1912 United States presidential election

For related races, see 1912 United States elections.

1912 United States presidential election

November 5, 1912
All 531 electoral votes of the Electoral College 266 electoral votes needed to win
Turnout	58.8% 6.6 pp
Nominee Woodrow Wilson Theodore Roosevelt Party Democratic Progressive Home state New Jersey New York Running mate Thomas R. Marshall Hiram Johnson Electoral vote 435 88 States carried 40 6 Popular vote 6,296,284 4,122,721 Percentage 41.8% 27.4%   x200px x200px Nominee William Howard Taft Eugene V. Debs Party Republican Socialist Home state Ohio Indiana Running mate Nicholas M. Butler (replaced James S. Sherman) Emil Seidel Electoral vote 8 0 States carried 2 0 Popular vote 3,486,242 901,551 Percentage 23.2% 6.0%
Presidential election results map. Blue denotes those won by Wilson/Marshall, light green denotes those won by Roosevelt/Johnson, red denotes states won by Taft/Butler. Numbers indicate the number of electoral votes allotted to each state.
President before election William Howard Taft Republican Elected President Woodrow Wilson Democratic

The 1912 United States of America presidential election was the 32nd quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 5, 1912. Democratic Governor Woodrow Wilson of New Jersey unseated incumbent Republican President William Howard Taft and defeated former President Theodore Roosevelt, who ran as the Progressive Party ("Bull Moose") nominee. Roosevelt remains the only third party presidential candidate in U.S. history to finish better than third in the popular or electoral vote.

Roosevelt had served as President from 1901 to 1909 as a Republican, and Taft had won the 1908 Republican presidential nomination with his support. However, following Taft's election, his actions as President displeased Roosevelt, who challenged him for the nomination at the 1912 Republican National Convention. After Taft and his conservative allies narrowly prevailed at the convention, Roosevelt rallied his progressive supporters and launched a third party bid. Roosevelt's Progressive Party was nicknamed the Bull Moose Party after journalists quoted Roosevelt saying that he was "feeling like a bull moose" on the campaign trail shortly after the new party was formed. On the Democratic side, Wilson won the presidential nomination on the 46th ballot, defeating Speaker of the House Champ Clark and several other candidates with the support of William Jennings Bryan and other progressive Democrats. Meanwhile, the Socialist Party renominated its perennial standard-bearer, Eugene V. Debs.

The 1912 election was bitterly contested by three individuals, Wilson, Roosevelt, and Taft, who all had or would serve as President. Roosevelt's "New Nationalism" platform called for social insurance programs, an eight-hour workday, and a strong federal role in regulating the economy. Wilson's "New Freedom" platform called for tariff reform, banking reform, and a new antitrust law. Knowing that he had little chance of victory, Taft conducted a subdued campaign based on his own platform of "progressive conservatism." Debs claimed that the other three candidates were largely financed by trusts and tried to galvanize support behind his socialist policies.

Wilson carried 40 states and won a large majority of the electoral vote, taking advantage of the split in the Republican Party. He was the first Democrat to win a presidential election since 1892, and would be one of just two Democratic presidents to serve between the American Civil War and the onset of the First World War. Roosevelt won 88 electoral votes, while Taft carried just two states, taking 8 electoral votes. Wilson won 41.8% of the national popular vote, while Roosevelt won 27%, Taft 23%, and Debs 6%.

Background

Republican President Theodore Roosevelt had declined to run for re-election in 1908 in fulfillment of a pledge to the American people not to seek a second full term. His first term as President (1901–1905) was incomplete, as he succeeded to the office upon the assassination of William McKinley; it was only his second term (1905–1909) that encompassed four full years. Roosevelt had tapped his Secretary of War, William Howard Taft, to become his successor, and Taft defeated Democrat William Jennings Bryan in the general election.

During Taft's administration, a rift developed between Roosevelt and Taft, as they became the leaders of the Republican Party's two wings: the progressives (led by Roosevelt) and the conservatives (led by Taft). The progressive Republicans favored restrictions on the employment of women and children, promoted ecological conservation, and were more sympathetic toward labor unions. They also favored the popular election of federal and state judges and opposed the appointing of judges by the President or state governors. The conservative Republicans supported high tariffs on imported goods to encourage consumers to buy American-made products (as were most progressive Republicans), but favored business leaders over labor unions and were generally opposed to the popular election of judges.

By 1910 the split between the two wings of the party was deep, and this in turn caused Roosevelt and Taft to turn against one another, despite their personal friendship. The 1910 midterm elections proved to be rather rough for the Republicans, seeming to further cement the growing divide within the party. Taft's popularity among progressives collapsed when he supported the Payne–Aldrich Tariff Act in 1909, abandoned Roosevelt's antitrust policy, and fired popular conservationist Gifford Pinchot as head of the Bureau of Forestry in 1910.

Nominations

Republican Party nomination

Main articles: Republican Party (United States) presidential primaries, 1912 and 1912 Republican National Convention

Republican Party Ticket, 1912
William Howard Taft	James S. Sherman
for President	for Vice President
200x200px
27th President of the United States (1909–1913)	27th Vice President of the United States (1909–1912)

Republican candidates:

• William Howard Taft, President of the United States
• Theodore Roosevelt, former President of the United States from New York
• Robert M. La Follette, Senator from Wisconsin

Candidates gallery

• William Howard Taft - Harris and Ewing.jpg

  President William Howard Taft

• 

  Theodore Roosevelt from New York

• 

  Senator Robert M. La Follette from Wisconsin

A Punch cartoon by Leonard Raven-Hill, depicting the perceived aggression between Taft and Roosevelt.

