The “Bull Moose”
After more than a year’s absence in Africa and Europe, Roosevelt
returned to the United States in June, 1910, and again, both by
inclination and the compelling force of circumstances, took an active
interest in politics.
While Roosevelt was hunting in Africa, there came a sharp division in
the Republican party. The conservatives who supported Taft and the
rebels who could see no good in his policies developed into bitter
factions, each of which tried to win the support of Roosevelt when he
returned home crowned with world honors. For a time Roosevelt kept
silent, hearing both sides of the matter, weighing the evidence in
the dispute, trying to determine whether it was wise to continue the
support he had given Taft formerly, or to listen to these new but
strong voices that had arisen in his party since he himself left the
Presidency.
The first indication of the stand Roosevelt was to take appeared when
he let it become known that he approved Gifford Pinchot’s stand in his
controversy with Ballinger, whom Taft had supported. He also announced
that he opposed certain treaties with Japan and South America which
Taft was advocating. As the months passed Taft became the champion
of conservative Republicanism, and the forceful personality and
progressive spirit of Roosevelt made him the natural leader of the
revolting group.
In 1910 Roosevelt made a tour of the country, in which he announced the
doctrine of the New Nationalism. He advocated a closer relation between
the states and the national government; making economic opportunity
equal; conserving the resources of the nation; military preparedness;
and the shifting of the viewpoints of the courts from too much emphasis
on the security of property and contracts to a greater concern for the
welfare of human beings.
To these principles Roosevelt added, in 1912, the issues of direct
nominations, preferential primaries, the initiative, the referendum,
and the recall for judicial decisions as well as for officials. These
reforms he announced as a new Charter for Democracy and when, in 1912,
in answer to the appeal of seven Governors, he announced that he would
become a candidate for the Presidency, these doctrines were embodied in
the platform of his party.
Roosevelt made a typically strenuous fight for the control of
delegates to the national Republican Convention, and when he was
defeated he and his supporters created the Progressive party, by which
at Chicago, he was nominated for the Presidency. In response to those
who criticised him for seeking a third term when he had previously
announced that he would not accept another nomination, he explained
that he had meant three consecutive terms.
It was while he was conducting a whirlwind campaign for election that
he was shot by a crank. The shooting occurred in Milwaukee. Roosevelt
was entering the automobile that was to drive him to the meeting place
when the fanatic fired at him. The bullet lodged in his shoulder.
With characteristic dauntlessness, Roosevelt insisted on going on the
platform, where he told the waiting multitude that he had been shot,
and then went on to deliver a rousing speech that lasted over an hour.
When Woodrow Wilson heard of the assault upon Roosevelt, he
chivalrously offered to discontinue his own campaign, but the Colonel
refused this concession. After a few days spent in recuperation he
resumed his speaking tour with undiminished vigor. In the Presidential
election which followed he received eighty-eight electoral votes. He
had divided the Republican party in all states. In twenty-eight of the
states he received a majority over Taft. Through this division in the
Republican ranks, Woodrow Wilson became President.