Picking A President: The 1912 Republican Party Presidential Nomination Contest
In 1908 Republican President Theodore Roosevelt had declined to run for re-election. When he won election to the presidency in 1904, after fulling out the previous unexpired term of assassinated president William McKinley, Roosevelt made a pledge to the American people that he would not seek a second full term. It was one that he later came to regret. As his first term came to an end, Roosevelt was grooming his friend William Howard Taft to be his successor. Roosevelt declared Taft to be a "genuine progressive". Taft handily won the 1908 election, denying William Jennings Bryan his third attempt at becoming president. Roosevelt left to go on safari, thinking that he was leaving the nation in good hands.
But during Taft's administration, a rift grew between Roosevelt and Taft. It turned out that the two men were really from different wings of the Republican Party's two wings. Roosevelt was a progressive, while Taft was a conservative. Progressive Republicans favored labor laws regulating working conditions for women and children, promoting ecological conservation, and they were more sympathetic toward labor unions. The progressives were also in favor of the popular election of federal and state judges and opposed to having judges appointed by the president or state governors. The conservatives supported high tariffs on imported goods to encourage consumers to buy American-made products, they favored business leaders over labor unions, and were generally opposed to the popular election of judges.
By 1910 the split between the two wings of the Republican Party became quite contentious. Despite their personal friendship, Taft saw the need to assert himself as his own man rather than as Roosevelt's surrogate. His popularity among progressives declined when he supported the Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act in 1909. Taft also abandoned Roosevelt's anti-trust policy and he fired popular conservationist Gifford Pinchot, a close friend of Roosevelt's, as head of the Bureau of Forestry in 1910. Pinchot had accused Taft's Secretary of the Interior, Richard Ballinger, of being in league with big timber interests and Taft sided with his cabinet member in the conflict.
Roosevelt soon made it clear that Taft no longer had his support. This hurt Taft and as a result of the split in the party, in the 1910 Congressional elections the Democrats won a majority in the House, and significantly diminished the Republicans' hold on the Senate.
The 1912 election was one of the first elections in which a significant numbers of delegates to the national conventions were elected in presidential preference primaries. Primary elections were advocated by the progressive faction of the Republican Party, who wanted to break the control of political parties by bosses. Twelve states held Republican primaries. Robert M. La Follette won two of the first four primaries (North Dakota and Wisconsin). Roosevelt won nine of the remaining ten, beginning with his huge victory in Illinois on April 9 (in Illinois, Pennsylvania, Nebraska, Oregon, Maryland, California, Ohio, New Jersey, and South Dakota). Taft's only primary victory came in Massachusetts. It was especially upsetting to Taft that Roosevelt won the primary in Taft's home state of Ohio.
But despite his lack of success in the primaries, Taft's organization had been gathering support in the remaining states. By the time that the Republican Convention was held in Chicago from June 18 to 22, Taft's campaign had been working on securing the support of delegates from states where no primaries were held. Taft had the support of the bulk of the party organizations in the Southern states. These states had voted solidly Democratic in every presidential election since 1880. Roosevelt complained that they were given one-quarter of the delegates when they would contribute nothing to a Republican victory. But the complaint was to no avail, as delegates from the former Confederate states supported Taft by a 5 to 1 margin.
When the convention gathered, Roosevelt challenged the credentials of a large number of the delegates. The delegates chose Elihu Root, a former Roosevelt ally, to serve as chairman of the convention. The credentials committee voted to seat Taft delegations in Alabama, Arizona, and California in very close votes. After losing California, where Roosevelt had won the primary, the progressive delegates knew that a Roosevelt victory at the convention was unlikely. Roosevelt's only hope at the convention was to form a "stop-Taft" alliance with Wisconsin Senator Robert La Follette. But both men had strong egos and Roosevelt had alienated La Follette, so an alliance could not form.
As predicted, Taft won the nomination on the first ballot with 302 votes, to 107 for Roosevelt and 36 for LaFollette. The difference was in the decisions of the credentials committee, and if they had ruled for Roosevelt's delegates, he would have won the nomination. Many Roosevelt delegates refused to vote, in protest of how the rulings had gone against their candidate. Roosevelt claiming that several delegations were fraudulently seated. Following the seating of the anti-Roosevelt delegations, California Governor Hiram Johnson proclaimed that progressives would form a new party to nominate Roosevelt.
That's just what happened. Denied his party's nomination, on the evening of June 22, 1912 Roosevelt asked his supporters to leave the convention. He accused his former friend Taft of allowing the fraudulent seating of delegates in order to capture the presidential nomination. The convention renominated incumbents William Howard Taft and James S. Sherman as the Republican candidates for the 1912 election.