For the first time, significant numbers of delegates to the national conventions were elected in presidential preference primaries. Progressive Republicans advocated primary elections as a way of breaking the control of political parties by bosses. Altogether, twelve states held Republican primaries. Senator Robert M. La Follette won two of the first four primaries (in North Dakota and Wisconsin), but beginning with his runaway victory in Illinois on April 9, Roosevelt won nine of the last ten presidential primaries (in order, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Nebraska, Oregon, Maryland, California, Ohio, New Jersey, and South Dakota), losing only Massachusetts to Taft. As a sign of his great popularity, Roosevelt even carried Taft's home state of Ohio.

The Republican Convention convened in Chicago from June 18 to 22. Taft, however, had begun to gather delegates earlier, and the delegates chosen in the primaries were a minority. He had the support of the bulk of the party organizations in the Southern states; these states had voted solidly Democratic in every presidential election since 1880, and Roosevelt objected that they were given one-quarter of the delegates when they would contribute nothing to a Republican victory (as it turned out, delegates from the former Confederate states supported Taft by a 5 to 1 margin). When the convention gathered, Roosevelt challenged the credentials of nearly half of the delegates. By that time, however, it was too late. The delegates chose Elihu Root — once Roosevelt's top ally — to serve as chairman of the convention. Afterwards, the delegates seated Taft delegations in Alabama, Arizona, and California on tight votes of 597-472, 564-497, and 542-529, respectively. After losing California, where Roosevelt had won the primary, the progressive delegates gave up hope. They voted "present" on most succeeding roll calls. Not since the 1872 election had there been a major schism in the Republican Party. Now, with the Democrats holding about 45% of the national vote, any schism would be fatal. Roosevelt's only hope at the convention was to form a "stop-Taft" alliance with La Follette, but Roosevelt had alienated La Follette, and the alliance could not form.

Unable to tolerate the personal humiliation he suffered at the hands of Taft and the Old Guard, and refusing to entertain the possibility of a compromise candidate, Roosevelt struck back hard. On the evening of June 22, 1912, Roosevelt asked his supporters to leave the convention, maintaining that Taft had allowed fraudulent seating of delegates to capture the presidential nomination from progressive forces within the party. Thus, with the support of convention chairman Root, Taft's supporters outvoted Roosevelt's men, and the convention renominated the incumbent ticket of Taft and James S. Sherman. Sherman became the first sitting Vice President to be nominated for re-election since John C. Calhoun in 1828.

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

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

Progressive Party

Main article: 1912 Progressive National Convention

Progressive Party Ticket, 1912
Theodore Roosevelt	Hiram Johnson
for President	for Vice President
	200x200px
26th President of the United States (1901–1909)	23rd Governor of California (1911–1917)

Progressive candidate:

• Theodore Roosevelt, former President of the United States, from New York

File:Aa addams work 2 e.jpg

Progressive convention, 1912

Republican progressives reconvened in Chicago 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 and Governor Hiram Johnson from California as his vice presidential running mate. Questioned by reporters, Roosevelt said he felt as strong as a "bull moose". Henceforth known as the "Bull Moose Party," the Progressives promised to increase federal regulation and protect the welfare of ordinary people.

The party was funded by publisher Frank Munsey and its executive secretary George Walbridge Perkins, an employee of banker J. P. Morgan and International Harvester. Perkins blocked an antitrust plank, shocking reformers who thought of Roosevelt as a true trust-buster. The delegates to the convention sang the hymn "Onward, Christian Soldiers" as their anthem. In a famous acceptance speech, Roosevelt compared the coming presidential campaign to the Battle of Armageddon and stated that the Progressives were going to "battle for the LORD." However, many of the nation's newspapers, which tended to be pro-Republican, harshly depicted Roosevelt as an egotist who was only running for president to spoil Taft's chances and feed his vanity.

Democratic Party nomination

Main article: 1912 Democratic National Convention

Democratic Party Ticket, 1912
Woodrow Wilson	Thomas R. Marshall
for President	for Vice President
	200x200px
34th Governor of New Jersey (1911–1913)	27th Governor of Indiana (1909–1913)

Democratic candidates:

• Woodrow Wilson, Governor of New Jersey
• Champ Clark, Speaker of the House from Missouri
• Judson Harmon, Governor of Ohio
• Oscar Underwood, House Majority Leader from Alabama
• Eugene Foss, Governor of Massachusetts
• Thomas R. Marshall, Governor of Indiana
• Simeon E. Baldwin, Governor of Connecticut

Candidates gallery

• 

  Governor Woodrow Wilson of New Jersey

• 

  Speaker of the House Champ Clark from Missouri

• 

  Governor Judson Harmon of Ohio

• 

  House Majority Leader Oscar Underwood from Alabama

• 

  Governor Eugene Foss of Massachusetts

• 

  Governor Thomas R. Marshall of Indiana

• 

  Governor Simeon E. Baldwin of Connecticut

The Democratic Convention was held in Baltimore, Maryland, from June 25 to July 2. It proved to be one of the more memorable presidential conventions of the twentieth century. Initially, the front-runner appeared to be House Speaker Champ Clark of Missouri, and Clark did receive the largest number of delegate votes early in the balloting. However, he was unable to get the two-thirds majority required to win the nomination. Clark's chances were hurt when Tammany Hall, the powerful and corrupt Democratic political machine in New York City, threw its support behind him, causing William Jennings Bryan, the former three-time Democratic presidential candidate and leader of the party's progressives, to turn against Clark as the candidate of "Wall Street." Bryan shifted his support to New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson, who had consistently finished second to Clark on each ballot and was regarded as a moderate reformer. Wilson had nearly given up hope, and was on the verge of having a concession speech read for him at the convention that would free his delegates to vote for someone else. Instead, Bryan's defection from Clark to Wilson led many other delegates to do the same, and Wilson gradually gained strength while Clark's support dwindled. Wilson finally received the nomination on the 46th ballot.

