1912 Republican National Convention

The 1912 Republican National Convention was held at the Chicago Coliseum, Chicago, Illinois, from June 18 to June 22, 1912. The party nominated President William H. Taft and Vice President James S. Sherman for re-election.

1912 Republican National Convention

1912 presidential election
Nominees Taft and Sherman
Convention
Date(s)	June 18–22, 1912
City	Chicago, Illinois
Venue	Chicago Coliseum
Candidates
Presidential nominee	William H. Taft of Ohio
Vice presidential nominee	James S. Sherman of New York

The 1912 Republican National Convention in session

Crowd outside the convention hall

Sherman died days before the election, and was replaced as Republican vice-presidential nominee by Nicholas M. Butler of New York.

Party power struggle

This convention marked the climax of a split in the party, resulting from a power struggle between incumbent Taft and former president Theodore Roosevelt that started in 1910. Politically liberal states for the first time were holding Republican primaries. Though Roosevelt had endorsed Taft as his successor, Taft's drift to the right had alienated Roosevelt, who launched a challenge to Taft's re-nomination. Roosevelt overwhelmingly won the primaries — winning 9 out of 12 states (8 by landslide margins). Taft won only the state of Massachusetts (by a small margin); he even lost his home state of Ohio to Roosevelt. Senator Robert M. La Follette Sr., a reformer, won two states. Through the primaries, Senator La Follette won a total of 36 delegates; President Taft won 48 delegates; and Roosevelt won 278 delegates. However 36 more conservative states did not hold primaries, but instead selected delegates via state conventions. For years Roosevelt had tried to attract Southern white Democrats to the Republican Party, and he tried to win delegates there in 1912. However Taft had the support of black Republicans in the South, and defeated Roosevelt there. [1]

Entering the convention, the Roosevelt and Taft forces seemed evenly matched, and a compromise candidate seemed possible. Taft was willing to compromise with Missouri Governor Herbert S. Hadley as presidential nominee; TR said no.[2] [3] The Taft and Roosevelt camps engaged in a fight for the delegations of various states, with Taft emerging victorious, and Roosevelt claiming that several delegations were fraudulently seated because of the machinations of conservative party leaders including William Barnes Jr. and Boies Penrose.[4] Following the seating of the anti-Roosevelt delegations, California Governor Hiram Johnson proclaimed that progressives would form a new party to nominate Roosevelt.[4] Though many of Roosevelt's delegates remained at the convention, most refused to take part in the presidential ballot in protest of the contested delegates.[5] Roosevelt ultimately ran a third party campaign as part of the Progressive Party (nicknamed the "Bull Moose Party"). Taft and Roosevelt both lost the 1912 election to the Democratic nominee, Woodrow Wilson.

Like Taft, Vice President James S. Sherman of New York was renominated by the party.[6] Though Taft and Sherman did not get along early in their tenure, the two became closer allies as Taft's split with Roosevelt deepened, and Taft did not object to the re-nomination of Sherman.[6] Taft's allies sought progressive leaders such as Idaho Senator William E. Borah and Vermont Governor John A. Mead to join the ticket, but both declined to be considered.[6] Missouri Governor Herbert S. Hadley and former Vice President Charles Fairbanks were also mentioned as possibilities.[6] Sherman died shortly before the election, and was not replaced on the ticket.[7] In January, after the election had already been decided, Republican leaders appointed Columbia University president Nicholas Butler to fill out the ticket for the purposes of receiving electoral votes.[7]

Detailed results

Presidential Ballot[8][9][10]
William Taft	561
Theodore Roosevelt	107
Robert La Follette	41
Albert B. Cummins	17
Charles Evans Hughes	2
Present, not voting	344
Absent	6

The balloting by states was as follows:[11]

State	Total delegates	Taft	Roosevelt	Cummins	La Follette	Hughes	Not voting	Absent
Alabama	24	22					2
Arizona	6	6
Arkansas	18	17					1
California	26	2					24
Colorado	12	12
Connecticut	14	14
Delaware	6	6
Florida	12	12
Georgia	28	28
Idaho	8	1		7
Illinois	58	2	53				2	1
Indiana	30	20	3				7
Iowa	26	16		10
Kansas	20	2					18
Kentucky	26	24	2
Louisiana	20	20
Maine	12						12
Maryland	16	1	9				5	1
Massachusetts	36	20					16
Michigan	30	20	9				1
Minnesota	24						24
Mississippi	20	17					3
Missouri	36	16					20
Montana	8	8
Nebraska	16		2				14
Nevada	6	6
New Hampshire	8	8
New Jersey	28		2				26
New Mexico	8	7	1
New York	90	76	8				6
North Carolina	24	1	1				22
North Dakota	10				10
Ohio	48	14					34
Oklahoma	20	4	1				15
Oregon	10		8				2
Pennsylvania	76	9	2			2	62	1
Rhode Island	10	10
South Carolina	18	16					1	1
South Dakota	10		5		5
Tennessee	24	23	1
Texas	40	31					8	1
Utah	8	8
Vermont	8	6					2
Virginia	24	22					1	1
Washington	14	14
West Virginia	16						16
Wisconsin	26				26
Wyoming	6	6
Alaska	2	2
District of Columbia	2	2
Hawaii	6	6
Philippines	2	2
Puerto Rico	2	2
Total	1078	561	107	17	41	2	344	6

