A few class back , if you had tune into aTV dramadepicting a presidential election in which the married woman of a former president was pitted against a brash , abrasive real land magnate move around reality - show horde , you might have grumbled about the far - fetched imagination of the script writers . But rest assured , the strange portion of the 2016 general electioncampaignaren’t entirely without precedent .
Throughout American history , presidential campaigns have seen so many seemingly unlikely — if not outright bizarre — twists that unfamiliarity actually might be the prescript , rather than the exception . There was the election of 1800 , for object lesson , in which an Electoral College railroad tie between Thomas Jefferson andAaron Burr — who happened to be both from the same Democratic - Republican political party — forced the House of Representatives to spend a workweek and numerous balloting deciding the winner . Ultimately , their option was regulate by a phallus of the rival Federalist Party , Alexander Hamilton , who did n’t like either human being , but favor Jefferson as the lesser of two evil . ( Burr would after kill Hamilton in a affaire d’honneur ) [ source : McLaughlin ] .
And there was the 1896 race between Republican William McKinley and Democrat William Jennings Bryan , in which Bryan range the country on a whistle - stop train tour , logging 18,000 knot ( 28,968 km ) , while McKinley — who plain could n’t be trouble to travel — chose to stay on his front porch in Canton , Ohio and give speeches to delegates . Amazingly , the voting world was fine with that , and McKinley win [ informant : Miller Center ] .
And these model are n’t even the strangest ones . So , without further ado , here ’s a tilt of 10 of the most bizarre moments in U.S. presidential election .
10: 1788-89: The Campaign That Wasn’t
The first presidential election did n’t conduct much resemblance to the ones we have now . For one affair , only 10 of the original 13 states were involve , since North Carolina and Rhode Island had n’t yet ratify theU.S. Constitution , and New York ’s legislator got involved in a time - consuming spat and did n’t get around to appoint elector in sentence . to boot , it was n’t a popular election . In four states , legislators set aside for themselves the privilege of decide who would be sent to stray votes in theElectoral College , and the remaining six states only allowed blanched male adults to puke ballots [ source : Gordon ] .
But the unexpended thing was that there was no real hunting expedition with rival candidates vying for the presidency . rather , everybody seemed to want George Washington , the superior general who had lead the American colonies to a firmly - fought triumph over the British and independence . score of Americans post missive to Washington ’s home in Mount Vernon , Virginia , telling him that his res publica need him and that he could not refuse . As Washington himself jokingly a admirer , " I feel very much like a human being who is reprobate to death does when the time of his execution draws nigh " [ seed : Miller Center ] .
Thus , when the Electoral College met in January 1789 , Washington was the only president to be elect unanimously , with all 69 electors throw off one of their two vote for him . John Adams , who got 34 of the rest votes , was chosen vice president [ reservoir : Archives.gov ]
9: 1824: Andrew Jackson Gets Ripped Off
There were a lot of weird thing about the 1824 presidential drive , including the unpaired fact that all four of the prospect — Andrew Jackson , John Quincy Adams , William Crawford and Henry Clay — belonged to the samepolitical party , the Democratic - Republicans .
Jackson , a senator from Tennessee who ’d become a democratic hero as the general in the War of 1812 , acquire the democratic vote narrowly , by fewer than 39,000 voter turnout , and garner 99 votes in the Electoral College . John Quincy Adams , the seat escritoire of state , descend in moment with 84 , while Treasury Secretary Crawford puzzle 41 and Clay , who was speaker of the House , come in last with 37 . But none of them had a majority .
That mean the House of Representatives had to pick out a success . Jackson figured he ’d get the nod , since after all , he ’d take in the most popular and electoral votes . But Clay — who ’d been unfit because the House could only consider the top three — apparently had other ideas . His supporters be active their support to Adams , and , mysteriously , Congress members in country that had vote overwhelmingly for Jackson backed Adams as well . Adams was the achiever , and he rewarded Clay by appointing him secretary of state .
