u.s. presidential election, 1912

The U.S. presidential election of 1912 was a duel between three Presidents. The establishment wing of the Republican party took control of the Republican convention and nominated incumbent President William Howard Taft, while its progressive wing split off and nominated former President Theodore Roosevelt. Woodrow Wilson defeated both to become the only Democratic President between 1897 and 1933.

Nominations

Republican Party nomination

The Republican Convention was held in Chicago, Illinois 8 June to 22 June, and was dramatically marked by Roosevelt bolting from the party to form the "Bull Moose Party" (see next section). Republicans renominated William Howard Taft and James S. Sherman, although Roosevelt had won all but one of the primaries. But Sherman died before the election, so the Republicans had to choose someone else. They chose Nicholas M. Butler, the President of Columbia University. On the evening of June 22, 1912, former President Theodore Roosevelt asked his supporters to leave the floor of the Republican National Convention in Chicago. Roosevelt maintained that President Taft had allowed fraudulent seating of delegates in order to capture the presidential nomination from progressive forces within the Party. Taft's poor showing against Roosevelt in the primaries, the latter contended, evidenced popular support for a more progressive Republican agenda. The rift between progressive and conservative wings of the Republican Party was apparent even before Roosevelt left office. Roosevelt's support of government regulation, his groundbreaking efforts in conservation and consumer protection, and his willingness to work with organized labor alienated pro-business party members. When Roosevelt tapped William Howard Taft as his successor in 1908, he had assumed Taft would continue to support his agenda. Although Taft's record suggested a leader sympathetic to reform, the former jurist's quiet demeanor and attention to the letter of the law irritated Roosevelt and disappointed Republican progressives.

Progressive Party nomination

Republican progressives reconvened in Chicago's Orchestra Hall and endorsed the formation of a national progressive party. When formally launched later that summer, the new Progressive Party chose Roosevelt as its presidential nominee. Questioned by reporters, Roosevelt said he felt as strong as a "bull moose." Thenceforth known as the "Bull Moose Party," the Progressives promised to increase federal regulation and protect the welfare of ordinary people.

Democratic Party nomination

The Democratic Convention was held in Baltimore, Maryland from 25 June to 2 July. After a long deadlock, former presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan threw his support to Woodrow Wilson in order to defeat Missouri Representative Champ Clark. Wilson received the nomination on the 46th ballot.

General election

Campaign

The 1912 presidential campaign was bitterly fought and easily won on November 5. With the Republican Party divided, progressive Democrat Woodrow Wilson captured the presidency handily. Although he failed to become chief executive again, Roosevelt succeeded in his vendetta against Taft who received just twenty-three percent of the popular vote compared to Roosevelt's twenty-seven percent. Former President Theodore Roosevelt's formation of the Progressive or "Bull Moose" party resulted in the only instance in the 20th century of a candidate of neither the Republican nor Democratic party receiving more votes than one of the candidates of those two leading parties. Despite an impressive showing in 1912, the Bull Moose failed to establish itself as a viable third party, especially after Roosevelt's death in 1919. Still active on the state level, Progressives did not put forward a presidential candidate again until the run of Wisconsin Senator Robert M. La Follette, Sr. in the election of 1924. Vice President James S. Sherman died in office October 30, 1912, less than a week before the election, leaving Taft without a running mate. After the election, Nicholas Butler was selected to receive the electoral votes from Utah and Vermont that would have gone to Sherman. Source: Library of Congress