Thomas R. Marshall, the Governor of Indiana, who had swung the Indiana delegates' votes to Wilson in later ballots, was named as Wilson's running mate.

(1-24)	Presidential Ballot
	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	11th	12th	13th	14th	15th	16th	17th	18th	19th	20th	21st	22nd	23rd	24th
Woodrow Wilson	324	339.75	345	349.5	351	354	352.5	351.5	352.5	350.5	354.5	354	356	361	362.5	362.5	362.5	361	358	388.5	395.5	396.5	399	402.5
Champ Clark	440.5	446.5	441	443	443	445	449.5	448.5	452	556	554	547.5	554.5	553	552	551	545	535	532	512	508	500.5	497.5	496
Judson Harmon	148	141	140.5	136.5	141.5	135	129.5	130	127	31	29	29	29	29	29	29	29	29	29	29	29	0	0	0
Oscar Underwood	117.5	111.25	114.5	112	119.5	121	123.5	123	122.5	117.5	118.5	123	115.5	111	110.5	112.5	112.5	125	130	121.5	118.5	115	114.5	115.5
Eugene Foss	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	5	43	45	43
Thomas R. Marshall	31	31	31	31	31	31	31	31	31	31	30	30	30	30	30	30	30	30	30	30	30	30	30	30
Simeon E. Baldwin	22	14	14	14	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
William J. Bryan	1	2	1	0	0	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	2	1	1	1	7	1	1	1	1	1
John W. Kern	0	0	1	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	0	2	2	2	4.5	3.5	1	1	1	1	0	0
Ollie M. James	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	0
William Sulzer	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
William J. Gaynor	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0
J. Hamilton Lewis	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Blank	2	0.5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2.5	0	0	0	0	3.5	3.5	0	0	0	0	0	0

(25-46)	Presidential Ballot
	25th	26th	27th	28th	29th	30th	31st	32nd	33rd	34th	35th	36th	37th	38th	39th	40th	41st	42nd	43rd	44th	45th	46th	Unanimous
Woodrow Wilson	405	407.5	406.5	437.5	436	460	475.5	477.5	477.5	479.5	494.5	496.5	496.5	498.5	501.5	501.5	499.5	494	602	629	633	990	1,088
Champ Clark	469	463.5	469	468.5	468.5	455	446.5	446.5	447.5	447.5	433.5	434.5	432.5	425	422	423	424	430	329	306	306	84
Judson Harmon	29	29	29	29	29	19	17	14	29	29	29	29	29	29	29	28	27	27	28	27	25	12
Oscar Underwood	108	112.5	112	112.5	112	121.5	116.5	119.5	103.5	101.5	101.5	98.5	100.5	106	106	106	106	104	98.5	99	97	0
Eugene Foss	43	43	38	38	38	30	30	28	28	28	28	28	28	28	28	28	28	28	27	27	27	0
Thomas R. Marshall	30	30	30	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Simeon E. Baldwin	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
William J. Bryan	1	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0.5	1	0	0	0
John W. Kern	0	0	0	1	4	2	2	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	0	0	0
Ollie M. James	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0
William Sulzer	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
William J. Gaynor	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0
J. Hamilton Lewis	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0
Blank	0	1.5	2.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	1.5	0	0	2

Vice Presidential Ballot
	1st	2nd	Unanimous
Thomas R. Marshall	389	644.5	1,088
John Burke	304.67	386.33
George E. Chamberlain	157	12.5
Elmore W. Hurst	78	0
James H. Preston	58	0
Martin J. Wade	26	0
William F. McCombs	18	0
John E. Osborne	8	0
William Sulzer	3	0
Blank	46.33	44.67

Socialist Party nomination

Socialist Party Ticket, 1912
Eugene V. Debs	Emil Seidel
for President	for Vice President
Former Indiana State Senator (1885–1887)	36th Mayor of Milwaukee (1910–1912)

Socialist candidates:

• Eugene V. Debs, former State Representative from Indiana

Eugene V. Debs's 6% was an all-time high for the Socialist Party

The Socialist Party of America was a highly factionalized coalition of local parties based in industrial cities and usually was rooted in ethnic communities, especially German and Finnish. It also had some support in old Populist rural and mining areas in the West, especially Oklahoma. By 1912, the party claimed more than a thousand locally elected officials in 33 states and 160 cities, especially the Midwest. Eugene V. Debs had run for president in 1900, 1904, and 1908, primarily to encourage the local effort, and he did so again in 1912 and from prison in 1920.

