TL-191: Filling the Gaps
- Thread starter Craigo
- Start date
How about Joseph Wheeler IV (1874-1938), the son of Civil War (and OTL Spanish-American War) officer Joseph Wheeler? Or Julian Robert Lindsey (1871-1948), an OTL U.S. Cavalry officer and Major General (ret. 1934)?
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Hey guys.
I haven't posted anything here in a while, but I plan on posting some new stuff soon. I have a mostly finished article on the 1908 US presidential election on my laptop that I must have begun about a year ago. Before I post it, I have just one question. Which states did the Democrats, Socialists and Republicans win in 1908? I've seen conflicting answers, so I want to be sure on what was the final consensus reached in regards to the states won in the 1908 election.
Thanks.
I haven't posted anything here in a while, but I plan on posting some new stuff soon. I have a mostly finished article on the 1908 US presidential election on my laptop that I must have begun about a year ago. Before I post it, I have just one question. Which states did the Democrats, Socialists and Republicans win in 1908? I've seen conflicting answers, so I want to be sure on what was the final consensus reached in regards to the states won in the 1908 election.
Thanks.
WELCOME BACK!!! I guess we go with Bguy's article on Nelson Aldrich he did the original work on it.
I was thinking about direct messaging you. I want to add a bunch of stuff to the Wiki page you set up we have a lot more articles now. They need to be organized.
bguy
Donor
In regards to the 1908 election, I've recently learned that I completely misread Philander Knox's political beliefs at the time I wrote the Aldrich articles.
I had thought that Knox was a political moderate since OTL he was Attorney General for trust busting Theodore Roosevelt, but upon leaning more about him it looks like Knox was actually economically very conservative. (He was apparently a close political ally of the very pro-big business Pennsylvania political boss Boise Penrose.)
As such I would recommend against using the portion of my Aldrich article that explains why Knox broke with the Democratic Party because its not plausible Knox would have had a problem with Aldrich's anti-union policies. I would recommend instead having Knox break with the Democrats over foreign policy. OTL Knox was very strongly against the League of Nations (to the extent that he was even the isolationistic Senator Borah's preferred candidate to be President Harding's Secretary of State), so if Knox does have strong isolationistic tendencies then it would be plausible that in TL-191 he might leave the Democratic Party over the alliance with Germany.
In regards to the 1908 election, I've recently learned that I completely misread Philander Knox's political beliefs at the time I wrote the Aldrich articles.
I had thought that Knox was a political moderate since OTL he was Attorney General for trust busting Theodore Roosevelt, but upon leaning more about him it looks like Knox was actually economically very conservative. (He was apparently a close political ally of the very pro-big business Pennsylvania political boss Boise Penrose.)
As such I would recommend against using the portion of my Aldrich article that explains why Knox broke with the Democratic Party because its not plausible Knox would have had a problem with Aldrich's anti-union policies. I would recommend instead having Knox break with the Democrats over foreign policy. OTL Knox was very strongly against the League of Nations (to the extent that he was even the isolationistic Senator Borah's preferred candidate to be President Harding's Secretary of State), so if Knox does have strong isolationistic tendencies then it would be plausible that in TL-191 he might leave the Democratic Party over the alliance with Germany.
I don't see why Philander Knox couldn't have had slightly different views IITL than from those he had IOTL. I may still use your portion of the Aldrich article, but I'm more than happy to add the isolationism bit.
bguy
Donor
One of the rules Craigo laid out when he opened the thread up to contributors was:
"4) No ASB, and try to keep historical personalities as close to the real thing as possible"
https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/tl-191-filling-the-gaps.148857/page-13#post-4096745
Since Craigo was the thread's originator (and since I think following the guidelines he set down has helped the thread stay cohesive), I think we should continue to respect his guidelines and thus don't think we should significantly change Knox's OTL political views absent an extremely compelling reason to do so.
Here it is! Much of this comes from President Mahan's article on Henry Cabot Lodge and bguy's article on Nelson Aldrich. Like with the article on the 1904 election, I essentially merged the two aformentioned articles and added a bunch of new material myself.
United States presidential election, 1908
Ten months before the United States presidential election of 1908, the year began with a series of setbacks for President Nelson W. Aldrich and his congressional agenda. The death of Senator Mark Hanna at the age of seventy on January 14th helped weaken the power of the Conservative Democrats in Congress. As a result, bills regulating the countries Food and Drug Industry and banning Child Labor were passed. In 1908, the Democratic Party was split into four factions, the Conservative Mahan Democrats, the Reform Mahan Democrats, the Conservative Reed Democrats and the Reform Reed Democrats. President Aldrich was most popular with the Conservative Reed Democrats, while his failure to sign the Child Labor Bill infuriated both factions of Reform Democrats. As a direct result, there was talk of several possible Reform challengers for the upcoming 1908 Democratic National Convention and subsequent presidential election. There were the Mahan Reformers Theodore Roosevelt and Anthony Beveridge and the Reed Reformer Adlai Stevenson.
Thanks to President Aldrich's détente policy it quickly became apparent only a Mahan Democrat could mount a successful challenge at the upcoming Democratic National Convention. Theodore Roosevelt was in the midst of a campaign for Governor of New York and the torch naturally fell to Anthony Beveridge. Beveridge began to openly campaign in the spring of 1908, crisscrossing the country condemning the President for his weak foreign policy and his failure to address the plight of the working man. Despite his powerful oratory skills and his popularity with ordinary citizens, Beveridge was not at all popular with the party leadership.
Understanding Aldrich’s unpopularity with Mahan Democrats and Beveridge’s unpopularity with the Party leadership, Senator Henry Cabot Lodge worked behind the scenes to build himself up as a possible compromise candidate. As former President Mahan’s closest advisor Lodge was popular with both factions of Mahan Democrats. However, he was relatively conservative on most economic issues. He believed he was in the perfect spot to be a compromise candidate, should the convention deadlock. As a result of all of these factors, Lodge began a limited speaking tour denouncing the President’s Foreign Policy, while at the same time refraining from attacking his domestic policies.
The Democrats held their convention in Chicago from June 9th-June 14th. Going into the convention, many feared that this would be the most contentious convention of a sitting President since the 1880s. President Aldrich failed to carry the convention on the first ballot. Still, the Reform vote was still split between the Reed and Mahan Reformers. However, hopes that things would return to the Pre-Remembrance norm of single term Presidents were unfounded and by the third ballot Lodge’s hope for a deadlock was squashed. The power of the party bosses slowly won over insurgent reformers. Lodge saw which way the wind was blowing and released his delegates for Aldrich. As a result, President Nelson W. Aldrich won the party's nomination for the Presidency, while incumbent Vice President Charles W. Fairbanks won the party’s nomination for the Vice-Presidency.
The Republican National Convention met later that month in Columbus, Ohio from June 19th-June 23rd. Not long after it began, the convention deadlocked between two-time former candidate Senator William Jennings Bryan of Michigan and the young Governor of California Hiram Johnson. As a result, the convention ended up nominating a surprise dark horse candidate, the dissatisfied former Conservative Reed Democrat Philander Knox of Pennsylvania. Knox, an isolationsit and a long-time Democrat who had served as Attorney General during President Mahan’s second term from 1901-1905 (where he played an instrumental role in convincing the President to support the striking workers in the Anthracite Coal Strike of 1902), had only left the Democratic Party two years earlier in protest of the alliance with the German Empire. For Knox’s running mate, the convention nominated Senator Alexander Richards of Kansas. In nominating Knox for the presidency, the Republicans hoped that in nominating an easterner they might be able to overcome the perception of them as a regional western party and as a result make some inroads into the vote-rich eastern states. In nominating Richards for the Vice Presidency, the Republicans hoped for the ticket to still appeal to western and Midwestern voters and as a result balance the ticket between an easterner and Midwesterner. The Republican platform called for the withdrawal of the United States of America from the Quadruple Alliance, the ending of conscription and the ending of rationing. Nevertheless, Knox would prove to be an ineffective campaigner, and his cautious, legalistic speaking style did little to excite voters.
