| Progressive Party | |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1912 |
| Dissolved | 1916 |
| Succeeded by | Progressive Party, 1924, Progressive Party, 1948 |
| Ideology | Progressivism, New Nationalism, Populism |
| Political position | Center-left |
| International affiliation | None |
| Politics of the United States Political parties Elections |
|
The Progressive Party of 1912 was an American political party. It was formed after a split in the Republican Party between President William Howard Taft and former President Theodore Roosevelt.
The party also became known as the Bull Moose Party when former President Roosevelt boasted "I'm fit as a bull moose," after being shot in an assassination attempt prior to his 1912 campaign speech in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Inspiration for the party's beginnings may have come from Roosevelt's friend and supporter, U.S. Senator Thomas Kearns of Utah, who in October 1906 broke off from the Republican Party and started the American Party in that state. Kearns was a Roman Catholic, and this was a direct response to the influence of the leadership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on the Senatorial elections between 1902 to 1905.[1]
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Roosevelt left office in 1909. He had selected Taft, his Secretary of War to succeed him as President, and Taft easily won the 1908 presidential election. Roosevelt became disappointed by Taft's increasingly conservative policies. Taft alienated Roosevelt when he used the Sherman Anti-Trust Act to break up U.S. Steel. During his own presidency, Roosevelt had approved J.P. Morgan-owned U.S. Steel as a "good" trust.[2] By 1912, the two were openly hostile, and Roosevelt decided to seek the presidency.
Taft was already being challenged by Senator Robert La Follette of Wisconsin, but Roosevelt jumped in late in the campaign.
Roosevelt far outpolled Taft in the primaries. But Taft controlled the party organization and the convention, which renominated him in June.[3] Before the final vote, Roosevelt had said he would accept nomination from a new "honestly elected" convention. He ordered his delegates to abstain from voting in rebuke of Taft's "steamroller tactics". The next day, they met to form a new party. California governor Hiram Johnson became chairman, and a new convention was scheduled for August.[4] Publisher Frank A. Munsey, the largest stockholder of U.S. Steel at the time, provided much of the funds for the new organization; George W. Perkins, a director U.S. Steel and Chairman of the International Harvester Company—another trust Taft attacked—became executive secretary.[5]
Roosevelt's ambitions received two setbacks in the interim. First, not many Republicans joined the new party. Only 5 of the 15 "progressive" Republican Senators declared support, and there was comparable reluctance among Republican Representatives, governors, and committeemen, and the publishers and editors of Republican newspapers. Many of Roosevelt's closest political allies supported Taft, including his son-in-law, Nicholas Longworth (though Roosevelt's daughter Alice stuck with her father, causing a permanent chill in her marriage). For men like Longworth, expecting a future in politics, bolting the party was simply too radical a step. However, many independent reformers still signed up. Two important activists were Gifford Pinchot and his brother Amos Pinchot.
Second, in July the Democrats nominated Woodrow Wilson, their most articulate and prominent progressive. As a leading educator and political scientist, he qualified as the ideal "expert" to handle affairs of state, and attracted many of the independent progressives Roosevelt had been counting on.
Even some Republican progressives endorsed Wilson over Roosevelt as the best man to beat Taft, including La Follette and two other Senators.
Despite these obstacles, the August convention opened with great enthusiasm. Over 2,000 delegates attended, including many women. In 1912, neither the other Republican candidate, President W. H. Taft, or the Democrat Woodrow Wilson, endorsed women's suffrage on the national level.[6] The famed suffragette and social worker Jane Addams gave a seconding speech for Roosevelt's nomination. Roosevelt insisted on excluding black Republicans from the South, whom he regarded a corrupt and ineffective element, but included black delegates from all other areas.[7] Roosevelt went so far as to further alienate southern white supporters on the eve of the election, by publicly dining with blacks at a Rhode Island hotel.Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; refs with no content must have a name; see the help page
Roosevelt was nominated by acclamation, with Johnson as his running mate.
