ATTACK ON OUR CAPITOL IN PERSPECTIVE

Nineteen months ago supporters of outgoing president Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol. The mob attempted to stop certification of the Electoral College vote, which would cement the outcome of the 2020 election, one Mr. Trump lost. Thus far, many still believe that the violence represented the worst affront to our constitutional democracy in history. Their perception appears to be substantiated by the overwhelming evidence unearthed by the "January 6 Committee" investigating the attack. Although the assault ranks as an example of one of the most extreme exhibitions of convulsion during a presidential transition, it was, historically, not the only, nor even the worst, instance of belligerent behavior following a contentious election. Nothing is more dangerous and strains our democratic system more acutely than the period of a presidential transition, which runs from election day in November to inauguration day on January 20. This is the time when our government is in limbo, during which our adversaries could attempt to do something nefarious. It is also the time during which a President-Elect prepares to take over the administration of the federal government from a lame-duck incumbent. During this time period political behavior frequently proves to be more intensely quarrelsome, especially after an incumbent loses his or her reelection attempt to a challenger from a different party. Snubs and insults between competing personalities who are still making sense of new realities at this time are not uncommon. Examples are plentiful. Very early in our history as an independent state, during the election of 1800, when our second president, John Adams, ran against his vice president Thomas Jefferson, interaction between the two camps was extremely nasty. The election outcome was inconclusive and ended up in the House of Representatives. Adams lost. Jefferson won after 36 ballots. Distraught over his loss, Adams refused to attend the inauguration of his opponent, and left the Presidential Mansion at 4am on that morning. In 1824, John Quincy Adams defeated Andrew Jackson by managing to collect more electoral votes in the House of Representatives, even though Jackson had actually won more popular and electoral votes. Jackson, being denied victory by the electoral count in the House, called the outcome a "corrupt bargain." Four years later Adams lost against Jackson. While considering the latter's triumph a "hostile takeover," Adams left before the transition took place. An example of contentious behavior during more modern times emerged from the 1952 contest, which elected Dwight Eisenhower. Outgoing president Harry Truman apparently insulted the incoming president by publicly commenting that "the general doesn't know any more about politics than a pig knows about Sunday." Thoroughly offended, Ike subsequently declined to be briefed by Truman. The most consequential political violence following an election resulted from the 1860 election of Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln had won with 39.8% of the vote in a four man race. He competed with Stephen Douglas, John Bell, and John Breckinridge, President James Buchanan's vice president and Lincoln's most significant opponent, who ran on the Southern Democratic ticket. Five weeks after the election seven slave holding states: South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia and Texas, seceded from the Union to form their own Confederate government. They claimed to be committed to the legitimacy in perpetuity of slavery and to interrupt the peaceful transition of power from a Democrat to a Republican. A joint session of Congress met on February 13, 1861 to count the Electoral College votes needed to certify the result of the election. The New York Times at the time described the atmosphere as one of "tense apprehension" on Capitol Hill. The paper expressed the fear that "the counting of the electoral votes would never be peacefully accomplished." A large police force had been assembled to secure the area and to limit access to the chamber. The certification count would take place among credible threats of murder. Ultimately the process was completed. Breckinridge received all 72 electoral votes from the seceded states. Lincoln and his running mate Hannibal Hamlin each gained 180 votes, exclusively from Northern states - they had not even been on the ballot in ten slave states - with 152 needed to win. While the count took place in Congress, Jefferson Davis was inaugurated in the south. Eight weeks later, on April 12, Confederate guns fired on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, the first shots of what would become a four-year civil war. Lincoln was assassinated six weeks after his second inaugural. None of this is meant to suggest that peaceful transitions are rare. After all, one of the hallmarks of democratic governments is that after an election the losing parties gracefully step aside and accept their fate. Richard Nixon, as Eisenhower's vice president, who lost the 1961 election to John F. Kennedy, had to count Kennedy's disputed electoral votes. He did it, and attended the president-elect's inauguration, seated next to Lyndon Johnson, the incoming V.P.. Al Gore, as President Clinton's vice president, had to read the electoral vote count after the 2000 election, which he lost to George W. Bush. He performed his constitutional duty, and he and his wife rode down Pennsylvania Avenue in a limo with their successors, Dick Cheney and his wife, on inauguration day. And, on January 6, Donald Trump's vice president Mike Pence, under enormous pressure from an uncompromising boss and death threats from a violent mob, showed his constitutional temperament and character when he executed his responsibility. Vice President and Mrs. Pence attended President Biden's inauguration as well. Much of the world displayed shock or glee over the January 6 assault on our Capitol during the transition period following our 2020 election. Our allies especially expressed their concerns about our ability to continue to support leading democratic systems across the globe, at a time when many of their leaders were having difficulties keeping their governments intact and functional. However, with the exception of our civil war, our constitutional system has thus far held together. Civility, character and commitment to democratic norms of our elected officials will be essential to its continued survival. Theo Wierdsma