The Socialist National Convention was held in Des Moines, Iowa from June 25th-June 28th. As expected the Socialist delegates again nominated (now) Senator Robert La Follette of Wisconsin (the Wisconsin legislature having elected La Follette to the Senate in the aftermath of his defeat in the 1904 presidential election.) Emil Seidel, the first Socialist Mayor of Pittsburg [1] and the first Socialist mayor in American history, was chosen as his running mate to balance the ticket between a Midwesterner and an easterner. During the campaign, Senator La Follette would aggressively attack Aldrich’s labor and tariff policies, while promising a wide range of political reforms and social welfare measures as a part of the Socialist Party platform.
Soon after the Democratic National Convention, President Aldrich came to Senator Henry Cabot Lodge to ask Lodge to campaign for him and to ask Lodge for some advice. Lodge, realizing that his best chance for winning a future nomination was to gain the support of the party power bosses, agreed to campaign for President Aldrich. On the other hand, the Mahan Democrats wanted President Aldrich to do something to check the growth of British involvement in the Western Hemisphere. With the help of some advice from Senator Lodge, Aldrich quickly announced that an agreement had been reached for a formal US alliance with Chile and Paraguay. Aldrich otherwise did little active campaigning as he felt that it was beneath the dignity of the office of the Presidency, and he was content to rely upon the country being prosperous and at peace, as well as the Democrat’s enormous campaign finance advantage, to carry him to victory.
Election Day, November 3rd, 1908, would see President Nelson Aldrich be narrowly reelected. Aldrich again carried 44% of the popular vote, sweeping the coastal states and carrying most of the Mid-West. Senator La Follette improved upon his 1904 showing by winning 40% of the popular vote while Knox lost ground for the Republicans and only won 14% of the popular vote. Aldrich had triumphed, but the Democrats saw much cause for concern in the election results. Senator La Follette had broken through in the industrial Mid-West states, carrying Illinois and coming dangerously close in both Indiana and Ohio. Furthermore, the Socialists had also made significant gains in the Congressional elections. Theodore Roosevelt, just elected as Governor of New York, would declare these results proved the country wanted reform and that the Democrats must provide that reform or be supplanted by those who would. But Aldrich, while disappointed by the results, took comfort in the fact that he was still President, still had large Democrat majorities in both houses of Congress, and had another four years to enact his vision of peace.
Nelson Aldrich (D-RI)/Charles W. Fairbanks (D-IN): 196 EV
Robert M. La Follette, Sr. (S-WI)/Emil Seidel (S-PA): 84 EV
Philander C. Knox (R-PA)/Alexander Richards (R-KS): 0 EV
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[1] IOTL Emil Seidel was the first Socialist mayor of Milwaukee.
United States presidential election, 1908
Ten months before the United States presidential election of 1908, the year began with a series of setbacks for President Nelson W. Aldrich and his congressional agenda. The death of Senator Mark Hanna at the age of seventy on January 14th helped weaken the power of the Conservative Democrats in Congress. As a result, bills regulating the countries Food and Drug Industry and banning Child Labor were passed. In 1908, the Democratic Party was split into four factions, the Conservative Mahan Democrats, the Reform Mahan Democrats, the Conservative Reed Democrats and the Reform Reed Democrats. President Aldrich was most popular with the Conservative Reed Democrats, while his failure to sign the Child Labor Bill infuriated both factions of Reform Democrats. As a direct result, there was talk of several possible Reform challengers for the upcoming 1908 Democratic National Convention and subsequent presidential election. There were the Mahan Reformers Theodore Roosevelt and Anthony Beveridge and the Reed Reformer Adlai Stevenson.
Thanks to President Aldrich's détente policy it quickly became apparent only a Mahan Democrat could mount a successful challenge at the upcoming Democratic National Convention. Theodore Roosevelt was in the midst of a campaign for Governor of New York and the torch naturally fell to Anthony Beveridge. Beveridge began to openly campaign in the spring of 1908, crisscrossing the country condemning the President for his weak foreign policy and his failure to address the plight of the working man. Despite his powerful oratory skills and his popularity with ordinary citizens, Beveridge was not at all popular with the party leadership.
Understanding Aldrich’s unpopularity with Mahan Democrats and Beveridge’s unpopularity with the Party leadership, Senator Henry Cabot Lodge worked behind the scenes to build himself up as a possible compromise candidate. As former President Mahan’s closest advisor Lodge was popular with both factions of Mahan Democrats. However, he was relatively conservative on most economic issues. He believed he was in the perfect spot to be a compromise candidate, should the convention deadlock. As a result of all of these factors, Lodge began a limited speaking tour denouncing the President’s Foreign Policy, while at the same time refraining from attacking his domestic policies.
The Democrats held their convention in Chicago from June 9th-June 14th. Going into the convention, many feared that this would be the most contentious convention of a sitting President since the 1880s. President Aldrich failed to carry the convention on the first ballot. Still, the Reform vote was still split between the Reed and Mahan Reformers. However, hopes that things would return to the Pre-Remembrance norm of single term Presidents were unfounded and by the third ballot Lodge’s hope for a deadlock was squashed. The power of the party bosses slowly won over insurgent reformers. Lodge saw which way the wind was blowing and released his delegates for Aldrich. As a result, President Nelson W. Aldrich won the party's nomination for the Presidency, while incumbent Vice President Charles W. Fairbanks won the party’s nomination for the Vice-Presidency.
The Republican National Convention met later that month in Columbus, Ohio from June 19th-June 23rd. Not long after it began, the convention deadlocked between two-time former candidate Senator William Jennings Bryan of Michigan and the young Governor of California Hiram Johnson. As a result, the convention ended up nominating a surprise dark horse candidate, the dissatisfied former Conservative Reed Democrat Philander Knox of Pennsylvania. Knox, an isolationsit and a long-time Democrat who had served as Attorney General during President Mahan’s second term from 1901-1905 (where he played an instrumental role in convincing the President to support the striking workers in the Anthracite Coal Strike of 1902), had only left the Democratic Party two years earlier in protest of the alliance with the German Empire. For Knox’s running mate, the convention nominated Senator Alexander Richards of Kansas. In nominating Knox for the presidency, the Republicans hoped that in nominating an easterner they might be able to overcome the perception of them as a regional western party and as a result make some inroads into the vote-rich eastern states. In nominating Richards for the Vice Presidency, the Republicans hoped for the ticket to still appeal to western and Midwestern voters and as a result balance the ticket between an easterner and Midwesterner. The Republican platform called for the withdrawal of the United States of America from the Quadruple Alliance, the ending of conscription and the ending of rationing. Nevertheless, Knox would prove to be an ineffective campaigner, and his cautious, legalistic speaking style did little to excite voters.