The main work of the convention was the platform, which set forth the new party's appeal to the voters. It included a broad range of social and political reforms advocated by progressives.[7][8]
In the social sphere the platform called for
The political reforms proposed included
The platform also urged states to adopt measures for "direct democracy", including:
However, the main theme of the platform was an attack on the domination of politics by business interests, which allegedly controlled both established parties. The platform asserted that
To that end, the platform called for
Besides these measures, the platform called for reductions in the tariff, limitations on naval armaments by international agreement and improvements to inland waterways.
The biggest controversy at the convention was over the platform section dealing with trusts and monopolies such as Standard Oil. The convention approved a strong "trust-busting" plank, but Roosevelt had it replaced with language that spoke only of "strong National regulation" and "permanent active [Federal] supervision" of major corporations. This retreat shocked reformers like Pinchot, who blamed it on Perkins (a director of U.S. Steel). The result was a deep split in the new party that was never resolved.[7]
In general the platform expressed Roosevelt's "New Nationalism": a strong government to regulate industry, protect the middle and working classes, and carry on great national projects. This New Nationalism was paternalistic in direct contrast to Wilson's individualistic philosophy of "New Freedom".
Roosevelt also favored a vigorous foreign policy, including strong military power. Though the platform called for limiting naval armaments, it also recommended the construction of two new battleships per year, much to the distress of outright pacifists such as Jane Addams.
Roosevelt ran a vigorous campaign, but the campaign was short of money, as the business interests which had supported Roosevelt in 1904 either backed the other candidates or stayed neutral. Roosevelt was also handicapped by the fact that he had already served nearly two full terms as President, and thus was challenging the unwritten "no third term" rule.
In the end Roosevelt fell far short of winning. He drew 4.1 million votes - 27%, well behind Wilson's 42% but ahead of Taft's 23%. (6% went to Socialist Eugene Debs). He received 88 electoral votes, compared to 435 for Wilson and 8 for Taft.[10]
This was nonetheless the best showing by any third party since the modern two-party system was established in 1864. Roosevelt was the only third-party candidate to outpoll a candidate of an established party.
Many historians have concluded that the Republican split allowed Wilson to win the presidency. Others argue that even without the split, Wilson would have won (as he did in 1916).
In addition to Roosevelt's presidential campaign, hundreds of other candidates sought office as Progressives in 1912.
Twenty-one ran for governor. Over 200 ran for U.S. Representative (the exact number is not clear because there were many Republican-Progressive fusion candidacies, and some candidates ran with the labels of ad hoc groups such as "Bull Moose Republicans" or (in Pennsylvania) the "Washington Party".
On October 14, 1912, Theodore Roosevelt was shot in the chest in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and still delivered his 90-minute presidential campaign speech as planned. The would-be assassin, John Schrank, claimed the ghost of William McKinley had appeared to him in a dream and ordered him to avenge his death by killing Roosevelt. Had it not been for the 50-page speech and steel eyeglass case he was carrying in his jacket, the bullet would have gone deeper into his chest and penetrated his lung. When asked if this would halter his election campaign, he said to the reporter "I'm fit as a bull moose," which inspired the party's emblem.[11]
In California, the state Republican party was controlled by governor and Roosevelt ally Hiram Johnson, the Vice-Presidential nominee, so progressives there stayed with the Republican label (with one exception).
Most of the Progressive candidates were in New York, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Massachusetts. Only a few were in the South.
The lesser Progressive candidates generally got between 10% and 30% of the vote. Nine Progressives were elected to the House; none won governorships.[12]
Some historians speculate that if the Progressive Party had run only the Roosevelt presidential ticket, it might have attracted many more Republicans willing to split their ballot. But the progressive movement was strongest at the state level, and, so the new party had fielded candidates for governor and state legislature. In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the local Republican boss, at odds with state party leaders, joined Roosevelt's cause.
In spite of this, very few Progressives were elected to local offices; about 250. The Democrats gained many state legislature seats, which gave them 10 additional U.S. Senate seats; they also gained 63 U.S. House seats.
