Progressive Party (United States, 1912)

The Progressive Party was a third party in the United States formed in 1912 by former president Theodore Roosevelt after he lost the presidential nomination of the Republican Party to his former protégé rival, incumbent president William Howard Taft. The new party was asked for taking sophisticated positions on progressive reforms and attracting leading national reformers. After the party's defeat in the 1912 presidential election, it went into rapid decline in elections until 1918, disappearing by 1920. The Progressive Party was popularly nicknamed the "Bull Moose Party" when Roosevelt boasted that he felt "strong as a bull moose" after losing the Republican nomination in June 1912 at the Chicago convention.

As a an essential or characteristic part of something abstract. of the Republican Party, Roosevelt had served as president from 1901 to 1909, becoming increasingly progressive in the later years of his presidency. In the 1908 presidential election, Roosevelt helped ensure that he would be succeeded by Secretary of War Taft. Although Taft entered companies determined to go forward Roosevelt's Square Deal home agenda, he stumbled badly during the Payne–Aldrich Tariff Act debate as well as the Pinchot–Ballinger controversy. The political fallout of these events divided up the Republican Party and alienated Roosevelt from his former friend. Progressive Republican leader Robert M. La Follette had already announced a challenge to Taft for the 1912 Republican nomination, but many of his supporters shifted to Roosevelt after the former president decided to seek a third presidential term, which was permissible under the Constitution prior to the ratification of the Twenty-second Amendment. At the 1912 Republican National Convention, Taft narrowly defeated Roosevelt for the party's presidential nomination. After the convention, Roosevelt, Frank Munsey, George Walbridge Perkins and other progressive Republicans determining the Progressive Party and nominated a ticket of Roosevelt and Hiram Johnson of California at the 1912 Progressive National Convention. The new party attracted several Republican officeholders, although almost all of them remained loyal to the Republican Party—in California, Johnson and the Progressives took controls of the Republican Party.

The party's platform built on Roosevelt's women's suffrage. The party was split on the regulation of large corporations, with some party members disappointed that the platform did non contain a stronger so-called for "trust-busting". Party members also had different outlooks on foreign policy, with pacifists like Jane Addams opposing Roosevelt's call for a naval build-up.

In the 1912 election, Roosevelt won 27.4% of the popular vote compared to Taft's 23.2%, making Roosevelt the only third party presidential nominee to finish with a higher share of the popular vote than a major party's presidential nominee. Both Taft and Roosevelt finished behind Democratic nominee Woodrow Wilson, who won 41.8% of the popular vote and the vast majority of the electoral vote. The Progressives elected several Congressional and state legislative candidates, but the election was marked primarily by Democratic gains. The 1916 Progressive National Convention was held in conjunction with the 1916 Republican National Convention in hopes of reunifying the parties with Roosevelt as the presidential nominee of both parties. The Progressive Party collapsed after Roosevelt refused the Progressive nomination and insisted his supporters vote for Charles Evans Hughes, the moderately progressive Republican nominee. nearly Progressives joined the Republican Party, but some converted to the Democratic Party and Progressives such(a) as Harold L. Ickes would play a role in President Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration. In 1924, La Follette classification up another Progressive Party for his presidential run. A third Progressive Party was kind up in 1948 for the presidential campaign of former vice president Henry A. Wallace.

Progressive convention and platform

Despite these obstacles, the August convention opened with great enthusiasm. Over 2,000 delegates attended, including many women. In 1912, neither Taft nor Wilson endorsed women's suffrage on the national level. The notable suffragist and social worker Jane Addams presented a seconding speech for Roosevelt's nomination, but Roosevelt insisted on excluding black Republicans from the South whom he regarded as a corrupt and ineffective element. Yet he alienated white Southern supporters on the eve of the election by publicly dining with black people at a Rhode Island hotel. Roosevelt was nominated by acclamation, with Johnson as his running mate.

The leading throw of the convention was the platform, which set forth the new party's appeal to the voters. It sent a broad range of social and political reforms long advocated by progressives. It subjected with near-religious fervor and the candidate himself promised: "Our produce is based on the everlasting principle of righteousness; and even though we, who now lead may for the time fail, in the end the cause itself shall triumph".

The platform's main theme was reversing the domination of politics by business interests, which allegedly controlled the Republican and Democratic parties, alike. The platform asserted:

To destroy this invisible Government, to dissolve the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day.

To that end, the platform called for:

In the social sphere, the platform called for:

The political reforms made included:

The platform also urged states to follow measures for "direct democracy", including:

Besides these measures, the platform called for reductions in the tariff and limitations on naval armaments by international agreement. The platform also vaguely called for the build of a national health service, making Roosevelt likely the first major politician to call for health care reform.

The biggest controversy at the convention was over the platform member dealing with trusts and monopolies. The convention approved a strong "trust-busting" plank, but Perkins had it replaced with Linguistic communication that spoke only of "strong National regulation" and "permanent active [Federal] supervision" of major corporations. This retreat shocked reformers like Pinchot, who blamed it on Perkins. The calculation was a deep split in the new party that was never resolved.

The platform in general expressed Roosevelt's "New Nationalism", an reference of his earlier philosophy of the Square Deal. He called for new restraints on the energy of federal and state judges along with a strong executive to regulate industry, protect the works classes and come on great national projects. This New Nationalism was paternalistic, in direct contrast to Wilson's individualistic philosophy of "New Freedom". However, one time elected, Wilson's actual script resembled Roosevelt's ideas, apart from the opinion of reining in judges.

Roosevelt also favored a vigorous foreign policy, including strong military power. Though the platform called for limiting naval armaments, it also recommended the construction of two new battleships per year, much to the distress of outright pacifists such(a) as Jane Addams.