The Socialist National Convention was held in Des Moines, Iowa from June 25th-June 28th. As expected the Socialist delegates again nominated (now) Senator Robert La Follette of Wisconsin (the Wisconsin legislature having elected La Follette to the Senate in the aftermath of his defeat in the 1904 presidential election.) Emil Seidel, the first Socialist Mayor of Pittsburg [1] and the first Socialist mayor in American history, was chosen as his running mate to balance the ticket between a Midwesterner and an easterner. During the campaign, Senator La Follette would aggressively attack Aldrich’s labor and tariff policies, while promising a wide range of political reforms and social welfare measures as a part of the Socialist Party platform.
Soon after the Democratic National Convention, President Aldrich came to Senator Henry Cabot Lodge to ask Lodge to campaign for him and to ask Lodge for some advice. Lodge, realizing that his best chance for winning a future nomination was to gain the support of the party power bosses, agreed to campaign for President Aldrich. On the other hand, the Mahan Democrats wanted President Aldrich to do something to check the growth of British involvement in the Western Hemisphere. With the help of some advice from Senator Lodge, Aldrich quickly announced that an agreement had been reached for a formal US alliance with Chile and Paraguay. Aldrich otherwise did little active campaigning as he felt that it was beneath the dignity of the office of the Presidency, and he was content to rely upon the country being prosperous and at peace, as well as the Democrat’s enormous campaign finance advantage, to carry him to victory.
Election Day, November 3rd, 1908, would see President Nelson Aldrich be narrowly reelected. Aldrich again carried 44% of the popular vote, sweeping the coastal states and carrying most of the Mid-West. Senator La Follette improved upon his 1904 showing by winning 40% of the popular vote while Knox lost ground for the Republicans and only won 14% of the popular vote. Aldrich had triumphed, but the Democrats saw much cause for concern in the election results. Senator La Follette had broken through in the industrial Mid-West states, carrying Illinois and coming dangerously close in both Indiana and Ohio. Furthermore, the Socialists had also made significant gains in the Congressional elections. Theodore Roosevelt, just elected as Governor of New York, would declare these results proved the country wanted reform and that the Democrats must provide that reform or be supplanted by those who would. But Aldrich, while disappointed by the results, took comfort in the fact that he was still President, still had large Democrat majorities in both houses of Congress, and had another four years to enact his vision of peace.
Nelson Aldrich (D-RI)/Charles W. Fairbanks (D-IN): 196 EV
Robert M. La Follette, Sr. (S-WI)/Emil Seidel (S-PA): 84 EV
Philander C. Knox (R-PA)/Alexander Richards (R-KS): 0 EV
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[1] IOTL Emil Seidel was the first Socialist mayor of Milwaukee.
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bguy
Donor
Article looks good. The only issue I see is with the electoral college numbers you are using if Aldrich won 196 EVs and La Follette won 84, then flipping Indiana and Ohio wouldn't have been enough to send the election to the House. (The results after the flip would have ended up as Aldrich 158, La Follette 122. A close election but still a clear Aldrich victory.) As such if you want to get the math to work where flipping those two states is enough to get the election to the House then I think you have to give Kansas, Nebraska, and West Virginia to Knox.
With those changes the EV numbers are: Aldrich 173, La Follette 84, Knox 23. And those numbers mean that flipping Indiana and Ohio from Aldrich to La Follette would have resulted in Aldrich 135, La Follette 122, Knox 23. Just close enough to send the election to the House.
Nelson Aldrich (D-RI)/Charles W. Fairbanks (D-IN): 196 EV
Robert M. La Follette, Sr. (S-WI)/Emil Seidel (S-PA): 84 EV
Philander C. Knox (R-PA)/Alexander Richards (R-KS): 0 EV
With those changes the EV numbers are: Aldrich 173, La Follette 84, Knox 23. And those numbers mean that flipping Indiana and Ohio from Aldrich to La Follette would have resulted in Aldrich 135, La Follette 122, Knox 23. Just close enough to send the election to the House.
Nelson Aldrich (D-RI)/Charles W. Fairbanks (D-IN): 196 EV
Robert M. La Follette, Sr. (S-WI)/Emil Seidel (S-PA): 84 EV
Philander C. Knox (R-PA)/Alexander Richards (R-KS): 0 EV
Interesting, though I think I'll just get rid of that part about the election going to the house. The Socialists still gained a lot of ground anyway.
Heres another article that I had almost finished lying on a Microsoft Word document and which I just finished up right now! Once again, much of this comes from President Mahan's article on Henry Cabot Lodge.
United States presidential election, 1912
The campaign for the Democratic nomination for the United States presidential election of 1912 started as soon as the New Year began. On New Year’s Day, 1912, both Theodore Roosevelt and Henry Cabot Lodge announced their intention to run for president. Although other candidates entered the race for the Democratic nomination like incumbent Vice President Charles W. Fairbanks of Indiana, Govenor Thomas R. Marshall of Indiana, Governor Judson Harmon of Ohio and Governor Simeon E. Baldwin of Connecticut, with the growing unpopularity of the Aldrich administration’s weak foreign policy and its involvement in the National Road Way Administration scandal most Conservative and Reed Democrats were discredited. In the minds of the public the contest was only between the two Mahan candidates Theodore Roosevelt and Henry Cabot Lodge.
1912 would go down as the strangest race for the Democratic Party nomination in United States history. Both of the two major candidates refused to publicly condemn each other in public. Each would often praise the other, while each offered their own vision for the future. Ultimately, this played against Lodge because of Roosevelt’s greater popularity. Still, in January of 1912 Henry Cabot Lodge initiated a plan he had been formulating for nearly eight years. Lodge used his influence with the Democratic Party bosses to push his candidacy and moved to gain the support of the party machinery. Roosevelt on the other hand relied on grass roots organization and popular support. Both candidates toured the country offering similar views on foreign policy, but differing on domestic issues.
Many later historians would argue that Lodge did not truly desire to be President, which was evidenced by his lackluster campaigning. In the years after the 1912 election some even suggested that Lodge’s campaign was a part of a plan to negate any conservative candidates, clearing the path for the reform minded Roosevelt and his war. However, there is little evidence to substantiate these claims. In truth, Lodge’s campaign was sincere and more than eight years in the making.
Lodge began his campaign with a speaking tour of New England and the major cities targeted by the Royal Navy in 1881 during the Second Mexican War. Lodge’s campaign focused on his work in the Senate and as Secretary of State making the nation strong again and gaining its new German and Austro-Hungarian allies. He reminded the people of those cities bombarded by the Royal Navy of the need to expand the Navy faster than President Aldrich’s two for four Dreadnought schedule. Lodge also campaigned on the promises of an increase in military spending, strengthening the alliance with Germany and a return to the policies of the Mahan administration.
On the domestic front Lodge campaigned for limited government interference in the economy. He supported the national rationing program and service in the national Merchant Marine for three years in lieu of formal military service. He also courted western and Christian voters, by promising to use the C.I.D. to prosecute Mormon polygamists. Unlike Aldrich, Lodge publicly supported Civil Service reform. While this was generally seen as a break from the Party bosses, in private he argued to party bosses that unlike him Roosevelt would use the Federal Police powers to go after corruption on the state level. Lodge also controversially supported strict new immigration measures, similar to those proposed in the 1910 Bill.
