Reviews for America at the polls

The average rating for America at the polls based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-11-11 00:00:00 Dexter Davis Fascinating recounting of the 1876 presidential election when Republican Rutherford B Hayes received 250,000 less votes than Democrat Samuel Tilden, but won the election with 185 electoral votes vs Tilden's 184. Three (3) states (Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina) submitted multiple results. Ironically, although the election was clearly stolen from Tilden, Hayes was "popular among the citizens and he had no enemies among the professional politicians. He was the sort of man of whom it is often said that he was born to be President. Yet the voters did not elect him." On the other hand, Tilden was "an icy, aloof man with a forbidding manner and no fondness for public life" and he "did not have the personal magnetism a successful candidate must have to win the support of the people, and the professional politicians of both parties hated him because he had exposed their thievery. Yet the voters elected him President." And, the author adds, "One of the strangest aspects of this strange election is that the wrong man turned out to be the right man: Hayes, who should not have been President, brought the agonizing struggle of North against South to a close, which Tilden probably could not have done." I find Robinson's account of the incredible and time-consuming manipulations that occurred to be very interesting and can much better appreciate President Hayes. Having completed the book on 09/25/2016, I was fortunate to be driving through northwest Ohio on 09/26/2016 and took the opportunity to stop in Freemont, OH at the Rutherford B Hayes Museum, Library and home. Purchased the newly published book, "100 Days in the Life of Rutherford Hayes" by Eric Ebinger. I very much look forward to reading it.

Review # 2 was written on 2010-05-21 00:00:00 Morgan McAdams Obviously quite relevant for our times!