Nazi Chief propagandist Joseph Goebbels has found ardent acolytes in President Donald J. Trump and his minions who depravedly embraced his dictum that “a lie repeatedly told becomes the truth.” Five days into Biden’s inauguration as the President of the US, Trump still peddles the lies that he won by a landslide over President-elect Joe Biden and that the last election was stolen from him through fraud and deceit. Trump and his partisans, including the conservative media, have stoked to his conservative base this preposterous claim without offering a scintilla of evidence.
The courts, election officials, state authorities, including his fellow Republican governors and secretaries of state, have unanimously dismissed Trump’s charges, earning his enmity and wrath. On the other hand, obsequious and fanatical followers who support his unprincipled cause gained his plaudits and rewards. After he was forced by his remaining advisers at the White House to denounce the riotous mob that stormed Congress, the country’s “citadel of democracy,” on January 6, Trump addressed them as “patriots.” And he told his mob of supporters, “Go home. We love you, you’re very special…. I know your pain, I know your hurt. We had an election that was stolen from us. It was a landslide election and everyone knows it, especially the other side.”
Speaking of stolen presidential election in the US, the 1876 election case between New York Governor Samuel Tilden and Rutherford B. Hayes, a three-term Governor of Ohio, is a study in contrast from the Trump-Biden contest. Until the 2020 presidential tiff, historians considered the 1876 presidential election as the worst presidential contest in the US. But unlike Trump, the losing candidate, Tilden, who had been the heavily favored bet to win the election, had every right to question its final outcome, which he lost by the narrowest margin. The Democratic candidate, Tilden, lost to Republican Hayes by just one electoral vote, 185 to 184, despite the former winning the popular votes by over 200,000. The preliminary returns showed Tilden winning a clear victory over his Republican opponent. Even Hayes had serious doubt about his chances. Going into the closing days of the campaign, Hayes repeatedly wrote in his diary that he was pretty convinced that he would lose. Both candidates went to bed on election night believing that Tilden had won. Hayes and his wife Lucy retired to their bedroom consoled by the thought that at least they would not be uprooting their kids to move to Washington. But deep into the night, through a series of manipulations by Republican operatives led by “Devil Dan” Sickles, a notorious character in American history, he engineered Hayes’ overnight comeback. Sickles was a former Union General, an ex-member of the House of Representatives and the killer of Phillip Scott Key, the son of Francis Scott Key who composed the “Star Spangled Banner.” Sickles put up the defense of temporary insanity, which was the first time ever that such a defense was upheld by a US Court. He was named Ambassador to Spain by President Ulysses Grant but he came back to assist Hayes’ presidential campaign. Sickles himself recognized that his candidate had lost. Thinking that the election night would be unexciting, Sickles decided to watch a Broadway play and had a late dinner. On his way back to his flat on Fifth Avenue, just across the Republican National Headquarters in New York City, Sickles dropped by to check the election results. The whole place was empty except for one campaign staff who was packing up election paraphernalia, and greeted Sickles by saying: “Tilden won the election and we’re all going home.” He also added that Zacharia Chandler, the Republican National Committee Chairman, had already gone to bed with a bottle of whiskey. Out of curiosity, he looked at the numbers, and added them up. He realized that if he removed the 19 electoral votes of the three closely contested states of Florida, Louisiana and North Carolina, and moved them under Hayes column, Hayes would win by one electoral vote. He immediately cabled the three Republican governors of the states and ordered them: “Hold on to your states. Troops and money will be furnished.” Tilden woke up the day after the election no longer the undisputed President-elect and that the presidential contest was still very much up in the air. The campaign teams of both parties rushed to the three states. A Republican National Committee Member brought a bag stashed with cash, which he distributed to the members of the Florida Election Commission and other influential people. The Election Commission decides who would get the certification to be sent to the Electoral College in Congress for the final tallying of the electoral votes on January 6, which is still being followed up to now. The Republicans led by the outgoing Governors of the 3 states sent their certification indicating that Hayes had won, while the Democrats through their incoming newly elected Governors submitted their own certification slate showing Tilden as the victor. Congress could not agree which of the two certifications to accept. An intense, long debate followed. Tempers flared and some solons pulled their guns on other members. It was a miracle that there was no shooting incident. To resolve the impasse, Congress formed an Electoral Commission made up of 15 members—5 from the House, 5 from the Senate and 5 from the Supreme Court. Of the 15, 7 would be Democrats, 7 would be Republicans and one independent—SC Justice David Davis. But before the body could convene, Davis was elected to the Senate representing Illinois. Congress scrambled for a replacement and named Justice Joseph Bradley that everyone thought was non-partisan. It was a complete disaster for the Democrats. After contentious hearings, the Commission delivered the electoral votes to Hayes by a total tally of 185 to 184. Thousands of African-American votes were invalidated and thrown out by the swing states ruled by Republican governors.
While the electoral voting process was taking place, Washington was awashed with rumors that a secret army known as Tilden Minutemen and the Sons of Liberty would invade Washington and install Tilden as the President. President Grant sent massive military forces to guard the city against the mob. Warships were sailing up and down the Potomac River. But unlike Trump’s fanatical followers, no mob descended on Washington despite the credible allegation that the 1876 presidential election, the centennial founding anniversary of the US, was stolen.
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