作为总统唐纳德·特朗普之后仍然目中无人乔·拜登成为2020年总统选举的明显赢家周六，照片即将离任的老布什总统写给当选总统比尔·克林顿的手写信件1993年1月20日，充斥着社交媒体。
布什是现任总统，在激烈的战斗后，他的第二个任期输给了阿肯色州的民主党州长，在他的就职典礼上，他给了克林顿一封发自内心的信。他不仅提出了建议，还在对手入主白宫时表示了支持。
“亲爱的比尔，当我刚刚走进这间办公室时，我感到了和四年前一样的惊奇和尊重。我知道你也会有这种感觉，”信开始写道。“祝你在这里幸福无比。”
辛西娅·约翰逊/通过盖蒂图像收集生活图像
乔治·布什总统和当选总统比尔·克林顿在白宫漫步时握手
“将会有非常艰难的时期，你可能认为不公平的批评会使之变得更加困难。我不是一个很好给建议的人;但不要让批评者打击你，或者让你偏离正轨，”他继续说道。“你现在的成功就是我们国家的成功。我为你努力加油。好运，乔治。”
克林顿和布什后来成为了好朋友，而且是在这位前总统11月30日去世前几周。2018年，克林顿读了信总统历史学家马克·厄普代洛夫。
国家档案和记录管理局的总统图书馆和博物馆/推特
即将离任的老布什总统在椭圆形办公室给比尔·克林顿总统留了一封信
“我喜欢那封信，”克林顿告诉美国广播公司新闻。“我以为这是老布什。我以为他是认真的，但我也以为他是在努力做一个世界最高意义上的公民。就我个人而言，这深深地打动了我。”
这封信是在布什做出和解和充满希望的让步后发出的演讲1992年11月4日，也就是克林顿预计赢得大选的第二天。
法新社通过盖蒂图像，文件
乔治·布什总统(右)与当选总统比尔·克林顿在白宫外就“否”进行会谈
布什在开幕词中说:“我们是这样看待这个问题的，这个国家也应该这样看待这个问题——人民已经说话了，我们尊重民主制度的威严。”他发誓要与即将上任的政府合作，实现“平稳过渡”，并敦促他的支持者“支持我们的新总统”。
特朗普将加入布什的一小组现任总统，他们在第二个任期的竞选中失败了。不包括只竞选一届任期的总统和在总统不能再任职时被任命为总统后竞选的总统，美国历史上只有九位一届总统竞选连任失败。
“特朗普加入了这个非常独特的俱乐部，我认为这种经历的独特性加剧了已经存在的紧张局势，”总统历史学家兼美国广播公司新闻撰稿人利亚·赖特·里格说。“因此，对于那些能够迅速做出让步、没有怨恨、没有尖酸刻薄的总统来说...为民主和民主国家的所作所为定下基调很重要。”
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唐纳德·特朗普总统(左)、第一夫人梅兰妮·特朗普、前总统巴拉克·奥巴马(前)
法宝在选举之夜被错误宣布当他在几个关键的州领先时，他赢得了竞选，并在没有证据的情况下声称，在计数开始向拜登倾斜之后，选举从他那里被偷了，并且犯了欺诈罪。
周六，在拜登被预测为获胜者的一轮高尔夫球赛之后，他重申了同样的话，当时他在推特上毫无根据地声称自己赢得了选举。
尽管总统让步演讲并不总是一种传统，许多选举都是激烈的斗争，但里格说，过去“绝对没有什么”可以与特朗普的选举后行为相比。
白宫拒绝就几家新闻机构将拜登预测为周六选举的明显获胜者发表评论，并询问特朗普是否会打电话让拜登让步，白宫副新闻秘书贾德·迪尔(Judd Deere)告诉美国广播公司新闻，“没有安排更新。”
里格尔说:“唐纳德·特朗普如此引人注目的是，没有人承认他会让步。”他补充说，“鉴于特朗普的记录，我不知道他会不会说‘我没有赢’这句话。”"
麦智信/盖蒂影像公司
民主党总统候选人副总统戈尔在大选前发表了他的让步演说
即使在2000年共和党人乔治·布什和民主党人阿尔·戈尔激烈的总统竞选之后——由于混乱和不确定性持续了36天，这促使佛罗里达州重新计票——戈尔让步布什赢得佛罗里达州的选举后。
他说:“我接受选举结果的最终结果，该结果将于下周一在选举团得到批准。”。“今晚，为了我们作为一个民族的团结和我们民主的力量，我做出让步。”
民主党伊利诺伊州州长阿德莱·史蒂文森递送这是他以压倒性优势输给共和党人德怀特·戴维·艾森豪威尔后，美国历史上第一次在全国电视上发表让步演说。在电视出现之前，民主党纽约州州长艾尔·史密斯递送1928年输给共和党人赫伯特·胡佛后的第一次广播让步演说。
Imagno/Getty Images
赫伯特·胡佛总统和他的继任者富兰克林·罗斯福在华盛顿的就职典礼上离开
当胡佛在1932年竞选连任失败，败给民主党人富兰克林·德拉诺·罗斯福时，他通过一封电报承认了这一点，在电报中他向罗斯福表示祝贺，祝愿他“成为一个最成功的政府”，最后他说，“为了我们所有人的共同目标，我将尽一切可能做出有益的努力。”
自胡佛以来，唯一在连任竞选中失败的现任总统是吉米·卡特总统，他在1980年输给了共和党人罗纳德·里根，布什在1992年输给了克林顿，现在，特朗普在2020年明显输给了拜登。
含泪让步演讲1980年11月5日，卡特承认这一损失“令人痛心”，但他说，“然而，我对这一制度深表赞赏，它让人们可以自由选择谁将在未来四年领导他们。”
弗朗索瓦·洛肯/伽马射线通过盖蒂图像
吉米·卡特总统和第一夫人罗莎琳·卡特与当选总统罗纳德·里根合影
这位即将离任的总统随后与支持者分享了他发给里根的一份电报，在电报中，他向当选总统表示祝贺，并承诺“全力支持”实现平稳过渡。
哈佛肯尼迪政府学院的教授里格说，承认选举是“优雅的象征”，“因为总统的重量，这不是一件无聊的事情。”
她补充说，她“担心”特朗普不让步的可能性，“特别是考虑到这次选举的分裂程度，以及7000万人确实为唐纳德·特朗普投票。他应该为他们塑造良好得体的行为，而他不是。”
'I am rooting hard for you': As Trump remains defiant, here's how past one-term presidents conceded
As PresidentDonald Trumpremained defiant afterJoe Biden became the apparent winner of the 2020 presidential electionon Saturday, photos of thehandwritten letter outgoing President George H.W. Bush wrote to President-elect Bill Clintonon Jan. 20, 1993, flooded social media.
