United States presidential election, 1912
Encyclopedia
The United States presidential election of 1912 was a rare four-way contest. Incumbent President William Howard Taft
was renominated by the Republican Party with the support of its conservative wing. After former President Theodore Roosevelt
failed to receive the Republican nomination, he called his own convention and created the Progressive Party
(nicknamed the "Bull Moose Party"). It nominated Roosevelt and ran candidates for other offices in major states. Democrat
Woodrow Wilson
was finally nominated on the 46th ballot of a contentious convention
, thanks to the support of William Jennings Bryan
, the three-time Democratic presidential candidate who still had a large and loyal following in 1912. Eugene V. Debs
was the nominee of the Socialist Party of America
.
Wilson defeated Taft, Roosevelt, and Debs in the general election, winning a huge majority in the Electoral College and 42% of the popular vote, while his nearest rival, Roosevelt, won only 27%. Wilson became the only elected president from the Democratic Party between 1892
and 1932
. He was the second of only two Democrats to be elected president between 1860 and 1932. This was the last election in which a candidate who was not a Republican or Democrat came second in either the popular vote or the Electoral College and the first election in which all 48 states of the continental United States participated.
Theodore Roosevelt
had declined to run for re-election in 1908
in fulfillment of a pledge to the American people not to seek a second full term. Roosevelt's first term as president (1901-1905) was incomplete, as he succeeded to the office upon the assassination of William McKinley
; it was only his second term (1905-1909) that encompassed four full years. He had tapped Secretary of War
William Howard Taft
to become his successor, and Taft had gone on to defeat Democrat
William Jennings Bryan
in the general election. During Taft's administration, a rift grew between Roosevelt and Taft as they became the leaders of the Republican Party's two wings: the progressives
, led by Roosevelt, and the conservatives, led by Taft. The progressive Republicans favored restrictions on the employment of women and children, favored ecological conservation
, were more sympathetic toward labor unions
, and opposed tariff
s on imported manufactured products. 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 favored high tariffs on imported goods to encourage consumers to buy American-made products, 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 was deep, and this, in turn, caused Roosevelt and Taft to turn against one another, despite their personal friendship.
. Primary elections were advocated by the progressive faction in the Republican Party, which wanted to break the control of political parties by bosses
. Altogether, twelve states held Republican primaries. Robert M. La Follette
won two of the first four primaries (North Dakota and Wisconsin). Beginning with his runaway victory in Illinois on April 9, however, Roosevelt won nine of the last ten presidential primaries (in order, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Nebraska, Oregon, Maryland, California, Ohio, New Jersey, and South Dakota), losing only Massachusetts to Taft. As a sign of his great popularity, Roosevelt even carried Taft's home state of Ohio.
The Republican Convention
was held in Chicago
from June 18 to June 22. Taft, however, had begun to gather delegates earlier, and the delegates chosen in the primaries were a minority. 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
, and Roosevelt objected that they were given one-quarter of the delegates when they would contribute nothing to a Republican victory (as it turned out, delegates from the former Confederate states supported Taft by a 5 to 1 margin). When the convention gathered, Roosevelt challenged the credentials of nearly half of the delegates. By that time, however, it was too late. The delegates chose Elihu Root
— once Roosevelt's top ally — to serve as chairman of the convention. Afterwards, the delegates seated Taft delegations in Alabama, Arizona, and California on tight contests of 597-472, 564-497, and 542-529, respectively. After losing California, where Roosevelt had won the primary, the progressive delegates gave up hope. They voted "present" on most succeeding roll calls. Not since the 1872 election
had there been a major schism in the Republican party. Now, with the Democrats holding about 45% of the national vote, any schism would be fatal. Roosevelt's only hope at the convention was to form a "stop-Taft" alliance with La Follette, but Roosevelt had alienated La Follette, and the alliance could not form.
Unable to tolerate the personal humiliation he suffered at the hands of Taft and the Old Guard, and refusing to entertain the possibility of a compromise candidate, Roosevelt struck back hard. On the evening of June 22, 1912, Roosevelt asked his supporters to leave the convention. Roosevelt maintained that President Taft had allowed fraudulent seating of delegates in order to capture the presidential nomination from progressive forces within the Party. Thus, with the support of convention chairman Elihu Root, Taft's supporters outvoted Roosevelt's men, and the convention renominated incumbents William Howard Taft and James S. Sherman, making Sherman the first sitting vice-president to be nominated for re-election since John C. Calhoun
in 1828
.
chose Roosevelt as its presidential nominee and Hiram Johnson
of California as his running mate. Questioned by reporters, Roosevelt said he felt as strong as a "bull moose." Henceforth known as the "Bull Moose Party," the Progressives promised to increase federal regulation and protect the welfare of ordinary people.
The party was funded by publisher Frank Munsey
and its executive secretary George Walbridge Perkins, an employee of banker J. P. Morgan
and International Harvester
. Perkins blocked an anti-trust plank, shocking reformers who thought of Roosevelt as a true trust-buster. The delegates to the convention sang the religious hymn "Onward, Christian Soldiers
" as their anthem; and in a famous 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." However, many of the nation's newspapers, which tended to be pro-Republican, harshly depicted Roosevelt as an egotist
who was only running for president to spoil Taft's chances and to feed his vanity. Many of these newspaper's political cartoons portrayed Roosevelt in this fashion; the anti-Roosevelt cartoon below was drawn by Edward Windsor Kemble for the January 1912 edition of Harper's Weekly
.
from June 25 to July 2. It proved to be one of the more memorable presidential conventions of the twentieth century. Initially, the frontrunner appeared to be Champ Clark of Missouri
, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
, and Clark did receive a majority of the delegate votes early in the balloting. However, due to the then-official two-thirds rule used by the Democratic Party, Clark was never able to get the necessary two-thirds majority to win the nomination. Clark's chances were hurt when Tammany Hall
, the powerful and corrupt Democratic political machine in New York City
, threw its support behind Clark. Ironically, instead of helping Clark, this led William Jennings Bryan
, the three-time Democratic presidential candidate and still the leader of the party's liberals, to turn against Clark as the candidate of "Wall Street
". Bryan instead threw his support to New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson, who had consistently finished second to Clark on each ballot, and who was regarded as a moderate reformer. Ironically, Wilson had nearly given up hope that he could be nominated, and he was on the verge of having a concession speech read for him at the convention that would free his delegates to vote for someone else. Bryan's defection from Clark to Wilson led many other delegates to do the same, and Wilson gradually gained strength while Clark's support dwindled. Wilson finally received the nomination on the 46th ballot. Thomas R. Marshall
, the Governor of Indiana
, who had swung his state's delegate votes to Wilson in later ballots, was named as Wilson's running mate.