Despite the failure of 1912, the Progressive Party did not disappear at once. 138 candidates ran for the U.S. House as Progressives in 1914, and 5 won. However, almost half got only 10% or less of the vote.[13]
Hiram Johnson was denied renomination for Governor as a Republican; he ran as a Progressive and was re-elected. Seven other Progressives ran for governor; none got more than 16%.[14]
Some state parties remained fairly strong. In Washington, Progressives won a third of the seats in the Washington State Legislature
Louisiana businessman John M. Parker ran for governor as a Progressive early in the year. (The Republican Party was deeply unpopular in Louisiana.) Parker got a respectable 37% of the vote. He was the only Progressive to run for governor that year.[15]
Later that year, the party held its second national convention, in conjunction with the Republican national convention. This was to facilitate a possible reconciliation. Five delegates from each convention met to negotiate.
The Progressives wanted reunification, but with Roosevelt as nominee, which the Republicans adamantly opposed. Meanwhile, Charles Evans Hughes, a moderate progressive, became the front-runner at the Republican convention, though opposed by many conservatives. The Progressives suggested Hughes as a compromise candidate. Then Roosevelt sent a message proposing conservative Senator Henry Cabot Lodge. The shocked Progressives immediately nominated Roosevelt again, with Parker as the Vice Presidential nominee.
Roosevelt refused to accept the nomination and endorsed Hughes, who was immediately approved by the Republican convention.[16]
The national Progressive party promptly disintegrated. Nearly all Progressives reverted to the Republican Party, including Roosevelt, who stumped for Hughes, and Hiram Johnson, who was elected to the Senate as a Republican.
Some leaders, such as Harold Ickes of Chicago, supported Wilson.
Five Progressives were elected to the House in 1916, all with joint Republican backing except Whitmell Martin of Louisiana.[17]
All the remaining "Progressives" in Congress rejoined the Republican Party, except Martin, who became a Democrat. No candidates ran as Progressives for governor, Senator, or Representative.
From 1916 to 1932 the Taft wing controlled the Republican Party and refused to nominate any prominent 1912 Progressives to the Republican national ticket. Finally, Frank Knox was nominated for Vice President in 1936.
The relative domination of the Republican Party by conservatives left many former Progressives with no real affiliation till the 1930s, when most joined the New Deal Democratic Party coalition of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Robert M. La Follette, Sr. broke bitterly with Roosevelt in 1912, and ran for President on his own ticket, the 1924 Progressive Party, in 1924.
As of mid 2010, there has been a strong resurgence in the midwest. It is a grass roots effort; ostensibly the progressive counterpart to the Tea Party Movement.[18]
On December 6, 2011 President Barack Obama gave a speech is Osawatomie, Kansas on the 101st anniversary of TR Roosevelt's speech outlining the basics of the Progressive Party's platform in which Obama embraces most of the ideas of that Progressive age [19]
| Position | Name | State | Dates held office |
|---|---|---|---|
| Representative | James W. Bryan | Washington | 1913-15 |
| Representative | Walter M. Chandler | New York | 1913-19 |
| Representative | Ira Clifton Copley | Illinois | 1915-17 as a Progressive |
| Representative | John Elston | California | 1915-17 as a Progressive, 1917-1921 as a Republican |
| Lieutenant Governor | John Morton Eshleman | California | 1915-17 |
| Representative | Jacob Falconer | Washington | 1913-15 |
| Representative | William H. Hinebaugh | Illinois | 1913-15 |
| Representative | Willis J. Hulings | Pennsylvania | 1913-15 |
| Governor | Hiram Johnson | California | 1911–1917 |
| Representative | Melville Clyde Kelly | Pennsylvania | 1917-19 as a Progressive, 1919-1935 as a Republican |
| Representative | William MacDonald | Michigan | 1913-15 |
| Representative | Whitmell Martin | Louisiana | 1915-19 as a Progressive, 1919-1929 as a Democrat |
| Senator | Miles Poindexter | Washington | 1913-15 |
| Representative | William Stephens | California | 1913-17 |
| Representative | Henry Wilson Temple | Pennsylvania | 1913-15 |
| Representative | Roy Woodruff | Michigan | 1913-15 |
| State Treasurer | Homer D. Call | New York | 1914 |
| Mayor | Louis Will | Syracuse, New York | 1914-16 |
| Representative | Parley P. Christensen | Utah | 1914–16 |
| Wikisource has the text of the 1920 Encyclopedia Americana article Roosevelt and the Progressive Party. |