In the heyday of the old blue-collar towns, Election Day was a holiday, right up there with the big ones. Kids from political families were kept out of school to work the polls, and families gathered for supper during the lull just before the final rush of voters.
Election eve was its own thing altogether. In Allegheny County, the Democratic Party held two major rallies the night before every election — one in Sharpsburg and the other in Rankin. All the industrial communities along the rivers were represented at one or the other, and solidarity was the message.
Party workers packed both places, steamy smoke-filled rooms that smelled of hot dogs and sauerkraut, where the latest political rumors were traded before the program began. But when the endorsed candidates climbed to the stage, the crowd settled and all eyes turned to the podium.
One by one, the candidates made their pitches. Some newcomers, not used to political stump speaking, were uninspiring. Longtime elected officials were cheered like princes of their own fiefdoms.
Sammy Roy was the boss in Rankin, and his speech was the main event. Sammy was a crescendo speaker, soft and slow at first, building to a peak and pounding the podium until the crowd was on its feet, shouting agreement.
And then Sammy would do it again and again.
It was the greatest show on Earth. And it was pure Americana.
Much has changed in politics since then. Candidates once rose from the bottom, and voters could watch them and judge them as they climbed the political ladder. Now, candidates can come out of the blue, fresh and untested, and deal directly with the voters.
But the important aspects of American elections have not changed. Certainly, there will always be winners and losers. And, as hard as it is to lose, you will always get to vote again, in no time at all.
That is easy to forget, especially after a divisive campaign like the last one. Luckily, by design or not, American elections are always quickly followed by Thanksgiving Day.
George Washington proclaimed a day of thanksgiving for the U.S. Constitution in 1789. He noted “the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness” and “the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed.”
Washington prayed for “a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed.”
Abraham Lincoln embraced a national day of thanksgiving, in the midst of the Civil War, praying that the wounds of the nation be healed and that “peace, harmony, tranquility, and union” be restored.
And Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed Thanksgiving Day into law in 1941, at the doorstep of World War II. He said then, “The love of democracy still burns brightly in our hearts.”
Through wars, bad times and tough elections — whatever calamities befall the republic — Americans have paused at least one day every year, to celebrate American values and give thanks. Happy Thanksgiving.
Joseph Sabino Mistick, a lawyer, law professor and political analyst, lives in Squirrel Hill (joemistick.com).