The Socialist Party of America
was a highly factionalized coalition of local parties based in industrial cities and usually was rooted in ethnic communities, especially German and Finnish. It also had some support in old Populist rural and mining areas in the West, especially Oklahoma. By 1912, the party claimed more than a thousand locally elected officials in 33 states and 160 cities, especially the Midwest. Eugene V. Debs
had run for president in 1900
, 1904
, and 1908
, primarily to encourage the local effort, and he did so again in 1912.
The conservatives, led by Victor L. Berger
of Milwaukee, promoted progressive causes of efficiency and an end to corruption, nicknamed "gas and water socialism". Their opponents were the radicals who wanted to overthrow capitalism, tried to infiltrate labor unions, and sought to cooperate with the Industrial Workers of the World
("the Wobblies"). With few exceptions, the party had weak or nonexistent links to local labor unions. Immigration was an issue—the radicals saw immigrants as fodder for the war with capitalism, while conservatives complained that they lowered wage rates and absorbed too many city resources. Many of these issues had been debated at the First National Congress of the Socialist Party in 1910, and they were debated again at the national convention in Indianapolis
in 1912. At the latter, the radicals won an early test by seating Bill Haywood
on the Executive Committee, sending encouragement to western “Wobblies”, and passing a resolution seeming to favor industrial unionism. The conservatives counterattacked by amending the party constitution to expel any socialists who favored industrial sabotage or syndicalism (that is, the IWW), and who refused to participate in American elections. They adopted a conservative platform calling for cooperative organization of prisons, a national bureau of health, abolition of the Senate and the presidential veto, and a long list of progressive reforms that the Democratic party was known for. Debs did not attend—he saw his mission as keeping the disparate units together in the hope that someday a common goal would be found.
James S. Sherman
died in office on October 30, 1912, less than a week before the election, leaving Taft without a running mate. With the Republican Party divided, Wilson captured the presidency handily on November 5.
While Roosevelt was campaigning in Milwaukee on October 14, 1912, a saloonkeeper 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.
The election of 1912 is considered the high tide of progressive politics. A match-up between Roosevelt and Wilson alone may also have produced a Wilson victory, as many conservatives may have preferred Wilson, who still would have won much of the Democratic and progressive base.
The Socialists had little money—Debs' campaign cost only $66,000, mostly for 3.5 million leaflets and travel to rallies organized by local groups. His biggest event was a speech to 15,000 in New York City. The crowd sang “La Marseillaise
” and “The Internationale
” as Emil Seidel
, the vice- presidential candidate, boasted, “Only a year ago workingmen were throwing decayed vegetables and rotten eggs at us but now all is changed…. Eggs are too high. There is a great giant growing up in this country that will someday take over the affairs of this nation. He is a little giant now but he is growing fast. The name of this little giant is socialism.” Debs said that only the socialists represented labor. He condemned “Injunction Bill Taft” and ridiculed Roosevelt as “a charlatan, mountebank, and fraud, and his Progressive promises and pledges as the mouthings of a low and utterly unprincipled self seeker and demagogue.” Debs insisted that the Democrats, Progressives, and Republicans alike were financed by the trusts. Party newspapers spread the word—there were five English-language and eight foreign-language dailies along with 262 English and 36 foreign-language weeklies. The labor union movement, however, largely rejected Debs and supported Wilson.
Roosevelt conducted a vigorous national campaign for the Progressive Party, denouncing the way the Republican nomination had been "stolen." He bundled together his reforms under the rubric of "The New Nationalism
" and stumped the country for a strong federal role in regulating the economy and chastising bad corporations. Wilson supported a policy called "The New Freedom
". This policy was based mostly on individualism instead of a strong government. Taft, knowing he had no chance to win, campaigned quietly, and spoke of the need for judges to be more powerful than elected officials. The departure of the more progressive Republicans left the conservative Republicans even more firmly in control of their party until 1916, when many progressives returned. The last Progressive Republican president elected was Herbert Hoover in 1928. Much of the Republican effort was designed to discredit Roosevelt as a dangerous radical, but this had little effect.
Wilson easily won election despite getting fewer votes and a lower percentage than William Jennings Bryan had for the Democrats four years previously: 6.3 million votes and 42% to 6.4 million and 43% for Bryan, who lost badly to Taft in 1908. 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. In fact, Wilson was the first Democratic presidential candidate ever to carry the state of Massachusetts (whereas Rhode Island and Maine had not been carried by a Democrat since 1852). On the West coast, Oregon had not been carried by a Democrat since 1868.
Debs' 6% was the all-time high for the Socialist Party in presidential elections and made 1912 the first (and last) election since 1860 in which four candidates each cleared 5%.
This was the first 48-state election, with Arizona and New Mexico having joined the Union earlier in the year.
Source (Popular Vote): Source (Electoral Vote):
Source: Leip, David. 1912 Presidential Election Data by State. Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections (July 31, 2005).
Failing to make itself a believable third party, the Bull Moose Party ended up losing strength. Its candidates did poorly in 1914. It vanished in 1916 with most members following Roosevelt back into the Republican party. However, the Taft conservatives controlled the party and its platform from 1912 to 1928, and thus some Progressives like Harold L. Ickes
joined the steadily more liberal Democratic party.
The election of 1912 was the topic of counterfactual speculation by John Lukacs
, "The Election of Theodore Roosevelt, 1912", in What If? 2
, edited by Robert Cowley
.
William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft was the 27th President of the United States and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States...
was renominated by the Republican Party with the support of its conservative wing. After former President Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
failed to receive the Republican nomination, he called his own convention and created the Progressive Party
Progressive Party (United States, 1912)
The Progressive Party of 1912 was an American political party. It was formed after a split in the Republican Party between President William Howard Taft and former President Theodore Roosevelt....
