As for the national situation after 1914, the chief question was: “What will Theodore Roosevelt do in 1916?” It was discussed wherever men gathered. Come to think about it, 1916 is now some thirty-six years behind us, and to much of the populace the interesting characters of that season’s presidential campaign are merely a confused collection of names.
Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, veteran of the Spanish-American War, governor of New York from 1898-1900, had been drafted to run for the Vice-Presidency of the United States in William McKinley’s 1900 presidential campaign. He became President in September 1901, after McKinley was killed by the terrorist Leon Czolgosz, and was re-elected in 1904.
Roosevelt was a man of vision. He was popular and he was fearless. He was also an experienced and naturally shrewd politician. He began his service as President with an outcry against Big Business in politics. He dissolved the Northern Securities Company and other corporations for violation of the antitrust laws. In 1903 he instituted the Department of Commerce and Labor. Also in 1903 he promoted the Elkins Act which forbade railroad rebates to favored corporations. In 1906 he sponsored the Hepburn Act which regulated railroad fares. That same year he was behind the passage of the Pure Food and Drugs Act. And it was his influence that made possible the Reclamation Act and the employers’ liability laws. He mediated the peace between Japan and Russia in 1905 and won the Nobel Peace Prize. By recognizing Panama he made possible the construction of the Panama Canal, which was started during his administration. He was a great showman and singularly active, and most Americans loved him whether they liked his political philosophy or not.
In 1908 he got the presidential nomination for his friend William Howard Taft, and Taft was elected. But there was some difficulty during the next four years. Roosevelt turned a bit sour on the President because he thought Taft wasn’t liberal enough. A real political crisis came in 1912. Taft wanted the presidential nomination and he got it. Roosevelt, it seems, also wanted the presidential nomination. So he walked his delegates out of the Chicago convention and organized the Progressive party. Woodrow Wilson, the Democratic candidate, was elected.
The Progressives turned out to be a pretty strong organization, and they made some gains during the next four years. The split in Republican thought was still pretty wide when it came time to think about the 1916 campaign, and Theodore Roosevelt was still one of the biggest men in the country. There were some indications that in his promotion of harmony between the Progressives and the regular Republicans he might accept a nomination and run for a third term.
Gossip had touched on two other men who might be considered by the delegates—Charles Evans Hughes, who had been governor of New York for two terms, and Major General Leonard Wood, former Chief of Staff of the U. S. Army, commander of the Department of the East and close friend of Theodore Roosevelt. Hughes was an old-line Republican. Wood was a Progressive.
To the former President, Gutzon sent a five-page letter showing his fear for the disunity between the different groups and the certain disaster it could bring to the nation. He said:
You can be the next nominee for the Presidency of the U. S. if that is what you wish. But it will be wrung from the powerful grip of powerful forces, and I very much question the result that would follow such a conquest.
I think you should boldly and frankly name a man close to you, a man long known and tried by you, a man who would include you in his private councils. There is another advantage in this besides quieting the antagonism and putting the lie to a million or more irreconcilables. You would enter for good that position so enviable as the First American.