Running Head: Campaign of 1912- Fight between Roosevelt and Taft
Campaign of 1912- Fight between Roosevelt and Taft
Kassandra LaPonsie
Hist153.122946.Online
May 21st, 2015
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The campaign of 1912 was a very intense competition especially between the two
opponents, Theodore Roosevelt and William Taft. It wrecked a friendship that was once built
between Theodore Roosevelt and William Taft. The rival between the two men caused a lot of
political debates and smack talk.
Most people would not really expect them to compete how they did, because they used to
be really close acquaintances. Their relationship began when Roosevelt was president and
Roosevelt offered Taft a position, which Taft denied. Later, “In 1904, he became Secretary of
War and his friendship with Roosevelt grew stronger.” (HIST 153: Contemporary America - US
History, William Howard Taft) In 1908, Roosevelt supported Taft after Roosevelt became
president; he encouraged Taft to take his position as president and helped him succeed to become
the next president. They were both republicans. Taft passed a few laws which the progressives
did not agree with; he lost some supporters by doing that.
The big action that Taft took that really built a spark in the relationship with Roosevelt
was when Taft fired Pinchot. “The former President felt personally betrayed by Taft's firing of
Gifford Pinchot, head of the U.S. forest service and Roosevelt's old friend and conservation
policy ally.” (American President: A Reference Resource, Miller Center) Roosevelt was
extremely close with Pinchot. Roosevelt cared a lot about nature and enjoyed hunting. They both
had a lot in common. “During his government service, the number of national forests increased
from 32 in 1898 to 149 in 1910 for a total of 193 million acres. Pinchot and Roosevelt together
made conservation a public issue and national policy. Roosevelt considered the enactment of a
conservation program the greatest contribution to American domestic policy.”(Grey Towers
National Historic Site, Historical Information, USDA Forest Service)
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Although Taft may have made the progressives angry by passing some laws and firing
Pinchot, he did have some good decisions while in government. Taft helped cut working hours
so that people only worked eight hours a day, at maximum. “He also created a Children's Bureau
and supported the 17th Amendment, which allowed for senators to be directly elected by the
people instead of the state legislatures” (HIST 153: Contemporary America - US History,
William Howard Taft) All of those good decisions did not make up for the choices he made that
Roosevelt and the Conservation Republicans did not agree with.
During a long stretch of Taft’s presidency Roosevelt went on a trip to Africa. When he
had returned he had a lot of people asking him to run against Taft. Roosevelt felt that he could
beat him and that it would help the nation if he was president again. He decided to run and
campaign against his old friend, who is now his biggest rival. They were competing in very cruel
ways. 1. “Roosevelt . . .called Taft a “fathead” with “the brains of a guinea pig,” and Taft
responded in kind, saying Roosevelt’s followers were “radicals” and “neurotics.”(Greenspan,
Remembering the 1912 Presidential Election, History) They kept this going, making it a very
extreme and hurtful campaign. “Taft responded in a speech on April 25, 1912, declaring that a
Roosevelt victory would institute a reign of terror similar to that following the French
Revolution. Thereafter, the fight became a free-for-all, with Taft hitting back at Roosevelt
constantly.” (American President: A Reference Resource, Miller Center)
The nomination and votes were pretty close. Roosevelt was winning, but because of a law
that was passed during Taft’s presidency, Taft had a chance to catch up. The law did work in his
advantage and Taft ended up getting more votes than Roosevelt.
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Roosevelt had lost the first nomination mainly because of the advantage that Taft had
with the law that was recently passed. After that Roosevelt decided to take a new path and try to
make a bigger change. “By 1912, Roosevelt was so incensed with Taft and the conservative
Republicans that he chose to break from the party and form his own Progressive Party (also
known as the Bull Moose Party).” (History. William Howard Taft, History) The Bull Moose
Party was very similar to the progressives and had similar beliefs. They wanted change and they
wanted it fast. “The party also wanted an easier method to amend the constitution.” It was a
progressive party that wanted change and was ready to fight like a bull for what they believed.
With all of the debate and conflict between the Republican Party, Roosevelt and Taft, the
Democratic Party had a good lead and advantage. Woodrow Wilson, the democratic runner in the
campaign, had a huge foot in the door since there was so much confusion and corruption going
on between the Republican Party. The fratricide gave Wilson a lot more confidence and he felt
like he had a successful chance in being the next president.
Taft, as he did in his presidency, became more conservative. He did that during his
presidency when he chose to upset some progressive supporters by passing laws that the
progressives did not agree with. Even though Taft and Roosevelt were both labeled as
progressives, Taft chose to not follow completely follow in the footsteps that his title declared
him to be. Throughout all of the fighting and debates to win the campaign of 1912, Taft decided
to give up and not run for the presidency any more. Roosevelt and Wilson continued to compete
against one another, Roosevelt ended up losing overall and Wilson became the new president.
Overall, the mudslinging between Roosevelt and Taft played a huge role on the outcome of the
campaign of 1912. They played rough and in the end neither Roosevelt nor Taft ended up being
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the winner of the intense battle. They’re friendship is lost and they put Wilson in a great
advantage because of all of the confusion they put between the republican conservation party. It
was a very intense campaign.
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Note
1. This quote was cut short to fit better in the paragraph. Here is the full quote. “Roosevelt
changed this by giving speeches around the country, especially in the dozen states with
direct primaries. He called Taft a “fathead” with “the brains of a guinea pig,” and Taft
responded in kind, saying Roosevelt’s followers were “radicals” and “neurotics.”
(Greenspan, Remembering the 1912 Presidential Election, History)
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Bibliography
Grey Towers National Historic Site. Historical Information. USDA Forest Service, Dec. 2013.
Web. May 2015. <http://www.fs.fed.us/gt/local-links/historical-info/gifford/gifford.shtml>
Grey Towers National Historic Site talks about Gifford Pinchot. It talks about his
accomplishments and the important events that took place in his life.
History. William Howard Taft. A&E Networks. 2015.Web. May 2015.
<http://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/william-howard-taft>
History Website talks about William Taft. They discuss his experience working in the
Phillipines, his path to the white house, his time during presidency, and post presidency.
Miller Center. American President: A Reference Resource. University of Virginia. 2015. Web.
May 2015. <http://millercenter.org/president/taft/essays/biography/3>
Miller Center talks about campaigns and elections. It specifically talks about the campaign
and election of 1908 and 1912. It goes into detail about what happens and informs you of the
information from 1908 that leads into 1912.
HIST 153: Contemporary America - US History. William Howard Taft. Schoolcraft College. Na.
Web. May 2015. <http://bb.schoolcraft.edu/addins/hist153/etext/m3_taft.html>
HIST 153: Contemporary America - US History talks about William Taft. It talks about him
being a progressive and having a difficult time making choices while being president between
the progressive and conservatives. It also talked about the campaign of 1912.
Greenspan, J. Remembering the 1912 Presidential Election. History, Nov. 2012. Web. May
2015.
This website talked about the campaign of 1912 and went into detail about the conflict
between Taft and Roosevelt.