(nicknamed the "Bull Moose Party"). It nominated Roosevelt and ran candidates for other offices in major states. Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
was finally nominated on the 46th ballot of a contentious convention
Democratic National Convention
The Democratic National Convention is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 1852 national convention...
, thanks to the support of William Jennings Bryan
William Jennings Bryan
William Jennings Bryan was an American politician in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. He was a dominant force in the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, standing three times as its candidate for President of the United States...
, the three-time Democratic presidential candidate who still had a large and loyal following in 1912. Eugene V. Debs
Eugene V. Debs
Eugene Victor Debs was an American union leader, one of the founding members of the International Labor Union and the Industrial Workers of the World , and several times the candidate of the Socialist Party of America for President of the United States...
was the nominee of the Socialist Party of America
Socialist Party of America
The Socialist Party of America was a multi-tendency democratic-socialist political party in the United States, formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party which had split from the main organization...
.
Wilson defeated Taft, Roosevelt, and Debs in the general election, winning a huge majority in the Electoral College and 42% of the popular vote, while his nearest rival, Roosevelt, won only 27%. Wilson became the only elected president from the Democratic Party between 1892
United States presidential election, 1892
In the United States presidential election of 1892, former President Grover Cleveland ran for re-election against the incumbent President Benjamin Harrison, who was also running for re-election. Cleveland defeated Harrison, thus becoming the only person in American history to be elected to a...
and 1932
United States presidential election, 1932
The United States presidential election of 1932 took place as the effects of the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, the Revenue Act of 1932, and the Great Depression were being felt intensely across the country. President Herbert Hoover's popularity was falling as...
. He was the second of only two Democrats to be elected president between 1860 and 1932. This was the last election in which a candidate who was not a Republican or Democrat came second in either the popular vote or the Electoral College and the first election in which all 48 states of the continental United States participated.
Background
Progressive PresidentPresident of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
had declined to run for re-election in 1908
United States presidential election, 1908
The United States presidential election of 1908 was held on November 3, 1908. Popular incumbent President Theodore Roosevelt, honoring a promise not to seek a third term, persuaded the Republican Party to nominate William Howard Taft, his close friend and Secretary of War, to become his successor...
in fulfillment of a pledge to the American people not to seek a second full term. Roosevelt's first term as president (1901-1905) was incomplete, as he succeeded to the office upon the assassination of William McKinley
William McKinley
William McKinley, Jr. was the 25th President of the United States . He is best known for winning fiercely fought elections, while supporting the gold standard and high tariffs; he succeeded in forging a Republican coalition that for the most part dominated national politics until the 1930s...
; it was only his second term (1905-1909) that encompassed four full years. He had tapped Secretary of War
United States Secretary of War
The Secretary of War was a member of the United States President's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War," was appointed to serve the Congress of the Confederation under the Articles of Confederation...
William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft was the 27th President of the United States and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States...
to become his successor, and Taft had gone on to defeat Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
William Jennings Bryan
William Jennings Bryan
William Jennings Bryan was an American politician in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. He was a dominant force in the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, standing three times as its candidate for President of the United States...
in the general election. During Taft's administration, a rift grew between Roosevelt and Taft as they became the leaders of the Republican Party's two wings: the progressives
Progressivism in the United States
Progressivism in the United States is a broadly based reform movement that reached its height early in the 20th century and is generally considered to be middle class and reformist in nature. It arose as a response to the vast changes brought by modernization, such as the growth of large...
, led by Roosevelt, and the conservatives, led by Taft. The progressive Republicans favored restrictions on the employment of women and children, favored ecological conservation
Conservation ethic
Conservation is an ethic of resource use, allocation, and protection. Its primary focus is upon maintaining the health of the natural world: its, fisheries, habitats, and biological diversity. Secondary focus is on materials conservation and energy conservation, which are seen as important to...
, were more sympathetic toward labor unions
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
, and opposed tariff
Tariff
A tariff may be either tax on imports or exports , or a list or schedule of prices for such things as rail service, bus routes, and electrical usage ....
s on imported manufactured products. 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 favored high tariffs on imported goods to encourage consumers to buy American-made products, 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 was deep, and this, in turn, caused Roosevelt and Taft to turn against one another, despite their personal friendship.
Republican Party nomination
Republican candidates:- William Howard TaftWilliam Howard TaftWilliam Howard Taft was the 27th President of the United States and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States...
, President of the United StatesPresident of the United StatesThe President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
from OhioOhioOhio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus... - Theodore RooseveltTheodore RooseveltTheodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
, former President from New YorkNew YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east... - Robert M. La FolletteRobert M. La Follette, Sr.Robert Marion "Fighting Bob" La Follette, Sr. , was an American Republican politician. He served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, was the Governor of Wisconsin, and was also a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin...
, SenatorUnited States SenateThe United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
from WisconsinWisconsinWisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
Candidates gallery
For the first time significant numbers of delegates to the national conventions were elected in presidential preference primariesUnited States presidential primary
The series of presidential primary elections and caucuses is one of the first steps in the process of electing the President of the United States of America. The primary elections are run by state and local governments, while caucuses are private events run by the political parties...
. Primary elections were advocated by the progressive faction in the Republican Party, which wanted to break the control of political parties by bosses
Political boss
A boss, in politics, is a person who wields the power over a particular political region or constituency. Bosses may dictate voting patterns, control appointments, and wield considerable influence in other political processes. They do not necessarily hold public office themselves...
. Altogether, twelve states held Republican primaries. Robert M. La Follette
Robert M. La Follette, Sr.
Robert Marion "Fighting Bob" La Follette, Sr. , was an American Republican politician. He served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, was the Governor of Wisconsin, and was also a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin...
won two of the first four primaries (North Dakota and Wisconsin). Beginning with his runaway victory in Illinois on April 9, however, Roosevelt won nine of the last ten presidential primaries (in order, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Nebraska, Oregon, Maryland, California, Ohio, New Jersey, and South Dakota), losing only Massachusetts to Taft. As a sign of his great popularity, Roosevelt even carried Taft's home state of Ohio.