The conservatives, led by Victor L. Berger from Milwaukee, promoted progressive causes of efficiency and an end to corruption, nicknamed "gas and water socialism." Their opponents were the radicals who wanted to overthrow capitalism, tried to infiltrate labor unions, and sought to cooperate with the Industrial Workers of the World ("the Wobblies"). With few exceptions, the party had weak or nonexistent links to local labor unions. Immigration was an issue—the radicals saw immigrants as fodder for the war with capitalism, while conservatives complained that they lowered wage rates and absorbed too many city resources. Many of these issues had been debated at the First National Congress of the Socialist Party in 1910, and they were debated again at the national convention in Indianapolis in 1912. At the latter, the radicals won an early test by seating Bill Haywood on the Executive Committee, sending encouragement to western "Wobblies", and passed a resolution seeming to favor industrial unionism. The conservatives counterattacked by amending the party constitution to expel any socialists who favored industrial sabotage or syndicalism (that is, the IWW), and who refused to participate in American elections. They adopted a conservative platform calling for cooperative organization of prisons, a national bureau of health, abolition of the Senate and the presidential veto. Debs did not attend; he saw his mission as keeping the disparate units together in the hope that someday a common goal would be found.

General election

Campaign

The 1912 presidential campaign was bitterly contested. Vice President James S. Sherman died in office on October 30, 1912, less than a week before the election, leaving President Taft without a running mate. (Nicholas M. Butler was designated to receive electoral votes that would have been cast for Sherman.) With the Republican Party divided, Wilson captured the presidency handily on November 5.

File:PostcardTaftPensionExaminer1912.jpg

Republican campaign postcard charging a Democratic administration would remove pensioners from the rolls

While Roosevelt was campaigning in Milwaukee on October 14, 1912, a saloonkeeper from New York, John Flammang Schrank, shot him, but the bullet lodged in his chest only after penetrating both his steel eyeglass case and a 50-page single-folded copy of the speech titled "Progressive Cause Greater Than Any Individual", he was to deliver, carried in his jacket pocket. Schrank was immediately disarmed, captured and might have been lynched had Roosevelt not shouted for Schrank to remain unharmed. Roosevelt assured the crowd he was all right, then ordered police to take charge of Schrank and to make sure no violence was done to him. Roosevelt, as an experienced hunter and anatomist, correctly concluded that since he was not coughing blood, the bullet had not reached his lung, and he declined suggestions to go to the hospital immediately. Instead, he delivered his scheduled speech with blood seeping into his shirt. He spoke for 90 minutes before completing his speech and accepting medical attention. His opening comments to the gathered crowd were, "Ladies and gentlemen, I don't know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot, but it takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose." Afterwards, probes and an x-ray showed that the bullet had lodged in Roosevelt's chest muscle, but did not penetrate the pleura. Doctors concluded that it would be less dangerous to leave it in place than to attempt to remove it, and Roosevelt carried the bullet with him for the rest of his life. In later years, when asked about the bullet inside him, Roosevelt would say, "I do not mind it any more than if it were in my waistcoat pocket."

Both Taft and Democratic nominee Woodrow Wilson suspended their own campaigning until Roosevelt recovered and resumed his. When asked if the shooting would affect his election campaign, he said to the reporter "I'm fit as a bull moose", which inspired the party's emblem. He spent two weeks recuperating before returning to the campaign trail.

The election of 1912 is considered the high tide of progressive politics. Had either Roosevelt or Taft stayed out of the race, a Republican victory would have been assured.

The Socialists had little money; Debs' campaign cost only $66,000, mostly for 3.5 million leaflets and travel to rallies organized by local groups. His biggest event was a speech to 15,000 supporters in New York City. The crowd sang "La Marseillaise" and "The Internationale" as Emil Seidel, the vice- presidential candidate, boasted, "Only a year ago workingmen were throwing decayed vegetables and rotten eggs at us but now all is changed... Eggs are too high. There is a great giant growing up in this country that will someday take over the affairs of this nation. He is a little giant now but he is growing fast. The name of this little giant is socialism." Debs said that only the socialists represented labor. He condemned "Injunction Bill Taft" and ridiculed Roosevelt as "a charlatan, mountebank, and fraud, and his Progressive promises and pledges as the mouthings of a low and utterly unprincipled self seeker and demagogue." Debs insisted that the Democrats, Progressives, and Republicans alike were financed by the trusts. Party newspapers spread the word—there were five English-language and eight foreign-language dailies along with 262 English and 36 foreign-language weeklies. The labor union movement, however, largely rejected Debs and supported Wilson.

Roosevelt mixing "radical" ingredients in his speeches in this 1912 editorial cartoon by Karl K. Knecht (1883–1972) in the Republican Evansville Courier newspaper

Roosevelt conducted a vigorous national campaign for the Progressive Party, denouncing the way the Republican nomination had been "stolen". He bundled together his reforms under the rubric of "The New Nationalism" and stumped the country for a strong federal role in regulating the economy and chastising bad corporations. Wilson supported a policy called "The New Freedom". This policy was based mostly on individualism instead of a strong government. Taft campaigned quietly, and spoke of the need for judges to be more powerful than elected officials. The departure of the more progressive Republicans left the conservative Republicans even more firmly in control of their party until 1916, when many progressives returned. Much of the Republican effort was designed to discredit Roosevelt as a dangerous radical, but this had little effect.

