Bush’s Place in History
By Brother Rogers
George W. Bush is the fourth man to become America’s president without winning the most popular votes. He joins John Quincy Adams, Rutherford B. Hayes and Benjamin Harrison with that distinction.
In 1824 John Quincy Adams originally received fewer popular votes and electoral votes than Andrew Jackson. The three-way race included Henry Clay, and since no candidate had a majority of electoral votes, the decision rested with the U.S. House of Representatives. Clay threw his support behind Adams, who won thanks to what Jackson’s supporters called a “corrupt bargain” between Adams and Clay.
Significantly, Adams lost his reelection bid in a landslide to Jackson in 1828, and Jackson went on to serve two terms as one of America’s most popular presidents.
In 1876 Ohio Governor Rutherford B. Hayes gained the presidency by a margin of only one electoral vote over New York Governor Samuel J. Tilden. Hayes lost the popular vote, but electoral votes were contested in Louisiana, South Carolina, and you guessed it, Florida. Hayes needed all three states to win by one electoral vote.
Congress appointed a supposedly nonpartisan Election Commission with eight Republicans and seven Democrats, including Mississippi’s L.Q.C. Lamar, the first high-ranking Confederate to serve in the U.S. Senate after the Civil War. Predictably, in January 1877 the Commission decided in favor of the Republican Hayes on an eight to seven vote. To reduce tensions and temper partisan passions, Hayes announced he would serve only one term. Four years later, he honored that commitment by not seeking reelection.
Mississippians, who overwhelmingly supported Tilden, were outraged by the 1876 election result because they, mistakenly it turned out, thought the result meant a continuation of Reconstruction policies attempting to ensure black citizenship rights.
In 1888 Benjamin Harrison received 100,000 fewer popular votes than the incumbent Grover Cleveland, but carried the Electoral College 233 to 168. In the next election in 1892, Cleveland easily defeated Harrison and became the only president elected to two nonconsecutive terms.
Interestingly, none of the three previous presidents who won in the Electoral College, but lost the popular vote, served a second term. Adams and Harrison both lost in a rematch with the person who originally won the popular vote.
The strangest coincidence about Bush becoming the fourth president to lose the popular vote and win the presidency is the fact that three of these four had a father or grandfather who served as president. The father of John Quincy Adams was John Adams, and Benjamin Harrison’s grandfather was William Henry Harrison. Of course, George W. Bush’s father is George Bush.
History has not been kind to the three previous presidents whose ranks Bush now joins. In fact, neither of the Adams, neither of the Harrisons, nor the first George Bush, five presidents in all, served more than one term in office. A hundred years from now will George W. Bush be the forgotten answer to a presidential trivia question or will he break the trend and be a successful president? Only time will tell.
Brother Rogers is a guest columnist for the Starkville Daily News and assistant director of the Stennis Center for Public Service.
George W. Bush is the fourth man to become America’s president without winning the most popular votes. He joins John Quincy Adams, Rutherford B. Hayes and Benjamin Harrison with that distinction.
In 1824 John Quincy Adams originally received fewer popular votes and electoral votes than Andrew Jackson. The three-way race included Henry Clay, and since no candidate had a majority of electoral votes, the decision rested with the U.S. House of Representatives. Clay threw his support behind Adams, who won thanks to what Jackson’s supporters called a “corrupt bargain” between Adams and Clay.
Significantly, Adams lost his reelection bid in a landslide to Jackson in 1828, and Jackson went on to serve two terms as one of America’s most popular presidents.
In 1876 Ohio Governor Rutherford B. Hayes gained the presidency by a margin of only one electoral vote over New York Governor Samuel J. Tilden. Hayes lost the popular vote, but electoral votes were contested in Louisiana, South Carolina, and you guessed it, Florida. Hayes needed all three states to win by one electoral vote.
Congress appointed a supposedly nonpartisan Election Commission with eight Republicans and seven Democrats, including Mississippi’s L.Q.C. Lamar, the first high-ranking Confederate to serve in the U.S. Senate after the Civil War. Predictably, in January 1877 the Commission decided in favor of the Republican Hayes on an eight to seven vote. To reduce tensions and temper partisan passions, Hayes announced he would serve only one term. Four years later, he honored that commitment by not seeking reelection.
Mississippians, who overwhelmingly supported Tilden, were outraged by the 1876 election result because they, mistakenly it turned out, thought the result meant a continuation of Reconstruction policies attempting to ensure black citizenship rights.
In 1888 Benjamin Harrison received 100,000 fewer popular votes than the incumbent Grover Cleveland, but carried the Electoral College 233 to 168. In the next election in 1892, Cleveland easily defeated Harrison and became the only president elected to two nonconsecutive terms.
Interestingly, none of the three previous presidents who won in the Electoral College, but lost the popular vote, served a second term. Adams and Harrison both lost in a rematch with the person who originally won the popular vote.
The strangest coincidence about Bush becoming the fourth president to lose the popular vote and win the presidency is the fact that three of these four had a father or grandfather who served as president. The father of John Quincy Adams was John Adams, and Benjamin Harrison’s grandfather was William Henry Harrison. Of course, George W. Bush’s father is George Bush.
History has not been kind to the three previous presidents whose ranks Bush now joins. In fact, neither of the Adams, neither of the Harrisons, nor the first George Bush, five presidents in all, served more than one term in office. A hundred years from now will George W. Bush be the forgotten answer to a presidential trivia question or will he break the trend and be a successful president? Only time will tell.
Brother Rogers is a guest columnist for the Starkville Daily News and assistant director of the Stennis Center for Public Service.