Jackson railed against the " tainted bargain " that had been struck , but four years later , he go his retaliation by running as an anti - Washington foreigner and beating Adams [ source : McLaughlin ] .
8: 1872: Backed by Two Parties, But Loses Anyway
In 1872 , incumbent PresidentUlysses S. Grantwas still ride on a undulation of popularity as the military commandant whose leadership helped save the Union . But Grant ’s support for the right of African - Americans and his pressure upon keep up the military occupation of the vanquished Southern State Department rubbed some of the less enlightened members of his own company the incorrect way . They wanted to pull out the troops and let the South return to ego - dominion , which essentially think bloodless control .
Those dissident broke off into a sliver party , which they called the Liberal Republicans . They put up Horace Greeley , the founder of the New - York Tribune , as theirpresidential campaigner . The Democratic Party thought he sounded middling right , too , and also picked him as its candidate , stimulate Greeley the only man ever to flow as the stock - bearer for two parties simultaneously .
But the unknown alliance did n’t do Greeley much good . First , Grant move to win the democratic suffrage 56 percentage to 44 percent , and picked up 286 electoral votes [ reference : Miller Center ] . Second , Greeley died a few weeks after the election , so he did n’t even get the 66 electoral votes he ’d earned . Instead , they were reallocated to four minor nominee [ source : Library of Congress ] .
7: 1876: The House Cuts an Especially Sleazy Deal
Democrat Samuel J. Tilden win the democratic vote by just about 250,000 over Republican Rutherford B. Hayes , but he was one vote short of a majority in the Electoral College . But a cloud hung over the answer in four states . The Republicans appoint that Democrats had intimidated smuggled voters in the states of Florida , Louisiana and South Carolina . And in Oregon , one of Hayes ' electors was ruled ineligible because he was a Union situation holder , and the Democraticgovernorappointed someone from his own party in the homo ’s situation .
With no clear winner two months after the election , Congress passed a law in January 1877 creating an Electoral Commission to decide the difference of opinion , which seemed like a bonnie - given solution . The commission had five legislators from each party and five Supreme Court justices — three Democrats , two Republicans and one self-employed person , Justice David Davis . But Tilden ’s side made what in retrospect was a dull miscalculation , by marshaling Democrats in the Illinois state Senate to constitute Davis to the U.S. Senate . They call back it would sway him to support Tilden , but alternatively , he reconcile , and a Republican justice , Joseph P. Bradley , took his place . The commission then voted along political party lines to give Hayes the presidentship [ sources : PBS , Miller Center , Supreme Court Historical Society ] .
6: 1920: The Candidate Who Ran From Behind Bars
Back in the other 20th century , Eugene Debs , a former railroad line worker and labor organizer , turned to radical politics after run striker in a confrontation with Union troops and spending six months in gaol for scorn ofcourt . Debs joined the Socialist Party , and operate as the political party ’s presidential candidate in 1900 , 1904 , 1908 and 1912 . He lost all those elections , but in 1916 , he chose to run for a Congressional seat in Indiana , on a pacifist weapons platform , and actually won .
Even then , Debs managed to get in trouble . After the U.S. joined the confederate side in World War I , Congress passed the Espionage and Sedition acts which essentially made it a crime to publicly oppose the war . After Debs ignored the law and gave an " anti - war speech " ( just one line cite the state of war ) in Canton , Ohio , he was arrested , tried and convicted , and sentenced to 10 old age in a federalpenitentiaryin Atlanta .
But that did n’t break Debs from running for president a fifth time from behind bars . His admirer portrayed him as a martyr for civil familiarity , and even liken him to Abraham Lincoln and Jesus Christ . He deal to get 919,000 vote , about 3.5 percent of the entire casting . The following yr , newly elected President Warren G. Harding freed him from prison house [ source : PBS , Britannica , Kansasheritage.org ] .
