When Theodore Roosevelt had been elected to his own term in office in 1904, he promised
not to run for what would have been a third term in 1908.
His secretary of war William Howard Taft was selected by the Republicans to run against
William Jennings Bryan.
Taft won easily.
As President, Taft seemed far less progressive than Roosevelt.
During his four years in office, Taft busted 90 trusts, but his victories weren’t celebrated
by the media or the public as Roosevelt’s had been.
Taft had a much more reserved personality, and he felt uncomfortable using his office
as a “bully pulpit” to rouse public opinion.
Without a loud, charismatic leader in the White House, progressives began to feel that
their cause had been abandoned.
After campaigning on lowering tariffs, Taft angered the progressive wing of the Republican
Party by signing the Aldrich Tariff, which made fewer cuts to rates than progressives
sought and increased the rates on many products.
Then Taft outraged conservationists by appointing a wealthy Seattle lawyer, Richard Ballinger,
to be his secretary of the interior.
Ballinger disapproved of conservationists controlling so much land in the American West,
and he removed 1 million acres of forest from the government protection list and returned
it to public domain.
When Gifford Pinchot, Roosevelt’s appointed head of the U.S. Forest Service, spoke out
against Ballinger for his actions, Taft sided with Ballinger and fired Pinchot.
As Taft continued to alienate progressives and conservationists, a major rift began to
form within the Republican Party.
Conservative Republicans and progressives within the party began facing off over a variety
of issues.
President Taft typically sided with the House Speaker Joseph Cannon who often ignored or
weakened progressive bills.
In the 1910 midterm elections, Democrats reclaimed control of the House of Representatives for
the first time in almost 20 years.
As the Republican Party splintered under Taft’s leadership, Theodore Roosevelt hunted big
game in Africa.
When he returned to the United States, progressive Republicans encouraged him to seek the party’s
nomination and a third term as president.
Conservative Republicans stood firmly behind Taft.
Tempers flared at the Republican National Convention in Chicago as Taft’s delegates
maneuvered to keep their man in control.
Republican progressives walked away and formed the Progressive Party.
As Roosevelt began campaigning as a third party candidate, the Progressive Party became
known as the Bull Moose Party after reporters questioned the former president on his health
and ability to take on the duties required of a president.
“I feel as strong as a Bull Moose,” Roosevelt declared.
The split in the Republican Party opened the door for the Democrats to claim the White
House for the first time since the election of Grover Cleveland in 1892.