Electability in 1912
- Jan 25, 2012
- Michael Streich
By the time the first presidential preference primary was held in North Dakota on March 19, 1912, the Progressive Party was already split between Wisconsin’s Bob La Follette and Theodore Roosevelt. Both men concluded that the Taft administration was too closely aligned to the so-called establishment elements of the party, unconcerned with the progressive reform movement that championed, among other things, the Referendum, Initiative, and the Judicial Recall.
La Follette viewed himself as the only viable Republican with Progressive credentials strong enough to be considered for the presidency: “I had campaigned only for supporters willing to make the fight for principle, ready to win, or to lose, if need be, in the interest of a cause.” “Fighting Bob” handily defeated Roosevelt in North Dakota, impacting TR’s support in other contests still to come.
Progressivism in the Farm States
North Dakota was a farm state which had bitterly opposed the 1911 Reciprocity Treaty with Canada. William Howard Taft, Roosevelt’s hand-picked successor, supported the treaty. Despite documentation demonstrating that former President Roosevelt supported the treaty and advised Taft to support it as well, TR entered the contest denying his past support. It didn’t help his efforts.
Farm states and Progressive havens had their own prerequisites. In North Dakota it was La Follette. In Iowa it was Albert B. Cummins. In California Governor Hiram Johnson had been seduced by the Roosevelt folks with the promise of the vice presidency. La Follette brought thirty-six delegates to the Republican National Convention on June 18, 1912 as a bargaining chip.
Big Business Funds Roosevelt’s Campaign: the First Super-Pac
In his “true” account of the 1912 campaign, La Follette intimates that Roosevelt’s poor showing in North Dakota resulted in a reappraisal of his candidacy. $300,000 would never be enough to secure the nomination. Both La Follette and Taft’s “political machine” blamed Roosevelt’s vast increase in campaign contributions on the pockets of big business (“Why Big Business is Attacking Taft,” New York Times, January 17, 1912).
Roosevelt’s largesse was due to the efforts of men like George W. Perkins who was on the board of the Steel Trust and managed a large New York insurance firm. The Taft administration had sought to abrogate an 1832 Treaty with Russia that would have been disadvantageous to Perkin’s corporate interests which included International Harvester, headquartered in Illinois. At the same time, La Follette was advocating stringent federal policies tied to business regulations. Little wonder that an unscientific January 28, 1912 Kansas City Poll gave Roosevelt 1,152 votes, followed by 197 for La Follette and 157 for Taft. People still saw TR as a "trust buster," although the facts gave a different conclusion.
The Roosevelt Myth
Roosevelt, for many Americans, was larger than life. During his two terms he had fought the evil trusts, gained global respect for American expansion, and secured the Panama Canal. His stewardship view of the presidency allowed him to take proactive steps not necessarily forbidden by the Constitution but not explicitly expressed either.
Roosevelt, acting through loyal cohorts like the Pinchot brothers, played a coy political game until the spring of 1912, hiding behind what his closest advisors viewed as a “dummy campaign” by Bob La Follette. La Follette, however, maintained until the end that he was a viable candidate, in it until the bitter end. As such he repudiated Roosevelt’s Progressive pedigree, claiming that Roosevelt had allowed himself to be used by the “interests” in order to ultimately divide the progressives.
The Most Electable Republican
Who was the most electable Republican? In hindsight, La Follette demonstrated that Roosevelt, even in the best circumstances, never had enough delegates to win the nomination. Part of the excuse used by close supporters hinged on early Southern presidential contests where Roosevelt’s team was still unorganized but Taft had a major organizing lead.
Roosevelt’s supporters claimed “theft” and vowed to set up an alternative party, in effect dooming the Republicans in 1912 and ensuring the election of New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson. Taft would go on to teach at Yale and end his days as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, a position he always craved.
La Follette’s Philadelphia Speech
Some historians point to Bob La Follette’s February 2, 1912 Periodical Publishers’ Association Speech in Philadelphia as the crucial moment of decision concerning the candidate. La Follette spoke last and was exhausted. His daughter was scheduled for a surgical procedure the following morning. “Sensational accounts of this speech” have him drinking before the address; La Follette admits only to his physical condition.
Splitting the Republican Party gave victory to Woodrow Wilson and the Democrats; such was the animosity between Taft and Roosevelt. Roosevelt’s Progressives were viewed as too out of touch (La Follette, though remaining in the Republican Party, even advocated that the Recall be applied to Supreme Court Justices). La Follette would ultimately lead the charge against U.S. entry into World War I while TR deplored Wilson’s vacillation, demanding U.S. reaction to the European conflict. Wilson waited until 1917 to ask for a war declaration. His idealistic Fourteen Points evaporated, vindicating La Follette when they went down in the flames of European balance of power arguments by European leaders that knew how to divert Wilson.
For Republicans, 1912 was a year of electability. Three strong Republicans vied for the nomination. Had Roosevelt not bolted, Taft would have won reelection. As it was, some historians believe that the most unelectable man, Woodrow Wilson, entered the White House at the wrong time in order to involve the United States in the wrong war. Between Wilson and Roosevelt, La Follette’s priorities would have been America first, something not understood by the new Anglophile President who saw himself more as a Prime Minister rather than a chief executive.
References:
- “Why Big Business is Attacking Taft,” New York Times, January 17, 1912
- James Chase, 1912: Wilson, Roosevelt, Taft & Debs – The Election that Changed the Country (Simon & Schuster, 2004)
- Robert M. La Follette, La Follette’s Autobiography: A Personal Narrative of Political Experiences (Madison, WIS: The Robert M. La Follette Co., 1913)
- Alfred H. Kelly and Winfred A. Harbison, Fifth Edition, The American Constitution: Its Origins & Development (W.W. Norton & Company, 1976)
- Frank K. Kelly, The Fight for the White House: The Story of 1912 (NY: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1961)
- “Roosevelt Leads in the Polls,” New York Times, January 28, 1912
- Page Smith, America Enters the World: A People’s History of the Progressive Era and World War I, Volume Seven (McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1985)
No comments:
Post a Comment