilt goes to Democrats as, for the third straight election, the incumbent party did not nominate a sitting president for reelection. Buchanan does a good job of staving of Civil War until Lincoln takes office.
 
A disruption of the Federal Union, heretofore only menaced, is now formidably attempted. I hold that in contemplation of universal law and of the Constitution the Union of these States is perpetual: 1860: Abraham Lincoln, Republican, (180), defeats John C. Breckinridge, Southern Democrat, (72): Lincoln wins the presidency despite winning less than 40 percent of the popular vote and without taking a single Southern state. Southern states celebrate by leaving the Union and bombarding Federal property.
 
With malice for none, with charity for all...: 1864: Abraham Lincoln, National Union, (212), defeated George McClellan, Democrat (21): Lincoln wins reelection in the history's first national election held during a civil war. Lincoln would be assassinated a few weeks after his second inauguration.
 
The question of suffrage is one which is likely to agitate the public so long as a portion of the citizens of the nation are excluded from its privileges in any State: 1868: Ulysses S. Grant, Republican, (214), defeated Horatio Seymour, Democrat, (80): For the fourth time, an incumbent president is unable to secure a party's nomination, as Andrew Johnson fails to win over the Democrats. The popular vote was much closer than the electoral vote, with Grant winning by a tad more than five percentage points.

Editor's Note: This appears to be the first inauguration where the address was given after the oath of office was taken. 
 
The effects of the late civil strife have been to free the slave and make him a citizen. Yet he is not possessed of the civil rights which citizenship should carry with it: 1872: Ulysses S. Grant, Republican, (286) defeats Horace Greeley (Unknown, as Greely died after the election but before electoral votes were counted): Grant wins despite having an administration accused of corruption. Greely, with little political experience, did not offer much of an alternative. Susan B. Anthony would be fined $100 for attempting to vote in this election.
 
The sweeping revolution of the entire labor system of a large portion of our country and the advance of 4,000,000 people from a condition of servitude to that of citizenship, upon an equal footing with their former masters, could not occur without presenting problems of the gravest moment:  1876: Rutherford B. Hayes, Republican, (185), defeated Samuel Tilden, Democrat, (184): Tilden becomes the only person to win more than 50 percent of the popular vote and lose the election, as disputed votes from Florida (go figure), Louisiana, Oregon and South Carolina were resolved by a commission which voted 8-7 along party lines to award all the disputed votes to Hayes.
 
Before continuing the onward march let us pause on this height for a moment to strengthen our faith and renew our hope by a glance at the pathway along which our people have traveled: 1880: James Garfield, Republican, (214), defeats Winfield Hancock, Democrat, (155): Hayes chose not run, and Garfield wins one of the closest popular election in history - defeating Hancock by less than 2,000 votes, but easily winning the electoral vote. Garfield would be assassinated six months after taking office.
 
But the best results in the operation of a government wherein every citizen has a share largely depend upon a proper limitation of purely partisan zeal: 1884: Grover Cleveland, Democrat, (219), defeats James Blaine, Republican, (182): Another close election, with only about 25,000 votes separating the two out of over 9.5 million ballots cast. Cleveland's carrying his home state was the difference, as he becomes the first Democrat since Buchanan in 1856 to win.
 
The oath taken in the presence of the people becomes a mutual covenant: 1888: Benjamin Harrison, Republican, (233), defeats Grover Cleveland, Democrat, (168): For the second time in 12 years, the Electoral College winner fails to win a majority of the popular vote, as Cleveland out-populars Harrison by about 80,000 votes. Harrison becomes the second direct descendent of a President to be elected. His grandfather was William Henry Harrison.
 
Under our scheme of government the waste of public money is a crime against the citizen: 1892: Grover Cleveland, Democrat, (277), defeats Benjamin Harrison, Republican, (145) and James Weaver, Populist, (22): Cleveland becomes the only President to be elected to non-consecutive terms, and the first Democrat to be nominated three consecutive times.
 
The credit of the Government, the integrity of its currency, and the inviolability of its obligations must be preserved: 1896: William McKinley, Republican, (271), defeats William Jennings Bryan, Democrat, (176): McKinley ushers in a new era in campaigning, spending an unheard of $3.5 million, about $90 million in today's money.
 
Honesty, capacity, and industry are nowhere more indispensable than in public employment: 1900: See 1896, except McKinley won by a bigger margin. He would be assassinated in 1901.
 
