What an interesting campaign! The incumbent president, William Howard Taft, running against his mentor (and former president) Teddy Roosevelt. Also in the race was scholar Woodrow Wilson, who had written a book on Congress and the presidency. Wilson was the current governor of New Jersey. The Socialists were running Eugene Debs as their nominee, for the fourth time, and they hoped to win a million votes.
Most observers soon realized only two candidates had a chance—Wilson and Roosevelt. Wilson urged upon voters his New Freedom, which stressed a small federal government, but active and progressive state governments. Roosevelt countered with his New Nationalism, a plan for an activist progressive national government.
While the full story of the campaign has been told well elsewhere, here are some interesting sidelights to this key election.
Taft's Discomfiture at Church. Just before election day, while campaigning in New York City, Taft attended Sunday services at the Church of the Messiah. His advance men must not have done their homework, because the minister there (Dr. John Haynes Holmes) was an avid Roosevelt supporter. Rev. Holmes urged his parishioners to support progressive causes, and to retire the incumbents and put new men in office to support Progressivism. Holmes was only a little chagrined at delivering a Bull Moose sermon to the president of the United States. He pointed out that he had not known Taft was coming, and he had already written his sermon and did not have an alternate one. Taft just laughed good naturedly at his predicament.
One if By Land, Two if By Sea. New Yorkers by the thousands poured into Times Square on election night, to watch the returns posted by the Times. But for the thousands who could not fit into the square, the Times provided a tall pole visible for miles, which would be used to signal the election results. Each of the three major candidates had their own color (Wilson white, Taft red, and Roosevelt green). During the evening, the candidate who was ahead would have his colored light at the top of the pole, while the second place candidate would have his light in the middle, and the trailing candidate would be at the bottom. When the winner was declared the opponents' colored lights would be extinguished, and spotlights in the winner's colors would sweep the horizon. As it turned out the white light was on top from the beginning, and the white moving search lights were in action by ten p.m.
Bookies irritated by the 1912 election. So many people felt so certain Wilson was going to win, that bookies had trouble stirring up interest in betting. Some bookies offered 20 to 1 odds on Taft's reelection. One man made made a bet of $2000 to $1000 that Roosevelt would carry eight states. A New York better made an even-money wager that Taft's vote in the Empire State would surpass that of Roosevelt. As it turned out the only winner among those listed was the one who bet on Taft in New York state: Taft won 29 percent to Roosevelt's 25 percent.
Debs Vote Totals Shrunk by One Vote. At least one Debs supporter failed to turn out and vote the Socialist ticket in 1912. This was the candidate himself, who had been so busy campaigning he was not able to get back home to Indiana to register to vote. He was back in Terre Haute on election eve, where he celebrated his fifty-seventh birthday.
Sounds Like Palm Beach County! Baltimore, Maryland, brought in new-fangled lever-action voting machines in time for the 1912 election. Many voters found them confusing, however. One African American voter pulled the lever for Wilson by mistake, then was unable to correct the error. In frustration he twisted off the Wilson lever, forcing city officials to bring out the old voting equipment.
Is It a Bull Moose or Is It Just a Moose? For years in the political hobby, collectors have been debating whether the cast-metal moose studs are 1912 political items, or fraternal pins for the Loyal Order of Moose. People in 1912 wondered the same thing. In fact, the national office of the Moose lodge sued the Progressive Party, saying that Roosevelt supporters were infringing on their right to the lodges' long-standing logo. The Loyal Order of Moose claimed the Progressives had purposely infringed on the lodge's design of lapel stud, hoping to deceive voters into thinking that the tens of thousands of lodge members wearing moose studs were actually Roosevelt supporters. The lodge mooses sometimes had the letters "PAP," standing for the order's three cardinal virtues. Many, though not all, of the third-party mooses had very similar letters, "PP" for the Progressive Party.
The Incumbent President Runs Behind Debs, Chafin. In California, President Taft was subjected to the indignity of running behind two minor candidates, the Socialist Debs and the Prohibitionist Chafin. Debs won some 79,000 votes in the state, while Chafin won 23,000 and Taft less than 4,000. In Arizona Taft did manage to best Chafin, but ran behind Debs. In Arizona Debs won 3,163, Taft 2,986, and Chafin 265.
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| © 2001 by Stephen Cresswell |
Sources: New York Times issues for 1912; Congressional Quarterly's Guide to U.S. Elections.