Tariffs and Republican Party split

Before the ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (1913), the funding of the United States government heavily relied upon tariffs. Tariffs are a direct taxation of raw materials and manufactured goods with regard to trade. This issue was key in fracturing the Republican Party. Early in his term, President Taft had promised to stand for a lower tariff bill. Protectionism was major policy of the business oriented Republican Party.

After Congressional deliberation, the Payne-Aldrich Act (1909) was passed and signed by President Taft. The Payne-Aldrich Act would not satisfy the growing economic sectionalism of the country; the Northwest and South wanted tariff reductions on manufactured goods, as well as more raw materials to be added to the 'free-list' (non-taxed goods) The new tariff policy would increase duties; going against President Taft's promises, it further alienated the progressive wing of the Republican Party. President Taft's inability to satisfy both wings of his party would create a political opening for his predecessor, Theodore Roosevelt, to make a run for the presidency. Theodore Roosevelt would rally progressives with speeches to pressure the political establishment. In regards to the existing tariff policy, Theodore Roosevelt would vouch for "...an expert tariff commission, wholly removed from the possibility of political pressure or of improper business influence.".

Results

Results by county explicitly indicating the percentage for the winning candidate. Shades of blue are for Wilson (Democratic), shades of green are for Roosevelt (Progressive), shades of red are for Taft (Republican), shades of yellow are for Debs (Socialist), light grey indicates zero recorded votes and dark grey indicates territories not elevated to statehood

The impact of the third-party vote is indicated by the fact that few states were carried by a majority of the popular vote. Taft carried two states (Utah and Vermont), Roosevelt six, and Wilson forty. Taft carried no state with a popular majority, Roosevelt one (South Dakota, where there was no Republican ticket), and Wilson eleven, all of them states of the former Confederacy. More than two-thirds of Wilson's total vote was cast in the 37 states that he did not carry by majority vote.

Wilson's vote, 6,296,919, was less than William Jennings Bryan totaled in any one of his campaigns, and over 100,000 less than Bryan received in 1908, when Bryan won only 162 electoral votes. Wilson fell behind Bryan's results in most of the country, and notably so in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Nebraska, Kansas, South Carolina, Kentucky, and Arkansas. In only two sections was Wilson's vote greater than the greatest Bryan vote: New England and the Pacific. Wilson led the poll in 1,969 counties, but he received a majority of the vote in only 1,237 counties, less than Bryan had had in any of his campaigns. Taft had a majority in only 35, and "Other(s)" in only 305. These small figures clearly reveal the result of the division of the normal Republican vote, as does the fact that in a plurality of counties (1,396) no candidate obtained a majority. Taft had a lead over the field in only 232 counties. In addition to South Dakota and California, where there was no Taft ticket, and seven "Solid South" states in which he carried no county, Taft also carried no counties in Maine, New Jersey, Minnesota, Nevada and Arizona. Nine counties did not record any votes due to either black disenfranchisement or being inhabited only by Native Americans who would not gain full citizenship for twelve more years.

The 772 counties not carried by Wilson or by Taft were distributed in 38 states, most of them in Pennsylvania (48), Illinois (33), Michigan (68), Minnesota (75), Iowa (49), South Dakota (54), Nebraska (32), Kansas (51), Washington (38), and California (44), and almost without exception were carried by Roosevelt. Debs carried four counties in Minnesota (Lake and Beltrami), North Dakota (Burke County), and Kansas (Crawford County), the only counties ever to vote socialist in a presidential election.

This was the first time in 60 years (since 1852) that Iowa, Maine, New Hampshire, Ohio, and Rhode Island voted for a Democrat, and the first time in history that Massachusetts voted for a Democratic candidate. This was the last election in which the Democrats won Maine until 1964, the last in which the Democrats won Connecticut and Delaware until 1936, the last in which the Democrats won Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, West Virginia, and Wisconsin until 1932, and the last in which the Democrats won Massachusetts and Rhode Island until 1928. After the 2016 presidential election, 1912 remains the last election in which the key Indiana counties of Hamilton and Hendricks, along with Walworth County, Wisconsin, Pulaski and Laurel Counties in Kentucky and Hawkins County, Tennessee have given a plurality to the Democratic candidate. In post-Antebellum America, this is the only presidential election in which a third party candidate outperformed one of the candidates from the two-major parties in the general election.

The 1912 election was the first to include all 48 of the current contiguous United States.

Presidential candidate	Party	Home state	Popular vote		Electoral vote	Running mate
			Count	Pct		Vice-presidential candidate	Home state	Elect. vote
Woodrow Wilson	Democratic	New Jersey	6,296,284	41.84%	435	Thomas R. Marshall	Indiana	435
Theodore Roosevelt	Progressive	New York	4,122,721	27.40%	88	Hiram W. Johnson	California	88
William Howard Taft (Incumbent)	Republican	Ohio	3,486,242	23.17%	8	Nicholas Murray Butler	New York	8
Eugene V. Debs	Socialist	Indiana	901,551	5.99%	0	Emil Seidel	Wisconsin	0
Eugene W. Chafin	Prohibition	Illinois	208,156	1.38%	0	Aaron S. Watkins	Ohio	0
Arthur E. Reimer	Socialist Labor	Massachusetts	29,324	0.19%	0	August Gillhaus	New York	0
Other			4,556	0.03%	—	Other		—
Total			15,048,834	100%	531			531
Needed to win					266			266

Source (Popular Vote):

Source (Electoral Vote):

Popular vote
Wilson			41.84%
Roosevelt			27.40%
Taft			23.17%
Debs			5.99%
Others			1.60%

