Chapter Sixty-Eight: The 1908 U.S. Presidential Election
A photograph of a meeting between Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft, in which they discussed how the former would help the latter in the upcoming 1908 Republican National Convention
With Roosevelt's refusal to run for a third term after his two terms in office, a major power vacuum was left within the Republican National Convention. In the eyes of many, they viewed the results of that convention as to be much more suspenseful than the election itself. The Reform Party was dead and gone, and the Democrats desperately fumbled about for an identity, as it seemed that the Republicans dominated both the conservative and progressive ends of the political spectrum. For many, the expected result of this was a collapse into two rival parties by a Republican Party beset by factionalism and rivalries, with one representing the conservative wing of the party, and the other the progressive. For now, however, the Republicans preserved. Coming into the convention, there were many prominent names in contention, such as Vice-President Charles W. Fairbanks, Secretary of State Henry C. Lodge, Attorney General Philander C. Knox, New York Governor Charles E. Hughes, and Wisconsin Senator Robert M. La Follette, but two main names dominated in the minds of many Republicans. First was Ohio Governor William H. Taft, the man who had received Roosevelt's endorsement and was generally considered to be the favorite of the progressive wing of the party. The other main man in consideration was House Speaker Joseph G. Cannon, whose ultimate goal in life ever since he was a newly elected congressman was to become the president of the United States. Roscoe Conkling, who viewed Cannon as a favorite and played a major role in his advancement to becoming a major player in the Republican Party, had even predicted and hoped that the then young congressman who eventually follow him as head of state in the years to come. Neither of these two candidates had the necessary amount of backers, however, to ensure nomination by the Republican National Convention, thus making them turn to the other, more minor candidates in hopes of receiving their support.
Minor Candidates turned kingmakers: Fairbanks, Lodge, Knox, Hughes, and La Follette
Thus the two major campaigns began their efforts to secure the backings of the now powerful men. Fairbanks, Knox, Hughes, and La Follette each controlled the delegations from their home states, or Indiana, Pennsylvania, New York, and Wisconsin, while Lodge controlled all of the New England delegation sans Connecticut's. Fairbanks was expected to back Cannon due to their similar conservative views, and that their home states were neighbors. Meanwhile, La Follette and Lodge were planned to back Taft, La Follette out of his support for progressivism, and Lodge out of his personal loyalty to Roosevelt. This left behind Knox and Hughes, both moderate men who also happened to control the two largest delegations to the national convention. Hoping to secure the nomination, Cannon would confer with close ally former New York Senator Thomas C. Platt, who promised him his aid in getting him the nomination, by assembling his supporters to help bring Pennsylvania and especially New York to Cannon's side. To do this, Platt would send New York Senator Elihu Root and Treasury Secretary Hamilton Fish II to help drum up support for Cannon among the New York delegations, as both men were powerful within New York politics. Cannon would also send former Vice-President James S. Sherman, who had returned to living in New York and remained influential in the state, as well as being a close ally to Cannon in his early congressional days, to help ensure that Hughes would eventually side with him, as well as Indiana representative James Eli Watson, another close ally of Cannon, at the advice of Fairbanks. Rumors began flying about that Cannon planned to bring Hughes to his side by offering him the Chief Justiceship of the Supreme Court when the elderly John M. Harlan finally passed, as well as offering Knox the vice-presidency. There was one flaw in this plan, however. Root, who had struck of a friendship with Roosevelt in the past, felt obligated to inform his old friend of their efforts, although he doubted that it would change the chances of Cannon's nomination, which he viewed to be as inevitable. In this, he would prove to be horribly wrong.
Cannon's men on the ground: Root, Fish, Sherman, and Watson
Alerted to the danger now posed to the progressive wing of the Republican Party, Roosevelt called an emergency meeting with Taft and Lodge. Realizing the urgent need to bring Hughes and Knox to their side before Cannon did, lest he take the nomination and almost certainly the presidency, Roosevelt, Taft, and Lodge planned to do the previously unthinkable. Taft would drop out and throw his support behind Lodge, who being a moderate would be a much more stomachable candidate to Knox and Hughes supporters. In return, a progressive had to be nominated for the vice-presidential nomination. Lodge agreed to this, and the race was on. The convention was stunned by Taft's last minute drop out, with perhaps the most surprised being La Follette, who claimed he was unwilling to support Lodge, and would again being seeking the nomination. Thanks to Roosevelt's own efforts and floormen, both Hughes and Knox would drop out and throw their support to Lodge, which combined with Lodge's original delegates and those gained by Taft, gave him the nomination in one of the largest upsets in the history American national nominating conventions. As promised, Lodge would see to that progressive Iowa Senator Albert B. Cummins received the vice-presidential nomination. Thus ended one of the most dramatic national conventions in not only the history of the Republican Party, but of the nation.
