On November 7, 2000, Texas Governor George W. Bush defeated Democrat presidential candidate Al Gore for the presidency of the United States, even though he had lost the popular vote. Such a win had only happened three other times in U.S. history (1824, 1876 and 1888). Although Gore conceded the election during a phone call to Bush, he retracted his concession when he found out how close the vote count was in Florida. 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 the New York Yankees' traveling secretary, Arthur Richman, nine days after the highly contested election, when it was still in the midst of the recount. The note, in Bush's hand-writing, 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 that Gore was a sore loser. (“We have won this twice, but my opponent wants to keep counting.”) However, Bush was very confident in his victory, even in the midst of the recount: “We will prevail….”