http://library.thinkquest.org/5501/thepresidents.html
http://www.essortment.com/all/election_rksg.htm
http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h887.html
Theodore Roosevelt was president for 1856- 1924. William Howard Taft took his posistion for the next term. Towards the end of his Taft's term Roosevelt was not in approval of the things Taft was doing. Roosevelt was so appauled he decided to run against him in the election of 1912. With two Republican candidates that party had a tough choice ahead of them. Republican voters overwhelming chose Roosevelt, but the party leaders equally overwhelmingly chose Taft at the convention. As soon as the tally was counted and Taft’s name was announced as the nominee, the progressive backers of Roosevelt, with Theodore leading them, stood and marched out of the convention. That moment was the birth of the Progressive Party, also known as the Bull Moose Party.
We had three quite qualified candidated on our hands Woodrow Wilson- Demorcatic Party, William Howard Taft- Republican party, and Theodore Roosevelt- Progressive Party. Roosevelt campaigned like crazy coming up with the now famous quote: “We stand at Armageddon and we battle for the Lord”. It was now apparent that Roosevelt dislike Taft by a gret deal. It was an odd three-man race. Roosevelt was a life-long Republican to this point; Taft had served on his cabinet. However, Roosevelt was more aligned with Wilson. Both men were progressive rather than party extremists. They saw the Big Picture as to the direction the country could go in the new century.
The race took an odd turn that August. Roosevelt was about to give a speach in a Chicago Hotel when he got shot. He then went inside to give his speech, explaining in a near whisper that he would need silence in the crowd because he had been shot. He spoke for an hour before being taken to the hospital. As he took out his speech from the breast pocket in his coach, the crowd was in awe. The papers had a bullet hole through them. Doctors say the thick speech helped to save Roosevelt’s life, but as it was, the bullet remained in the muscles near his heart for the rest of this life.
The two other candidates nobely postponed the race untill Roosevelt was fully recovered. While in recovery, he realized he was loosing the race as he knew it. The results were as followed:
| Election of 1912 Candidates | Party | Electoral Vote | Popular Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| T. Woodrow Wilson (NJ) Thomas R. Marshall (IN) | Democratic | 435 | 6,293,152 |
| Theodore Roosevelt (NY) Hiram W. Johnson (CA) | Progressive | 88 | 4,119,207 |
| William H. Taft (OH) James S. Sherman (NY) Nicholas M. Butler (NY) | Republican | 8 | 3,486,333 |
| Eugene V. Debs (IN) Emil Seidel (WI) | Socialist | 0 | 900,369 |
| Eugene W. Chafin (IL) Aaron S. Watkins (OH) | Prohibition | 0 | 207,972 |
I think that it's really neat how Theodore Roosevelt decided to make his own party. Obviously he didn't like what has happening with the government so he tried to change it in everyway possible. Ulimately I'm kind of happy that he didn't win, because I think that would have put it in people's heads that if they didn't win primary's they could just make their own party and win for sure.
Comments