The 1912 Election

I. The Campaign for the Republican Nomination

A. Primaries--were a new innovation in 1912, pushed by Progressives like Roosevelt. Primaries were meant to open up the electoral process, and allow the most popular candidate to emerge from a choice of the people, rather than from backroom deals that allowed party bosses to chose a candidate--like Roosevelt was able to do for Taft in 1908. As we have since learned, primaries also make money even more important in a campaign, since a candidate would have to run multiple times in order to gain enough delegates to win a nomination. The media of the time (almost exclusively newspapers at this time) were also extremely important.

1. 14 States held primaries in 1912--although most states still relied upon caucuses to select delegates.

2. The Horse Race--the primary elections added a "horse race" element to the nominating process, since the competitive race created drama for the newspapers to sell.

3. Challenge to Taft--Roosevelt's campaign manager, Medill McCormick, challenged the Taft campaign to contest the primary elections. The first contest was in Illinois, which Roosevelt won handily; this was followed by victories in Pennsylvania, Nebraska, Oregon, California, and Maryland.

a. The Ohio primary--Taft put a lot of effort into winning the Ohio Republican primary, particularly since Ohio was his home state. Taft had been under a mounting avalanche of criticism from the Roosevelt campaign, and responded by trying to win the African American vote by reminding them of Roosevelt's actions at Brownsville; Roosevelt countered by recalling that it was Secretary of War Taft who recommended the discharge of the soldiers accused of rioting. In the end, Taft lost Ohio to Roosevelt.

b. Taft was greatly distressed about attacking his old friend, and broke down in tears after his first attack; Taft even contemplated dropping out of the race. In the end,  however, both his fear over Roosevelt's plan for recall of federal judges and the hardening feelings between the two men compelled him to remain in the campaign until the bitter end.

B. Roosevelt on the Attack--Roosevelt reveled in campaigning, and loved being on the stump making speeches.

1. The Ohio victory--after his win over Taft in Ohio, Roosevelt believed that the nomination should be his--he had proven to be the people's choice, after all. Despite his knowledge that party officials (sympathetic toward Taft) could deny seats to disputed candidates, Roosevelt made little effort to attempt to attract the support of these party regulars--in fact, they were what he was campaigning against.

C. Losing the Republican nomination--through his use of party patronage,  Taft  was able to get enough delegates--and prevent Roosevelt from getting all of his seated--to win the nomination.

II. The Campaign for the Progressive Party Nomination

A. The Progressive Party  Platform

1. The Race Question--Progressives had high hopes for Roosevelt taking a stand for racial equality. W.E.B. DuBois of the NAACP recommended to Roosevelt that planks be added ending lynching and cutting southern congressional delegations in those states where black were not allowed to vote (a provision provided in the 14th Amendment). DuBois also recommended that a prohibition of the segregation of housing, integration of the military, ending the segregation of education, and public transportation; DuBois proposed that the party pledge to end Jim Crow.

a. Roosevelt was angered over rumors that Taft had bribed some southern African American Republicans (the only kind of Republicans in the South)

b. Roosevelt voiced fears that such a platform would incite and ignite racial conflict

c. Roosevelt still harbored the illusion that he could win away some support from Wilson from Progressives in the South, and thus win a couple of states there in that manner.

d. Roosevelt rejects most of the ideas proposed by DuBois

e. Refuses to seat black delegates--Roosevelt, again with the delusion that he could  siphon enough votes from the Democratic Party to win a couple of states in  the South from Wilson, refused to seat any African American delegates.

f. Despite Roosevelt's stand on this issue, most African American leaders still backed Roosevelt--probably working on the assumption that he would be better for African Americans than the "son of the South" Woodrow Wilson--an assumption which proved prescient in the coming years.
2. Women's suffrage--on this issue Roosevelt was more reliable

a. Jane Addams as presidential adviser--Addams was at the pinnacle of her  popularity by 1912, and became one of the founding members of the NAACP, as well as a member of the National American Women's Suffrage party. Addams' commitment to equality for all led her to contemplate withdrawing her  endorsement of Roosevelt for the Progressive Party over his refusal to seat African American youths.  Only the intercession of African American leaders on Roosevelt's behalf kept Addams from reneging on her promised endorsement.

B. Roosevelt's Acceptance Speech

III. The Fall Campaign

A. Woodrow Wilson--former president of Princeton University, and sitting governor of the state of New Jersey. While governor, Wilson had led the charge on a number of Progressive legislatative initiatives.  Wilson's ideas for Progressive legislation for the fall election were largely the work of Louis Brandeis (who Wilson would appoint to the Supreme Court in 1916), and packaged at the "New Freedom"

B. Theodore Roosevelt--Roosevelt's policy initiatives, first formulated in a speech given at Osawatomie, Kansas at a memorial service for John Brown, which he labeled the "New Nationalism." The most important part of the speech was Roosevelt's approach to monopolies, trust, and big business in general; Roosevelt called for the end of prosecution for these miscreants, and instead for their regulation.

C. Jane Addams--made numerous campaign stops for Roosevelt during the campaign--especially women dressed conspiculously in white