Roosevelt on the other hand capitalized on his popularity with the working class Democrats, especially out west. Roosevelt, knowing his base was secure in his home state of New York, toured much of the Midwest and the states beyond the Mississippi River. As the owner of several substantial cattle ranches and the first major Democratic candidate to focus so much attention on the western states, Roosevelt was hugely popular in the western regions of the United States. Roosevelt called for a more expansive role of the federal government in the economy, encapsulated in his Square Deal policy, which he touted as an alternative to the Socialist Party’s program of public ownership of the major industries. The Square Deal centered on Civil Service Reform, an end to child labor, higher corporate taxes, recognition of the rights of American workers to form unions and countering the influence of the corporate trusts that restricted the free market. This policy proved to be popular with both American workers and many middle class voters that had been slowly migrating towards the Socialist Party.
As another one of Mahan protégé’s, Roosevelt’s foreign policy was similar to Lodge’s in many respects. However, while Lodge spoke mainly on Naval Policy, Roosevelt emphasized the need to reinvigorate the Army. Roosevelt argued that Aldrich had let the US Army decline relative to the armies of the Dominion of Canada and the CSA and as a result the US Army needed to be strengthened. He called for both an expansion of the full time and reserve army. He also called for more money to be spent on better equipment, training, border defense and medical insurance for all veterans. This played well in the Border States and in the Republican and Socialist districts that had had a disproportionate number of their citizens conscripted.
The greatest difference between the two candidates was their views on the American worker to organize. While Lodge came out against any Union that supported striking or walking off the job, Roosevelt supported what he called responsible unions. To Roosevelt those were Unions that carried out peaceful strikes, did not support industrial sabotage and did not interfere with industries key to national security. In 1912, two major Labor Strikes broke out in the United States, the New England Mill Workers Strike and another Miners Strike in Pennsylvania. The New England Mill Workers Strike had considerable support from the Socialist Party. Socialist Party figure Elizabeth Gurley Flynn even came to Lawrence, Massachusetts to support the strikers. Together with Theodore Roosevelt she masterminded the strikes signature move, the sending of hundreds of the strikers' hungry children to sympathetic families in New York, New Jersey, and Vermont. The move drew widespread sympathy, especially after police stopped a further exodus, leading to violence at the Lawrence Train Station. Congressional hearings followed, resulting in exposure of shocking conditions in the Lawrence mills and calls for investigation of the “wool trust.” The mill owners soon decided to settle the strike, giving workers in Lawrence and throughout New England raises of up to 20 percent. Roosevelt supported this move as peaceful and responsible, while Lodge came out against it. Roosevelt even visited striking laborers in Pennsylvania. In the end, both of these moves helped to win Roosevelt greater support among working class voters.
The election was also unique, because it was the first time that significant numbers of delegates to the national conventions were elected in presidential preference primaries. Primary elections were advocated by the progressive faction of the Democratic Party, which wanted to break the control of political parties by party bosses. Roosevelt had been instrumental to its introduction in the state of New York. Altogether, fifteen states held Democratic primaries. Roosevelt won three of the first four primaries in Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Lodge, who was always popular in New England, won New Hampshire. However, beginning with his runaway victory in Illinois on April 9, Roosevelt won ten of the eleven presidential primaries, in order, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Nebraska, Oregon, Maryland, California, New York, Ohio, New Jersey, and Dakota, losing only Massachusetts to Lodge. Despite Roosevelt’s commanding primary lead, most of these primaries were not binding, which still gave Lodge hope he could pull off a coup in the convention.
The Democratic National Convention was held that year in Baltimore in the last week of June, from June 26th to June 29th. With President Aldrich’s personal popularity at an all-time low after his vetoes of the popular civil service reform and child labor bills the public had soured on conservative candidates like Senator Henry Cabot Lodge and Vice-President Charles W. Fairbanks. In spite of this, Lodge still believed that he could rely on the power of the party bosses. Lodge’s best hope was to deadlock the convention and slowly use his influence in the party to pull delegates toward him. Though Roosevelt had won all but two of the primaries, they were essentially non-binding. Unfortunately for this plan, Lodge had misread the national mood and that of the delegates. All across the country the Democrats had chosen younger reform candidates over their conservative counterparts. Many party bosses in the big cities defected fearing backlashes from their sizable immigrant population. Other party bosses began to fear that if Roosevelt was not nominated in 1912, then the Democrats might not win in 1916. In fact many Socialist leaders pushed their members to vote for Lodge in the primary believing he would be an easier candidate to defeat.
Lodge and Roosevelt were pretty much split in the more populous eastern states. It was Roosevelt’s popularity in the west and border states that became decisive. Roosevelt’s fame from the Newland Irrigation Act and his Midwestern campaigning were a decisive factor in the campaign. Most importantly Roosevelt’s shrewd promise to make George McKenna, an influential party boss in Pennsylvania, his running mate sealed his victory. Roosevelt defied tradition and arrived at the convention to accept his nomination. In his speech he compared the coming presidential campaign to the end of days and stated that the Reformers were “Where standing at Armageddon and ready to battle for the Lord.”
The Republican National Convention was held in Chicago from June 29th to July 5th. The Republican delegates easily nominated Senator Gilbert Hitchcock of Nebraska and James J. Couzens of Minnesota. The Republican platform again focused on Midwestern-centric issues like immigration reform, Railroad Rate Reform and the introduction of more green back bills. The party also saw a strengthening of its isolationist faction, which condemned the Quadruple Alliance with Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy and American involvement in European affairs in general.
The Socialist National Convention was held in Indianapolis from July 1st to July 8th. The Socialist convention was a slightly more interesting affair than the Republican convention. The conservatives, led by Victor L. Berger of Milwaukee, promoted progressive causes of industrial efficiency and an end to corruption. They wanted government ownership of utilities and the railroads and the regulation of Corporate Trusts. They were nicknamed "gas and water socialists." In foreign policy they supported pacifism but not unilateral disarmament. Their opponents were the radicals who supported more orthodox international Marxism. They wanted to overthrow capitalism, unilateral dis-armament, the unification of all labor unions, and the re-establishment of the Industrial Workers Congress (the “Wobblies") disbanded under the Stevenson Anti-Trust Act. The radicals won an early test by seating former Vice Presidential Candidate and Congressman from Manhattan Myron Zuckerman on the Executive Committee, sending encouragement to western "Wobblies", and passed a resolution seeming to favor industrial unionism. The conservatives who supported former Vice Presidential Candidate Emil Seidel counterattacked by amending the party constitution to expel any socialists who favored industrial sabotage or syndicalism (that is, those who were members of the IWC), as well as any socialists who refused to participate in American elections. They adopted a conservative platform calling for cooperative organization of prisons, a national bureau of health, abolition of the Senate and the presidential veto. Eventually a compromise was reached and the first Socialist Senator ever elected, Eugene V. Debs, who appealed to both groups, was nominated. Joseph F. Guffey, a socialist party politician from Pennsylvania, was chosen as his running mate to, once again, balance the ticket between a Midwesterner and an easterner.
Roosevelt met with Lodge immediately after the Convention. Many believed that Roosevelt would ask Lodge to reprise his role as Secretary of State. However, Roosevelt informed Lodge that the position would essentially be powerless. Roosevelt intended to serve as his own Secretary of State and was going to offer it to Robert Lansing, a popular Reed Democrat from New York. Roosevelt instead asked Lodge to be his voice in the Senate. Lodge accepted and immediately began campaigning for his old friend.
