On November 7, 2000, Texas Governor George W. Bush defeated Democrat Al Gore for the presidency of the United States even though he lost the popular vote. This had happened three other times in U.S. history (1824, 1876 and 1888). Although Gore conceded the election in a phone call to Bush, he retracted it when he found out how close the vote count in Florida was. When all was said and done, the Supreme Court ended the ongoing recount and declared Bush the winner, by a total of a staggeringly tiny 527 votes! This incredible note was written by Bush to New York Yankees traveling secretary Arthur Richman 9 days after the highly contested election, still in the midst of the recount. The note, in Bush's hand, says: “Dear Arthur, All is well here. We have won twice, but my opponent wants to keep counting. We will prevail and I am thankful you are on my team. God Bless Friend. George W. Bush”. Richman, a longtime baseball man, was the New York Mets traveling secretary in 1986 when he was given the ball (by right field umpire Ed Montague) that went through Bill Buckner's legs in the World Series. Click here to see it.

Bush’s note is historically interesting. His first line “All is well here,” shows how calm and confident he was even in the midst of the recount maelstrom. Clearly, Bush felt Al Gore was a sore loser (“We have won this twice, but my opponent wants to keep counting”). But Bush is very confident in his victory even in the midst of the re-count: “We will prevail…”. A fascinating note from one baseball guy to another.