A Brief History of the Concession Speech

“Presidential campaigns are essentially dramas, and for the past century, the moment of closure has come in the form of one simple act: the public concession,” NPR reports.

“There is no legal or constitutional requirement that the loser of a U.S. presidential election must concede. It began as a simple courtesy, with a telegram that William Jennings Bryan sent to his opponent, William McKinley, two days after the election of 1896.”