Electoral vote
Wilson			81.92%
Roosevelt			16.57%
Taft			1.51%

Geography of results

File:1912 Electoral Map.png

• 

  Results by county, shaded according to winning candidate's percentage of the vote

Cartographic gallery

• 

  Map of presidential election results by county

• DemocraticPresidentialCounty1912Colorbrewer.gif

  Map of Democratic presidential election results by county

• OtherPresidentialCounty1912Colorbrewer.gif

  Map of "other" presidential election results by county

• RepublicanPresidentialCounty1912Colorbrewer.gif

  Map of Republican presidential election results by county

• CartogramPresidentialCounty1912Colorbrewer.gif

  Cartogram (county sizes based on total votes recorded) of presidential election results by county

• CartogramDemocraticPresidentialCounty1912Colorbrewer.gif

  Cartogram (county sizes based on total votes recorded) of Democratic presidential election results by county

• CartogramOtherPresidentialCounty1912Colorbrewer.gif

  Cartogram (county sizes based on total votes recorded) of "other" presidential election results by county

• CartogramRepublicanPresidentialCounty1912Colorbrewer.gif

  Cartogram (county sizes based on total votes recorded) of Republican presidential election results by county

Results by state

States won by Wilson/Marshall

States won by Roosevelt/Johnson

States won by Taft/Butler

		Woodrow Wilson Democratic			Theodore Roosevelt Progressive			William H. Taft Republican			Eugene V. Debs Socialist			Eugene Chafin Prohibition			Arthur Reimer Socialist Labor			Margin		State Total
State	electoral votes	#	%	electoral votes	#	%	electoral votes	#	%	electoral votes	#	%	electoral votes	#	%	electoral votes	#	%	electoral votes	#	%	#
Alabama	12	82,438	69.89	12	22,680	19.23	-	9,807	8.31	-	3,029	2.57	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	59,758	50.66	117,959	AL
Arizona	3	10,324	43.52	3	6,949	29.29	-	3,021	12.74	-	3,163	13.33	-	265	1.12	-	-	-	-	3,375	14.23	23,722	AZ
Arkansas	9	68,814	55.01	9	21,644	17.30	-	25,585	20.45	-	8,153	6.52	-	908	0.73	-	-	-	-	43,229	34.55	125,104	AR
California	13	283,436	41.81	2	283,610	41.83	11	3,914	0.58	-	79,201	11.68	-	23,366	3.45	-	-	-	-	-174	-0.03	677,944	CA
Colorado	6	114,232	42.80	6	72,306	27.09	-	58,386	21.88	-	16,418	6.15	-	5,063	1.90	-	475	0.18	-	41,926	15.71	266,880	CO
Connecticut	7	74,561	39.16	7	34,129	17.92	-	68,324	35.88	-	10,056	5.28	-	2,068	1.09	-	1,260	0.66	-	6,237	3.28	190,404	CT
Delaware	3	22,631	46.48	3	8,886	18.25	-	15,998	32.85	-	556	1.14	-	623	1.28	-	-	-	-	6,633	13.62	48,694	DE
Florida	6	35,343	69.52	6	4,555	8.96	-	4,279	8.42	-	4,806	9.45	-	1,854	3.65	-	-	-	-	30,537	60.07	50,837	FL
Georgia	14	93,087	76.63	14	21,985	18.10	-	5,191	4.27	-	1,058	0.87	-	149	0.12	-	-	-	-	71,102	58.53	121,470	GA
Idaho	4	33,921	32.08	4	25,527	24.14	-	32,810	31.02	-	11,960	11.31	-	1,536	1.45	-	-	-	-	1,111	1.05	105,754	ID
Illinois	29	405,048	35.34	29	386,478	33.72	-	253,593	22.13	-	81,278	7.09	-	15,710	1.37	-	4,066	0.35	-	18,570	1.62	146,173	IL
Indiana	15	281,890	43.07	15	162,007	24.75	-	151,267	23.11	-	36,931	5.64	-	19,249	2.94	-	3,130	0.48	-	119,883	18.32	654,474	IN
Iowa	13	185,325	37.64	13	161,819	32.87	-	119,805	24.33	-	16,967	3.45	-	8,440	1.71	-	-	-	-	23,506	4.77	492,356	IA
Kansas	10	143,663	39.30	10	120,210	32.88	-	74,845	20.47	-	26,779	7.33	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	23,453	6.42	365,560	KS
Kentucky	13	219,484	48.48	13	101,766	22.48	-	115,510	25.52	-	11,646	2.57	-	3,253	0.72	-	1,055	0.23	-	103,974	22.97	452,714	KY
Louisiana	10	60,871	76.81	10	9,283	11.71	-	3,833	4.84	-	5,261	6.64	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	51,588	65.10	79,248	LA
Maine	6	51,113	39.43	6	48,495	37.41	-	26,545	20.48	-	2,541	1.96	-	946	0.73	-	-	-	-	2,618	2.02	129,640	ME
Maryland	8	112,674	48.57	8	57,789	24.91	-	54,956	23.69	-	3,996	1.72	-	2,244	0.97	-	322	0.14	-	54,885	23.66	231,981	MD
