Dear Reader:

You have probably noticed that I have kept a low profile on the campaign and election of our new President. Friends and politics don’t mix. I am typing today’s blog before noon…so I have no idea who the President will be by the time this blog goes to press at 6:00 in the morning.

All I know is that, like many Americans, I have been completely disheartened by this election and all the hoop-la-la we have been subjected to throughout the seemingly endless mud-slinging diatribes against each other. It has been the ugliest campaign in my life… but certainly not the ugliest in American history.

In a democracy with free speech we get to see how it works first-hand in many Presidential elections….Try some of these on for size!

The 1876 election was down and dirty in ways that are hard to imagine. Rutherford B. Hayes, Republican candidate, was repeatedly attacked by his opponent, Democrat contender Samuel J. Tilden. He accused Hayes of being a drunk, of having syphilis and of bribing his way into political office. The election was hotly contested, leaving Tilden with 185 electoral votes — one short to win — and Hayes with 165. Months passed before the matter was finally settled behind closed doors with the Compromise of 1877. Hayes agreed to remove federal troops from the South, ending the Restoration that followed after the Civil War, in exchange for the Presidency. According to the “Smithsonian,” it is the ugliest election in American history, with allegations of corruption and voter fraud on both sides.

Others say that the election of 1828 was even worse This contest pit Andrew Jackson against John Quincy Adams. Andrew Jackson, who had famously participated in a duel years before, was lambasted by his opponent as having a violent temper. He was even attacked for his choice of wife, as Rachel Jackson had been married before she wed Andrew Jackson. She was called a bigamist, among other names, in the press of the day. Things got incredibly ugly, and Rachel got sick and died very shortly after Jackson won the election. For the rest of his life, he blamed the campaign on killing his wife — and John Quincy Adams, in particular. As such, Jackson refused to attend the traditional post-inaugural meeting with Adams, the outgoing President.

Things got so ugly in the year 1800, it changed the way Presidential campaigns were held. Thomas Jefferson hired a writer specifically to take down his opponent, John Adams, calling him a *”hermaphroditical character.” Adams claimed that a Jefferson Administration would lead to the death of children, the rape of women and the wide-scale destruction of property. It got so bad, Congress passed the 12th Amendment shortly after the election so that the nominee who received the second-highest amount of votes would no longer become the Vice President of the United States.

* The real slanderous quote went like this:

“hideous hermaphroditical character, which has neither the force and firmness of a man, nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman.”

hermaphroditical- meaning a person who exhibits two opposites in combined forces or qualities….(we would just call it “talking out both sides of the mouth.”) Jefferson, who is revered now, didn’t mind hiring a partisan writer/publisher to slander Adams with everything he could think of…didn’t matter if it were true or not…Jefferson figured no one would know the truth until after the election…sound familiar?

It’s one thing to attack a man’s politics, but in 1860 the candidates got personal. Both Lincoln and Douglas attacked each other’s looks, with Lincoln poking fun at Douglas’s height (he was about 5’4″) and Douglas saying that Lincoln was a “horrid-looking” man and an “ungainly mess of legs and arms and hatchet face.”

*See? Politics have been politics for a long time….we were just blessed to avoid some of the ugliest campaigns until this one in our life time. And the country has survived…even bloomed under Jefferson and Lincoln and we are still here…so “We the People” -who are the true government anyway- need to say a prayer for our leaders…no matter who they are and no matter what political party. And hold them accountable…if not us…who?

Billy Graham demonstrated this as he met with every President of both parties since WWII- it was always to have a prayer intercession with them. Each President appreciated his prayer. The Presidents were: Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, H.W. bush, Clinton, G.W. Bush, and Barack Obama who was the only sitting President asked to go to Billy Graham’s home in Montreat, NC (health problems) and have a word of prayer with him there.

Eisenhower, after his prayer intercession, always told friends and crowds this quote from Billy Graham:

“Billy Graham is one of the best ambassadors our country has but he told me, ‘I am an ambassador of heaven.’” — Dwight D. Eisenhower

So until tomorrow…another day in our country…let our evenly divided political views come together and offer up prayers for our new leader. This is Billy Graham’s prayer.

Our Father and Our God, we praise You for Your goodness to our nation, giving us blessings far beyond what we deserve. Yet we know all is not right with America. We deeply need a moral and spiritual renewal to help us meet the many problems we face. Convict us of sin. Help us to turn to You in repentance and faith. Set our feet on the path of Your righteousness and peace. We pray today for our nation’s leaders. Give them the wisdom to know what is right, and the courage to do it. You have said, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.” May this be a new era for America, as we humble ourselves and acknowledge You alone as our Savior and Lord. This we pray in Your holy name, Amen.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Update on the health of Billy Graham:

In a letter shared on the Billy Graham Association website, Franklin Graham told friends and supporters that his father (97) is still living in his Montreat, North Carolina, home with the help of a caregiver “at all times.”

The Samaritan’s Purse CEO said the elder Graham usually eats meals at the kitchen table, and “on days when the weather is good and he feels up to it” he enjoys gazing out at the mountains from his front porch.

“His ministry now is praying,” Franklin Graham wrote, “and he looks forward to reports of what God is doing around the world. He always responds by saying ‘Praise the Lord,’ as he points upward.”

Delights of the Day: Lo, how a rose is blooming and blue pansies on a green magnolia.