On my first trips to Latin America nearly 20 years ago, I made a point of visiting capital cities and whenever possible, their seat of government and occasionally the residence of their President or Prime Minister. I was often saddened on these tours, to see many of those government buildings, and almost always the President’s residence surrounded by high walls, tall iron fencing, and typically concertina razor wire on top. It saddened me that these republics were faced with such internal threats and fears to their comparatively fragile democracies.
And now, a week ahead of our U.S. Mid-Term Presidential Elections, the Reflecting Pool on the National Mall is surrounded by high fencing, the White House campus is a construction zone and real concern exists about what steps this President may take if these elections do not go the way he prefers. Instead of Latin American republics following the American example of peaceful transitions of power, we appear to be headed toward juntas, coups and illegally refusing to leave office.
I went to Washington for the 2001 and 2005 Inaugurations of President George W. Bush. I combined business travel with covering the two Inaugural celebrations…from the traditional transition breakfast at the White House, through the parades, swearing-in, and the evening balls. The 2000 contest, much like 2020 was close and hard-fought, ending in a tense, over-time recount in the state of Florida. Then Texas Governor George Bush appeared to have handily won his brother’s home state (Jeb Bush was then Florida’s Governor)…but as Election Night wore on…the contest there grew close. A concession speech given earlier that evening by then Vice-President Al Gore, Jr., was later withdrawn.
And for 36 days the eyes of the nation were riveted on recounts and related events across three Florida counties and reviewed by the Supreme Court of Florida in Tallahassee. And though tensions were high among Bush and Gore supporters, I don’t remember hearing of any pressure applied, brother to brother or by the Bush campaign, to sway the outcome or to challenge the integrity of elected officials in Tallahassee, Broward, Palm Beach, or Dade counties. While the Florida Supremes would continue the recounts, the U.S. Supreme Court eventually intervened with a one-vote majority decision, awarding the state of Florida and its electoral votes to George Bush, who would go on to win the Electoral College over Gore by five votes. Bush’s victory in Florida was by only 536 votes, Gore won the popular vote contest nationwide by more than half a million.
As Vice-President, Gore presided over the Congressional certification of his opponent George Bush’s victory in early January that year.. On an extremely brisk January 20th morning in 2001, the air was quite chilly at the Clinton White House, as the Bush family arrived for the handoff. Later on the Inaugural Stage at the Capitol, Vice-President Gore sat stone-faced only a few yards from the incoming President and watched his swearing-in.
No riots, no arm twisting, no martyrs cry of a stolen election…no assaults on the integrity of multiple state Governors and elections officials… What was different here? Two adults were in that contest, as well as on that Inaugural stage. Many Democrats said that Bush was an illegitimate President and that he would never be fully accepted as having won the office outright.
And then, something truly horrific did happen, early in year one of the first Bush Administration, the attacks of 9/11 would cripple our economy and paralyze much of the nation in fear, killing thousands in New York and Washington, D.C. And thanks to the heroic efforts of United Airlines flight 93, our nation’s Capitol building and White House were spared attack and further destruction. In the months that followed our nation would pull together, preparing for potentially more attacks from external enemies.
Hopefully, it won’t take another 9/11 or outside threat to heal the wounds we have created and allowed to fester internally. As to the more recent Capitol assault on January 6, 2021, those internally inflicted wounds have still not healed. I have faith that our system and the American people will survive this. We made it through a Civil War, costing an estimated 750,000 lives, with a total population of just over 30-million. However this election lands, the other party and the candidates that you did not vote for are not the enemy. Let us all gather again together, and move our nation forward, despite our differences and remembering that compromise is also not surrender, nor a loss, if progress is made toward solving our nation’s many challenges.