Republican progressives reconvened elsewhere in Chicago and endorsed the formation of a national progressive party, which was formally launched later that summer,. The new Progressive Party chose Roosevelt as its presidential nominee and Governor Hiram Johnson of California as his running mate. When Roosevelt told reporters that he felt as strong as a "bull moose", the media took to calling the new party the "Bull Moose Party". Its platform promised to increase federal regulation and protect the welfare of ordinary people. The delegates to the convention sang the hymn "Onward, Christian Soldiers" and in his acceptance speech, Roosevelt compared the coming presidential campaign to the Battle of Armageddon and stated that the Progressives were going to "battle for the Lord."
Many of the nation's newspapers, which tended to be pro-Republican, portrayed Roosevelt as an egotist who was only running for president to spoil Taft's chances and get revenge. The Democratic Party appeared united, running on a ticket of New jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson and Thomas Marshall of Indiana. The 1912 presidential campaign was bitterly contested. Vice-President James S. Sherman died in office on October 30, 1912, less than a week before the election, leaving Taft without a running mate.
Roosevelt conducted a vigorous national campaign for the Progressive Party. He criticized the Republican party over the way that the party's nomination had been "stolen" from him, as he stumped the country advocating for greater regulation to protect the common man against greedy corporations. Wilson supported a policy called "The New Freedom", based on individualism instead of a strong government. Taft ran a lack luster campaign, speaking about issues that voters really didn't care about, such as the need for judges to be more powerful than elected officials. Much of the Republican effort was designed to discredit Roosevelt as a dangerous radical, but this did not seem to win the support of the voters.
Roosevelt was campaigning in Milwaukee on October 14, 1912. On his way to give a speech, a saloon-keeper named John Flammang Schrank shot him, but the bullet lodged in his chest only after penetrating both his steel eyeglass case and passing through a 50-page single-folded copy of the speech he was carrying in his jacket. Roosevelt completed his speech before seeking medical attention for his wound. He was forced to cease any further campaign appearances after this, though the incident increased his popularity and added to his legend.
An interesting facet of the campaign was the candidacy of Socialist Eugene Debs. His biggest event was a speech to 15,000 supporters in New York City where the audience sang "La Marseillaise".
On election day the split in the Republican vote made it possible for Wilson to carry a number of states that had been reliably Republican for decades. For the first time since 1852, a majority of the New England states were carried by a Democrat. Wilson won the election soundly, receiving 6,296,284 votes, only 41.84% of the popular vote, but a very solid 435 electoral votes. Roosevelt finished a strong second, winning 4,122,721 votes (27.40%) and 88 electoral votes. Taft picked up 3,486,242 votes (23.17%) and only 8 electoral votes. Debs received 901,551 votes (5.99%). The split in the Republican vote resulted in the weakest Republican effort in history since the formation of the party. Taft suffered the worst defeat of any president running for re-election. 1912 was also the only election in which a third-party candidate received more popular votes and electoral votes than one of the major-party candidates. Neither Presidents Roosevelt nor Taft won their home states.
But during Taft's administration, a rift grew between Roosevelt and Taft. It turned out that the two men were really from different wings of the Republican Party's two wings. Roosevelt was a progressive, while Taft was a conservative. Progressive Republicans favored labor laws regulating working conditions for women and children, promoting ecological conservation, and they were more sympathetic toward labor unions. The progressives were also in favor of the popular election of federal and state judges and opposed to having judges appointed by the president or state governors. The conservatives supported high tariffs on imported goods to encourage consumers to buy American-made products, they favored business leaders over labor unions, and were generally opposed to the popular election of judges.
By 1910 the split between the two wings of the Republican Party became quite contentious. Despite their personal friendship, Taft saw the need to assert himself as his own man rather than as Roosevelt's surrogate. His popularity among progressives declined when he supported the Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act in 1909. Taft also abandoned Roosevelt's anti-trust policy and he fired popular conservationist Gifford Pinchot, a close friend of Roosevelt's, as head of the Bureau of Forestry in 1910. Pinchot had accused Taft's Secretary of the Interior, Richard Ballinger, of being in league with big timber interests and Taft sided with his cabinet member in the conflict.
Roosevelt soon made it clear that Taft no longer had his support. This hurt Taft and as a result of the split in the party, in the 1910 Congressional elections the Democrats won a majority in the House, and significantly diminished the Republicans' hold on the Senate.
The 1912 election was one of the first elections in which a significant numbers of delegates to the national conventions were elected in presidential preference primaries. Primary elections were advocated by the progressive faction of the Republican Party, who wanted to break the control of political parties by bosses. Twelve states held Republican primaries. Robert M. La Follette won two of the first four primaries (North Dakota and Wisconsin). Roosevelt won nine of the remaining ten, beginning with his huge victory in Illinois on April 9 (in Illinois, Pennsylvania, Nebraska, Oregon, Maryland, California, Ohio, New Jersey, and South Dakota). Taft's only primary victory came in Massachusetts. It was especially upsetting to Taft that Roosevelt won the primary in Taft's home state of Ohio.