Bush, the incumbent president who lost his bid for a second term to the Democratic governor of Arkansas after an intense fight, gave the heartfelt letter to Clinton on his Inauguration Day. He not only offered his advice, but expressed his support as his opponent moved into the White House.
"Dear Bill, when I walked into this office just now I felt the same sense of wonder and respect that I felt four years ago. I know you will feel that, too," the letter began. "I wish you great happiness here."
"There will be very tough times, made even more difficult by criticism you may not think is fair. I'm not a very good one to give advice; but just don't let the critics discourage you or push you off course," he continued. "Your success now is our country's success. I am rooting hard for you. Good luck, George."
Clinton and Bush became great friends later and weeks before the former president's death on Nov. 30. 2018,Clinton read the letterto presidential historian Mark Updegrove.
"I love that letter," Clinton told ABC News. "I thought it was vintage George Bush. I thought he meant it, but I also thought he was trying to be a citizen in the highest sense of the word. It was profoundly moving to me, personally."
The letter came after Bush delivered a conciliatory and hopeful concessionspeechon Nov. 4, 1992 -- one day after Clinton was projected to win the election.
"Here's the way we see it and the country should see it -- that the people have spoken, and we respect the majesty of the democratic system," Bush said in his opening remarks, vowing to work with the incoming administration on a "smooth transition" and urging his supporters to "stand behind our new president."
Trump is set to join Bush in a small group of incumbent presidents who lost their bids for a second term. Excluding presidents who only ran for one term and those who ran after being appointed to the office when a president could no longer serve, there are only nine one-term presidents in U.S. history who lost their reelection bids.
"Trump joins this really unique club, and I think that uniqueness of that experience heightens already preexisting tensions," presidential historian and ABC News contributor Leah Wright Rigueur said. "So for presidents who can [concede] quickly, and without rancor without vitriol ... it's important for setting the tone of what democracy and what democratic nations do."
Trumpfalsely declared on election night, when he held a lead in several key states, that he won the race and alleged without evidence, after the count started to swing Biden's way, that the election was being stolen from him and that fraud had been committed.
He reiterated much of the same on Saturday, following a round of golf during which Biden was projected as winner, when he baselessly claimed on Twitter he had won the election.
Although presidential concession speeches have not always been a tradition and many elections were bitterly fought, Rigueur said that "absolutely nothing" in the past compares with Trump's post-election behavior.
The White House declined to comment on several news organizations projecting Biden as the apparent winner of the election on Saturday and asked if Trump would call Biden to concede, White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere told ABC News, "No scheduling updates."
"What's so remarkable about Donald Trump is that there has been no acknowledgement that he will concede," Rigueur said, adding that "given Trump's track record, I don't know that he will ever say the statement, 'I did not win.'"
Even after the bitter presidential race between Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore in 2000 -- which prompted a recount in Florida as chaos and uncertainty dragged on for 36 days -- Goreconcededafter Bush won Florida's electoral votes.
"I accept the finality of the outcome, which will be ratified next Monday in the Electoral College," he said. "And tonight, for the sake of our unity as a people and the strength of our democracy, I offer my concession."
Democratic Illinois Gov. Adlai Stevensondeliveredthe first nationally televised concession speech in U.S. history after he lost in a landslide to Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower. Before television, Democratic New York Gov. Al Smithdeliveredthe first radio concession speech in 1928 after losing to Republican Herbert Hoover.
And when Hoover lost his reelection bid to Democrat Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1932, he conceded via a telegram in which he congratulated Roosevelt, wished him "a most successful administration" and concluded by saying, "In the common purpose of all of us, I shall dedicate myself to every possible helpful effort."
The only incumbent presidents to lose reelection bids since Hoover are President Jimmy Carter, who lost to Republican Ronald Reagan in 1980, Bush who lost to Clinton in 1992 and now, Trump's apparent loss to Biden in 2020.
In a tearful concessionspeechon Nov. 5, 1980, Carter acknowledged that the loss "hurt," but said, "I have a deep appreciation of the system, however, that lets people make the free choice of who will lead them the next four years."
The outgoing president then shared with supporters a telegram that he sent to Reagan, where he congratulated the president-elect and pledged his "full support" in bringing about a smooth transition.
Rigueur, a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, said that conceding an election is "a sign of graciousness," and "because of the weight of the presidency, this is not something that's frivolous."
She added that she is "concerned" about the possibility of Trump not conceding, "particularly given how divisive this election was, and given that 70 million people did cast ballots for Donald Trump. He should be modeling good and decent behavior for them and he's not."