The Republican Convention
Republican National Convention
The Republican National Convention is the presidential nominating convention of the Republican Party of the United States. Convened by the Republican National Committee, the stated purpose of the convocation is to nominate an official candidate in an upcoming U.S...
was held in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
from June 18 to June 22. Taft, however, had begun to gather delegates earlier, and the delegates chosen in the primaries were a minority. Taft had the support of the bulk of the party organizations in the Southern states
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
. These states had voted solidly Democratic in every presidential election since 1880
United States presidential election, 1880
The United States presidential election of 1880 was largely seen as a referendum on the end of Reconstruction in Southern states carried out by the Republicans. There were no pressing issues of the day save tariffs, with the Republicans supporting higher tariffs and the Democrats supporting lower...
, and Roosevelt objected that they were given one-quarter of the delegates when they would contribute nothing to a Republican victory (as it turned out, delegates from the former Confederate states supported Taft by a 5 to 1 margin). When the convention gathered, Roosevelt challenged the credentials of nearly half of the delegates. By that time, however, it was too late. The delegates chose Elihu Root
Elihu Root
Elihu Root was an American lawyer and statesman and the 1912 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the prototype of the 20th century "wise man", who shuttled between high-level government positions in Washington, D.C...
— once Roosevelt's top ally — to serve as chairman of the convention. Afterwards, the delegates seated Taft delegations in Alabama, Arizona, and California on tight contests of 597-472, 564-497, and 542-529, respectively. After losing California, where Roosevelt had won the primary, the progressive delegates gave up hope. They voted "present" on most succeeding roll calls. Not since the 1872 election
United States presidential election, 1872
In the United States presidential election of 1872, incumbent President Ulysses S. Grant was easily elected to a second term in office with Senator Henry Wilson of Massachusetts as his running mate, despite a split within the Republican Party that resulted in a defection of many Liberal Republicans...
had there been a major schism in the Republican party. Now, with the Democrats holding about 45% of the national vote, any schism would be fatal. Roosevelt's only hope at the convention was to form a "stop-Taft" alliance with La Follette, but Roosevelt had alienated La Follette, and the alliance could not form.
Unable to tolerate the personal humiliation he suffered at the hands of Taft and the Old Guard, and refusing to entertain the possibility of a compromise candidate, Roosevelt struck back hard. On the evening of June 22, 1912, Roosevelt asked his supporters to leave the convention. Roosevelt maintained that President Taft had allowed fraudulent seating of delegates in order to capture the presidential nomination from progressive forces within the Party. Thus, with the support of convention chairman Elihu Root, Taft's supporters outvoted Roosevelt's men, and the convention renominated incumbents William Howard Taft and James S. Sherman, making Sherman the first sitting vice-president to be nominated for re-election since John C. Calhoun
John C. Calhoun
John Caldwell Calhoun was a leading politician and political theorist from South Carolina during the first half of the 19th century. Calhoun eloquently spoke out on every issue of his day, but often changed positions. Calhoun began his political career as a nationalist, modernizer, and proponent...
in 1828
United States presidential election, 1828
The United States presidential election of 1828 featured a rematch between John Quincy Adams, now incumbent President, and Andrew Jackson, the runner-up in the 1824 election. With no other major candidates, Jackson and his chief ally Martin Van Buren consolidated their bases in the South and New...
.
| Vice Presidential Ballot | |
| James S. Sherman James S. Sherman James Schoolcraft Sherman was a United States Representative from New York and the 27th Vice President of the United States . He was a member of the Baldwin, Hoar, and Sherman families.-Early life:... | 596 |
|---|---|
| William Borah | 21 |
| Charles Edward Merriam Charles Edward Merriam Charles Edward Merriam, Jr. was a professor of political science at the University of Chicago, founder of the behavioralistic approach to political science, and an advisor to several U.S. Presidents... | 20 |
| Herbert S. Hadley Herbert S. Hadley Herbert Spencer Hadley was an American lawyer and a Republican Party politician from St. Louis, Missouri. Born in Olathe, Kansas, he was Missouri Attorney General from 1905 to 1909 and was the 32nd Governor of Missouri from 1909 to 1913. As Attorney General, he successfully prosecuted Standard Oil... | 14 |
| Albert J. Beveridge Albert J. Beveridge Albert Jeremiah Beveridge was an American historian and United States Senator from Indiana.-Early years:Albert J. Beveridge was born October 6, 1862 in Highland County, Ohio and his parents moved to Indiana soon after his birth, and his boyhood was one of hard work... | 2 |
Progressive Party
Progressive candidate:- Theodore RooseveltTheodore RooseveltTheodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
, former President from New YorkNew YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
Candidates gallery
Republican progressives reconvened in Chicago and endorsed the formation of a national progressive party. When formally launched later that summer, the new Progressive PartyProgressive Party (United States, 1912)
The Progressive Party of 1912 was an American political party. It was formed after a split in the Republican Party between President William Howard Taft and former President Theodore Roosevelt....
chose Roosevelt as its presidential nominee and Hiram Johnson
Hiram Johnson
Hiram Warren Johnson was a leading American progressive and later isolationist politician from California; he served as the 23rd Governor from 1911 to 1917, and as a United States Senator from 1917 to 1945.-Early life:...
of California as his running mate. Questioned by reporters, Roosevelt said he felt as strong as a "bull moose." Henceforth known as the "Bull Moose Party," the Progressives promised to increase federal regulation and protect the welfare of ordinary people.
The party was funded by publisher Frank Munsey
Frank Munsey
Frank Andrew Munsey was an American newspaper and magazine publisher and author. He was born in Mercer, Maine but spent most of his life in New York City...
and its executive secretary George Walbridge Perkins, an employee of banker J. P. Morgan
J. P. Morgan
John Pierpont Morgan was an American financier, banker and art collector who dominated corporate finance and industrial consolidation during his time. In 1892 Morgan arranged the merger of Edison General Electric and Thomson-Houston Electric Company to form General Electric...
and International Harvester
International Harvester
International Harvester Company was a United States agricultural machinery, construction equipment, vehicle, commercial truck, and household and commercial products manufacturer. In 1902, J.P...
. Perkins blocked an anti-trust plank, shocking reformers who thought of Roosevelt as a true trust-buster. The delegates to the convention sang the religious hymn "Onward, Christian Soldiers
Onward, Christian Soldiers
"Onward, Christian Soldiers" is a 19th century English hymn. The words were written by Sabine Baring-Gould in 1865, and the music was composed by Arthur Sullivan in 1871. Sullivan named the tune "St. Gertrude," after the wife of his friend Ernest Clay Ker Seymer, at whose country home he composed...
