25,602,505
22,006,278
Margin of victory: 3,596,227
59,459,765
55,949,407
Margin of victory: 3,510,358
Both of the above sets of numbers describe an incumbent being reelected to the Presidency. The second set is, of course, Bush's victory over Kerry (preliminary numbers, though the final margin will likely be similar). The first set, surprisingly, is FDR's wartime 1944 reelection over Thomas Dewey (the same Dewey who in the famous headlines "defeated" Truman 4 years later).
FDR, widely regarded as our greatest 20th century leader, a three-term incumbent in office during a time of war, having presided over a war-driven recovery from the worst economic times the country had ever seen ..... and out of 47 million votes cast, 22 million were cast against him.
In percentage terms FDR's victory was certainly more decisive than GWB's, but hardly overwhelming. Maybe the division we are currently witnessing is really just a manifestation of the natural order of things. In 1944, we were at war, a war that found little opposition given the world situation. The economy was doing better than it had for some time. The incumbent wasn't being compared to Hitler; he was defeating Hitler, which by November 1944, 5 months after Normandy, had become a foregone conclusion, a matter of time. Yet the incumbent President, widely regarded as one of the three or four best Presidents ever in most polls of historians, only won the popular vote by 3.5 million (he won the electoral college more decisively, with only the upper Midwest and Plains states going for Dewey).
Of the 22 million who voted against him, the history books contain few references to threats of migrating to Canada, few vows to thwart his agenda at every turn, few aspersions cast that he was "evil" or a "warmongerer". A few months later, FDR died, and was mourned by both his supporters and, presumably, the 22 million who did not support him. Today a new memorial to him sits in Washington, visited probably by his supporters and by Dewey's voters. Would President Bush be similarly mourned by his detractors? Or if he suddenly passed away, would we be reading half hearted condolences with a "good riddance" tone to them?
Our country has always been divided over one thing or another, even at times of war. What is different this time is the tone of the division, the depth of the loathing each side seems to feel for the other. It is possible, I suppose, that history doesn't pick up those details, that there was a similar depth of hatred for FDR among the 22 million and Dewey among the 25 million. But somehow I don't think so. |