Much has been given us, and much will rightfully be expected from us. We have duties to others and duties to ourselves; and we can shirk neither: 1904: Theodore Roosevelt, Democrat, (336), defeats Alton Brooks Parker, Democrat, (140): A very popular Roosevelt becomes the first President who ascended to office after the death of his predecessor to be elected.
 
The obligation…to be as economical as possible, and to make the burden of taxation as light as possible, is plain: 1908: See 1896 and 1900, except substitute William Taft for William McKinley, as William Jennings Bryan becomes the first major candidate to lose the presidency three times.
 
The success of a party means little except when the Nation is using that party for a large and definite purpose: 1912: Woodrow Wilson, Democrat, (435), defeats Theodore Roosevelt, Progressive, (88) and William Howard Taft, Republican, (8): Wilson becomes just the second Democrat since elected since the Civil War and the last until the Great Depression. This would also be the last time someone other than a Republican or a Democrat would finish second.
 
This is not the time for retrospect. It is time rather to speak our thoughts and purposes concerning the present and the immediate future: 1916: Woodrow Wilson, Democrat, (277), defeats Charles Hughes, Republican, (254): The closest electoral vote since the Hayes/Tilden fiasco, Wilson becomes the first Democrat to win a second term since Andrew Jackson in 1832.
 
Liberty - liberty within the law - and civilization are inseparable: 1920: Warren Harding, Republican, (404), defeats James Cox, Democrat, (127): Harding, hardly the first choice of Republicans, turns a recession and the aftermath of World War I into an easy victory, kicking off the Roaring '20's. He would die of natural causes in 1923.
 
Because of what America is and what America has done, a firmer courage, a higher hope, inspires the heart of all humanity: 1924: Calvin Coolidge, Republican, (382) defeats John Davis, Democrat, (136) and Robert M. LaFollette, Sr., Progressive, (13): The Roaring '20's roll on as Coolidge, riding prosperous times and with little going on abroad, cruises to an easy win.
 
I have no fears for the future of our country. It is bright with hope: 1928: Herbert Hoover, Republican, (444), defeats Al Smith, Democrat, (87): The Roaring '20's continue with another Republican landslide, the last time the Republicans have won an election without a Nixon or a Bush on the ticket.
 
This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly: 1932: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Democrat, (472), defeats Herbert Hoover, Republican, (59): With Roaring 20's crashing to halt with the start of the Great Depression, FDR carries 42 of 48 states.
 
We of the Republic sensed the truth that democratic government has innate capacity to protect its people against disasters once considered inevitable, to solve problems once considered unsolvable: 1936: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Democrat, (523), defeats Alf Landon, Republican, (8): Though still mired in the Great Depression, Roosevelt has given Americans enough that they send him to the biggest Electoral College landslide since the two-party system evolved in the 1850's.
 
Lives of nations are determined not by the count of years, but by the lifetime of the human spirit: 1940: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Democrat, (449), defeated Wendell Willkie, Republican, (82): Roosevelt runs for, and wins, an unprecedented third term. Willkie does significantly better than Landon in 1936 and wins the rural vote, but Roosevelt wins every American city with more than 400,000 people, except for Cincinnati.

We Americans of today, together with our allies, are passing through a period of supreme test. It is a test of our courage-of our resolve-of our wisdom-our essential democracy. 1944: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Democrat, (432), defeated Thomas Dewey, Republican, (99): Even though nobody really expects an obviously weakening Roosevelt to survive a fourth term, he was nominated and elected anyway, though Henry Wallace was replaced as Vice-President by Harry Truman, who would become President after Roosevelt's death in April, 1945.

It may be our lot to experience, and in large measure to bring about, a major turning point in the long history of the human race: 1948: Harry Truman, Democrat, (303), defeated Thomas Dewey, Republican, (189) and Strom Thurmond, Dixiecrat, (39): Truman wins an election few thought he could pull off, including the Chicago Tribune, which went to press with the now-famous "Dewey Defeats Truman' headline. Truman declined to run for reelection.

We must be ready to dare all for our country. For history does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid: 1952: Dwight Eisenhower, Republican, (442), defeated Adlai Stevenson, Democrat, (89): Eisenhower ends 20 years of Democratic occupation of the White House with and electoral and popular landslide.

And so shall America - in the sight of all men of good will - prove true to the honorable purposes that bind and rule us as a people: 1956: See above, except the landslide was bigger, and you can take out the part about ending 20 years of Democratic occupation of the White House.