" as their anthem; and in a famous acceptance speech, Roosevelt compared the coming presidential campaign to the Battle of Armageddon
Armageddon
Armageddon is, according to the Bible, the site of a battle during the end times, variously interpreted as either a literal or symbolic location...
and stated that the Progressives were going to "battle for the Lord." However, many of the nation's newspapers, which tended to be pro-Republican, harshly depicted Roosevelt as an egotist
Egotism
Egotism is "characterized by an exaggerated estimate of one's intellect, ability, importance, appearance, wit, or other valued personal characteristics" – the drive to maintain and enhance favorable views of oneself....
who was only running for president to spoil Taft's chances and to feed his vanity. Many of these newspaper's political cartoons portrayed Roosevelt in this fashion; the anti-Roosevelt cartoon below was drawn by Edward Windsor Kemble for the January 1912 edition of Harper's Weekly
Harper's Weekly
Harper's Weekly was an American political magazine based in New York City. Published by Harper & Brothers from 1857 until 1916, it featured foreign and domestic news, fiction, essays on many subjects, and humor...
.
Democratic Party nomination
Democratic candidates:- Woodrow WilsonWoodrow WilsonThomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
, Governor of New JerseyGovernor of New JerseyThe Office of the Governor of New Jersey is the executive branch for the U.S. state of New Jersey. The office of Governor is an elected position, for which elected officials serve four year terms. While individual politicians may serve as many terms as they can be elected to, Governors cannot be... - Champ Clark, Speaker of the House from MissouriMissouriMissouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
- Judson HarmonJudson HarmonJudson Harmon was a Democratic politician from Ohio. He served as United States Attorney General under President Grover Cleveland and later served as the 45th Governor of Ohio....
, Governor of Ohio - Oscar UnderwoodOscar UnderwoodOscar Wilder Underwood was an American politician.Underwood was born in Louisville, Kentucky, on May 6, 1862. He was the grandson of Joseph R. Underwood, a Kentucky Senator circa 1850. He attended the University of Virginia at Charlottesville...
, House Majority Leader from AlabamaAlabamaAlabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland... - Thomas R. MarshallThomas R. MarshallThomas Riley Marshall was an American Democratic politician who served as the 28th Vice President of the United States under Woodrow Wilson...
, Governor of IndianaGovernor of IndianaThe Governor of Indiana is the chief executive of the state of Indiana. The governor is elected to a four-year term, and responsible for overseeing the day-to-day management of the functions of many agencies of the Indiana state government. The governor also shares power with other statewide... - Eugene FossEugene FossEugene Noble Foss, was an American Representative and the 45th Governor of Massachusetts, as well as brother of George Edmund Foss.-Biography:...
, Governor of MassachusettsGovernor of MassachusettsThe Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the executive magistrate of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. The current governor is Democrat Deval Patrick.-Constitutional role:...
Candidates gallery
The Democratic Convention was held in Baltimore, MarylandBaltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
from June 25 to July 2. It proved to be one of the more memorable presidential conventions of the twentieth century. Initially, the frontrunner appeared to be Champ Clark of Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
The Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, or Speaker of the House, is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives...
, and Clark did receive a majority of the delegate votes early in the balloting. However, due to the then-official two-thirds rule used by the Democratic Party, Clark was never able to get the necessary two-thirds majority to win the nomination. Clark's chances were hurt when Tammany Hall
Tammany Hall
Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society...
, the powerful and corrupt Democratic political machine in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, threw its support behind Clark. Ironically, instead of helping Clark, this led William Jennings Bryan
William Jennings Bryan
William Jennings Bryan was an American politician in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. He was a dominant force in the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, standing three times as its candidate for President of the United States...
, the three-time Democratic presidential candidate and still the leader of the party's liberals, to turn against Clark as the candidate of "Wall Street
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
". Bryan instead threw his support to New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson, who had consistently finished second to Clark on each ballot, and who was regarded as a moderate reformer. Ironically, Wilson had nearly given up hope that he could be nominated, and he was on the verge of having a concession speech read for him at the convention that would free his delegates to vote for someone else. Bryan's defection from Clark to Wilson led many other delegates to do the same, and Wilson gradually gained strength while Clark's support dwindled. Wilson finally received the nomination on the 46th ballot. Thomas R. Marshall
Thomas R. Marshall
Thomas Riley Marshall was an American Democratic politician who served as the 28th Vice President of the United States under Woodrow Wilson...
, the Governor of Indiana
Governor of Indiana
The Governor of Indiana is the chief executive of the state of Indiana. The governor is elected to a four-year term, and responsible for overseeing the day-to-day management of the functions of many agencies of the Indiana state government. The governor also shares power with other statewide...
, who had swung his state's delegate votes to Wilson in later ballots, was named as Wilson's running mate.
| Vice Presidential Ballot | ||
| Ballot | 1st | 2nd |
|---|---|---|
| Thomas R. Marshall Thomas R. Marshall Thomas Riley Marshall was an American Democratic politician who served as the 28th Vice President of the United States under Woodrow Wilson... | 389 | 644.5 |
| John Burke | 304.67 | 386.33 |
| George Earle Chamberlain George Earle Chamberlain George Earle Chamberlain was an American politician, legislator, and public official in Oregon. A native of Mississippi and trained lawyer, he served as the 11th Governor of Oregon, a representative in the Oregon Legislative Assembly, a United States Senator.-Early life:Chamberlain was born near... | 157 | 12.5 |
| Elmore W. Hurst Elmore W. Hurst Elmore Wallace Hurst was a Democrat in the Illinois General Assembly in 1888 and again in 1898.-Biography:... | 78 | 0 |
| James H. Preston James H. Preston James Harry Preston was the Mayor of Baltimore from 1911-1919.-Biography:Preston was born in Harford County, Maryland in 1860. He served in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1890-1894. He briefly served as Speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates in 1894. Preston then served as the Mayor... | 58 | 0 |
| Martin Joseph Wade Martin Joseph Wade 300px|thumb|Martin Wade, Bain News Service, undatedMartin Joseph Wade was a one-term Democratic U.S. Representative from Iowa's 2nd congressional district, and a U.S... | 26 | 0 |
| William F. McCombs | 18 | 0 |
| John Eugene Osborne John Eugene Osborne John Eugene Osborne was an American physician, farmer, banker and Democratic politician. He was the third Governor of Wyoming after the Wyoming Territory attained statehood in 1890.... | 8 | 0 |
| William Sulzer William Sulzer William Sulzer was an American lawyer and politician, nicknamed Plain Bill Sulzer. He was the 39th Governor of New York and a long-serving congressman from the same state. He was the first and so far only New York Governor to be impeached... | 3 | 0 |
Socialist Party
Socialist Party of America
The Socialist Party of America was a multi-tendency democratic-socialist political party in the United States, formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party which had split from the main organization...