But despite his lack of success in the primaries, Taft's organization had been gathering support in the remaining states. By the time that the Republican Convention was held in Chicago from June 18 to 22, Taft's campaign had been working on securing the support of delegates from states where no primaries were held. Taft had the support of the bulk of the party organizations in the Southern states. These states had voted solidly Democratic in every presidential election since 1880. Roosevelt complained that they were given one-quarter of the delegates when they would contribute nothing to a Republican victory. But the complaint was to no avail, as delegates from the former Confederate states supported Taft by a 5 to 1 margin.
When the convention gathered, Roosevelt challenged the credentials of a large number of the delegates. The delegates chose Elihu Root, a former Roosevelt ally, to serve as chairman of the convention. The credentials committee voted to seat Taft delegations in Alabama, Arizona, and California in very close votes. After losing California, where Roosevelt had won the primary, the progressive delegates knew that a Roosevelt victory at the convention was unlikely. Roosevelt's only hope at the convention was to form a "stop-Taft" alliance with Wisconsin Senator Robert La Follette. But both men had strong egos and Roosevelt had alienated La Follette, so an alliance could not form.
As predicted, Taft won the nomination on the first ballot with 302 votes, to 107 for Roosevelt and 36 for LaFollette. The difference was in the decisions of the credentials committee, and if they had ruled for Roosevelt's delegates, he would have won the nomination. Many Roosevelt delegates refused to vote, in protest of how the rulings had gone against their candidate. Roosevelt claiming that several delegations were fraudulently seated. Following the seating of the anti-Roosevelt delegations, California Governor Hiram Johnson proclaimed that progressives would form a new party to nominate Roosevelt.
That's just what happened. Denied his party's nomination, on the evening of June 22, 1912 Roosevelt asked his supporters to leave the convention. He accused his former friend Taft of allowing the fraudulent seating of delegates in order to capture the presidential nomination. The convention renominated incumbents William Howard Taft and James S. Sherman as the Republican candidates for the 1912 election.
Republican progressives reconvened elsewhere in Chicago and endorsed the formation of a national progressive party, which was formally launched later that summer,. The new Progressive Party chose Roosevelt as its presidential nominee and Governor Hiram Johnson of California as his running mate. When Roosevelt told reporters that he felt as strong as a "bull moose", the media took to calling the new party the "Bull Moose Party". Its platform promised to increase federal regulation and protect the welfare of ordinary people. The delegates to the convention sang the hymn "Onward, Christian Soldiers" and in his acceptance speech, Roosevelt compared the coming presidential campaign to the Battle of Armageddon and stated that the Progressives were going to "battle for the Lord."
Many of the nation's newspapers, which tended to be pro-Republican, portrayed Roosevelt as an egotist who was only running for president to spoil Taft's chances and get revenge. The Democratic Party appeared united, running on a ticket of New jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson and Thomas Marshall of Indiana. The 1912 presidential campaign was bitterly contested. Vice-President James S. Sherman died in office on October 30, 1912, less than a week before the election, leaving Taft without a running mate.
Roosevelt conducted a vigorous national campaign for the Progressive Party. He criticized the Republican party over the way that the party's nomination had been "stolen" from him, as he stumped the country advocating for greater regulation to protect the common man against greedy corporations. Wilson supported a policy called "The New Freedom", based on individualism instead of a strong government. Taft ran a lack luster campaign, speaking about issues that voters really didn't care about, such as the need for judges to be more powerful than elected officials. Much of the Republican effort was designed to discredit Roosevelt as a dangerous radical, but this did not seem to win the support of the voters.
Roosevelt was campaigning in Milwaukee on October 14, 1912. On his way to give a speech, a saloon-keeper named John Flammang Schrank shot him, but the bullet lodged in his chest only after penetrating both his steel eyeglass case and passing through a 50-page single-folded copy of the speech he was carrying in his jacket. Roosevelt completed his speech before seeking medical attention for his wound. He was forced to cease any further campaign appearances after this, though the incident increased his popularity and added to his legend.
An interesting facet of the campaign was the candidacy of Socialist Eugene Debs. His biggest event was a speech to 15,000 supporters in New York City where the audience sang "La Marseillaise".
On election day the split in the Republican vote made it possible for Wilson to carry a number of states that had been reliably Republican for decades. For the first time since 1852, a majority of the New England states were carried by a Democrat. Wilson won the election soundly, receiving 6,296,284 votes, only 41.84% of the popular vote, but a very solid 435 electoral votes. Roosevelt finished a strong second, winning 4,122,721 votes (27.40%) and 88 electoral votes. Taft picked up 3,486,242 votes (23.17%) and only 8 electoral votes. Debs received 901,551 votes (5.99%). The split in the Republican vote resulted in the weakest Republican effort in history since the formation of the party. Taft suffered the worst defeat of any president running for re-election. 1912 was also the only election in which a third-party candidate received more popular votes and electoral votes than one of the major-party candidates. Neither Presidents Roosevelt nor Taft won their home states.