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The Election of 1912

The Election of 1912. Simplifying this Complex Event. Questions Facing America in 1912. Should America be a capitalist or socialist society? Should government protect the social welfare of citizens? Should women vote, and participate as full citizens in the life of the nation?

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The Election of 1912

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  1. The Election of 1912 Simplifying this Complex Event

  2. Questions Facing America in 1912 Should America be a capitalist or socialist society? Should government protect the social welfare of citizens? Should women vote, and participate as full citizens in the life of the nation? Should Americans expand their democracy in other ways? Should government exercise more control over businesses? Should government try to solve the conflict between "capital" and "labor?" Should the government work vigorously for the conservation of natural resources?

  3. Election of 1912 The Issues

  4. BIG Issues The Usual Suspects The Usually Left Out Immigration Judicial Reform Safety of the Food and Medicine Supply Lynching Cost of Living Prohibition • Direct Democracy • The Labor Question • Womens’ Suffrage • The Race Problem • The Tariff • Trusts • Regulation of Business • Conservation

  5. Categories

  6. Categories • Direct Democracy • Women Suffrage • Judicial Reform • Trusts • Regulation of Business • The Tariff • Cost of Living • Prohibition • Lynching • Immigration • Race Problem • Food and Medicine

  7. The Electorate

  8. Direct Democracy

  9. Suffrage

  10. Judicial Reform

  11. The Economy

  12. Cost of Living + + + + + + = The Cost of Living

  13. Election of 1912 The Candidates

  14. The Big Four Theodore Roosevelt (P) Woodrow Wilson (D) William Taft (R) Eugene Debs (S)

  15. Wilson • Early life • Education • PhD Thesis • Career prior to politics • Governor of New Jersey • Personality

  16. Theodore Roosevelt • Background • Physical culture • Personality • Pedigree as 26th President of the United States • Republican or Progressive?

  17. William Taft • Background as judge and governor of the Philippines • Friendship with TR • Taft as Sec of War • Incumbent President • Increasing friction with TR

  18. Eugene Debs • Background as Union organizer • Role in railroad strikes • Prosecution and jail • Evolution to socialism • Adherence to American socialism rather than European socialism

  19. Election of 1912 The Platforms

  20. Republicans • High import tariffs. • Put limitations on female and child labor. • Workman’s Compensation Laws. • Against initiative, referendum, and recall. • Against “bad” trusts. • Creation of a Federal Trade Commission. • Stay on the gold standard. • Conservation of natural resources because they are finite.

  21. Democrats • Government control of the monopolies • trusts in general were bad • eliminate them!! • Tariff reduction. • One-term President. • Direct election of Senators. • Create a Department of Labor. • Strengthen the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. • Did NOT support women’s suffrage. • Opposed to a central bank. New Freedom

  22. Progressives • Women’s suffrage. • Graduated income tax. • Inheritance tax for the rich. • Lower tariffs. • Limits on campaign spending. • Currency reform. • Minimum wage laws. • Social insurance. • Abolition of child labor. • Workmen’s compensation. New Nationalism

  23. Socialists • Government ownership of railroads and utilities. • Guaranteed income tax. • No tariffs. • 8-hour work day. • Better housing. • Government inspection of factories. • Women’s suffrage.

  24. Election of 1912 The Election & Results

  25. The Republican Nomination • Return of TR • Failure of Republicans to nominate him • Too radical • Too reform minded • Not controlable • Republicans split into two separate parties

  26. The Real Battle: Wilson v T.R.

  27. Copy of Ballot

  28. 1912 Election Wilson becomes a minority President

  29. Results of the Election Wilson Roosevelt Taft • Wins but is a minority President • Is wholly unsuited to the job • In the end the Progressive Party died out • TR left the party, refusing to split the Republicans in 1914 • Left the White House • Republicans lost the Pres and Congress for first time in 16 years • Goes on to serve on the Supreme Court

  30. Debs and the Socialists • 1912 was the high-point for the Socialists at the ballot box • 6% of the popular vote • Membership falls off, then rebounds slightly during WWI • Debs doesn’t run in 1916, but does in 1920 – from a jail cell • The Bloshevik revolutions and accordant fear of Bolshevism in America virtually destroyed the party in the 1920’s

  31. Special Thanks • Ohio State University, Department of History, ehistory, Multimedia Histories Section, “1912: Competing Visions for America”. • Radosh, Ronald, Debs (Englewood Cliffs, N.J..: Prentice Hall, 1971) • Shannon, David, The Socialist Party of America: A History (Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1967) • Peterson, A. The Election of 1912 (Lakeside, CA: Interaction Publishers, 1992) • HarpWeek/Elections. “Election of 1912.” http://www.elections.harpweek.com/

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