was a highly factionalized coalition of local parties based in industrial cities and usually was rooted in ethnic communities, especially German and Finnish. It also had some support in old Populist rural and mining areas in the West, especially Oklahoma. By 1912, the party claimed more than a thousand locally elected officials in 33 states and 160 cities, especially the Midwest. Eugene V. Debs
Eugene V. Debs
Eugene Victor Debs was an American union leader, one of the founding members of the International Labor Union and the Industrial Workers of the World , and several times the candidate of the Socialist Party of America for President of the United States...
had run for president in 1900
United States presidential election, 1900
The United States presidential election of 1900 was a re-match of the 1896 race between Republican President William McKinley and his Democratic challenger, William Jennings Bryan. The return of economic prosperity and recent victory in the Spanish–American War helped McKinley to score a decisive...
, 1904
United States presidential election, 1904
The United States presidential election of 1904 held on November 8, 1904, resulted in the election to a full term for President Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt had succeeded to the presidency upon the assassination of William McKinley. The Republican Party unanimously nominated him for president at...
, and 1908
United States presidential election, 1908
The United States presidential election of 1908 was held on November 3, 1908. Popular incumbent President Theodore Roosevelt, honoring a promise not to seek a third term, persuaded the Republican Party to nominate William Howard Taft, his close friend and Secretary of War, to become his successor...
, primarily to encourage the local effort, and he did so again in 1912.
The conservatives, led by Victor L. Berger
Victor L. Berger
Victor Luitpold Berger was a founding member of the Socialist Party of America and an important and influential Socialist journalist who helped establish the so-called Sewer Socialist movement. The first Socialist elected to the U.S...
of Milwaukee, promoted progressive causes of efficiency and an end to corruption, nicknamed "gas and water socialism". Their opponents were the radicals who wanted to overthrow capitalism, tried to infiltrate labor unions, and sought to cooperate with the Industrial Workers of the World
Industrial Workers of the World
The Industrial Workers of the World is an international union. At its peak in 1923, the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. Its membership declined dramatically after a 1924 split brought on by internal conflict...
("the Wobblies"). With few exceptions, the party had weak or nonexistent links to local labor unions. Immigration was an issue—the radicals saw immigrants as fodder for the war with capitalism, while conservatives complained that they lowered wage rates and absorbed too many city resources. Many of these issues had been debated at the First National Congress of the Socialist Party in 1910, and they were debated again at the national convention in Indianapolis
Indianapolis
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
in 1912. At the latter, the radicals won an early test by seating Bill Haywood
Bill Haywood
William Dudley Haywood , better known as "Big Bill" Haywood, was a founding member and leader of the Industrial Workers of the World , and a member of the Executive Committee of the Socialist Party of America...
on the Executive Committee, sending encouragement to western “Wobblies”, and passing a resolution seeming to favor industrial unionism. The conservatives counterattacked by amending the party constitution to expel any socialists who favored industrial sabotage or syndicalism (that is, the IWW), and who refused to participate in American elections. They adopted a conservative platform calling for cooperative organization of prisons, a national bureau of health, abolition of the Senate and the presidential veto, and a long list of progressive reforms that the Democratic party was known for. Debs did not attend—he saw his mission as keeping the disparate units together in the hope that someday a common goal would be found.
Campaign
The 1912 presidential campaign was bitterly contested. Vice-PresidentVice President of the United States
The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
James S. Sherman
James S. Sherman
James Schoolcraft Sherman was a United States Representative from New York and the 27th Vice President of the United States . He was a member of the Baldwin, Hoar, and Sherman families.-Early life:...
died in office on October 30, 1912, less than a week before the election, leaving Taft without a running mate. With the Republican Party divided, Wilson captured the presidency handily on November 5.
The election of 1912 is considered the high tide of progressive politics. A match-up between Roosevelt and Wilson alone may also have produced a Wilson victory, as many conservatives may have preferred Wilson, who still would have won much of the Democratic and progressive base.
The Socialists had little money—Debs' campaign cost only $66,000, mostly for 3.5 million leaflets and travel to rallies organized by local groups. His biggest event was a speech to 15,000 in New York City. The crowd sang “La Marseillaise
La Marseillaise
"La Marseillaise" is the national anthem of France. The song, originally titled "Chant de guerre pour l'Armée du Rhin" was written and composed by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle in 1792. The French National Convention adopted it as the Republic's anthem in 1795...
” and “The Internationale
The Internationale
The Internationale is a famous socialist, communist, social-democratic and anarchist anthem.The Internationale became the anthem of international socialism, and gained particular fame under the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1944, when it was that communist state's de facto central anthem...
” as Emil Seidel
Emil Seidel
Emil Seidel was the mayor of Milwaukee from 1910 to 1912. He was the first Socialist mayor of a major city in the United States, and ran as the Vice Presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America in the 1912 presidential election....
, the vice- presidential candidate, boasted, “Only a year ago workingmen were throwing decayed vegetables and rotten eggs at us but now all is changed…. Eggs are too high. There is a great giant growing up in this country that will someday take over the affairs of this nation. He is a little giant now but he is growing fast. The name of this little giant is socialism.” Debs said that only the socialists represented labor. He condemned “Injunction Bill Taft” and ridiculed Roosevelt as “a charlatan, mountebank, and fraud, and his Progressive promises and pledges as the mouthings of a low and utterly unprincipled self seeker and demagogue.” Debs insisted that the Democrats, Progressives, and Republicans alike were financed by the trusts. Party newspapers spread the word—there were five English-language and eight foreign-language dailies along with 262 English and 36 foreign-language weeklies. The labor union movement, however, largely rejected Debs and supported Wilson.
