On Tuesday, September 3rd, Jon Meacham opened class by asking a fundamental and not-as-straightforward-as-it-seems question: Does it matter who wins the election?
In most cases, according to Meacham himself, “it’s a matter of degree, not kind.” Take the 1960 election, for example, where John Kennedy beats incumbent Richard Nixon by a narrow margin. Would our country be in a different place today if Nixon prevailed? Probably not, because despite their policy differences, both shared core beliefs in the efficacy of the constitutional system, the importance of containing communism, and the necessity of countering the Soviet Union. Thus, no matter who won, the country's trajectory would likely have remained the same. But today, the winner of the 2024 presidential election matters more than ever.
From 1789 to 2016, with only one exception, the transfer of power from one president to the next has been peaceful and civil. Meacham defines civility as “the common recognition that we all have equal standing before the law and are equal players in the democratic process.” The 2008 election represented a remarkable transfer of power
between two presidents who couldn’t be more different. George W. Bush’s presidency was largely defined by his “War on Terrorism.” Barack Obama, on the other hand, completely opposed the war in Iraq. So when Obama rose to power, he opposed almost everything his predecessor aimed to accomplish. Despite this, Bush left a letter of support and encouragement waiting for Obama when he entered the Oval Office for the first time, and at the dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Library, Obama paid tribute to his predecessor and never questioned his motives. “What I know is true about President Bush,” Obama states, “and I hope my successor will say about me, is that we love this country and we do our best.” Unfortunately, Obama’s successor did not show him the same respect that he showed former President Bush.
Speaking of Obama’s successor, what makes the 2020 election different from all of those that came before it is that the Republican nominee was willing to break the norm of civility and prevent a peaceful transfer of power. And, for only the second time in history (the first being with John Adams in 1801), a former president has refused to attend his successor's inauguration ceremony. Like I said, Obama’s successor did not show him the same respect that he showed former President Bush.
On that note, Professor Meacham handed the microphone to Professor Hemmer, who shifted our focus from presidents to voters. “When Barack Obama was born in 1961,” she begins, “America was not yet a multiracial democracy. This didn't change until 1965.” The right to vote is a core value of democracy. It says so in our Declaration of Independence. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…” However, it wasn’t until 1965 that the right to vote was fully extended to all Amricans, and even today, access to the ballot is not equal across the country.
In the early years of our democracy, only property owning men could vote. On the surface, this criterion had to do with wealth and socioeconomic status, not race or sex. But this criterion disproportionately excluded non-white men and women. Black male suffrage comes along after the Civil War with the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendment, also known as the Reconstruction Amendments, but was constrained but Jim Crow Laws and a lack of federal enforcement. Hemmer explains that the 1946 Civil Rights Act really “breathes life” into the Reconstruction Amendments. Women’s rights activists were divided over these amendments; while some women were happy the voting rights were finally being extended to the marginalized, other women were angry that black men got the right to vote before then. Women's suffrage is not achieved until 1920 with the ratification of the 19th Amendment.
In 1965, Lyndon Johnson testified in front of Congress and made the case for the Voting Rights Act. To have a white, southern president calling for an end to racial discrimination on live TV, quoting “We Shall Overcome”, was an incredibly powerful moment in US history. A few months later, the Voting Rights Act was signed into law.
To wrap up the class, Professor Geer presented the results of a class survey that over 900 students participated in a few days ago. Here are some of the notable statistics: 71% of our class is registered to vote. 55% of students are Democrats and 18% are Republicans. 27% of students think American Democracy is under attack, while 59% of students think that American Democracy is being tested, but it is not under attack. Most importantly, when asked who was better dressed, 43% of students said John Geer and 42% said Jon Meacham. “I won in a landslide!” said Geer. “STOP THE STEAL” replied Meacham. Check out next week's blog to see how Meacham takes the loss.
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