An honorable man

In close races today, politicians bring out their lawyers for recounts and lawsuits and countersuits. It's easy to forget that once men like Wayne Morse took defeat more graciously than this. His aides urged him to demand a recount when Packwood narrowly defeated him in 1968 but Morse would have none of it. From my play American Gadfly:

            MORSE

            I'm not going to be remembered as

            someone who doesn't know how to take

            defeat.  I'm not asking for a recount

            and I'm not drumming up charges of

            election misconduct.  If they want to

            remember me, let them remember my

            record on constitutional law and the

            fifteen-odd years I've argued against

            our immoral policies in Asia.  We lost

            and, frankly, it doesn't surprise me. 

            It was closer than I thought it would

            be.