text: which was closer?  nixon & kennedy pres election or bush/gore or another one entirely? please give me a good source.  i can't rely on wikipedia and even it does not say conclusively if it was or not.  thanks! tilden vs hayes in 1876.  tilden got popilar vote.  hayes got electoral majority by one vote after three disputed states were given to him by an electoral commission.  the commission voted along partisan lines.  the republicans had the majority.  so one man decided the outcome.    the dispute, however, did not end, as democrats threatened to filibuster in the senate. eventually, a compromise was reached whereby hayes agreed to name at least one southerner to his cabinet and to withdraw all federal troops in the south, bringing to an end the era of reconstruction.