The electoral controversy this year is tame, compared with that of 1876, when Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio lost the popular vote by several hundred thousand voters. In that contest, against New York Gov. Samuel Tilden, four states submitted electoral results from both parties, because of controversies in their results.
As there was not a confirmed electoral winner, Congress formed an Electoral Commission of 15 members consisting of seven Democrats, seven Republicans and one “independent.” The latter was Supreme Court Justice David Davis of Illinois, who, during this imbroglio, was appointed to an office in his home state and left the court.
In his place Justice Bradley of New Jersey was appointed to the commission. It was believed that he, too, was an independent. It is alleged that there were secret meetings with Bradley the evening before the commission voted on which returns to accept from the disputed states.
In all cases, the commission voted 8-7 in favor of Hayes. For this reason, Rutherford B. Hayes was forever known as “Rutherfraud.”
John A. Fatherley Bradford, Vt.
Bells Are Ringing in Hanover
During the month of December, right up through Christmas Eve, over 60 Hanover Rotarians will be ringing sleigh bells for Listen Community Services. Rotarians will ring seven days per week, six hours per day and 100 percent of the funds collected will go directly to Listen.
We love your bills, coins and checks made out to Listen, even your dresser top coin collections. These monies help our fellow Upper Valley neighbors in need over the course of the winter. So please, when you are walking down Main Street in Hanover this holiday season and see a Hanover Rotarian ringing the sleigh bells, whether outside the Dartmouth Bookstore, at the Hanover Inn corner, in front of Ledyard Bank or the Hanover Post Office, please make a donation.
We will be out through Dec. 24. We look forward to greeting you with a smile and a thank you. And as we say at every Hanover Rotary meeting, “service above self.”
Bob Boon President, Hanover Rotary
The Cost of Revenge
You will be sworn in as our president next month. So far you have lived up to the expectations of many who have followed your rise to national prominence, both admirers and adversaries. You have made promises to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, rewrite federal worker regulations, mute the Environmental Protection Agency, in short, reverse the work of the previous administration. You have appointed members of your cabinet who will follow these directives. And now you are surrounding yourself with generals who, like you, use command and control to accomplish their goals.
You have challenged our traditional role as world leader, telling us that now it’s America first.
What you haven’t done to date is curb your appetite for revenge against anyone who opposes you. And you have used social media as the preferred outlet for sharing your views, rather than a press conference where you would be exposed to reporters’ questions. Twitter has become your tool of choice. Instant, concise, widely followed. Use it to settle old scores. Use it to bash our NATO partners, Mexico, China, the Muslim world. The nation is watching.
Use it often, but remember the words of an old Chinese teacher and philosopher: “Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.”
Don McCabe Norwich
Post-Election Advice
In his 1967 speech to the American Psychological Association, Martin Luther King addressed the concept of being well-adjusted. Part of his conclusion caught my eye: “I am sure that we will recognize that there are some things in our society, some things in our world, to which we should never be adjusted. There are some things concerning which we must always be maladjusted if we are to be people of good will. We must never adjust ourselves to racial discrimination and racial segregation. We must never adjust ourselves to religious bigotry. We must never adjust ourselves to economic conditions that take necessities from the many to give luxuries to the few.”
That sounds like good post-election advice to me. Refusing to adjust to discrimination, bigotry and economic inequality I think means we support inclusion, we welcome other religions and we tax the over-affluent in proportion to their share.
I’m in.
Robert Spottswood Norwich