Massachusetts	18	173,408	35.53	18	142,228	29.14	-	155,948	31.95	-	12,616	2.58	-	2,754	0.56	-	1,102	0.23	-	17,460	3.58	488,057	MA
Michigan	15	150,751	27.36	-	214,584	38.95	15	152,244	27.63	-	23,211	4.21	-	8,934	1.62	-	1,252	0.23	-	-62,340	-11.31	550,976	MI
Minnesota	12	106,426	31.84	-	125,856	37.66	12	64,334	19.25	-	27,505	8.23	-	7,886	2.36	-	2,212	0.66	-	-19,430	-5.81	334,219	MN
Mississippi	10	57,324	88.90	10	3,549	5.50	-	1,560	2.42	-	2,050	3.18	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	53,775	83.39	64,483	MS
Missouri	18	330,746	47.35	18	124,375	17.80	-	207,821	29.75	-	28,466	4.07	-	5,380	0.77	-	1,778	0.25	-	122,925	17.60	698,566	MO
Montana	4	27,941	35.00	4	22,456	28.13	-	18,512	23.19	-	10,885	13.64	-	32	0.04	-	-	-	-	5,485	6.87	79,826	MT
Nebraska	8	109,008	43.69	8	72,681	29.13	-	54,226	21.74	-	10,185	4.08	-	3,383	1.36	-	-	-	-	36,327	14.56	249,483	NE
Nevada	3	7,986	39.70	3	5,620	27.94	-	3,196	15.89	-	3,313	16.47	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2,366	11.76	20,115	NV
New Hampshire	4	34,724	39.48	4	17,794	20.23	-	32,927	37.43	-	1,981	2.25	-	535	0.61	-	-	-	-	1,797	2.04	87,961	NH
New Jersey	14	178,289	41.20	14	145,410	33.60	-	88,835	20.53	-	15,948	3.69	-	2,936	0.68	-	1,321	0.31	-	32,879	7.60	432,739	NJ
New Mexico	3	20,437	41.39	3	8,347	16.90	-	17,733	35.91	-	2,859	5.79	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2,704	5.48	49,376	NM
New York	45	655,573	41.27	45	390,093	24.56	-	455,487	28.68	-	63,434	3.99	-	19,455	1.22	-	4,273	0.27	-	200,086	12.60	1,588,315	NY
North Carolina	12	144,407	59.24	12	69,135	28.36	-	29,129	11.95	-	987	0.40	-	118	0.05	-	-	-	-	75,272	30.88	243,776	NC
North Dakota	5	29,555	34.14	5	25,726	29.71	-	23,090	26.67	-	6,966	8.05	-	1,243	1.44	-	-	-	-	3,829	4.42	86,580	ND
Ohio	24	424,834	40.96	24	229,807	22.16	-	278,168	26.82	-	90,144	8.69	-	11,511	1.11	-	2,630	0.25	-	146,666	14.14	1,037,094	OH
Oklahoma	10	119,156	46.95	10	-	-	-	90,786	35.77	-	41,674	16.42	-	2,185	0.86	-	-	-	-	28,370	11.18	253,801	OK
Oregon	5	47,064	34.34	5	37,600	27.44	-	34,673	25.30	-	13,343	9.74	-	4,360	3.18	-	-	-	-	9,464	6.91	137,040	OR
Pennsylvania	38	395,637	32.49	-	444,894	36.53	38	273,360	22.45	-	83,614	6.87	-	19,525	1.60	-	706	0.06	-	-49,257	-4.04	1,217,736	PA
Rhode Island	5	30,412	39.04	5	16,878	21.67	-	27,703	35.56	-	2,049	2.63	-	616	0.79	-	236	0.30	-	2,709	3.48	77,894	RI
South Carolina	9	48,357	95.94	9	1,293	2.57	-	536	1.06	-	164	0.33	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	47,064	93.37	50,405	SC
South Dakota	5	48,942	42.07	-	58,811	50.56	5	-	-	-	4,662	4.01	-	3,910	3.36	-	-	-	-	-9,869	-8.48	116,325	SD
Tennessee	12	133,021	52.80	12	54,041	21.45	-	60,475	24.00	-	3,564	1.41	-	832	0.33	-	-	-	-	72,546	28.80	251,933	TN
Texas	20	221,589	72.62	20	28,853	9.46	-	26,755	8.77	-	25,743	8.44	-	1,738	0.57	-	442	0.14	-	192,736	63.17	305,120	TX
Utah	4	36,579	32.55	-	24,174	21.51	-	42,100	37.46	4	9,023	8.03	-	-	-	-	510	0.45	-	-5,521	-4.91	112,386	UT
Vermont	4	15,354	24.43	-	22,132	35.22	-	23,332	37.13	4	928	1.48	-	1,095	1.74	-	-	-	-	-1,200	-1.91	62,841	VT
Virginia	12	90,332	65.95	12	21,776	15.90	-	23,288	17.00	-	820	0.60	-	709	0.52	-	50	0.04	-	67,044	48.95	136,975	VA
Washington	7	86,840	26.90	-	113,698	35.22	7	70,445	21.82	-	40,134	12.43	-	9,810	3.04	-	1,872	0.58	-	-26,858	-8.32	322,799	WA
West Virginia	8	113,197	42.11	8	79,112	29.43	-	56,754	21.11	-	15,248	5.67	-	4,517	1.68	-	-	-	-	34,085	12.68	268,828	WV
Wisconsin	13	164,230	41.06	13	62,448	15.61	-	130,596	32.65	-	33,476	8.37	-	8,584	2.15	-	632	0.16	-	33,634	8.41	399,975	WI
Wyoming	3	15,310	36.20	3	9,232	21.83	-	14,560	34.42	-	2,760	6.53	-	434	1.03	-	-	-	-	750	1.77	42,296	WY
TOTALS:	531	6,296,284	41.84	435	4,122,721	27.40	88	3,486,242	23.17	8	901,551	5.99	-	208,156	1.38	-	29,324	0.19	-	2,173,563	14.44	15,048,834	US