New Nationalism
New Nationalism was Theodore Roosevelt's Progressive political philosophy during the 1912 election.-Overview:Roosevelt made the case for what he called the New Nationalism in a speech in Osawatomie, Kansas, on August 31, 1910...
" and stumped the country for a strong federal role in regulating the economy and chastising bad corporations. Wilson supported a policy called "The New Freedom
The New Freedom
The New Freedom comprises the campaign speeches and promises of Woodrow Wilson in the 1912 presidential campaign. They called for less government, but in practice as president he added new controls such as the Federal Reserve System and the Clayton Antitrust Act. More generally the "New Freedom" is...
". This policy was based mostly on individualism instead of a strong government. Taft, knowing he had no chance to win, campaigned quietly, and spoke of the need for judges to be more powerful than elected officials. The departure of the more progressive Republicans left the conservative Republicans even more firmly in control of their party until 1916, when many progressives returned. The last Progressive Republican president elected was Herbert Hoover in 1928. Much of the Republican effort was designed to discredit Roosevelt as a dangerous radical, but this had little effect.
Results
The split in the Republican vote resulted in the weakest Republican effort in history. Roosevelt's strong third-party candidacy created the only instance in the twentieth century of a third-party candidate receiving more electoral votes than one of the major-party candidates: although he failed to become chief executive again, Roosevelt succeeded in his vendetta against Taft, who received just 23% of the popular vote compared to Roosevelt's 27%. The election of 1912 was also the only election in which a third-party candidate received more popular votes than one of the major-party candidates. Winning only eight electoral votes, Taft suffered a worse defeat than any other president defeated for re-election. Nicholas Murray Butler was selected to receive the electoral votes from Utah and Vermont that would have gone to Sherman, the deceased vice-president.Wilson easily won election despite getting fewer votes and a lower percentage than William Jennings Bryan had for the Democrats four years previously: 6.3 million votes and 42% to 6.4 million and 43% for Bryan, who lost badly to Taft in 1908. 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. In fact, Wilson was the first Democratic presidential candidate ever to carry the state of Massachusetts (whereas Rhode Island and Maine had not been carried by a Democrat since 1852). On the West coast, Oregon had not been carried by a Democrat since 1868.
Debs' 6% was the all-time high for the Socialist Party in presidential elections and made 1912 the first (and last) election since 1860 in which four candidates each cleared 5%.
This was the first 48-state election, with Arizona and New Mexico having joined the Union earlier in the year.
Source (Popular Vote): Source (Electoral Vote):
State by state results
| EV | State | Woodrow Wilson | Theodore Roosevelt | William Taft | Eugene V. Debs | State | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| count | % | EV | count | % | EV | count | % | EV | count | % | EV | |||
| 12 | Alabama | 82,438 | 69.9 | 12 | 22,680 | 19.2 | 9,807 | 8.3 | 3,029 | 2.6 | AL | |||
| 3 | Arizona | 10,324 | 44.0 | 3 | 6,949 | 29.6 | 3,021 | 12.9 | 3,163 | 13.5 | AZ | |||
| 9 | Arkansas | 68,814 | 55.4 | 9 | 21,644 | 17.4 | 25,585 | 20.6 | 8,153 | 6.6 | AR | |||
| 13 | California | 283,436 | 43.6 | *2 | 283,610 | 43.6 | *11 | 3,914 | 0.6 | 79,201 | 12.2 | CA | ||
| 6 | Colorado | 114,232 | 43.7 | 6 | 72,306 | 27.7 | 58,386 | 22.3 | 16,418 | 6.3 | CO | |||
| 7 | Connecticut | 74,561 | 39.9 | 7 | 34,129 | 18.2 | 68,324 | 36.5 | 10,056 | 5.4 | CT | |||
| 3 | Delaware | 22,631 | 47.1 | 3 | 8,886 | 18.5 | 15,998 | 33.3 | 556 | 1.2 | DE | |||
| 6 | Florida | 35,343 | 72.2 | 6 | 4,555 | 9.3 | 4,279 | 8.7 | 4,806 | 9.8 | FL | |||
| 14 | Georgia | 93,087 | 76.7 | 14 | 21,985 | 18.1 | 5,191 | 4.3 | 1,058 | 0.9 | GA | |||
| 4 | Idaho | 33,921 | 32.5 | 4 | 25,527 | 24.5 | 32,810 | 31.5 | 11,960 | 11.5 | ID | |||
| 29 | Illinois | 405,048 | 36.0 | 29 | 386,478 | 34.3 | 253,593 | 22.5 | 81,278 | 7.2 | IL | |||
| 15 | Indiana | 281,890 | 44.6 | 15 | 162,007 | 25.6 | 151,267 | 23.9 | 36,931 | 5.8 | IN | |||
| 13 | Iowa | 185,325 | 38.3 | 13 | 161,819 | 33.4 | 119,805 | 24.8 | 16,967 | 3.5 | IA | |||
| 10 | Kansas | 143,663 | 39.3 | 10 | 120,210 | 32.9 | 74,845 | 20.5 | 26,779 | 7.3 | KS | |||
| 13 | Kentucky | 219,484 | 48.9 | 13 | 101,766 | 22.7 | 115,510 | 25.8 | 11,646 | 2.6 | KY | |||
| 10 | Louisiana | 60,871 | 76.8 | 10 | 9,283 | 11.7 | 3,833 | 4.8 | 5,261 | 6.6 | LA | |||
| 6 | Maine | 51,113 | 39.7 | 6 | 48,495 | 37.7 | 26,545 | 20.6 | 2,541 | 2.0 | ME | |||