Results

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State by state results

lign=center colspan=3\|Woodrow Wilson	align=center colspan=3\|Theodore Roosevelt	align=center colspan=3\|William Taft	align=center colspan=3\|Eugene V. Debs
tyle="font-size:60%; text-align:center"\| electoral votes	style="font-size:60%; text-align:left"\| State	count	%	style="font-size:60%; text-align:center"\| electoral votes	count	%	style="font-size:60%; text-align:center"\| electoral votes	count	%	style="font-size:60%; text-align:center"\| electoral votes	count	%	style="font-size:60%; text-align:center"\| electoral votes
2	align=left\|Alabama	82,438	69.9	12	22,680	19.2	\|9,807 \|8.3 \| \|3,029 \|2.6 \|
!align=left\|Arizona \|10,324 \|44.1 \|3 \|6,949 \|29.7 \| \|2,986 \|12.7 \| \|3,163 \|13.5 \|
!align=left\|Arkansas \|68,814 \|55.4 \|9 \|21,644 \|17.4 \| \|25,585 \|20.6 \| \|8,153 \|6.6 \|
3	align=left\|California	283,436	43.6	*2	283,610	43.6	*11	3,847	0.6	\|79,201 \|12.2 \|
!align=left\|Colorado \|113,912 \|43.7 \|6 \|71,752 \|27.6 \| \|58,386 \|22.4 \| \|16,366 \|6.3 \|
!align=left\|Connecticut \|74,561 \|39.9 \|7 \|34,129 \|18.2 \| \|68,324 \|36.5 \| \|10,056 \|5.4 \|
!align=left\|Delaware \|22,631 \|47.1 \|3 \|8,886 \|18.5 \| \|15,997 \|33.3 \| \|556 \|1.2 \|
!align=left\|Florida \|35,343 \|72.2 \|6 \|4,555 \|9.3 \| \|4,279 \|8.7 \| \|4,806 \|9.8 \|
4	align=left\|Georgia	93,087	76.7	14	21,985	18.1	\|5,191 \|4.3 \| \|1,058 \|0.9 \|
!align=left\|Idaho \|33,921 \|32.5 \|4 \|25,527 \|24.5 \| \|32,810 \|31.5 \| \|11,960 \|11.5 \|
9	align=left\|Illinois	405,048	36.0	29	386,478	34.3	\|253,593 \|22.5 \| \|81,278 \|7.2 \|
5	align=left\|Indiana	281,890	44.6	15	162,007	25.6	\|151,267 \|23.9 \| \|36,931 \|5.8 \|
3	align=left\|Iowa	185,322	38.3	13	161,819	33.4	\|119,805 \|24.8 \| \|16,967 \|3.5 \|
0	align=left\|Kansas	143,663	39.3	10	120,210	32.9	\|74,845 \|20.5 \| \|26,779 \|7.3 \|
3	align=left\|Kentucky	219,484	48.9	13	101,766	22.7	\|115,510 \|25.8 \| \|11,646 \|2.6 \|
0	align=left\|Louisiana	60,871	76.8	10	9,283	11.7	\|3,833 \|4.8 \| \|5,261 \|6.6 \|
!align=left\|Maine \|51,113 \|39.7 \|6 \|48,495 \|37.7 \| \|26,545 \|20.6 \| \|2,541 \|2.0 \|
!align=left\|Maryland \|112,674 \|49.1 \|8 \|57,789 \|25.2 \| \|54,956 \|24.0 \| \|3,996 \|1.7 \|
8	align=left\|Massachusetts	173,408	35.8	18	142,228	29.4	\|155,948 \|32.2 \| \|12,616 \|2.6 \|
5	align=left\|Michigan	150,201	27.9	\|213,243 \|39.6 \|15 \|151,434 \|28.2 \| \|23,060 \|4.3 \|
2	align=left\|Minnesota	106,426	32.8	\|125,856 \|38.8 \|12 \|64,334 \|19.8 \| \|27,505 \|8.5 \|
0	align=left\|Mississippi	57,324	88.9	10	3,549	5.5	\|1,560 \|2.4 \| \|2,050 \|3.2 \|
8	align=left\|Missouri	330,746	47.8	18	124,375	18.0	\|207,821 \|30.1 \| \|28,466 \|4.1 \|
!align=left\|Montana \|28,129 \|35.1 \|4 \|22,709 \|28.3 \| \|18,575 \|23.2 \| \|10,811 \|13.5 \|
!align=left\|Nebraska \|109,008 \|44.3 \|8 \|72,681 \|29.5 \| \|54,226 \|22.0 \| \|10,185 \|4.1 \|
