If anyone ever writes a book called The Worst Tyrants in American History, they should include chapters on Dick Cheney, Mitch McConnell, and Donald Trump. But before that, there should be a chapter on Richard Nixon. But as bad as Nixon was, not everything he did was awful. He had his moments, positive moments, when he took the high road and honored the traditions and rituals of our democracy.
One such moment occurred when he was still Vice President and Eisenhower was President. The extremely close controversial election between Nixon and Kennedy was over. Vice President Nixon lost. At least most everyone assumed he lost. Yet to this day, no one knows for sure if Nixon really should have won the popular vote or the electoral vote. There were allegations that the Democratic Mayor of Chicago tipped the scales to give Kennedy a narrow win he didn’t deserve in Illinois. There was also confusion in Alabama where eventually all that state’s electoral votes went to Senator Byrd, who wasn’t even running for President.
But before the Inauguration of Kennedy in a few days, Congress convened on January 6, 1961 in the House of Representatives for the purpose of officially counting the Electoral Votes for the next President. Like watching the movie Titanic, everyone already knew what was going down. When Nixon finally tallied the final votes for Wyoming, he would have to publicly announce his opponent Kennedy won the election.
The formality of counting consisted of Nixon as leader of the Senate plus four tellers; a Republican from the House, a Republican from the Senate, a Democrat from the House, and a Democrat from the Senate. Nixon started alphabetically with Alabama and announced six votes for Senator Henry Byrd, commenting that so far, Byrd was in the lead.
At the end, Nixon appropriately announced the totals and declared Kennedy and Johnson each won with 303 electoral votes. Then Nixon gave a brief unexpected and unprecedented speech which speaks directly to our uncertain times:
This is the first time in 100 years that a candidate for the Presidency announced the result of an election in which he was defeated and announced the victory of his opponent. I do not think we could have a more striking and eloquent example of the stability of our Constitutional System and of the proud tradition of the American people of developing, respecting, and honoring institutions of self–government.
In our campaigns, no matter how hard fought they may be, no matter how close the election may turn out to be, those who lose accept the verdict and support those who win. And I would like to add that, having served in the government for fourteen years…it is indeed a very great honor for me to extend to my colleagues on both side of the aisle who have been elected, to extend to John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, who have been elected President and Vice President of the United States my heartfelt wishes, as all of you work in a cause that is greater than any one man’s ambition, greater than any party. It is the cause of freedom, of justice, and peace for all mankind.
It is in that spirit that I now declare that John F. Kennedy has been elected President of the United States, and Lyndon Johnson Vice President of the United States.
Nixon received a standing ovation from Democrats and Republicans alike.
What worries me, is what will Vice President Pence say and do on January 6, 2021, when it is his turn to count the votes and announce Joe Biden is President and Kamala Harris is Vice President?
Will Pence, like Nixon, take the high road and do what he should do, accurately count the electoral votes and announce Biden won; or will he—in his unwavering mindless and blind allegiance to Trump—sabotage the proceedings, serving only the interests of his overlord, and declare he and Trump really won the election? I shudder to think what the aftermath might bring. The institutions of our Democracy are no stronger than the men and women who should uphold them.
This isn’t just my own concern. As Edward Foley recently wrote in the Washington Post:
What if the vice president, as chair of the special joint session of Congress that counts electoral votes, attempts to rule in favor of one of the conflicting submissions? The statute’s legislative history reveals a clear congressional intent to minimize the vice president’s role in the vote-counting process. Still, some convoluted verbiage in its text could be read as empowering the vice president to make an initial call, subject to being overruled by separate votes in both chambers.
To the best of my knowledge, there are no officially disputed electoral votes. So if all goes as planned, Pence will reluctantly be in the uncomfortable position of declaring his boss officially lost the election. But Pence will be under pressure. Trump is making sure his supporters will come to Washington to protest the procedures on January 6th and even worse hints the protests could be violent. Trump tweeted:
Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there. Will be wild.
If Pence hopes to pin his political future on appeasing avid Trump supporters, it puts him in an awkward position if he has to proclaim Biden won. Yet, there won’t just be pressure on Pence outside the Capital, but also within. Sophia Ankle just reported in Microsoft News:
Several pro-Trump Republicans have said they plan to disrupt the formal process, with Georgia's Representative-elect Marjorie Taylor Greene tweeting on Saturday: "On January 6th...I will OBJECT and REJECT the fraudulent electoral votes from several states across the country."
Ever since Election Day, I have been nervously waiting for Biden to take office—knowing Trump would do everything in his power to thwart the will of the democratic majority of voters.
I was relieved when it was clear Biden would win the popular vote; but was still worried about the Electoral Vote.
I was relieved when I knew Biden won enough Electoral Votes, but was still worried if his margin of victory would be great enough.
I was relieved when Biden won an electoral vote majority by a wide margin; but was still worried if he won the difference with enough states.
I was relieved when Biden won Georgia, but was worried about all the court challenges.
I was relieved all the lower courts rejected his charges of fraud, but was worried a case would end up in the Supreme Court.
I was relieved the Supreme Court refused to over-rule the lower courts. But was worried Republican Governors and state election officials would participate in Trump’s coup.
I was relieved when both Democratic and Republican officials were more concerned with protecting democracy than doing the bidding of Trump, but worried about their safety.
And now I am worried that Mike Pence will create a scene on January 6th, by failing to do his duty as Vice President that even Richard Nixon, was able to do, and do admirably. I pray my worries are unfounded, but as far as we’ve come, we’re not quite out of the woods yet. Inauguration Day can’t come too soon.
After Biden becomes President, hopefully we won’t abandon the task of eliminating the Electoral College which got us into this mess in the first place—and burdened us with the worst excuse for a President in our history.