Stephen A. Douglas was a real sport about losing the Presidential election.

>When [Lincoln](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/Abraham_Lincoln_O-77_matte_collodion_print.jpg) came to the platform erected over the steps of the eastern portico of the Capitol to be sworn in as President, he was carrying the manuscript of his speech, a cane, and his tall silk hat. The cane he put under the table, but he didn’t know what to do with the hat. [Senator Stephen A. Douglas](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Stephen_A_Douglas_-_headshot.jpg) quickly stepped forward, took the hat, and returned to his seat. “If I can’t be President,” he said to one of [Mrs. Lincoln](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/Mary_Todd_Lincoln2crop.jpg)’s cousins, “I can at least hold his hat.” ____________________________ **Source:** Boller, Paul F. “Abraham Lincoln.” *Presidential Anecdotes*. New York: Oxford UP, 1981. 132. Print. **Original Source Listed:** Benjamin Perley Poore, *Perley’s Reminiscences of Sixty Years*, 2 vols. (New York, 1886), II:69-70. ____________________________ **Further Reading:** [Abraham Lincoln](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln) [Stephen Arnold Douglass](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_A._Douglas) [Mary Ann Todd Lincoln](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Todd_Lincoln)