Vice Presidential Ballot
James S. Sherman	596
William Borah	21
Charles Edward Merriam	20
Herbert S. Hadley	14
Albert J. Beveridge	2

See also

• History of the United States Republican Party
• List of Republican National Conventions
• U.S. presidential nomination convention
• Republican Party presidential primaries, 1912
• 1912 United States presidential election
• 1912 Democratic National Convention

References

1. Adam Burns, "Courting white southerners: Theodore Roosevelt’s quest for the heart of the South." American Nineteenth Century History 20.1 (2019): 1-18.
2. Harlan Hahn "The Republican Party Convention of 1912 and the Role of Herbert S. Hadley in National Politics." Missouri Historical Review 59.4 (1965): 407-423.
3. "Taft Victory in the First Clash; Root Chosen Chairman, 558 to 502". The New York Times. 19 June 1912. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
4. "Roosevelt, Beaten, to Bolt Today; Gives the Word in Early Morning; Taft's Nomination Seems Assured". The New York Times. 20 June 1912. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
5. "Taft Renominated by the Republican Convention; Roosevelt Named as Candidate by Bolters". The New York Times. 23 June 1912. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
6. "Plan is to Nominate Taft Tonight; Roosevelt Orders Name Withheld; He Shifts on Third Party Plans". The New York Times. 22 June 1912. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
7. "James S. Sherman, 27th Vice President (1909-1912)". US Senate. US Senate. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
8. "Taft Is Nominated On First Ballot". Santa Cruz News. Santa Cruz, CA. June 22, 1912. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
9. "Taft Wins With 561". The Courier. Harrisburg, PA. June 23, 1912. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
10. Pietrusza, David (2007). 1920: The Year of the Six Presidents. New York: Carroll & Graf. ISBN 0-7867-1622-3.
11. "Vote That Renominated President Taft". The New York Times. New York, NY. June 23, 1912. Retrieved January 7, 2018.

Further reading

• Broderick, Francis L. Progressivism at risk: Electing a president in 1912 (Praeger, 1989).
• Chace, James (2004). 1912: Wilson, Roosevelt, Taft, and Debs—The Election That Changed the Country. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-0394-1.
• Delahaye, Claire. "The New Nationalism and Progressive Issues: The Break with Taft and the 1912 Campaign," in Serge Ricard, ed., A Companion to Theodore Roosevelt (2011) pp 452–67. online
• Felt, Thomas E. "Organizing A National Convention: A Lesson From Senator Dick." Ohio Historical Quarterly (1958) 87#1 pp 50-62.
• Gable, John A. The Bullmoose Years: Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive Party. Port Washington, NY: Kennikat Press, 1978.
• Gould, Lewis L. Four hats in the ring: The 1912 election and the birth of modern American politics (Univ Pr of Kansas, 2008).
• Gould, Lewis L. "Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Disputed Delegates in 1912: Texas as a Test Case." Southwestern Historical Quarterly 80.1 (1976): 33-56 online.
• Pinchot, Amos. History of the Progressive Party, 1912–1916. Introduction by Helene Maxwell Hooker. (New York University Press, 1958).
• Selmi, Patrick. "Jane Addams and the Progressive Party Campaign for President in 1912." Journal of Progressive Human Services 22.2 (2011): 160–190.
• Wilensky, Norman N. (1965). Conservatives in the Progressive Era: The Taft Republicans of 1912. Gainesville: University of Florida Press.

Primary sources

• Bryan, William Jennings. A Tale of Two Conventions: Being an Account of the Republican and Democratic National Conventions of June, 1912, with an Outline of the Progressive National Convention of August in the Same Year. Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1912. online
• Roosevelt, Theodore. Theodore Roosevelt's Confession of Faith Before the Progressive National Convention, August 6, 1912 (Progressive Party, 1912) online.

External links

• "1912 Republican National Convention", The Political Graveyard. Accessed February 1, 2006
• "1912 Republican Convention", 1912 Presidential Election Project, Department of History, Ohio State University. Accessed February 1, 2006
• "1912: A Party Splits", Parades, Protests & Politics in Chicago. Accessed February 1, 2006
• "Bull Moose years: Who Won the Presidential Primaries in 1912?".

External links

• Republican Party platform of 1912 at The American Presidency Project
• 1912 Republican National Convention at Smithsonian Magazine

Preceded by 1908 Chicago, Illinois

Republican National Conventions

Succeeded by 1916 Chicago, Illinois