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An '''October Surprise''' is any real or rumored dramatic act of the [[United States]] government, that the government deliberately times for the month of [[October]] to affect the outcome of a federal [[election]]. The usual context is that of an election for [[President of the United States]]. But October Surprises could also affect mid-term elections. (Presidents stand for re-election in four years, but the [[House of Representatives]] and one-third of the [[Senate]] stand for re-election every two years.)

An '''October Surprise''' is a political act of desperation by [[Democrat]]s to try to sway public opinion on the eve of an election based on emotion and headlines by the [[liberal media]]. 

 

When the term was first coined in 1980, it referred to an expectation that [[Democrat]] President [[Jimmy Carter]] would cause a dramatic act of the [[United States]] government in the month of [[October]] to affect the outcome of the upcoming presidential [[election]]. The usual context is that of an election for [[President of the United States]].  

In the 1980s, US National Security consultant Gary G. Sick accused then-Candidate [[Ronald Reagan]] and his [[Vice-President]]ial running mate, [[George H. W. Bush]], of deliberately provoking (or somehow bribing) the Islamic Republic of [[Iran]] to delay releasing the 52 hostages that sympathetic militant [[university]] students had taken at the former United States Embassy in [[Teheran]]. Sick coined the phrase ''October Surprise'' in the book he wrote setting forth his allegations.

In the 1980s, US National Security consultant Gary G. Sick accused then-Candidate [[Ronald Reagan]] and his [[Vice-President]]ial running mate, [[George H. W. Bush]], of deliberately provoking (or somehow bribing) the Islamic Republic of [[Iran]] to delay releasing the 52 hostages that sympathetic militant [[university]] students had taken at the former United States Embassy in [[Teheran]]. Sick coined the phrase ''October Surprise'' in the book he wrote setting forth his allegations.

==See also==

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