Roosevelt campaigned for the general election with the same ferocity that he did in his primary campaign. Roosevelt shrewdly visited miners both in the east and in the west. His promise to end child labor was popular with most miners, because it undercut their wages. Roosevelt and the Democrats ran on a platform promising political and economic reform, United States military supremacy, and “No more Nicaraguas!” Whereever Roosevelt went fanatical Remembrance crowds, the likes of which the country had not seen since the election of Thomas Reed in 1888, met him.
On Election Day, November 5, 1912, Roosevelt won the election in both a popular and an electoral landslide. In spite of Senator Deb’s considerable mainstream appeal, he was defeated in a landslide by Theodore Roosevelt, taking only his home state of Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Colorado and Nevada, the last two states being mining states where the miner’s unions held considerable sway. Unbeknownst to everyone at the time, Roosevelt would soon be President during one of the greatest crises in the nation’s history.
Theodore Roosevelt (D-NY)/Walter McKenna (D-PA): 327 EV
Eugene V. Debs (S-IN)/Joseph F. Guffey (S-PA): 49 EV
Gilbert Hitchcock (R-NE)/James J. Couzens (R-MN): 0 EV
United States presidential election, 1912
The campaign for the Democratic nomination for the United States presidential election of 1912 started as soon as the New Year began. On New Year’s Day, 1912, both Theodore Roosevelt and Henry Cabot Lodge announced their intention to run for president. Although other candidates entered the race for the Democratic nomination like incumbent Vice President Charles W. Fairbanks of Indiana, Govenor Thomas R. Marshall of Indiana, Governor Judson Harmon of Ohio and Governor Simeon E. Baldwin of Connecticut, with the growing unpopularity of the Aldrich administration’s weak foreign policy and its involvement in the National Road Way Administration scandal most Conservative and Reed Democrats were discredited. In the minds of the public the contest was only between the two Mahan candidates Theodore Roosevelt and Henry Cabot Lodge.
1912 would go down as the strangest race for the Democratic Party nomination in United States history. Both of the two major candidates refused to publicly condemn each other in public. Each would often praise the other, while each offered their own vision for the future. Ultimately, this played against Lodge because of Roosevelt’s greater popularity. Still, in January of 1912 Henry Cabot Lodge initiated a plan he had been formulating for nearly eight years. Lodge used his influence with the Democratic Party bosses to push his candidacy and moved to gain the support of the party machinery. Roosevelt on the other hand relied on grass roots organization and popular support. Both candidates toured the country offering similar views on foreign policy, but differing on domestic issues.
Many later historians would argue that Lodge did not truly desire to be President, which was evidenced by his lackluster campaigning. In the years after the 1912 election some even suggested that Lodge’s campaign was a part of a plan to negate any conservative candidates, clearing the path for the reform minded Roosevelt and his war. However, there is little evidence to substantiate these claims. In truth, Lodge’s campaign was sincere and more than eight years in the making.
Lodge began his campaign with a speaking tour of New England and the major cities targeted by the Royal Navy in 1881 during the Second Mexican War. Lodge’s campaign focused on his work in the Senate and as Secretary of State making the nation strong again and gaining its new German and Austro-Hungarian allies. He reminded the people of those cities bombarded by the Royal Navy of the need to expand the Navy faster than President Aldrich’s two for four Dreadnought schedule. Lodge also campaigned on the promises of an increase in military spending, strengthening the alliance with Germany and a return to the policies of the Mahan administration.
On the domestic front Lodge campaigned for limited government interference in the economy. He supported the national rationing program and service in the national Merchant Marine for three years in lieu of formal military service. He also courted western and Christian voters, by promising to use the C.I.D. to prosecute Mormon polygamists. Unlike Aldrich, Lodge publicly supported Civil Service reform. While this was generally seen as a break from the Party bosses, in private he argued to party bosses that unlike him Roosevelt would use the Federal Police powers to go after corruption on the state level. Lodge also controversially supported strict new immigration measures, similar to those proposed in the 1910 Bill.
Roosevelt on the other hand capitalized on his popularity with the working class Democrats, especially out west. Roosevelt, knowing his base was secure in his home state of New York, toured much of the Midwest and the states beyond the Mississippi River. As the owner of several substantial cattle ranches and the first major Democratic candidate to focus so much attention on the western states, Roosevelt was hugely popular in the western regions of the United States. Roosevelt called for a more expansive role of the federal government in the economy, encapsulated in his Square Deal policy, which he touted as an alternative to the Socialist Party’s program of public ownership of the major industries. The Square Deal centered on Civil Service Reform, an end to child labor, higher corporate taxes, recognition of the rights of American workers to form unions and countering the influence of the corporate trusts that restricted the free market. This policy proved to be popular with both American workers and many middle class voters that had been slowly migrating towards the Socialist Party.
As another one of Mahan protégé’s, Roosevelt’s foreign policy was similar to Lodge’s in many respects. However, while Lodge spoke mainly on Naval Policy, Roosevelt emphasized the need to reinvigorate the Army. Roosevelt argued that Aldrich had let the US Army decline relative to the armies of the Dominion of Canada and the CSA and as a result the US Army needed to be strengthened. He called for both an expansion of the full time and reserve army. He also called for more money to be spent on better equipment, training, border defense and medical insurance for all veterans. This played well in the Border States and in the Republican and Socialist districts that had had a disproportionate number of their citizens conscripted.
The greatest difference between the two candidates was their views on the American worker to organize. While Lodge came out against any Union that supported striking or walking off the job, Roosevelt supported what he called responsible unions. To Roosevelt those were Unions that carried out peaceful strikes, did not support industrial sabotage and did not interfere with industries key to national security. In 1912, two major Labor Strikes broke out in the United States, the New England Mill Workers Strike and another Miners Strike in Pennsylvania. The New England Mill Workers Strike had considerable support from the Socialist Party. Socialist Party figure Elizabeth Gurley Flynn even came to Lawrence, Massachusetts to support the strikers. Together with Theodore Roosevelt she masterminded the strikes signature move, the sending of hundreds of the strikers' hungry children to sympathetic families in New York, New Jersey, and Vermont. The move drew widespread sympathy, especially after police stopped a further exodus, leading to violence at the Lawrence Train Station. Congressional hearings followed, resulting in exposure of shocking conditions in the Lawrence mills and calls for investigation of the “wool trust.” The mill owners soon decided to settle the strike, giving workers in Lawrence and throughout New England raises of up to 20 percent. Roosevelt supported this move as peaceful and responsible, while Lodge came out against it. Roosevelt even visited striking laborers in Pennsylvania. In the end, both of these moves helped to win Roosevelt greater support among working class voters.
The election was also unique, because it was the first time that significant numbers of delegates to the national conventions were elected in presidential preference primaries. Primary elections were advocated by the progressive faction of the Democratic Party, which wanted to break the control of political parties by party bosses. Roosevelt had been instrumental to its introduction in the state of New York. Altogether, fifteen states held Democratic primaries. Roosevelt won three of the first four primaries in Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Lodge, who was always popular in New England, won New Hampshire. However, beginning with his runaway victory in Illinois on April 9, Roosevelt won ten of the eleven presidential primaries, in order, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Nebraska, Oregon, Maryland, California, New York, Ohio, New Jersey, and Dakota, losing only Massachusetts to Lodge. Despite Roosevelt’s commanding primary lead, most of these primaries were not binding, which still gave Lodge hope he could pull off a coup in the convention.
