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Forged Letter Almost Becomes Garfield's 'Death Warrant'
Garfield wanted to negotiate with China regarding the Chinese immigrants coming to the U.S. to work on the railroads. He wanted to place fair limitations on the numbers.
However, a letter popped up seemingly written by Garfield saying "individuals and companies have the right to buy labor where they can get it cheapest." This letter made it seem like Garfield didn't want to limit Chinese immigration, which went against his original stance.
But the letter proved to be a forgery. -
FDR Almost Loses the Black Vote
Black voters weren't happy segregation still existed in the military.
During a New York trip, FDR and aid, Stephen Early were confronted by police officers, and Early allegedly kneed one of the cops in the crotch. This caused uproar because this officer was Black.
FDR tried to repair his reputation by creating the Tuskegee Airmen and promoted Colonel Benjamin O. Davis Jr., the first black man to reach brigadier general.
FDR still won the election with a 3rd term in office. -
Kissinger Prematurely Announces 'Peace' in Vietnam
On October 31, 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered U.S. to stop bombing Vietnam to help create a sense of peace. Hopes of having peace talks with the country fell apart.
4 years later during Nixon's presidency, he was sure that he would be able to secure peace before the 1972 election day. Peace talks were happening with North Vietnamese but South Vietnamese objected peace efforts.
Nixon's national security advisor said "peace is at hand." But the war would still happen for 3 more years. -
Reagan Campaign Coins the Term 'October Surprise'
Iranian Hostage Crisis was going on and Reagan had a suspicion that Carter had secured the release of American hostages and hadn't told anyone.
Reagan's campaign manager came up with the term 'October Surprise' because of this.
Carter actually hadn't secured a deal with Iran, but after Reagan was inaugurated, Iran released the hostages, resulting in accusations from Democrats that Reagan has secretly made a deal with Iran. -
Iran-Contra Indictment is Bad News for George H.W. Bush
Bush was struggling to hold onto his position in the White House especially since the economy was near a recession.
Caspar Weinberger (secretary of defense under Reagan) was indicted for involvement in the Iran-Contra Affair. Bush was the vice president for Reagan and was trying to not be connected to the conflict.
Weinberger told about those who knew about the conflict, which included Bush, and he lost the election to Bill Clinton because of it with the economy a large part of the loss too. -
A DUI Almost Derails George W. Bush
Fox News revealed that in 1976 Bush had been arrested for drunk driving while in Maine after he was partying. This caused people to believe that he was unfit to be president. This caused very tight election results between Bush and his opponent, Al Gore.
There was a recount in Florida, but the Supreme Court actually stopped the recount from happening. Gore has won the popularity vote, but Bush won the electoral college. -
FBI Reopens Probe into Clinton's Emails
There were multiple 'October Surprises' for this election with both candidates. The main event though was when the FBI director announced they were reopening their investigation into Clinton's private email server, which was an investigation they originally closed in July of 2016.
This caused Clinton to lose the election even though she won the popularity vote.