Dear Mr. White,
I read your editorial in the July 4, 2024 issue with interest urging citizens to vote because one vote can make a difference. However, the examples you gave come from an urban legend that has circulated for many years and will not die. And the examples are not about one vote cast by one citizen that changed any destiny. And they are not even about the times and events claimed to be.
What first caught my attention was the statement: “Had it not been for one vote in 1868, Andrew Jackson would have been impeached.” It was Andrew Johnson who was impeached in 1868 and it was by a vote of 126 to 47 in the House. Then he survived removal from office by a single vote cast by a Senator, not an ordinary citizen.
Also, there was no vote in 1776 to defeat the adoption of German as our official language. The United States does not have an official language. This example comes from a debate in Congress in 1795 which voted 42 to 41 against requiring U.S. laws to be translated into German, or any language other than English.
The admission of Texas to the union in1845 by one vote is close enough. It was a 26 to 26 tie in the Senate until one senator changed his vote making it 27 to 25 in favor.
In the 1876 election Samuel Tilden won 3% more popular votes than Rutherford Hayes and had 184 electoral votes to 165 for Hayes, leaving 20 electoral votes in dispute. Congress formed a commission to investigate and came up with the Compromise of 1877. It awarded Hayes the 20 disputed votes in exchange for a pledge to end Reconstruction in the south. So, Hayes won by one electoral vote – again, not a citizen ‘s vote.
By the way, a single citizen’s vote does not carry the weight of a vote cast by a person of power. There have been five presidents who lost the popular vote but still won the election by the votes of the Electoral College: John Quincy Adams in 1824, Rutherford Hayes in 1876, Benjamin Harrison in 1888, George Bush in 2000, and Donald Trump in 2016.
The other examples cited about how “one vote” changed history have also been disputed over the years. However, I do agree with your encouragement to research the issues and candidates so we can come to a reasonable collective decision based on good information. Keep up that encouragement -- but give good information. And keep away from the urban legends.
Sincerely,
Dan Veach
Warsaw, MO
