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A Forged Letter Almost Becomes Garfield's Death Warrant 1880
In 1880, just 12 days before the election, there was a forged letter that was supposedly written by Garfield on the House of Reps stationary, after the republican sent out private investigators, it was proven to be a forgery, this letter did cost Garfield the votes of California, and he barely won. -
FDR Almost Loses the Black Vote 1940
Upon WW2, FDR had a majority of the black votes, but after the segregation norm wasn't changed, it put a very bad look on him. Then after FDR left a station after a campaigning event, there was a violent outburst where one of the people involved was black. -
Kissinger Prematurely Announces Peace in Vietnam 1972
On October 31st, LBJ ordered a halt to all US bombing campaigns, 4 years later, there was a breakthrough regarding peace with North Vietnamese which accepted the American's terms. -
Reagan Campaign Coins the Term October Surprise 1980
In 1980, more than 50 American citizens were held hostage, Reagan decided to campaign a promise to free the hostages but there was mounting suspicion that Carter had actually secured the hostages but was waiting on the announcement so it would look better for his campaign -
Iran-Contra Indictment is Bad News for HW Bush 1992
In 1992, Bush put a pardon out on Weinberger who was indicted due to his relation with the Iran Contra affair, this had a huge impact on Bush's reputation and put concerns on Bush's involvement. -
A DUI Almost Derails George W Bush 2000
Days before the election, fox news shared a huge story about how George W Bush was arrested for drunk driving after a night of partying, because of this news, Gore won the popular vote in 2000 but lost the election in Florida due to a recount ordered by the Supreme court. -
FBI Reopens Probe into Clinton's Emails 2016
Just 11 days before the election in 2026, James Comey an FBI director called a conference regarding Clinton's private email server, this huge outbreak caused Clinton to lose the election despite winning popular vote.