Gracious letter Bush 41 gave Bill Clinton upon leaving office goes viral after debate
A 1993 letter written by George H.W. Bush on his last day in office wishing Bill Clinton well has resurfaced following the final presidential debate.
Asked Wednesday night if he would accept the results of the election irrespective of the outcome, Republican nominee Donald Trump told debate moderator Chris Wallace that he will wait for the outcome before deciding.
{mosads}The response sparked outrage on both the left and right and prompted some on social media to recall Bush’s gracious letter to Clinton upon his exit from the Oval Office.
A long, long time ago, in a land far far away, politics had grace. George H.W. Bush’s letter to Bill Clinton on leaving office: pic.twitter.com/bJn6ojWRS4
— Saba Gul (@sabagl) October 16, 2016
“I wish you great happiness here,” Bush wrote in the note dated Jan. 20, 1993. “You will be our President when you read this note.”
In his autobiography years later, Clinton would remember the letter fondly, saying it influenced his response to his successor, Bush’s son, George W. Bush.
“I wanted to be gracious and encouraging, as George Bush had been to me,” Clinton wrote in “My Life.” “Soon George W. Bush would be President of all the people, and I wished him well.”
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