Teddy Roosevelt upset the 1912 presidential election

U.S. Stamp Notes by John M. Hotchner

The presidential election of 1912 featured an interesting matchup because former president Theodore Roosevelt (in office 1901-09) wanted to make another run for the White House despite not being able to secure the nomination of the Republican Party.

The major party nominees were William Howard Taft for the Republicans running as the incumbent, and Woodrow Wilson for the Democrats. Roosevelt entered the fray by forming the Progressive Party, often called the Bull Moose Party.

Figure 1 shows the three men as portrayed on stamps of the 1938 Presidential series, nicknamed the Prexies: the 30¢ Theodore Roosevelt (Scott 830), 50¢ Taft (831) and $1 Wilson (832).

The 1¢ McKinley postal card (Scott UX22) in Figure 2 has a pro-Taft message. The card was canceled Oct. 31, 1912, in Sullivan, Ill. The theme of the message was that no one seriously thought Roosevelt could win, but he could have a major impact by taking votes away from one candidate and giving the election to another.

The message marked “IMPORTANT” begins:

“Do you think it wise to ‘let well enough alone?’ Taft or Wilson is going to be elected president in November; there is no doubt about it. A vote for Roosevelt is a vote for Wilson. …”

The message goes on to blast Democratic Party policies, “Do you know that the tariff plank of the democratic party in 1912 is the same as in 1892, and do you remember the panic of 1893, and the hard times and lower prices which followed ‘voting for a change?’ ”

The prevailing prices for farm animals and products as measured from 1893-97 compared to the then-present prices of 1912 are illustrated on the reverse of the postal card, shown in Figure 3.

Despite the warning, Roosevelt did split the Republican vote. The American public elected Wilson with the following vote totals (according to Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections):

1912 Presidential election vote totals

Eugene V. Debs of the Socialist Party was a minor factor with more than 900,000 popular votes and no votes in the Electoral College.

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