5: 1948: The Chicago Tribune Gets the Winner Wrong
Thepollingand pundits all pretty much agreed that Democratic incumbent Harry S. Truman was toast in thiselection . Republicans had consume mastery of Congress in 1946 , and Truman ’s own party was divided over his hard line against the Soviet Union . His keep for civil right for African - Americans led segregator to bolt and form the States Rights Party , which nominated Sen. Strom Thurmond from South Carolina as its nominee [ beginning : Miller Center ] .
That all made Truman look hopelessly vulnerable against the Republican challenger , New York Gov. Thomas Dewey . Dewey was a stiff , ill-chosen campaigner with a inclination toward ostentation , but he was also a reformist and quite democratic . Even when Truman adopted a more folksy tone and went on a whistle - stop hitch to denounce the " do - nothing " Congress , the smart money still figured he was finish [ reservoir : Miller Center , Jones ] .
On election night , those assumptions swayed the Chicago Tribune , one of America ’s boastful paper , to make an embarrassing error . Because a printing machine ' strike hale the shorthanded paper to go to press in the beginning than usual , manage editor J. Loy " Pat " Maloney trusted the prevision of his Washington correspondent , Arthur Sears Henning , and went with " Dewey Defeats Truman " as the newspaper headline .
The Tribune right itself in its second edition that day and all might have been forget except that two daylight afterwards , the victorious Truman hold up a copy of the original front Thomas Nelson Page and posed for an unforgettable pic [ source : Jones ] .
4: 1972: The Running Mate Had Undergone Electric Shock Therapy
The Democratic Party pick its presidential candidate that twelvemonth under a reform nomination system that took the office aside from party bosses and put it in the hands of primary elector . The effect was that an anti - establishment candidate , Sen. George McGovern of South Dakota , superintend to seize the nominating address .
McGovern , though , had difficultness finding a running Ilex paraguariensis . His first choice , Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts , turned him down . last , he contend to raise Sen. Thomas Eagleton of Missouri , to connect him .
But at the troubled , disaffected rule that twelvemonth , it was n’t easy to get Eagleton nominated . Six other Democratic politicians were constitute forVP , and delegates set out casting vote for others as well , including fancied figures such as Archie Bunker from the TV sitcom " All in the Family . "
Eagleton won but did n’t last long . Two calendar week afterwards , he admit that he had been hospitalize three times for depression and stress , and had receive electrical jounce therapy . ( Back then , background checks were minimal . ) McGovern initially said he would back Eagleton " 1,000 pct " regardless , but when the furore over Eagleton ’s genial health did n’t sink , he foreswear the slate . His surrogate was former Peace Corps conductor Sargent Shriver . McGovern never recovered and lost in a landslip to incumbent Richard Nixon [ author : Rudin ] .
3: 1980: Reagan Considers a Former President for his VP
In the 1980 Republicanprimaries , bad blood develop between former California Gov. Ronald Reagan , the eventual winner , and also - run George H.W. Bush , who had derided histaxcut and spending proposal as " fetish political economy " . So when it hail time for Reagan to pick a running better half , the disliked Bush was n’t on his personal lean .
Instead , Reagan flirt with a extremely unorthodox musical theme . He wanted to beak Gerald Ford , who had do as frailty chairman in Richard Nixon ’s governing , and then been raise to the Oval Office himself when Nixon renounce to avoid impeachment in 1974 . Two years later , Ford had been defeat by Democrat Jimmy Carter , who was now the officeholder being challenge by Reagan . Historically , it was gonzo , but politically , it made a strange kind of sense . In surveys conducted by Reagan ’s pollster , Dick Wirthlin , Ford performed right smart ahead of other salient Republican prospects [ source : Witcover ] .
Reagan even meet with Ford in Palm Springs before the GOP Convention to cant over the estimation . But to his letdown , Ford flatly turned him down . " He had been there and done that , " as political journalist Jules Witcover after explained .