The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life: 1960: John Kennedy, Democrat, (303), defeats Richard Nixon, Republican, (219): One of the closest popular votes in history, with just 112,000 votes separating the two among 68 million votes cast, a margin of .1 percent, equal to the margin Garfield defeated Hancock by in 1880. Kennedy would be assassinated in 1963.

Conceived in justice, written in liberty, bound in union, it was meant one day to inspire the hopes of all mankind; and it binds us still. 1964: Lyndon Johnson, Democrat, (486), defeated Barry Goldwater, Republican, (52): After a nail-biter in 1960, Democrats return to spanking around the GOP, as Johnson triumphs by over 16 million votes.

In the orderly transfer of power, we celebrate the unity that keeps us free: 1968: Richard Nixon, Republican, (301), defeated Hubert Humphrey, Democrat, (191) and George Wallace, American Independent (46): Wallace would be the last third party candidate to win the electoral votes of an entire state. Wallace took five states, none farther north than Arkansas.

Government must learn to take less from people so that people can do more for themselves: 1972: Richard Nixon, Republican, (520), defeated George McGovern, Democrat, (17): One of the biggest landslides ever, with Nixon winning every state but Massachusetts and winning the popular vote by 18 million. Nixon would resign in disgrace in 1974. This was the first election after the voting age was lowered to 18.

…we cannot dwell upon remembered glory: 1976: Jimmy Carter, Democrat, (303), defeated Gerald Ford, Republican, (219): Ford, the only president to serve as Vice-President and President who wasn't elected to either position, loses a close race that saw him take 27 states but lose to Carter, a relative unknown.

We have every right to dream heroic dreams: 1980: Ronald Reagan, Republican, (489), defeated Jimmy Carter, Democrat, (49): The era of managed Presidents who aren't allowed to think for themselves begins with Reagan taking advantage of a weak economy, hostages in Iran and a general national malaise to ease to a landslide victory.

There were 4 million Americans in a union of 13 States. Today we are 60 times as many in a union of 50 States…So much has changed. And yet we stand together as we did two centuries ago.: 1984: Ronald Reagan, Republican, (525), defeated Walter Mondale, Democrat, (13): Reagan cruises to victory in the largest Electoral College landslide in history. Mondale, who had the nerve to tell Americans taxes might need to be raised while the economy was doing well, won his home state of Minnesota and the District of Columbia.

We meet on democracy's front porch, a good place to talk as neighbors and as friends: 1988: George H. W. Bush, Republican, (426), defeated Michael Dukakis, Democrat, (111) and Lloyd Bentsen (1): Bush bucks some odds in becoming the first sitting Vice-President to be elected President since Martin Van Buren in 1836, but Dukakis ran a silly campaign and never had a chance. Bentsen wasn't a candidate, but an elector in West Virginia voted for him just for funsies.

Though we march to the music of our time, our mission is timeless. 1992: Bill Clinton, Democrat, (370), defeated George H. W. Bush, Republican, (168) and Ross Perot, no political affiliation, (0): Bill Clinton begins eight scandal-filled, underachieving years with a convincing victory over Bush, who won the first Gulf War, but left the country in recession.

Great rewards will come to those who can live together, learn together, work together, forge new ties that bind together: 1996: Bill Clinton, Democrat, (379), defeats Bob Dole, Republican, (159): Perot ran again, as a member of the Reform Party, but made even less of an impact than last time, as Clinton beats Dole, and why the GOP insisted on trotting out a World War II veteran this late in the 20th century still isn't clear.

We have a place, all of us, in a long story - a story we continue, but whose end we will not see: 2000: George W. Bush, Republican, (271), defeated Al Gore, Democrat, (266): Another disputed election, the first since Hayes was awarded the 1876 election over Samuel Tilden. Like 1876, Gore received more popular votes, though he did not win the absolute majority Tilden did. A dispute over Florida's popular vote count ended up in two rulings by the US Supreme Court, which went in Bush's favor. However, it should be noted that had Gore won his home state of Tennessee, the Florida count wouldn't have mattered. Bush is the third direct descendant of a prior President to be elected, joining John Quincy Adams and Benjamin Harrison.

Across the generations we have proclaimed the imperative of self-government, because no one is fit to be a master, and no one deserves to be a slave. Advancing these ideals is the mission that created our Nation. It is the honorable achievement of our fathers: 2004: George W. Bush, Republican, (286), defeated John Kerry, Democrat, (251): Bush wins another close one, though he has a little more breathing room than in 2000.

Comments? Recipes? Complaints? Email the Writer's Shack here!

Home