The Democratic National Convention was held that year in Baltimore in the last week of June, from June 26th to June 29th. With President Aldrich’s personal popularity at an all-time low after his vetoes of the popular civil service reform and child labor bills the public had soured on conservative candidates like Senator Henry Cabot Lodge and Vice-President Charles W. Fairbanks. In spite of this, Lodge still believed that he could rely on the power of the party bosses. Lodge’s best hope was to deadlock the convention and slowly use his influence in the party to pull delegates toward him. Though Roosevelt had won all but two of the primaries, they were essentially non-binding. Unfortunately for this plan, Lodge had misread the national mood and that of the delegates. All across the country the Democrats had chosen younger reform candidates over their conservative counterparts. Many party bosses in the big cities defected fearing backlashes from their sizable immigrant population. Other party bosses began to fear that if Roosevelt was not nominated in 1912, then the Democrats might not win in 1916. In fact many Socialist leaders pushed their members to vote for Lodge in the primary believing he would be an easier candidate to defeat.
Lodge and Roosevelt were pretty much split in the more populous eastern states. It was Roosevelt’s popularity in the west and border states that became decisive. Roosevelt’s fame from the Newland Irrigation Act and his Midwestern campaigning were a decisive factor in the campaign. Most importantly Roosevelt’s shrewd promise to make George McKenna, an influential party boss in Pennsylvania, his running mate sealed his victory. Roosevelt defied tradition and arrived at the convention to accept his nomination. In his speech he compared the coming presidential campaign to the end of days and stated that the Reformers were “Where standing at Armageddon and ready to battle for the Lord.”
The Republican National Convention was held in Chicago from June 29th to July 5th. The Republican delegates easily nominated Senator Gilbert Hitchcock of Nebraska and James J. Couzens of Minnesota. The Republican platform again focused on Midwestern-centric issues like immigration reform, Railroad Rate Reform and the introduction of more green back bills. The party also saw a strengthening of its isolationist faction, which condemned the Quadruple Alliance with Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy and American involvement in European affairs in general.
The Socialist National Convention was held in Indianapolis from July 1st to July 8th. The Socialist convention was a slightly more interesting affair than the Republican convention. The conservatives, led by Victor L. Berger of Milwaukee, promoted progressive causes of industrial efficiency and an end to corruption. They wanted government ownership of utilities and the railroads and the regulation of Corporate Trusts. They were nicknamed "gas and water socialists." In foreign policy they supported pacifism but not unilateral disarmament. Their opponents were the radicals who supported more orthodox international Marxism. They wanted to overthrow capitalism, unilateral dis-armament, the unification of all labor unions, and the re-establishment of the Industrial Workers Congress (the “Wobblies") disbanded under the Stevenson Anti-Trust Act. The radicals won an early test by seating former Vice Presidential Candidate and Congressman from Manhattan Myron Zuckerman on the Executive Committee, sending encouragement to western "Wobblies", and passed a resolution seeming to favor industrial unionism. The conservatives who supported former Vice Presidential Candidate Emil Seidel counterattacked by amending the party constitution to expel any socialists who favored industrial sabotage or syndicalism (that is, those who were members of the IWC), as well as any socialists who refused to participate in American elections. They adopted a conservative platform calling for cooperative organization of prisons, a national bureau of health, abolition of the Senate and the presidential veto. Eventually a compromise was reached and the first Socialist Senator ever elected, Eugene V. Debs, who appealed to both groups, was nominated. Joseph F. Guffey, a socialist party politician from Pennsylvania, was chosen as his running mate to, once again, balance the ticket between a Midwesterner and an easterner.
Roosevelt met with Lodge immediately after the Convention. Many believed that Roosevelt would ask Lodge to reprise his role as Secretary of State. However, Roosevelt informed Lodge that the position would essentially be powerless. Roosevelt intended to serve as his own Secretary of State and was going to offer it to Robert Lansing, a popular Reed Democrat from New York. Roosevelt instead asked Lodge to be his voice in the Senate. Lodge accepted and immediately began campaigning for his old friend.
Roosevelt campaigned for the general election with the same ferocity that he did in his primary campaign. Roosevelt shrewdly visited miners both in the east and in the west. His promise to end child labor was popular with most miners, because it undercut their wages. Roosevelt and the Democrats ran on a platform promising political and economic reform, United States military supremacy, and “No more Nicaraguas!” Whereever Roosevelt went fanatical Remembrance crowds, the likes of which the country had not seen since the election of Thomas Reed in 1888, met him.
On Election Day, November 5, 1912, Roosevelt won the election in both a popular and an electoral landslide. In spite of Senator Deb’s considerable mainstream appeal, he was defeated in a landslide by Theodore Roosevelt, taking only his home state of Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Colorado and Nevada, the last two states being mining states where the miner’s unions held considerable sway. Unbeknownst to everyone at the time, Roosevelt would soon be President during one of the greatest crises in the nation’s history.
Theodore Roosevelt (D-NY)/Walter McKenna (D-PA): 327 EV
Eugene V. Debs (S-IN)/Joseph F. Guffey (S-PA): 49 EV
Gilbert Hitchcock (R-NE)/James J. Couzens (R-MN): 0 EV
It's interesting how in 1912, Roosevelt sided with the unions against corporations, and yet five years later, after the war ended he did nothing to help returning veterans get their jobs back at the steel mills in some of the state's. Which lead to the Socialist Party wining big in the midterm elections in 1918, and the Beating Roosevelt for a third term in 1920.
Heres a map for the 1916 US presidential election. Courtesy goes to Turquoise Blue for the map base.
United States presidential election, 1916
The United States presidential election of 1916 was indeed a historic election, not just for the carnage raging on the American battlefields of the First Great War, but also because it was the first time in United States history since 1812 that a Presidential election would be conducted during wartime. It was unthinkable that Theodore Roosevelt, who had led the country through two years of war, would not seek reelection. His aggressive handling of the war thus far precluded any attempts to unseat his nomination by more militant Democrats. There were some grumblings by the more conservative wing of the party that were unhappy with Roosevelt’s more progressive policies. Nevertheless, the Old Guard of the Democratic Party could not offer a candidate that could match Roosevelt’s popularity or experience.
The Democratic National Convention was held that year in Chicago from June 27th-June 29th. Chicago was chosen because it was far from the front-lines and was not a regular Democratic stronghold. When the convention began some delegates put forward some token nominations, but President Theodore Roosevelt easily won on the first ballot. Roosevelt chose incumbent Vice President Walter McKenna as his running mate once again, to ensure the loyalty of the party bosses. The Democrats primary platform plank was victory at all costs. However, Roosevelt insisted that elements of his Square Deal policy be included as part of the party’s platform. Roosevelt mainly wanted stricter regulations of predatory trusts, pensions for returning veterans, a pledge to rebuild the nation’s foreign trade, a pledge to provide federal assistance for property damaged by the war, an eight hour work day after the war, post-war loosening of rationing, a living wage and better access to health care.
The Socialist National Convention was held that year in Scranton, Pennsylvania from July 3rd-July 5th. In spite of the growing dissatisfaction with the war, most Socialists were sure there was no chance for victory. Most ambitious younger candidates like Upton Sinclair of New Jersey and Hiram Johnson of California chose to sit out of the election. In a similarly routine convention the Socialist delegates easily nominated the party’s 1912 presidential candidate, Senator Eugene V. Debs of Indiana, for the Presidency, with Congressman Henrik Shipstead of Minnesota nominated as his running-mate for the Vice Presidency. The Socialists nominated Senator Debs under a platform of seeking a peaceful conclusion to the war in America at a status quo ante bellum and helping to conclude a peaceful solution to the war in Europe. The Socialist platform also called for maintaining the wartime tax-rate, maintaining the wartime control of the economy, the creation an eight-hour work day, the creation of a five day work week, women’s suffrage and stronger restrictions on immigration.