!align=left\|Nevada \|7,986 \|39.7 \|3 \|5,620 \|27.9 \| \|3,196 \|15.9 \| \|3,313 \|16.5 \|
!align=left\|New Hampshire \|34,724 \|39.7 \|4 \|17,794 \|20.4 \| \|32,927 \|37.7 \| \|1,981 \|2.3 \|
4	align=left\|New Jersey	178,638	41.6	14	145,679	33.9	\|89,066 \|20.7 \| \|15,948 \|3.7 \|
!align=left\|New Mexico \|20,437 \|41.9 \|3 \|8,347 \|17.1 \| \|17,164 \|35.2 \| \|2,859 \|5.9 \|
5	align=left\|New York	655,573	41.9	45	390,093	24.9	\|455,487 \|29.1 \| \|63,434 \|4.1 \|
2	align=left\|North Carolina	144,407	59.3	12	69,135	28.4	\|29,129 \|12.0 \| \|987 \|0.4 \|
!align=left\|North Dakota \|29,549 \|34.7 \|5 \|25,726 \|30.2 \| \|22,990 \|27.0 \| \|6,966 \|8.2 \|
4	align=left\|Ohio	424,834	41.5	24	229,807	22.5	\|278,168 \|27.2 \| \|90,164 \|8.8 \|
0	align=left\|Oklahoma	119,143	47.4	10	colspan=3 align=center style="font-size:60%"\|not on ballot	90,726	36.1	\|41,630 \|16.6 \|
!align=left\|Oregon \|47,064 \|35.5 \|5 \|37,600 \|28.3 \| \|34,673 \|26.1 \| \|13,343 \|10.1 \|
8	align=left\|Pennsylvania	395,637	33.0	\|444,894 \|37.2 \|38 \|273,360 \|22.8 \| \|83,614 \|7.0 \|
!align=left\|Rhode Island \|30,412 \|39.5 \|5 \|16,878 \|21.9 \| \|27,703 \|36.0 \| \|2,049 \|2.7 \|
!align=left\|South Carolina \|48,355 \|96.0 \|9 \|1,293 \|2.6 \| \|536 \|1.1 \| \|164 \|0.3 \|
!align=left\|South Dakota \|48,942 \|43.5 \| \|58,811 \|52.3 \|5 \|colspan=3 align=center style="font-size:60%"\|not on ballot \|4,664 \|4.1 \|
2	align=left\|Tennessee	133,021	53.0	12	54,041	21.5	\|60,475 \|24.1 \| \|3,564 \|1.4 \|
0	align=left\|Texas	218,921	73.3	20	26,715	8.9	\|28,310 \|9.5 \| \|24,884 \|8.3 \|
!align=left\|Utah \|36,576 \|32.7 \| \|24,174 \|21.6 \| \|42,013 \|37.6 \|4 \|8,999 \|8.1 \|
!align=left\|Vermont \|15,350 \|24.9 \| \|22,129 \|35.9 \| \|23,303 \|37.8 \|4 \|928 \|1.5 \|
2	align=left\|Virginia	90,332	66.3	12	21,776	16.0	\|23,288 \|17.1 \| \|820 \|0.6 \|
!align=left\|Washington \|86,840 \|27.9 \| \|113,698 \|36.5 \|7 \|70,445 \|22.6 \| \|40,134 \|12.9 \|
!align=left\|West Virginia \|113,097 \|42.8 \|8 \|79,112 \|29.9 \| \|56,754 \|21.5 \| \|15,248 \|5.8 \|
3	align=left\|Wisconsin	164,230	42.0	13	62,448	16.0	\|130,596 \|33.4 \| \|33,476 \|8.6 \|
!align=left\|Wyoming \|15,310 \|36.6 \|3 \|9,232 \|22.1 \| \|14,560 \|34.8 \| \|2,760 \|6.6 \|
olspan=2 \|	count	%	style="font-size:60%; text-align:center"\| electoral votes	count	%	style="font-size:60%; text-align:center"\| electoral votes	count	%	style="font-size:60%; text-align:center"\| electoral votes	count	%	style="font-size:60%; text-align:center"\| electoral votes
31!!Totals:	6,293,152!!42.5!!435	4,119,207!!27.8!! 88	3,486,333!!23.6!! 8	900,369!! 6.1!! 0
tyle="font-size:70%; text-align:center" colspan=14\|percentages in this table do not take into account other candidates

Reference

James Chace, 1912: Wilson, Roosevelt, Taft, and Debs--The Election That Changed the Country, Simon and Schuster, May, 2004, hardcover, 448 pages, ISBN 0743203941