SOLD Woodrow Wilson Is Grateful For Commiseration During the 1916 Post-Election Uncertainty

President Wilson was renominated at the Democratic Convention held in St. Louis in June 1916. He was then riding the crest of public approval, following his apparently successful effort to persuade Germany to modify its submarine warfare policy. The Republicans labored to repair the division in their party and nominated the highly esteemed Supreme Court Justice Charles Evans Hughes of New York. Roosevelt’s former vice president, Charles W. Fairbanks, shared the ticket with Hughes.

The Democrats’ campaign slogan, "He kept us out of war," was not favored by Wilson, who doubted his ability to maintain peace in an uncertain future. The views of Hughes and Wilson on American entrance into the war were quite similar. However, Hughes came to be labeled the war candidate largely because of Roosevelt’s all too frequent sword-rattling speeches. Anti-war sentiment was very strong in the country in 1916, so Roosevelt’s effort to help Hughes may have cost him the election.

On election night the result was muddled because of delays in processing election returns. Wilson retired for the evening assuming Hughes had won and numerous newspapers carried accounts of Wilson’s supposed defeat. However, the next day changed the picture as the vote count in California gave that state to Wilson by a very narrow margin. Hughes would not concede and Wilson faced a period of uncertainty in which he was unsure whether he would be a lame duck, and that complicated the efforts he was making to maintain the peace and deal with the combatants. He received a letter from William D. Hoyt, his first wife’s cousin, apparently commiserating with his difficult and uncertain position. This is Wilson’s response.

Typed Letter Signed on White House letterhead, Washington, November 16, 1916, just nine days after the presidential election. “Thank you very warmly for your letter. It was a pleasure to hear from you and to feel your sympathy in the circumstances, and all join me in warmest wishes…” On November 22, Hughes conceded defeat, ending the electoral crisis for both the country and its president.