The Republican National Convention was held that year with little to no fanfare in St. Paul, Minnesota from July 7th-July 10th. The Republican delegates nominated Theodore E. Burton of Ohio for the Presidency and Jack Hounsome of Nebraska as his running-mate for the Vice-Presidency. The two ran on a platform of continued prosecution of the war, but without regard for the fortune of the United States’ European allies. The Republican platform also called for farm relief for those affected by the war, regulation of the railroads, greater immigration control, temperance and lower tariffs.
Senator Debs quickly turned the national election into a referendum on the war, hoping to capitalize on the nation’s war weariness. Despite running during the biggest war in world history up to that point, President Roosevelt found the time to campaign furiously. Roosevelt and his campaign came up with a simple message; the suffering of the war has been terrible but to give up now would be worse. Posters were everywhere with the message "Any vote not for Roosevelt is a vote for Debs and Surrender." Roosevelt’s election committee conjured up images of the past two wars, reminding the people of the panics and dark times after the last two wars were lost. This message resounded with the American people and especially among soldiers. Socialists attacked the President on the cost of the war, both in life and treasure. By now the war had claimed more than three-quarters of a million dead with two million wounded and another half million in enemy P.O.W. camps. Based on the progress so far, the U.S. Army would not be in Richmond until 1920 and suffer another million casualties and millions more wounded. Furthermore, there was the financial cost of the war. The U.S. had spent billions on the war and could expect to spend billions more. Billions, Debs argued, that could be spent on legislation to benefit the American worker. By the best estimates the U.S. would be paying the widows of this war for the rest of the century.
President Roosevelt struck back promising more help for the average American. As for how he would pay for helping the American people and pay for defending the nation, Roosevelt explained as such in an off the cuff remark he would later regret. Roosevelt told a crowd at a rally in the damaged town of Asbury Park, New Jersey, that “after we are done clubbing our enemies in the head, we will go through their pockets.” Socialist and Republican posters quickly began popping up of Roosevelt as a robber carrying “his big stick.” While many military leaders feared a Debs victory, few in the country could imagine the Confederates agreeing to a treaty to return to the pre-war conditions. The Confederacy had just replaced Wilson with the more belligerent Gabrielle Semmes, who demanded that any peace would require no reparations and the return of Seqoyah and Kentucky. Britain was refusing any peace that did not recognize its naval supremacy in the Western Atlantic, a return of the Sandwich Islands, a disarmed Canadian border and reparations for damages.
The Republicans also attacked Roosevelt for not prosecuting the war vigorously enough. They claimed they could do better and called for making a peace that would benefit the United States and its interests. They further demanded a unilateral withdrawal from the Quadruple Alliance for having dragged the U.S. into the war. Unfortunately for the Republicans, their choice of Theodore E. Burton, who lacked any military background and was a generally quiet soft-spoken man, undercut their strategy. Few could imagine anyone but Theodore Roosevelt prosecuting the war more aggressively or with more enthusiasm. Roosevelt’s allies came out in force. These included Henry Cabot Lodge and Albert J. Beveridge, the latter of whom was still popular with Midwestern Democrats. In a famous speech, Lodge reminded Republicans in Nebraska that “leadership like the President’s is worth another corp of Infantry and a squadron of Battleships.”
On Election Day, November 7, 1916, the electorate showed up overwhelmingly to support the war. President Roosevelt won the election in a landslide. He won every state in the Union, including the newly re-admitted state of Kentucky, save for four exceptions; Indiana, Wyoming, Colorado and New York. He easily won the first popular majority in sixteen years. He won 56% percent of the popular vote, a larger popular vote victory than President Hancock in 1884. It would go down as the largest popular vote victory since President Monroe in 1820. In New England alone Roosevelt polled more than 65%. Unfortunately for Senator Debs, the vast majority of Americans over forty did not trust the Socialist Party, remembering them as bomb-throwing anarchists. The Socialist Party was generally popular with younger Americans, but much of the nations youth was in the Army. Fearing that their sacrifice would be in vein, soldiers on average voted for Roosevelt at a ratio of 2 to 1.
Sentator Debs, who won Indiana, Wyoming, Colorado and New York, polled better than he did in 1912, pulling 34% of the popular vote. In spite of this set-back the Socialists did manage to capture the most populous state in the Union and Roosevelt’s home state of New York. This was largely due to the administrations reaction to the Remembrance Day Riots of 1915. Roosevelt’s declaration of martial law in the wake of the riots, in conjunction with the actions of the police and the overbearing nature of the Soldiers Circle pushed nearly the entire working population of New York City to vote Socialist. New York had been leaning towards the Socialists since 1900, but the Great Lakes cities, areas outside of the city and those beholden to the Tamany Machine, tended to vote Democrat. The Riots finally moved the state into the Socialist camp, despite a strong Democrat turn out in the Great Lakes cities. This was the first time that the Socialists won any state east of the Appalachians.
Theodore Roosevelt (D-NY)/Walter McKenna (D-PA): 322 EV
Eugene V. Debs (S-IN)/Henrik Shipstead (S-MN): 69 EV
Theodore E. Burton (R-OH)/Jack Hounsome (R-NE): 0 EV
The United States presidential election of 1916 was indeed a historic election, not just for the carnage raging on the American battlefields of the First Great War, but also because it was the first time in United States history since 1812 that a Presidential election would be conducted during wartime. It was unthinkable that Theodore Roosevelt, who had led the country through two years of war, would not seek reelection. His aggressive handling of the war thus far precluded any attempts to unseat his nomination by more militant Democrats. There were some grumblings by the more conservative wing of the party that were unhappy with Roosevelt’s more progressive policies. Nevertheless, the Old Guard of the Democratic Party could not offer a candidate that could match Roosevelt’s popularity or experience.
The Democratic National Convention was held that year in Chicago from June 27th-June 29th. Chicago was chosen because it was far from the front-lines and was not a regular Democratic stronghold. When the convention began some delegates put forward some token nominations, but President Theodore Roosevelt easily won on the first ballot. Roosevelt chose incumbent Vice President Walter McKenna as his running mate once again, to ensure the loyalty of the party bosses. The Democrats primary platform plank was victory at all costs. However, Roosevelt insisted that elements of his Square Deal policy be included as part of the party’s platform. Roosevelt mainly wanted stricter regulations of predatory trusts, pensions for returning veterans, a pledge to rebuild the nation’s foreign trade, a pledge to provide federal assistance for property damaged by the war, an eight hour work day after the war, post-war loosening of rationing, a living wage and better access to health care.
The Socialist National Convention was held that year in Scranton, Pennsylvania from July 3rd-July 5th. In spite of the growing dissatisfaction with the war, most Socialists were sure there was no chance for victory. Most ambitious younger candidates like Upton Sinclair of New Jersey and Hiram Johnson of California chose to sit out of the election. In a similarly routine convention the Socialist delegates easily nominated the party’s 1912 presidential candidate, Senator Eugene V. Debs of Indiana, for the Presidency, with Congressman Henrik Shipstead of Minnesota nominated as his running-mate for the Vice Presidency. The Socialists nominated Senator Debs under a platform of seeking a peaceful conclusion to the war in America at a status quo ante bellum and helping to conclude a peaceful solution to the war in Europe. The Socialist platform also called for maintaining the wartime tax-rate, maintaining the wartime control of the economy, the creation an eight-hour work day, the creation of a five day work week, women’s suffrage and stronger restrictions on immigration.
