Contact: Fred M. Woodward, University Press of Kansas, (785) 864-4667.
Press offers books on presidents who lost popular vote
LAWRENCE -- The University Press of Kansas, noted for its books on America's presidents, offers several administrative histories on the three of the four presidents who won the Electoral College but not the popular vote.
George W. Bush will become the fourth such president on Jan. 20, 2001.
The press, based at the University of Kansas, also has published histories of the administrations of two men who rebounded after losing such elections and won the presidency outright.
The books in the American Presidency Series, according to press director Fred Woodward, "recount and interpret the successes and failures of presidential administrations in the context of their times."
Before the 2000 election in which Vice President Al Gore won the popular vote by 400,000 votes but lost in the electoral college, three times in American history the Electoral College has elected a president who did not win the popular vote.
In 1824, John Quincy Adams, son of President John Adams, became president despite receiving fewer popular and electoral votes than Andrew Jackson, who finished first but failed to win a majority of either vote. Adams, after striking a deal with the third-place candidate, was elected president by Congress as required by the Constitution when no candidate wins an electoral vote majority. In 1828, Jackson defeated Adams handily.
In 1876, Rutherford B. Hayes lost the popular vote to Samuel Tilden by 247,000 votes, but won the Electoral College by one vote, 185 to 184. Hayes, who served one term, was derided by critics as "His Fraudulency" and "Rutherfraud."
In 1888, President Grover Cleveland won the popular vote by 90,000 votes but lost the Electoral College vote 233-168 to Benjamin Harrison. Four years later, Cleveland ousted Harrison from office, winning both the popular and electoral votes by a wide margin.
University Press of Kansas books include:
-- "The Presidencies of Grover Cleveland," by Richard E. Welch Jr.
-- "The Presidency of Benjamin Harrison," by Homer E. Socolofsky and Allan B. Spetter.
-- "Rutherford B. Hayes: Warrior and President" and "The Presidency of Rutherford B. Hayes" by Ari Hoogenboom.
-- "The Presidency of John Quincy Adams," by Mary W. M. Hargreaves.
-- "The Presidency of Andrew Jackson," by Donald B. Cole.
Information about the books and other titles by the press is available online at http://www.kansaspress.ku.edu. Books can be ordered online or by calling (785) 864-4155.
The University Press of Kansas publishes scholarly books that advance knowledge and regional books that contribute to the understanding of Kansas, the Great Plains, and the Midwest. Founded in 1946, it represents the six state universities in Kansas.
The press focuses generally on history, political science and philosophy. More specifically, it concentrates on presidential studies, military studies, American history (especially political, cultural, intellectual and Western), U.S. government and public policy, legal studies, and social and political philosophy.
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