Theodore Roosevelt asked his supporters to leave the floor of the Republican National Convention in Chicago. Roosevelt maintained that President William Taft had allowed fraudulent seating of delegates in order to capture the presidential nomination from progressive forces within the Party. Taft's poor showing against Roosevelt in the primaries, the latter contended, evidenced popular support for a more progressive Republican agenda. The rift between progressive and conservative wings of the Republican Party was apparent even before Roosevelt left office. Roosevelt's support of government regulation, his groundbreaking efforts in conservation and consumer protection, and his willingness to work with organized labor alienated pro-business party members. When Roosevelt tapped William Howard Taft as his successor in 1908, he had assumed Taft would continue to support his agenda. Although Taft's record suggested a leader sympathetic to reform, the former jurist's quiet demeanor and attention to the letter of the law irritated Roosevelt and disappointed Republican progressives. Republican progressives reconvened in Chicago's Orchestra Hall and endorsed the formation of a national progressive party. When formally launched later that summer, the new Progressive Party chose Roosevelt as its presidential nominee. Questioned by reporters, Roosevelt said he felt as strong as a "bull moose." Thenceforth known as the "Bull Moose Party," the Progressives promised to increase federal regulation and protect the welfare of ordinary people.
The 1912 presidential campaign was bitterly fought and easily won. With the Republican Party divided, progressive Democrat Woodrow Wilson captured the presidency handily. Although he failed to become chief executive again, Roosevelt succeeded in his vendetta against Taft who received just twenty-three percent of the popular vote compared to Roosevelt's twenty-seven percent.
Despite an impressive showing in 1912, the Bull Moose failed to establish itself as a viable third party. Still active on the state level, Progressives did not put forward a presidential candidate again until Wisconsin Senator Robert M. La Follette's run in 1924.
The first decades of the twentieth century were marked by unprecedented efforts at social and governmental reform. Use American Memory to learn more about the period known as the Progressive Era:
- Read Today in History features on Progressive Era figures including reformer Grace Abbott, politician William Jennings Bryan, and Illinois governor John Peter Altgeld. Search the Today in History archive on the names Roosevelt, Wilson and Taft to learn more about the careers of these Progressive Era presidents.
- When Roosevelt decided to run on the Progressive Party ticket, he pushed aside prominent Wisconsin Senator Robert La Follette. La Follette discusses the formation of the Progressive Party in La Follette's Autobiography; A Personal Narrative of Political Experiences available through the collection Pioneering the Upper Midwest, ca. 1820-1910.
