Where does Harris-versus-Trump rank in America’s “Most Important Election” sweepstakes?
All year long, political Cassandras have prophesied that November 5 could spell doom for American democracy. And with good reason. By one candidate falsely calling the 2020 election fraudulent—and casting doubt on the need for some of the Constitution’s ironclad guarantees—the results could be severe, even catastrophic.
Many people believe this is the most important election of their lives. But just How Is it the key when compared to all 59 previous White House races? According to my personal tally, it ranks third.
Here are my top 14, in reverse order, along with the reasoning behind each of my choices. Some of these races only appear “critical” with the benefit of hindsight. Other elections—like Tuesday’s—seem monumental at this point.
14. JFK VS. Nixon (1960)
Vice President Richard Nixon represented the establishment. Senator John Kennedy, though a child of privilege, was the face of the future: a war hero, the second Catholic chosen as his party’s nominee, and at age 43 , the youngest man ever to receive the honor. president-elect. Many people believe his tanned and photogenic presence in first televised presidential debatecontrasted with the appearance of Nixon (who appeared haggard, partly due to Denial report makeup under harsh TV lights—and a recent hospital stay), helped turn the election tide in JFK’s favor. Regardless, that first broadcast would lay a solid media foundation for every televised debate — and national election — since.
When the ballots were counted, the race was so close that many believed Nixon should have challenged the results. (In fact, Chicago mayor Richard Daley would be accused of helping deliver a batch of questionable votes.) However, Nixon, not wanting to plunge the country into political chaos, chose to withdraw.
13. HAYES VS. TILDEN (1876)
The confrontation has everything we expect in nightmare election scenarios: intimidation at the polls, outside fraud, systemic threats to would-be voters from the community. In the Black community, parallel sets of unmatched electoral votes were sent for ratification—and the two nominees affirmed that they had won. The proceedings lasted until March 1877, before Rutherford B. Hayes was finally declared the winner, overcome by a single vote of the Electoral College, in a verdict voted by the committee. promulgated by the National Assembly. Writer Jim Windolf, in the book Vanity Fair presidential profile, would call it “the most contentious and contentious presidential election in American history (with the possible exception of George W. Bush vs Al Gore).” Admittedly, that statement was made in 2010, 11 years before the 2021 insurrection at the US Capitol.
12. REAGAN VS. SHOPPING CART (1980)
Setting aside the many achievements of President Ronald Reagan, who along with his Russian counterpart Mikhail Gorbachev contributed in no small measure to the eventual dissolution of the Soviet bloc and the Soviet Union. Even more important at home, the actor’s election as governor of California represents a sea change in the Republican Party. As a former Democrat, Reagan inherited the mantle of right-wing conservatism, which, according to historians, Todd Brewster noted, “widely considered defeated in 1964 with the defeat of aspiring presidential candidate Barry Goldwater.” Buoyed by Reagan’s leadership, the GOP would begin a slow but ever more steadfast alliance with the so-called Christian right and various conservative organizations, eventually aligning with the Tea Party and, during the Trump years, the MAGA movement. Reagan’s ascension to the White House set all of this in motion.
11. Nixon VS. McGOVERN (1972)
Richard Nixon’s advances in the Middle East, Russia, and China were among the most transformative foreign policy shifts in American history. He won a second term as a defender of the status quo values of what he called the Silent Majority. In short order, he would become the sworn enemy of the young, protestant New American Left, a group motivated by cultural change, engaged in political activism and outrage. anger at US involvement in the Vietnam War. But none of this explains why his reelection in 1972 proved so important.
More importantly: Nixon’s team, trying to ensure that the president would win four more years in office, used secret dark operations in what became known as the Watergate scandal. As Nixon began his second term, it was revealed that a political “dirty tricks” unit, linked to campaign staff, had illegally targeted primary opponents administration, even tried – five months before the election – to install surveillance devices in the area. Watergate Office of the Democratic National Committee. Nixon’s top aides then conspired to cover up their involvement or knowledge of the plots. Dozens of individuals would be indicted or plead guilty because Watergate-related crimes. Before Congress can begin impeachment hearings, the president himself will resign in disgrace. The main lessons of the Watergate scandal are twofold. The Constitution’s protections – against executive overreach and obstruction of justice – have been upheld. And as Chief Justice Warren Burger stated in his historic Supreme Court opinion, no person, including the president, is “above the law.”
10. OBAMA VS. McCAIN (2008)
One-term senator Barack Obama defeated Arizona senator John McCain, a decorated veteran and former prisoner of war. Obama’s victory was not only decisive—365 electoral votes to 173—but also unprecedented: For the first time, the highest office in the country would be held by a black person. As Obama said in the opening of his article victory speech in Chicago’s Grant Park, “If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where anything is possible; who still wonder whether the dreams of the founders still exist in our time; Who still questions the strength of our democracy, tonight is your answer.”
9. JOHNSON VS. YELLOW (1964)
The November after John Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, President Lyndon Johnson won a landslide victory. And he was determined to uphold his predecessor’s vow to address the clarion calls of the civil rights movement. Collaborating with Pastor Martin Luther King Jr. and others, Johnson successfully pushed through two landmark bills: the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965—the latter, speak president, “as great as any victory won on any battlefield.” By eliminating racial barriers one by one, these twin initiatives forever changed the electoral landscape at the local, state, and federal levels.
8. FDR VS. HOOVER (1932)
Franklin Roosevelt’s unparalleled four-term presidency began at the outset of the Great Depression and ended as the Allies were on the verge of victory in World War II. By taking over the reins from Herbert Hoover, a president was mired in the nation’s post-stock market financial free fall. accident in 1929FDR would take command during a tumultuous period in which he helped rescue America from economic collapse, introduced the Social Security system, and worked with other world leaders, helped liberate much of Europe and Asia from the rule of Nazi Germany and the Axis Powers. That first election in 1932 proved to have global effects that reverberate to this day.
7. TRUCKS VS. GREAT (2000)
Some people still believe that the election was a silent coup, a fraud. By late evening on November 7, 2000, the race was close – and all because of doubts surrounding the polls in the state of Florida, where the governor happened to be present. Jeb Bush, brother of GOP presidential candidate George W. Bush. After weeks of “joke hanging” and “butterfly voting,” recounting and finger pointing—many of which were aimed at Florida’s overwhelmed secretary of state, Katherine Harris—the whole matter became chaotic. Despite the vote count clearly trending in Gore’s favor, countless bureaucratic and judicial decisions regarding vote counting continued to disadvantage Bush – likely by administrations and officials. Florida officials did not agree with their size. Before long, both sides registered lawyers, embarked on an epic lawsuit, Bush v. Gore. Taken to the Supreme Court, the case was decided by a razor-thin 5-4 margin and—no surprise—Bush came out on top. Many complained: The deck seemed stacked from the start. And yet, from the podium at the joint session of the National Assembly, Vice President Al Gore, The most unlikely arbiter of all, oversees the certification Bush’s victory—two months after Election Day.