Eventually , Reagan ’s advisors convinced him to make peace with Bush and pick him , and they won the election [ source : Witcover ] .
2: 1992: Perot Quits the Race, Then Changes His Mind
Texas billionaireindependentRoss Perot was the most unorthodox candidate ever to be a serious rival for the Oval Office — at least , until Donald Trump came along [ source : Weeks ] . For starters , Perot announced his political campaign not in a language , but in an visual aspect on CNN ’s " Larry King Live " talk show . ( It has since become quite democratic for political candidates to announce their runnel on public lecture show . ) Perot did n’t give many speeches at all , instead reaching out to voters mostly through 30 - minute informercial to present his ideas on cut back the federal debt and stopping the North American Free Trade Agreement , which he match [ source : Britannica ] .
With incumbent President George H.W. Bush hindered by an economic downturn and popular challenger Bill Clinton weakened by allegement of personal dirt , Perot had an opening , and by June 1992 , he actually lead in the polls [ source : Britannica ] .
But in July , Perot suddenly dropped out of the race — and , just as suddenly , re - entered it in October . His account for the suspension ? He accused the Bush campaign of plotting to ruin his unseasoned girl ’s reputation with a fake photograph , and of hiring an ex - CIA employee to cut up into his computerized ancestry - trading [ generator : Richter and Fritz ] .
Hard grounds did n’t surface , and Perot end up losing to Clinton , though he make do to get 19 per centum of the vote , the full showing of a third party since the Bull Moose Party in 1912 . Perot also melt down in the 1996 election but only got 8 percent of the vote [ origin : Britannica ] .
1: 2000: The Supreme Court Decides the Winner
If there ’s an election that really leave a bad mouthful in many Americans ' mouths , this one is it . The Republican nominee , Texas Gov. George W. Bush , and his popular twin , Vice President Al Gore , battled severely all summertime , and as Election Day approach , it seemed too airless to call . That evening , though , Gore seem on his way to victory , after the majorTV networksprojected Gore as the winner in the authoritative state of Florida . But at around 10 p.m. , they rescinded their predictions , and instead , at 2:15 a.m. , call Florida for Bush . That led Gore to call Bush and congratulate him on win the presidentship [ beginning : Miller Center ] .
But Gore ’s concession did n’t last long . After the Florida voter turnout numeration showed the gross profit narrowing nasty and tighter , Gore called Bush again and retracted his grant . For the next calendar month or so , the two side of meat battled over a recount , and voting constipation in places such as Palm Beach County , where the data formatting of a punch - poster voting seemed to confuse some voters .
Gore wanted a manual recount of four county , and the Florida Supreme Court hold with him . But , on Dec. 12 , the U.S.Supreme Court , in a controversial 5 - 4 decision , stopped the recount . That break Bush a triumph in Florida of just 537 right to vote over Gore , who circumvent him in the countrywide popular vote by 500,000 [ source : Levine ] .
Lots More Information
eld ago , as a writer for John F. Kennedy Jr. ’s long - defunct political magazine George , I wrote a profile of Dwayne Andreas , an agriculture administrator and deep - sack political contributor who was a confidante of legion home politicians . Andreas told me that after Richard Nixon won the 1968 presidential election , he asked Andreas to come to the White House , and made a strange request . Nixon wanted Andreas to facilitate set up a replay in four years with defeated Democratic candidate Hubert Humphrey , with whom he was also friendly . If Humphrey would accord to go , Nixon would help oneself keep him in the public eye by appoint him embassador to the United Nations , and allow Andreas to raise the then - magnificent join of $ 20 million to bankroll Humphrey ’s campaign .
According to Andreas , Humphrey turned down Nixon ’s go of the embassador post so that he could run for his old U.S. Senate seat in Minnesota instead . Humphrey did finally seek the 1972 presidential nomination , but mislay out to another Andreas friend , Sen. George McGovern from South Dakota .
