In an election season filled with vitriol and hateful language, a 1993 letter from George H.W. Bush to Bill Clinton is getting renewed attention for the dignity and respect with which an outgoing president addressed his successor even after a hard-fought race. 
 
 The Inauguration Day letter is from Bush’s presidential library and is mentioned in both presidents' autobiographies. Back in June, the letter resurfaced on social media, and Hillary Clinton posted it on her Instagram. 
 
 It went viral once again when a Twitter user posted it with a wistful message: 
 
 
 
 A long, long time ago, in a land far far away, politics had grace. George H.W. Bush's letter to Bill Clinton on leaving office: pic.twitter.com/bJn6ojWRS4 — Saba Gul (@sabagl) October 16, 2016 
 
 Others agreed that politics has fallen far from the standard set by Bush in the letter: 
 
 
 
 @sabagl This to the guy of beat him. It feels like something written a million years ago... — MiguelClarkMallet (@mar_de_palabras) October 19, 2016 
 
 @sabagl @snickerfritz04 I so miss the integrity of former real Presidential races. — Susan Beck (@susanbeck101) October 19, 2016 
 
 @sabagl top class from a guy I never had a high opinion of, puts the current candidate to shame 👏👏 — Cat in the Hat (@Ollymcw) October 17, 2016 ||||| A 1993 letter from former President George H.W. Bush to former President Bill Clinton had social media users wishing for more civil politics Wednesday. 
 
 Bush wrote the letter after Clinton defeated him in the 1992 election, and welcomed the incoming president with “great happiness.” Following Donald Trump's refusal during Wednesday's presidential debate to say whether he would accept the election results, it had Twitter users longing for better times. 
 
 Bush also wrote in the letter that Clinton came in as “our president” — a stark contrast in from Trump’s declaration. ||||| In a starkly partisan presidential election marked by harsh rhetoric, a 1993 letter from George H.W. Bush to Bill Clinton has resurfaced as an example of a more civil time. 
 
 The letter, from Bush’s presidential library, shows the outgoing president respectfully welcoming Clinton to the White House. Hillary Clinton posted the letter on her Instagram back in June, and it went viral once again on Twitter after Wednesday night’s presidential debate. 
 
 The sentiments expressed in the letter took on additional weight after the debate, where Donald Trump was asked whether he would accept the results of the election in November. Trump told the moderator Chris Wallace that he would wait to see the outcome. “I will look at it at the time,” Trump said, adding, “I will keep you in suspense.” 
 
 In contrast, Bush, who lost to Clinton in the 1992 election, told his successor: “I wish you great happiness here.” 
 
 “You will be our President when you read this note. I wish you well. I wish your family well,” the note says. “Your success is now our country’s success. I am rooting for you.”
– A 1993 letter from George HW Bush to Bill Clinton is suddenly back in the news, being hailed as a great example of grace in defeat and a reminder of what a peaceful transition of power looks like. The letter, which is mentioned in autobiographies by both former presidents, was written after Clinton defeated Bush in the 1992 presidential election, according to US News & World Report. It went viral after Wednesday's presidential debate, in which Donald Trump declined to commit to accepting the election results, Time reports. "I wish you great happiness here," Bush writes, welcoming Clinton to the Oval Office. "Don't let the critics discourage you or push you off course." But perhaps the most important part of the letter is the ending, which reads: "You will be our president when you read this note. ... Your success now is our country's success. I am rooting hard for you. Good luck." The letter, currently housed in Bush's presidential library, left social media users longing for the days of political civility, the Los Angeles Times reports. "Disagreements between candidates don't have to go the way this election has," writes one Twitter user who shared a photo of the letter. "A long, long time ago, in a land far far away, politics had grace," US News & World Report quotes another Twitter user as saying. (Also going viral: Trump "book reports.")