Henry Lodge and Albert Cummins
Some Republicans took Lodge's nomination with more grace than others. Cannon would, eventually and begrudgingly, give his support for Lodge's candidacy, as well as most of his supporters. The one man who refused to accept the result was La Follette. In passionate and thought provoking speeches, La Follette would rail against how he viewed that the Republicans had abandoned the progressive cause by nominating Lodge, and he felt it was his civic duty to run to keep the torch of progressivism burning throughout the nation. In an extreme controversial move, La Follette would also hint in his speeches that his administration would finally bring the nation back together as one, through force if necessary. Although this was an effectively campaigning strategy in the 1880s, many Americans had come to accept CSA's independence by now, and view it as part of their life. This, combined with the fact that U.S.-CSA were beginning to warm, all went to go against La Follette's rhetoric, and led to many viewing as an outdated radical without a proper understanding of the modern political situation. It was in spite of this that La Follette would go forward with his presidential ambitions, convincing Indiana Governor Frank Hanly to run with him after failing to persuade fellow progressive senator Jonathan P. Dolliver of Iowa to run with him. Hoping to cater to the defunct Reform Party, he would refer to himself and his supporters as the Reform Party, leading to much confusion in the modern day.
Robert La Follette and Frank Hanly
With the Republicans managing to hold together, for the most part, the best hope the Democrats had for winning the presidency was lost. Nevertheless, they preserved with running a candidate, refusing to let their 80 year old party, by far the oldest in the nation, die. Although no candidate drew much enthusiasm from the party, the leading one proved to be Missouri Senator Champ Clark, a senator of three years so far, and before that a representative. In this, he defeated self-made millionaire and newspaperman turned U.S. representative, William Randolph Hearst, who was known for his forceful personality and desire to see himself as the face of the Democratic Party, which he believed he could guide back to greatness by appealing to progressives. Without much chance of winning, the Democrats decided to appeal to as many fronts as possible in this election, especially populists. This can be seen in their nomination of Representative John W. Kern of Indiana, a man who had been elected to seat based on support from Democrats and supporters of populism. Thus, the Democrats presented their ticket, and Champ Clark began his career of running for president.
Champ Clark and John Kern
Dissatisfied with being denied the Democratic nomination, Hearst would in turn start his own party, which he called the Progressive Party. For his running-mate, Hearst would turn to another businessman with an interest into entering politics, oilman Thomas L. Hisgen. Together, they would run as the Progressive Party ticket. Although Hearst would take his campaign very seriously, not many others would, and many viewed as a move by Hearst to stroke his pride and ambition, as well as to deprive the Democrats of the desperately needed populist vote, which is where Hearst was campaigning to the hardest. Despite, Hearst's newspaper conglomeration made both him and his campaign a force to be reckoned with, even if no one was expecting him to have a slight chance at winning the presidency, at least for now.
William Hearst and Thomas Hisgen
With the dominance the Republican Party held over politics for the moment, it seemed likely to many that they would win the election. La Follette would heavily campaign on being the true progressive in this election, but his message was somewhat undermined by Hearst's candidacy, who used his vast newspaper empire to attempt to destroy La Follette's campaign to further progress his own. Others claimed that La Follette wasn't really running to improve the country, but because he was angry with Roosevelt and Lodge for leaving him out of the dealings that led to the latter's nomination. He also took flak for some of the radical positions he took, like restarting hostility to the CSA, supporting prohibition, and even calling for an end to segregation on one occasion, although a very negative public reaction ensured that it was never mentioned again. Clark and his campaign, meanwhile, would have to go about trying to make sure that the populists did not defect to Hearst, as well as appeal to any interest groups who had not already defected to the Republican Party, although their efforts on both of those fronts seemed mostly in vain. Watching his opponents tear the opposition to his candidacy to pieces, Lodge would be content to run a very positive, if not very active, campaign, contrasting heavily with those of his opponents, who all ran very active campaigns with a generally negative tone. Come election day, many people were speculating which states would ultimately vote against Lodge, as the divide among his opposition made anyone gaining a majority in state especially difficult.
La Follette campaigning in Wisconsin, which polls indicated to be his strongest state, Hearst and Hisgen at a campaign rally
Come election day, it was a landslide for Lodge. He would the election win with 286 electoral votes, as opposed to Clark's 31, La Follette's 13, and Hearst's 11. Lodge would win California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Utah, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. Clark would win Missouri and Kentucky, while La Follette secured Wisconsin, and Hearst Delaware, Colorado, and Nevada. Much to the embarrassment of Clark and the Democratic Party, they would place fourth in several notable states, including New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and California, as well as third in Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. Overall, split opposition ensured Lodge a decisive victory, and continuance of Republican rule.