Close states

Margin of victory less than 1% (13 electoral votes):

1. California, 0.03%

Margin of victory less than 5% (142 electoral votes):

1. Idaho, 1.05%
2. Illinois, 1.62%
3. Wyoming, 1.77%
4. Vermont, 1.91%
5. Maine, 2.02%
6. New Hampshire, 2.04%
7. Connecticut, 3.28%
8. Rhode Island, 3.48%
9. Massachusetts, 3.58%
10. Pennsylvania, 4.04%
11. North Dakota, 4.42%
12. Iowa, 4.77%
13. Utah, 4.91%

Margin of victory between 5% and 10% (73 electoral votes):

1. New Mexico, 5.48%
2. Minnesota, 5.81%
3. Kansas, 6.42%
4. Montana, 6.87%
5. Oregon, 6.91%
6. New Jersey, 7.60%
7. Washington, 8.32%
8. Wisconsin, 8.41%
9. South Dakota, 8.48%

Statistics

Counties with Highest Percent of Vote (Democratic)

1. Greenville County, South Carolina 100.00%
2. Marlboro County, South Carolina 100.00%
3. Hampton County, South Carolina 100.00%
4. Jasper County, South Carolina 100.00%
5. Reagan County, Texas 100.00%

Counties with Highest Percent of Vote (Other)

1. Scott County, Tennessee 82.80%
2. Campbell County, South Dakota 80.42%
3. Clearwater County, Minnesota 77.35%
4. Avery County, North Carolina 72.84%
5. Cook County, Minnesota 72.70%

Counties with Highest Percent of Vote (Republican)

1. Zapata County, Texas 80.89%
2. Valencia County, New Mexico 77.25%
3. Kane County, Utah 75.40%
4. Clinton County, Kentucky 64.79%
5. Huerfano County, Colorado 63.36%

Inauguration platform being constructed in front of the Capitol

See also

• Progressive Era
• History of the United States (1865–1918)
• 1912 United States House of Representatives elections
• 1912 and 1913 United States Senate elections
• First inauguration of Woodrow Wilson

Further reading

External video
Booknotes interview with Chace on 1912, August 29, 2004, C-SPAN
Presentation by Chace on 1912, May 12, 2004, C-SPAN

• Broderick, Francis L. Progressivism at risk: Electing a president in 1912 (Praeger, 1989).
• Cowan, Geoffrey. Let the People Rule: Theodore Roosevelt and the Birth of the Presidential Primary (2016).
• 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
• DeWitt, Benjamin P. The Progressive Movement: A Non-Partisan, Comprehensive Discussion of Current Tendencies in American Politics. (1915).
• Flehinger, Brett. The 1912 Election and the Power of Progressivism: A Brief History with Documents (Bedford/St. Martin's, 2003).
• Flynn, James P. "Eugene Debs and the Politics of Parrhesia." (MA thesis, U of South Carolina, 2015). online
• 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).
• Jensen, Richard. "Theodore Roosevelt" in Encyclopedia of Third Parties. (ME Sharpe, 2000). pp 702–707.
• Kraig, Robert Alexander. "The 1912 Election and the Rhetorical Foundations of the Liberal State." Rhetoric and Public Affairs (2000): 363-395. in JSTOR
• Milkis, Sidney M., and Daniel J. Tichenor. ""Direct Democracy" and Social Justice: The Progressive Party Campaign of 1912." Studies in American Political Development 8#2 (1994): 282-340.
• Milkis, Sidney M. Theodore Roosevelt, the Progressive Party, and the Transformation of American Democracy. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2009.
• Mowry, George E. The Era of Theodore Roosevelt and the Birth of Modern America. New York: Harper and Row, 1962.
• O'Mara, Margaret. Pivotal Tuesdays: Four Elections That Shaped the Twentieth Century (2015), compares 1912, 1932, 1968, 1992 in terms of social, economic, and political history
• Painter, Carl, "The Progressive Party In Indiana," Indiana Magazine of History, 16#3 (1920), pp. 173–283. In JSTOR
• 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.

Primary sources

• Pinchot, Amos. What's the Matter with America: The Meaning of the Progressive Movement and the Rise of the New Party. n.c.: Amos Pinchot, 1912.
• Roosevelt, Theodore. Bull Moose on the Stump: The 1912 Campaign Speeches of Theodore Roosevelt Ed. Lewis L. Gould. (UP of Kansas, 2008).

External links

• United States presidential election of 1912 at Encyclopædia Britannica
• Presidential Election of 1912: A Resource Guide from the Library of Congress
• editorial cartoons
• Sound recording of TR speech
• Woodrow Wilson Suspends Campaign After TR Assassination Attempt Shapell Manuscript Foundation
• OurCampaigns.com overview of Republican Presidential Primaries of 1912
• 1912 popular vote by counties
• 1912 State-by-state Popular vote
• The Election of 1912
• How close was the 1912 election? — Michael Sheppard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Election of 1912 in Counting the Votes