Earlier this month, President Biden awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to 19 Americans. Among them were former Democratic presidential candidates, Al Gore and John Kerry. Christopher J. Devine, E. Fletcher McClellan, and Kyle C. Kopko write that Biden’s willingness to honor unsuccessful candidates who conceded defeat in their election contests sends a message to Donald Trump and those who support him that national unity is more important than personal political ambition.

Joe Biden recently awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom (PMOF) to 19 Americans. It was only the second time that Biden–a former PMOF recipient himself–handed out the nation’s highest civilian honor. With a presidential rematch against Donald Trump looming this year, Biden used this White House ceremony to send a message: real winners know how to lose gracefully.

Among the list of PMOF recipients this year were scientists, athletes, civil rights leaders, and politicians. While Biden’s selection of recipients was not unlike his Democratic predecessors–tending to recognize fellow Democratic public officials, labor leaders, and those with significant humanitarian contributions–two recipients, nonetheless, stood out: Al Gore and John Kerry. Both, like Biden, won the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination–Gore in 2000, and Kerry in 2004. Unlike Biden, both lost (to George W. Bush). It was, however, their ability to accept defeat–in stark contrast to Trump–that constitutes one of their greatest achievements, according to Biden.

Celebrating those who conceded

Here is what Biden had to say when introducing Al Gore: “After winning the popular vote, he accepted the outcome of a disputed presidential election for the sake of unity and trust in our institutions. That, to me, was amazing what you did, Al.” Drawing laughter from the audience, he added: “I won’t go into that, but…”

Likewise, John Kerry’s official citation emphasized that he “was the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee and came within one state of victory.” (To which Kerry shrugged and nodded in jest, also drawing laughs.) Biden wasn’t just complimenting Kerry on coming so close to winning the 2004 election. More than that, he was honoring Kerry for conceding the election rather than contesting it–or, like Trump, claiming he’d won.

Biden seems to be subtly using the Presidential Medal of Freedom to emphasize the importance of national unity over personal political ambitions. But when considering all the Medals awarded since 1963, perhaps Biden’s choices were not so subtle after all. To evaluate what is (or is not) unique about Biden’s selections, we have built upon our previous research on the Presidential Medal of Freedom. By our count, there have been 123 PMOF ceremonies, resulting in more than 600 recipients. Of those, only four–counting Gore and Kerry–were former major party presidential nominees who were unsuccessful in their bids for the White House. Who were the other two? Bob Dole, who received the PMOF in 1997 from his former opponent, President Bill Clinton; and John McCain, who received the Medal posthumously in 2022 from none other than Joe Biden. In other words, Biden was responsible for awarding the PMOF to three of the four losing presidential nominees.

Even though Biden has only presented the PMOF on two occasions throughout his presidency (as compared to 15 for Trump), Biden has clearly made it a point to recognize those presidential nominees who conceded defeat with grace. This also sharply contrasts with President Trump’s PMOF recipients who disproportionately represented athletic achievement–clear “winners,” at least in the context of sports. Indeed, half of Trump’s Medal recipients were former athletes–that is more than any other president since the Medal’s creation by President Kennedy’s Executive Order 11085. Biden, too, honored athletes last week: swimmer Katie Ledecky and the late multi-sport superstar Jim Thorpe. But, overall, Biden has proven much more likely than Trump to look beyond athletics when defining America’s “winners.”

“P20220707AS-1310” by The White House is United States government work

Biden’s message for Trump and his supporters

Biden’s desire to honor fellow politicians who know not just how to win, but also how to admit defeat, is no accident. In the aftermath of the January 6 US Capitol insurrection, and with the possibility of another contentious–even violent–postelection period just ahead of us, Biden clearly wants to send Trump and his supporters a message that history will not judge them kindly for obstructing the peaceful transfer of power (yet again). Indeed, by awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Al Gore and John Kerry, partly because of their admission of defeat, Biden has officially recognized such political restraint as an “especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interest of the United States.”

Will such a symbolic gesture change Trump’s behavior in November, should he lose another presidential election and be faced with the choice to concede or fight on? Probably not. What may be more notable, then, is what this tells us about how Biden will respond if he loses the election, instead. Whatever pressure he might face to resist the peaceful transition of power to a second Trump administration, Biden has signalled that he will admit defeat and move on, for the good of the country. By his standards, at least, that’s what a truly great American would do.

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