The Republican National Convention was held that year with little to no fanfare in St. Paul, Minnesota from July 7th-July 10th. The Republican delegates nominated Theodore E. Burton of Ohio for the Presidency and Jack Hounsome of Nebraska as his running-mate for the Vice-Presidency. The two ran on a platform of continued prosecution of the war, but without regard for the fortune of the United States’ European allies. The Republican platform also called for farm relief for those affected by the war, regulation of the railroads, greater immigration control, temperance and lower tariffs.
Senator Debs quickly turned the national election into a referendum on the war, hoping to capitalize on the nation’s war weariness. Despite running during the biggest war in world history up to that point, President Roosevelt found the time to campaign furiously. Roosevelt and his campaign came up with a simple message; the suffering of the war has been terrible but to give up now would be worse. Posters were everywhere with the message "Any vote not for Roosevelt is a vote for Debs and Surrender." Roosevelt’s election committee conjured up images of the past two wars, reminding the people of the panics and dark times after the last two wars were lost. This message resounded with the American people and especially among soldiers. Socialists attacked the President on the cost of the war, both in life and treasure. By now the war had claimed more than three-quarters of a million dead with two million wounded and another half million in enemy P.O.W. camps. Based on the progress so far, the U.S. Army would not be in Richmond until 1920 and suffer another million casualties and millions more wounded. Furthermore, there was the financial cost of the war. The U.S. had spent billions on the war and could expect to spend billions more. Billions, Debs argued, that could be spent on legislation to benefit the American worker. By the best estimates the U.S. would be paying the widows of this war for the rest of the century.
President Roosevelt struck back promising more help for the average American. As for how he would pay for helping the American people and pay for defending the nation, Roosevelt explained as such in an off the cuff remark he would later regret. Roosevelt told a crowd at a rally in the damaged town of Asbury Park, New Jersey, that “after we are done clubbing our enemies in the head, we will go through their pockets.” Socialist and Republican posters quickly began popping up of Roosevelt as a robber carrying “his big stick.” While many military leaders feared a Debs victory, few in the country could imagine the Confederates agreeing to a treaty to return to the pre-war conditions. The Confederacy had just replaced Wilson with the more belligerent Gabrielle Semmes, who demanded that any peace would require no reparations and the return of Seqoyah and Kentucky. Britain was refusing any peace that did not recognize its naval supremacy in the Western Atlantic, a return of the Sandwich Islands, a disarmed Canadian border and reparations for damages.
The Republicans also attacked Roosevelt for not prosecuting the war vigorously enough. They claimed they could do better and called for making a peace that would benefit the United States and its interests. They further demanded a unilateral withdrawal from the Quadruple Alliance for having dragged the U.S. into the war. Unfortunately for the Republicans, their choice of Theodore E. Burton, who lacked any military background and was a generally quiet soft-spoken man, undercut their strategy. Few could imagine anyone but Theodore Roosevelt prosecuting the war more aggressively or with more enthusiasm. Roosevelt’s allies came out in force. These included Henry Cabot Lodge and Albert J. Beveridge, the latter of whom was still popular with Midwestern Democrats. In a famous speech, Lodge reminded Republicans in Nebraska that “leadership like the President’s is worth another corp of Infantry and a squadron of Battleships.”
On Election Day, November 7, 1916, the electorate showed up overwhelmingly to support the war. President Roosevelt won the election in a landslide. He won every state in the Union, including the newly re-admitted state of Kentucky, save for four exceptions; Indiana, Wyoming, Colorado and New York. He easily won the first popular majority in sixteen years. He won 56% percent of the popular vote, a larger popular vote victory than President Hancock in 1884. It would go down as the largest popular vote victory since President Monroe in 1820. In New England alone Roosevelt polled more than 65%. Unfortunately for Senator Debs, the vast majority of Americans over forty did not trust the Socialist Party, remembering them as bomb-throwing anarchists. The Socialist Party was generally popular with younger Americans, but much of the nations youth was in the Army. Fearing that their sacrifice would be in vein, soldiers on average voted for Roosevelt at a ratio of 2 to 1.
Sentator Debs, who won Indiana, Wyoming, Colorado and New York, polled better than he did in 1912, pulling 34% of the popular vote. In spite of this set-back the Socialists did manage to capture the most populous state in the Union and Roosevelt’s home state of New York. This was largely due to the administrations reaction to the Remembrance Day Riots of 1915. Roosevelt’s declaration of martial law in the wake of the riots, in conjunction with the actions of the police and the overbearing nature of the Soldiers Circle pushed nearly the entire working population of New York City to vote Socialist. New York had been leaning towards the Socialists since 1900, but the Great Lakes cities, areas outside of the city and those beholden to the Tamany Machine, tended to vote Democrat. The Riots finally moved the state into the Socialist camp, despite a strong Democrat turn out in the Great Lakes cities. This was the first time that the Socialists won any state east of the Appalachians.
Theodore Roosevelt (D-NY)/Walter McKenna (D-PA): 322 EV
Eugene V. Debs (S-IN)/Henrik Shipstead (S-MN): 69 EV
Theodore E. Burton (R-OH)/Jack Hounsome (R-NE): 0 EV
I haven't stopped writing the Henry Cabot Lodge Articles. They just started getting too big and they spiraled out of control on me. I have pages and pages of stuff I am editing and trying to make more manageable. I was able to put a lot of what I intended for the last Lodge article in Kaiser Bill article I wrote. Suffice to say I have an answer for why Roosevelt tried to help returning vets and why that failed. Zoidberg Can you give me a couple of weeks until you put up the 1920 and 1924 elections so I can throw up the Henry Cabot Lodge Part VIII (1917-1921) and Henry Cabot Lodge Part IX (1917-1921) articles? Not to give it away but my Lodge articles won't be covering the 1928 election. If you want to flash forward to the future.
Also I have come around to the argument 56% is too much of a landslide for TR. I now think Roosevelt won a Popular Majority of 1912: 52% and 1916:53 maybe 54%. These majorities occurred because Roosevelt appealed to Western Voters in away previous Democrats candidates had not, which seriously ate into the Republican vote
Zoidberg, it is very good to see you once again posting on these Threads and positively delightful to see that your back-burner projects appear to have been bubbling along as nicely as the kitchen of a Gordon Bleu restaurant: please do keep up the Good Work!
Thank You very much!
I plan to post a lot of more articles here in the coming weeks and months.Alright guys, my next big article will be the on Confederate States presidential election of 1891. This is the first election in which the Rad-Lib Party participates. What do you guys think the issues would be? The Whigs would be in support of continuing Manumission (even though Gist would be personally against it), the increased financial compensation to former slave owners, continuing and strengthening the alliance with Great Britain and France, continuing with Confederate militarization, keeping peacetime conscription and continuing the raising of tariffs. I think the Radical-Liberals would be in favor of continuing with Manumission, continuing with the alliance with Great Britain and France, getting rid of Confederate militarization and peacetime conscription, reducing tariffs in support of Confederate farmers, and maybe something in support of Confederate laborers.
Any more ideas from you guys?
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Heres a map of the Confederate States presidential election of 1891. Base map courtesy of Turquoise Blue.
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