NCSCOS Goal #7
Page 43
“I don’t like politics…
I don’t like the limelight.”
~William Howard Taft
1908 Election
Democratic
Candidate
William Jennings
Bryan
vs.
Republican
Candidate
William Howard
Taft
After winning the election in 1904, Roosevelt pledged not to run for reelection
in 1908. He handpicked his secretary of war, William Howard Taft to run
against William Jennings Bryan, who had been nominated by the Democrats
for the third time. Under the slogan, “Vote for Taft this time, you can vote for
Bryan any time,” Taft and the Republicans won an easy victory.
Taft Elected
-Roosevelt serves two terms
• Will not seek a third
-William Howard Taft
designated to replace him
• Secretary of War under
Roosevelt (hand-picked)
-Taft never wanted or liked
being President
-reluctant to use Presidency
as bully pulpit
• Does not want to expand
Roosevelt’s reforms, just
consolidate reforms
Taft pursued a cautiously progressive agenda,
seeking to consolidate rather than expand
Roosevelt’s reforms. Taft confessed that he
never felt like the president. “When I am
addressed as ‘Mr. President,’ I turn to see
whether you are not at my elbow.” Taft
hesitated to use the bully pulpit, nor could he
subdue troublesome members of his own
political party.
Activities
-Roosevelt earned name as
trustbuster
-Taft breaks up twice as many
trusts in half the time
• 90 trusts split up in 4 years
• Not recognized for work
-tried to lower tariffs
• Failed when Senate offered a
countering bill to raise tariff
Roosevelt realized that lowering tariffs
would risk severe tensions, pitting
producers (manufacturers and farmers)
against consumers. Taft ignored the
risks and tackled the tariff boldly, on
the one hand encouraging reformers to
fight for lower rates, then cutting deals
with conservative leaders that kept
overall rates high. The resulting PayneAldrich tariff of 1909 was too high for
most reformers, but Taft took credit,
calling it the best bill to come from the
Republicans. He alienated all sides.
• Payne-Aldrich increased tariff
and angered Progressives
-angered the conservation
movement by opening up gov’t
lands - 1 million acres taken out of
government reserve
-Fires Pinchot
(Leader of the US Forest
Service)
• Less conservation angers
Progressives
Taft angered conservationists by
appointing as his Secretary of the Interior
Richard A. Ballinger, a wealthy lawyer
from Seattle. Ballinger, who disapproved
of conservationist controls on western
lands, removed 1 million acres of forest
and mining lands from the reserved list
and returned it to the public domain.
When a Department of the Interior
official was fired for protesting Ballinger’s
actions, the fired worker published a
muckraking article against Ballinger.
President Taft sided with Ballinger, and
he fired other protestors from the U.S.
Forest Service.
Taft’s Struggles
-progressive and
conservative parts of party
begin to fight
-Speaker Joe Cannon
old style conservative goals
clashed with progressives
• Conservatives do not want
change, Progressives do
• Ignores Progressive bills
-Republicans argue over
party goals and leaders
• Remove Cannon from power
in the House of Reps.
As President, Taft supported House Speaker
and former political boss “Uncle Joe”
Cannon, who often disregarded seniority in
filling committee slots and weakening
progressive bills. This led to discontent
within the Republican party and eventually
hurt President Taft.
Taft’s Struggles
-Republicans lose control of
H.O.R. - split in Republican
party loses voters’ support
-TR decides to try for third
term
• New Nationalism campaign
-Taft and Roosevelt vie for
1912 party nomination
• Both want Republican
nomination for President
Once Roosevelt returned from safari in
Africa, he wanted to run for a third term
as President. Therefore, Roosevelt and
Taft were fighting to gain the
nomination from the Republican Party,
which can only nominate one candidate
for President.
Bull Moose Party
-Roosevelt decides to run for 3rd
term
• Republicans want Roosevelt, but
Taft controls convention and wins
nomination
-Roosevelt forms his own
Progressive Party
• Nominate Roosevelt for President
in 1912 election
Bull Moose Party
Many Republicans liked Roosevelt, but
since Taft was the incumbent and had
control of the Republican National
Convention, Taft won the Republican
nomination. Roosevelt’s supporters then
formed their own Party, the Progressive
Party, and nominated him for President in
the 1912 election.
-New Nationalism
federal powers should be
expanded to protect the public
-supported many Progressive
reforms
• Voting and workers’ rights
Roosevelt’s Progressive Party was often called the “Bull Moose” party. Supporters
started this nickname after Roosevelt was shot in the shoulder during one of his
speeches, yet continued his speech until he finished. One onlooker said, “Look at
Roosevelt, standing there like a bull moose!” The Bull Moose Party influenced the
election of 1912 by taking votes away from the countering Republicans, and leaving
more percentage of votes for Democrats. How do you think this affected the overall
election?
New Freedom
-Democrats nominated reform
governor Woodrow Wilson
-New Freedom
-Fight For Privileges
• The Triple Wall of Privilege:
trusts, tariffs, and high
finance
• Want to make America more
affordable for citizens
wealth, anti-trust, banking
reform, lower tariffs
favored small business
interests over monopolies
which were evil
“If the government is to tell big businessmen
how to run their business, then don’t you see
that big business men have to get loser to the
government than they are now? Don’t you
see that you must capture the government, in
order not to be restrained too much by it?...I
don’t’ care how benevolent the master is
going to be, I will not live under a master.
That is not what America was created for.
America was created in order that every man
should have the same chance as every other
man to exercise mastery over his own
fortunes.”
~Woodrow Wilson, in The New Freedom
Election of 1912
Republican vote/Bull Moose vote =
Democratic Victory in 1912
-voters had choice between
conservatism, New
Nationalism, New Freedom,
or Socialism
• Taft, Roosevelt, Debs,
Wilson
-Socialist Debs got nearly 1
million votes
• Took votes from other
candidates
-Roosevelt and Taft split the
Republican voting
-Wilson wins the election with
only 42% - popular vote
• Democrat Woodrow Wilson
becomes President in 1912
“Don’t interfere when your enemy is
destroying himself.”
~Woodrow Wilson
With four candidates running in
the election of 1912, Democrat
Woodrow Wilson only gained
42% of the popular vote.
However, he won an
overwhelming 82% of the
electoral vote, winning him the
election.
Wilson
Becomes
President
William Howard Taft never wanted to be President. After serving one term, Taft left the
White House, which he called “the lonesomest place in the world,” and taught constitutional
law at Yale for 8 years. In 1921, President Harding named Taft chief justice of the Supreme
Court. The man whose family had nicknamed him “Big Lub” called this appointment the
highest honor he had ever received. As chief justice, Taft wrote that “in my present life I
don’t remember that I ever was President.” However, Americans remember Taft for many
things, especially the Presidential custom of throwing out the first ball of the major league
baseball season.