Election of 1908: Roosevelt Abdicates to William Howard Taft
Republican Party: William Howard Taft (Ohio) and James Sherman (New York)
Democratic Party: William Jennings Bryan (Nebraska) and John Kern (Indiana)
Socialist Party: Eugene Debs (Indiana) and Benjamin Hanford (New York)
Election Results:
Taft and Sherman: 7.67 million popular votes, 321 electoral votes.
Bryan and Kern: 6.40 million popular votes, 162 electoral votes.
Debs and Hanford: 420,000 popular votes, 0 electoral votes.
Summary:
William Howard Taft had been an important part of the McKinley and Roosevelt administrations over the last two terms, creating a strong connection especially with President Roosevelt. Taft was named military governor of the Phillippines by President McKinley in 1901 in order to facilitate Filipino government of the region. Given Taft’s strong leadership in the Phillippines and his loyalty to the Republican Party, Roosevelt named him secretary of war following his re-election in 1904. The cock-sure Roosevelt promised that he would not run in 1908 and while he was active in the presidency over the next four years, he kept an eye on Taft’s rising star as a possible successor. Theodore Roosevelt and Taft’s wife, Nellie, were active around the time of the Republican convention in 1908 in convincing William Howard Taft of his duty to take on the presidency. Despite delegate calls to renominate Roosevelt (put down by Roosevelt’s friend Henry Cabot Lodge during the convention), Taft was able to win a significant majority of the delegates. While he felt compelled to run for president due to his friend’s confidence, Taft was more interested in becoming the Supreme Court’s Chief Justice (an honor he would receive in the 1920s).
The Democrats were eager to get back into the White House and tried to capitalize on Roosevelt’s decision to step aside. They grasped at a series of weak candidates before deciding on two-time nominee William Jennings Bryan as their presidential candidate. Bryan became the first three-time presidential candidate for a major party and campaigned on his ability to more effectively take on Theodore Roosevelt’s legacy than Taft. Indeed, Bryan was more progressive than Taft on environmental protection and on trust busting but the fact that his main campaign promise was to keep Roosevelt’s legacy alive was a sign of how little a chance the Democrats had in the presidential election. Taft was not a strong campaigner and relegated himself to the sidelines (i.e. the golf course) while Roosevelt and stronger Republican surrogates attacked Bryan as a radical and painted Taft as a soft spoken but strong leader. Taft’s platform included increasing tariffs, reforming federal bureaucracy, and creating sound currency.
Despite jokes made at Taft’s expense, including Roosevelt’s role in a future Taft administration and reporter’s quips about his weight, the Republicans were able to easily handle the Socialist challenge and Bryan’s populist appeal. Outside the deep South, only three states went to the Democrats and Taft was able to win a big enough mandate to temporarily quell the jokes that Taft was Roosevelt’s puppet. Unfortunately, Taft was not able to keep the promise he made to Roosevelt to keep his progressive agenda alive and his administration was marred by the return of Theodore Roosevelt in the 1912 presidential election.
