Al Gore: Concession Speech

Explanation and Analysis of the Document

Setting a new record for voter participation, more than one hundred million Americans voted in the 2000 presidential election. As television networks began to predict which states George W. Bush and Al Gore had won, it became clear that the next president would have to win the state of Florida. At first, it appeared Bush had won Florida, and Gore called Bush to concede. However, an hour later, Gore had pulled within a few hundred votes of Bush. Gore called Bush to retract his concession. Because the race was so close, at Gore's request election officials began recounting the ballots by hand. Bush opposed the recount, charging that it was subject to human error.

The battle over the Florida recount went on through the month of November and eventually reached the United States Supreme Court. In its decision, Bush v. Gore, the Court ruled in favor of George W. Bush and declared him the winner of Florida and therefore the winner of the presidential election. According to the final certified results in Florida, Bush won by 537 votes. Although he publicly disagreed with the 5–4 Court decision, Gore conceded the election on December13, 2000. The legal wrangling over the election results involved the exchange of strong words by both parties. Gore supporters felt that the election had been “stolen” from them, and, given how close the election was, the country was bitterly divided. Therefore Gore had to walk a fine line in his concession speech; he needed to assuage his supporters, but he also had a responsibility to help the nation move forward.

As he did in his 1996 address to the Democratic National Convention, Gore begins with humor; in this case, the humor serves to defuse some of the tension inherent in the situation. He refers to his earlier concession and retraction, which emphasizes the unusual nature and purpose of the speech, but in a nonthreatening way. He immediately remarks on the need to “heal the divisions” that face the nation. As he often does, Gore uses famous people from American history to illustrate points. In this case, he invokes Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas, who debated each other in a contentious Senate campaign just before the Civil War. In 1860, when Lincoln defeated Douglas, the issue dividing the nation was slavery; Gore brings in the nation's history as a “house divided” to reinforce the fact that, although the rift between the parties is real, it must be healed.

Gore repeatedly reminds his listeners that they have an obligation to a higher authority than their own emotions. He asks for God's blessing on Bush and quotes a phrase engraved above Harvard's law library that places God and law above man. Gore also refers to the election turmoil as “one of God's unforeseen paths,” indicating the potential for good to come out of the tumult. He also refers to the strength of American democracy and its institutions, invoking the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the national hymn, “America the Beautiful.”

Yet Gore peppers his speech with language that shows his disagreement with the election's outcome. He states very clearly that he disagrees with the Court's decision. Gore mentions “challenges to the popular will” in reference to the past, but his purpose is to call attention to the fact that he won the majority of the popular vote; Bush received fewer popular votes than Gore but won more electoral votes. Gore also notes that there will be opportunities to “debate our continuing differences,” indicating that conceding the election does not necessarily mean that the parties will agree on matters of policy. Gore also voices his regret at not having a chance to “fight for the American people” as president and refers to “those who feel their voices have not been heard.” There were charges that, in some counties in Florida, voters had been unable to cast their ballots because of long lines at the polls, broken voting machines, or problems accessing polling sites. The issue of voting irregularities in Florida was a heated point of contention in the recount debate, and Gore addresses it here.

The narrow margin of victory, legal challenges, and ultimate Supreme Court decision made the 2000 presidential election a unique historical event. Faced with a bitter personal disappointment and a nation divided, Gore's 2000 concession speech allowed the nation to move forward yet conveyed his disagreement with the Supreme Court's final decision.