| 8 | Maryland | 112,674 | 49.1 | 8 | 57,789 | 25.2 | 54,956 | 24.0 | 3,996 | 1.7 | MD | |||
| 18 | Massachusetts | 173,408 | 35.8 | 18 | 142,228 | 29.4 | 155,948 | 32.2 | 12,616 | 2.6 | MA | |||
| 15 | Michigan | 150,751 | 27.9 | 214,584 | 39.7 | 15 | 152,244 | 28.2 | 23,211 | 4.3 | MI | |||
| 12 | Minnesota | 106,426 | 32.8 | 125,856 | 38.8 | 12 | 64,334 | 19.8 | 27,505 | 8.5 | MN | |||
| 10 | Mississippi | 57,324 | 88.9 | 10 | 3,549 | 5.5 | 1,560 | 2.4 | 2,050 | 3.2 | MS | |||
| 18 | Missouri | 330,746 | 47.8 | 18 | 124,375 | 18.0 | 207,821 | 30.1 | 28,466 | 4.1 | MO | |||
| 4 | Montana | 27,941 | 35.0 | 4 | 22,456 | 28.1 | 18,512 | 23.2 | 10,885 | 13.6 | MT | |||
| 8 | Nebraska | 109,008 | 44.3 | 8 | 72,681 | 29.5 | 54,226 | 22.0 | 10,185 | 4.1 | NE | |||
| 3 | Nevada | 7,986 | 39.7 | 3 | 5,620 | 27.9 | 3,196 | 15.9 | 3,313 | 16.5 | NV | |||
| 4 | New Hampshire | 34,724 | 39.7 | 4 | 17,794 | 20.4 | 32,927 | 37.7 | 1,981 | 2.3 | NH | |||
| 14 | New Jersey | 178,289 | 41.6 | 14 | 145,410 | 33.9 | 88,835 | 20.7 | 15,948 | 3.7 | NJ | |||
| 3 | New Mexico | 20,437 | 41.3 | 3 | 8,347 | 16.9 | 17,733 | 35.9 | 2,859 | 5.8 | NM | |||
| 45 | New York | 655,573 | 41.9 | 45 | 390,093 | 24.9 | 455,487 | 29.1 | 63,434 | 4.1 | NY | |||
| 12 | North Carolina | 144,407 | 59.3 | 12 | 69,135 | 28.4 | 29,129 | 12.0 | 987 | 0.4 | NC | |||
| 5 | North Dakota | 29,555 | 34.6 | 5 | 25,726 | 30.1 | 23,090 | 27.1 | 6,966 | 8.2 | ND | |||
| 24 | Ohio | 424,834 | 41.5 | 24 | 229,807 | 22.5 | 278,168 | 27.2 | 90,144 | 8.8 | OH | |||
| 10 | Oklahoma | 119,156 | 47.4 | 10 | not on ballot | 90,786 | 36.1 | 41,674 | 16.6 | OK | ||||
| 5 | Oregon | 47,064 | 35.5 | 5 | 37,600 | 28.3 | 34,673 | 26.1 | 13,343 | 10.1 | OR | |||
| 38 | Pennsylvania | 395,637 | 33.0 | 444,894 | 37.2 | 38 | 273,360 | 22.8 | 83,614 | 7.0 | PA | |||
| 5 | Rhode Island | 30,412 | 39.5 | 5 | 16,878 | 21.9 | 27,703 | 36.0 | 2,049 | 2.7 | RI | |||
| 9 | South Carolina | 48,357 | 96.0 | 9 | 1,293 | 2.6 | 536 | 1.1 | 164 | 0.3 | SC | |||
| 5 | South Dakota | 48,942 | 43.5 | 58,811 | 52.3 | 5 | not on ballot | 4,662 | 4.1 | SD | ||||
| 12 | Tennessee | 133,021 | 53.0 | 12 | 54,041 | 21.5 | 60,475 | 24.1 | 3,564 | 1.4 | TN | |||
| 20 | Texas | 221,589 | 73.1 | 20 | 28,853 | 9.5 | 26,755 | 8.8 | 25,743 | 8.5 | TX | |||
| 4 | Utah | 36,579 | 32.7 | 24,174 | 21.6 | 42,100 | 37.6 | 4 | 9,023 | 8.1 | UT | |||
| 4 | Vermont | 15,354 | 24.9 | 22,132 | 35.8 | 23,332 | 37.8 | 4 | 928 | 1.5 | VT | |||
| 12 | Virginia | 90,332 | 66.3 | 12 | 21,776 | 16.0 | 23,288 | 17.1 | 820 | 0.6 | VA | |||
| 7 | Washington | 86,840 | 27.9 | 113,698 | 36.5 | 7 | 70,445 | 22.6 | 40,134 | 12.9 | WA | |||
| 8 | West Virginia | 113,097 | 42.8 | 8 | 79,112 | 29.9 | 56,754 | 21.5 | 15,248 | 5.8 | WV | |||
| 13 | Wisconsin | 164,230 | 42.0 | 13 | 62,448 | 16.0 | 130,596 | 33.4 | 33,476 | 8.6 | WI | |||
| 3 | Wyoming | 15,310 | 36.6 | 3 | 9,232 | 22.1 | 14,560 | 34.8 | 2,760 | 6.6 | WY | |||
| EV | State | count | % | EV | count | % | EV | count | % | EV | count | % | EV | State |
| 531 | Totals: | 6,296,184 | 42.5 | 435 | 4,122,721 | 27.8 | 88 | 3,486,242 | 23.5 | 8 | 901,551 | 6.1 | 0 | |
| Percentages in this table do not take into account other candidates | ||||||||||||||
Source: Leip, David. 1912 Presidential Election Data by State. Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections (July 31, 2005).
Consequences
Harold L. Ickes
Harold LeClair Ickes was a United States administrator and politician. He served as United States Secretary of the Interior for 13 years, from 1933 to 1946, the longest tenure of anyone to hold the office, and the second longest serving Cabinet member in U.S. history next to James Wilson. Ickes...
joined the steadily more liberal Democratic party.
The election of 1912 was the topic of counterfactual speculation by John Lukacs
John Lukacs
John Adalbert Lukacs is a Hungarian-born American historian who has written more than thirty books, including Five Days in London, May 1940 and A New Republic...
, "The Election of Theodore Roosevelt, 1912", in What If? 2
What If? 2
What If? 2, subtitled Eminent Historians Imagine What Might Have Been, is a collection of twenty-five essays dealing with counterfactual history. It was published by G.P. Putnam's Sons in 2001, ISBN 0-399-14795-0, and edited by Robert Cowley...
, edited by Robert Cowley
Robert Cowley
Robert Cowley is an American military historian, who writes on topics in American and European military history ranging from the Civil War through World War II...
.
External links
- Presidential Election of 1912: A Resource Guide from the Library of Congress
- sound recording of TR speech
- OurCampaigns.com overview of Republican Presidential Primaries of 1912
- 1912 popular vote by counties
- 1912 State-by-state Popular vote
- The Election of 1912
- How close was the 1912 election? — Michael Sheppard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology