Progressive Party (United States, 1912)

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Progressive Party (United States, 1912)

In the United States, the Progressive Party of 1918 was a political party created by a split in the Republican Party in the presidential election of 1912. It was formed by Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt , also known as T.R., and to the public as Teddy, was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States....
when he lost the Republican nomination to William Howard Taft

William Howard Taft

William Howard Taft was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States, the tenth Chief Justice of the United States, a leader of the progressive conservative wing of the History of the United States Republican Party in the early 20th century, a pioneer in international arbitration and staunch advocate of world pe...
and pulled his delegates out of the convention. The party is colloquially also known as the Bull Moose Party, after the party's emblem and after Roosevelt's boast that he was "as strong as a bull moose".

>

member of the Republican Party (GOP) because his supporters took control of the GOP in California.

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In the United States, the Progressive Party of 1918 was a political party created by a split in the Republican Party in the presidential election of 1912. It was formed by Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt

William Howard Taft

Birth of a new party

"To destroy this invisible Government, to dissolve the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day." - 1912 Progressive Party Platform, attributed to Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt , also known as T.R., and to the public as Teddy, was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States....
and quoted again in his autobiography where he connects Trusts

Trust (19th century)

A special trust or business trust is a business entity formed with intent to Monopoly business, to Restraint of trade, or to Price fixing....
and monopolies

Monopoly

In economics, a monopoly exists when a specific individual or enterprise has sufficient control over a particular product or service to determine significantly the terms on which other individuals shall have access to it....
(sugar interests, Standard Oil

Standard Oil

Standard Oil was a predominant United States integrated petroleum producing, transporting, refining, and marketing company. Established in 1870 as an Ohio Corporation, it was the largest oil refiner in the world and operated as a major company trust and was one of the world's first and largest multinational corporations until it was broken up...
, etc.) to Woodrow Wilson

Woodrow Wilson

Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States. A devout Presbyterianism and leading intellectual of the Progressive Era, he served as President of Princeton University of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913....
and Howard Taft, and consequently both major political parties

Political Parties

Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy is a book by sociologist Robert Michels, published in 1911 , and first introducing the concept of iron law of oligarchy....
.

member of the Republican Party (GOP) because his supporters took control of the GOP in California. However, many independent reformers signed up. Two important activists were Gifford Pinchot

Gifford Pinchot

Amos Pinchot

Amos Pinchot was an United States political leader of the early 20th century. He never held public office but managed to exert considerable influence in reformist circles and did much to keep Progressivism ideas alive in the 1920s....
. The Progressive Party also endorsed a number of sympathetic candidates from the Republican and Democratic parties in state and federal elections from 1912 to 1916.

Only five of the 15 most prominent progressive Republicans in the Senate endorsed the new party and Roosevelt's candidacy for President; three came out for Wilson. Many of Roosevelt's closest political allies supported Taft, including his son-in-law, Nicholas Longworth

Nicholas Longworth

Nicholas Longworth IV was a prominent United States politician in the United States Republican Party during the first few decades of the 20th century....
. Roosevelt's daughter Alice Roosevelt Longworth

Alice Roosevelt Longworth

Alice Lee Roosevelt Longworth was the oldest child of Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States. She was the only child of Roosevelt and his first wife, Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt....
stuck with her father, causing a permanent chill in her marriage. For men like Longworth, expecting a future in politics, bolting the Republican party ticket was simply too radical a step. Progressives who did not aspire to elective office often went with Woodrow Wilson

Woodrow Wilson

Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States. A devout Presbyterianism and leading intellectual of the Progressive Era, he served as President of Princeton University of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913....
.

The party was funded by publisher Frank A. Munsey and its executive secretary George W. Perkins, a leading financier. The platform called for women's suffrage

Women's suffrage

The term women's suffrage refers to the economic and political reform movement aimed at extending suffrage ? the right to vote ? to women. The movement's modern origins lie in France in the 18th century....
, recall of judicial decisions, easier amendment of the U.S. Constitution, social welfare legislation for women and children, workers' compensation

Workers' compensation

Workers compensation is a form of insurance that provides compensation medical care for employees who are injured in the course of employment, in exchange for mandatory relinquishment of the employee's right to sue his or her employer for the tort of negligence....
, limited injunctions in strikes, farm relief, revision of banking to assure an elastic currency, required health insurance in industry, new inheritance tax

Inheritance tax

Inheritance tax, estate tax and death duty are the names given to various taxes which arise on the death of an individual. It is a tax on the estate, or total value of the money and property, of a person who has died....
es and income tax

Income tax

An income tax is a tax levied on the financial income of people, corporations, or other legal entities. Various income tax systems exist, with varying degrees of tax incidence....
es, improvement of inland waterways, and limitation of naval armaments. Pacifist Jane Addams

Jane Addams

Jane Addams was a founder of the U.S. Settlement House movement, and one of the first American women to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize....
, a leading supporter, was stunned to discover she had to endorse a platform that called for the building of two new battleships a year. Perkins, a board member of U.S. Steel

U.S. Steel

The United States Steel Corporation , more commonly known as U.S. Steel, is an integrated steel producer with major production operations in the United States, Canada, and Central Europe....
, was blamed for blocking an anti-trust plank, thus shocking reformers like Gifford Pinchot

Gifford Pinchot

Gifford Pinchot was the first Chief of the United States Forest Service and the List of Governors of Pennsylvania of Pennsylvania . He was a United States Republican Party and Progressive Party ....
who saw Roosevelt as a true trust-buster. The result was a deep split in the new party that was never resolved. Roosevelt's philosophy for the Progressive Party was based around New Nationalism

New Nationalism

New Nationalism was Theodore Roosevelt Progressive Party political philosophy during the United States presidential election, 1912. He made the case for what he called the New Nationalism in a speech in Osawatomie, Kansas, in August 1910....
, which was the belief in a strong government to regulate industry and protect the middle and working classes. New Nationalism was paternalistic in direct contrast to Woodrow Wilson

Woodrow Wilson

Election of 1912

Roosevelt had the satisfaction of outpolling Taft in the popular vote and by a large margin of 88–8 in the electoral vote, but some believe the split engendered in the Republican vote allowed Woodrow Wilson to win the presidency. Some historians argue that even without the split, Wilson would have won (as he did in 1916). The Progressive party did poorly in the 1914 elections and faded away. Most members, including Roosevelt returned to the Republican Party after the Republicans nominated the more progressively-minded Charles Evans Hughes

Charles Evans Hughes

Frank Knox

William Franklin "Frank" Knox was the Secretary of the Navy under Franklin D. Roosevelt during most of World War II. He was also the United States Republican Party Vice President of the United States candidate in 1936....
was nominated for Vice President in 1936.

Historians speculate that if the Bull Moose Party had run only the Roosevelt presidential ticket, it might have attracted many more Republicans willing to split their ballot. But the progressive movement was strongest at the state level, and, therefore, the new party had to field candidates for governor and state legislature. In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh is the second largest city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania with a population of 312,819. The population of the seven-county metropolitan area is 2,462,571....
, the local Republican boss, at odds with state party leaders, joined Roosevelt's cause.

The central problem faced by the Progressive Party was that the Democrats were more united and optimistic than they had been in decades. The Bull Moosers fancied they had a chance to elect Roosevelt by drawing out progressive elements from both the Republican and Democratic parties. That dream evaporated in July, when the Democrats nominated their most articulate and prominent progressive, Woodrow Wilson. As a leading educator and political scientist, he qualified as the ideal "expert" to handle affairs of state. At least half the nation's independent progressives flocked to Wilson's camp, both because of Wilson's policies and the expectation of victory. Roosevelt haters, such as LaFollette, also voted for Wilson instead of wasting their vote on Taft who could never win. The most serious problem faced by Roosevelt's third party was money. The business interests who usually funded Republican campaigns distrusted Roosevelt and either did not vote or supported Taft. Lacking a strong party press, the Bull Moosers had to spend most of their money on publicity.

Roosevelt succeeded in defeating the conservative Taft with his progressive message that along with Wilson's progressive program totaled 69% of the popular vote. He did win 4.1 million votes (27%), compared to Taft's 3.5 million (23%). However, Wilson's 6.3 million votes (42%) were enough to garner 435 electoral votes. Roosevelt came in second with 88 electoral votes (more than any third party candidate before or since); Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania , often colloquially referred to as PA by natives and Northeasterners, is a U.S. state located in the Northeastern United States and Mid-Atlantic States regions of the United States....
was his only Eastern

Eastern United States

The Eastern Half of The United States, the American East, or simply the East is traditionally defined as the states east of the Mississippi River....
state; in the Midwest he carried Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a Midwestern United States U.S. state of the United States of America. It was named after Lake Michigan, whose name is a French adaptation of the Anishinaabe language term mishigama, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States of the United States. The twelfth largest state by area in the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with just over five million residents....
and South Dakota

South Dakota

South Dakota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States of the United States of America. It is named after the Lakota people and Sioux Sioux Native Americans in the United States tribes....
; in the West

Western United States

The Western United States—commonly referred to as the American West or simply The West—traditionally refers to the region comprising the westernmost U.S....
, California

California

California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....
and Washington

Washington

Washington is a U.S. state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Washington was carved out of the western part of Washington Territory which had been ceded by Britain in 1846 by the Oregon Treaty as settlement of the Oregon Boundary Dispute....
; in the South, he did not win any states.

The Democrats gained ten seats in the Senate, just enough to form a majority, and 63 new House seats to solidify their control there. Progressive statewide candidates trailed about 20% behind Roosevelt's vote. Almost all of the Progressive candidates, including Albert Beveridge of Indiana

Indiana

The State of Indiana was the 19th U.S. state admitted into the union. It is located in the Midwestern United States of the United States of America....
, went down to defeat; the only governor elected was Hiram Johnson, who ran on the regular Republican Party ticket. Only seventeen Bull Moosers were elected to Congress, and perhaps 250 to local office. Outside California, there was no real base to the party beyond the personality of Roosevelt himself.

One memorable event occurred during this election. On October 14, Roosevelt was shot by one John F. Schrank

John F. Schrank

John Flammang Schrank was a bar from New York, best known for his List of unsuccessful U.S. Presidential assassination attempts former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt on October 14, 1912 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin....
while Roosevelt was on his way to deliver a Progressive party speech. Schrank apparently did not have an issue with Theodore Roosevelt personally. Schrank's reason for the assassination attempt was a disapproval of anyone seeking a third term in office as president of the United States. (Ironically, Schrank lived just long enough in a mental institution to be alive when Theodore's cousin Franklin was elected to a third term in office.) The bullet was slowed down by TR's speech and eyeglass case in his jacket. Nonetheless, the bullet entered his chest, but, defiantly, Roosevelt went ahead and gave a 90-minute speech without medical attention. He began his speech by saying "I don't know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot; but it takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose." Doctors determined the bullet (from a .38) was too difficult to remove; Roosevelt carried the bullet with him until he died in his sleep in 1919.

The election of 1916 and afterward

Roosevelt had scored a second-place finish, but he trailed so far behind Wilson that everyone realized his party would never win the White House. With the poor performance at state and local levels in 1912, the steady defection of top supporters, the failure to attract any new support, and a pathetic showing in 1914, the Bull Moose party disintegrated at the national level, although some state parties remained fairly strong. In Washington

Washington

Washington State Legislature

The Washington State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a bicameral body, composed of the lower house Washington House of Representatives, composed of 98 Representatives, and the upper house Washington State Senate, with 49 Senators....
.

The Party had its second convention in 1916, and nominated Roosevelt again. This time he refused to accept the nomination and endorsed Hughes

Charles Evans Hughes

Harold L. Ickes

Harold LeClair Ickes was a United States Independent agencies of the United States government and politician. He served as United States Secretary of the Interior for thirteen years, from 1933 to 1946....
of Chicago, supported Wilson in 1916. Many followed Roosevelt back into the Republican Party, which in 1916 nominated Charles Evans Hughes

Charles Evans Hughes

Charles Evans Hughes Sr. was a lawyer and United States Republican Party politician from the State of New York. He served as Governor of New York , United States Secretary of State , Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States and Chief Justice of the United States ....
. The ironies were many: Taft had been Roosevelt's hand-picked successor in 1908 and the split between the two men was ideological. No compromise was possible on issues like the independence of the judiciary. Roosevelt's schism allowed the conservatives to gain control of the Republican party and left Roosevelt and his followers drifting in the wilderness throughout the 1920s before most joined the New Deal

New Deal

The New Deal was the name that United States President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt gave to a sequence of central economic planning and economic stimulus programs he initiated between 1933 and 1938 with the goal of giving aid to the unemployed, reform of business and financial practices, and recovery of the Economy of the Unite...
Democratic Party coalition of President Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin Delano Roosevelt , often referred to by his initials FDR, was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States....
.

Robert M. LaFollette, Sr. broke bitterly with Roosevelt in 1912 but finally got to run for President on his own ticket in 1924. See Progressive Party

Progressive Party (United States, 1924)

The United States Progressive Party of 1924 was a continuation of the 1912 Progressive party with few changes in leadership at the state or local levels, and keeping many of the same officers nationally....
.

Office holders from the Progressive Party

Name	Position	State	Dates held office
James W. Bryan James W. Bryan James Wesley Bryan was a United States House of Representatives from Washington.Born in Lake Charles, Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, Bryan attended the public schools and Lake Charles College at Lake Charles, Louisiana....	United States Congressman	Washington Washington Washington is a U.S. state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Washington was carved out of the western part of Washington Territory which had been ceded by Britain in 1846 by the Oregon Treaty as settlement of the Oregon Boundary Dispute....	1913-15
Walter M. Chandler Walter M. Chandler Walter Marion Chandler was a Progressive Party and later a Republican Party United States House of Representatives from New York.Born near Yazoo City, Mississippi, Chandler attended public schools, the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, and the University of Mississippi at Oxford, Mississippi....	United States Congressman	New York New York The State of New York is a U.S. state in the Mid-Atlantic States and Northeastern United States regions of the United States and is the nation's List of U.S....	1913-19
Ira Copley	United States Congressman	Illinois Illinois The State of Illinois is a U.S. state of the United States, the 21st to be admitted to the United States. Illinois is the most populous and demographically diverse Midwestern United States state and the fifth most populous state in the nation....	1921-23
John Elston	United States Congressman	California California California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....	1915-17 as a Progressive, 1917-1921 as a Republican
John Morton Eshleman John Morton Eshleman John Morton Eshleman was an United States lawyer and California politician who was that state's twenty-sixth Lieutenant Governor of California from 1915 to 1916....	Lieutenant Governor of California Lieutenant Governor of California The Lieutenant Governor of California is a statewide constitutional officer elected separately from the Governor who serves as the "vice-executive" of California....	California California California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....	1915-17
Jacob Falconer Jacob Falconer Jacob Alexander Falconer was a United States House of Representatives from Washington.Born in Ontario, Canada, Falconer moved with his parents to Saugatuck, Michigan, in 1873....	United States Congressman	Washington Washington Washington is a U.S. state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Washington was carved out of the western part of Washington Territory which had been ceded by Britain in 1846 by the Oregon Treaty as settlement of the Oregon Boundary Dispute....	1913-15
William Henry Hinebaugh	United States Congressman	Illinois Illinois The State of Illinois is a U.S. state of the United States, the 21st to be admitted to the United States. Illinois is the most populous and demographically diverse Midwestern United States state and the fifth most populous state in the nation....	1913-15
Willis Hullings	United States Congressman	Pennsylvania Pennsylvania The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania , often colloquially referred to as PA by natives and Northeasterners, is a U.S. state located in the Northeastern United States and Mid-Atlantic States regions of the United States....	1913-15
Hiram Warren Johnson	Governor Governor A governor is a governing official, usually the Executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state. In federations, a governor may be the title of each appointed or elected politician who governs a constitutive state....	California California California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....	1911-1917
Melville Clyde Kelly Melville Clyde Kelly Melville Clyde Kelly was a Republican Party member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.M. Clyde Kelly was born in Muskingum County, Ohio....	United States Congressman	Pennsylvania Pennsylvania The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania , often colloquially referred to as PA by natives and Northeasterners, is a U.S. state located in the Northeastern United States and Mid-Atlantic States regions of the United States....	1917-19 as a Progressive, 1919-1935 as a Republican
William MacDonald William Josiah MacDonald William Josiah MacDonald was a politician from the U.S. state of Michigan.MacDonald was born in Potosi, Wisconsin. He attended the common schools and graduated from the high school at Fairmont, Minnesota....	United States Congressman	Michigan Michigan Michigan is a Midwestern United States U.S. state of the United States of America. It was named after Lake Michigan, whose name is a French adaptation of the Anishinaabe language term mishigama, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....	1913-15
Whitmell Martin	United States Congressman	Louisiana Louisiana The State of Louisiana is a U.S. state located in the U.S. Southern States of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans....	1915-19 as a Progressive, 1919-1929 as a Democrat
Miles Poindexter Miles Poindexter Miles Poindexter was an United States politician. As a Republican Party and later a Progressive Party 1912 , he served as a United States Representative and United States Senator....	United States Senator	Washington Washington Washington is a U.S. state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Washington was carved out of the western part of Washington Territory which had been ceded by Britain in 1846 by the Oregon Treaty as settlement of the Oregon Boundary Dispute....	1913-15
William Stephens William Stephens William Dennison Stephens was an United States federal and state politician. A three-term member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1911 to 1916, Stephens was also the 24th Governor of California from 1917 to 1923....	United States Congressman	California California California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....	1913-17
Henry Wilson Temple Henry Wilson Temple Henry Wilson Temple was a Progressive Party and a Republican Party member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.Temple was born in Belle Center, Ohio....	United States Congressman	Pennsylvania Pennsylvania The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania , often colloquially referred to as PA by natives and Northeasterners, is a U.S. state located in the Northeastern United States and Mid-Atlantic States regions of the United States....	1913-15
Roy Woodruff	United States Congressman	Michigan Michigan Michigan is a Midwestern United States U.S. state of the United States of America. It was named after Lake Michigan, whose name is a French adaptation of the Anishinaabe language term mishigama, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....	1913-15

External links

of the Progressive Party

Progressive Party (United States, 1912)

Birth of a new party

Election of 1912

The election of 1916 and afterward

Office holders from the Progressive Party

See also

External links