In this photo, Debs makes a speech in the early 1900s in New York. Roosevelt initially considered not running as a third-party candidate until George Walbridge Perkins and Frank Munsey offered their financial support. The Socialists predicted that they would receive over two million votes and have twelve members elected to Congress, but Debs only received 897,011 votes and Berger lost reelection. [citation needed] Roosevelt rallied progressives with speeches denouncing the political establishment. In the election of 1920, Eugene V. Debs, the Socialist Party presidential candidate, polled nearly a million votes without ever hitting the campaign trail. "The Swedish-American Press in the Election of 1912". The results of the ten ballots were as follows: First Presidential Ballot Second Presidential Ballot Third Presidential Ballot Delegates from the former Confederate states supported Taft by a 5 to 1 margin. [41], On October 30, 1912, Vice President James S. Sherman died of nephritis, leaving Taft without a running mate less than a week before the election. "Other(s)", mostly Roosevelt, won a plurality in 772 counties and a majority in 305 counties. [19] Meanwhile, Taft decided not to campaign before the election beyond his acceptance speech on August 1. In July 1918, while speaking in a Canton, Ohio city park, he denounced the Junkers of Wall Street and criticized the government for arresting antiwar activists. This policy was based mostly on individualism instead of a strong government. Debs ran for the first time in 1900, in the era of the "Robber Barons," a brutal time economically for all but the very wealthy. Retrieved July 31, 2005. No, not AOC. They alone declare war, and they alone make peace. There's a museum in his birthplace, Terre Haute, Indiana, that is well worth a visit. Later he helped found the American Railway Union (1894), the Socialist Party of America (1901) and the Industrial Workers of the World (1905). First, as a member of an unpopular minority, he appealed for protection under the Amendment. [32] Schrank had been stalking Roosevelt. 9653.. [4] Early in his term, President Taft had promised to stand for a lower tariff bill, but protectionism had been a major policy of the Republican Party since its founding. Debs offered this perspective on war in 1915: "I am not a capitalist soldier; I am a proletarian revolutionist. Debs finished 2nd in Florida behind Wilson. [45], Wilson won 1,969 counties but held a majority in only 1,237, less than Bryan had had in any of his campaigns.[44]. Additionally, it was the last time until 1932 that the Republicans failed to win Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and South Dakota. But he did retain a close attachment to railroad work and railroad workers. All images public domain. The Political Climate in Eugene, OR is Somewhat liberal. ", Startt, James D. "Wilson's Election Campaign of 1912 and the Press." ", The Presidential Vote, 18961932, Edgar E. Robinson, pg. In 1886, Debs also joined other railroad brotherhood officials in refusing to support the Knights of Labor strike against Jay Gould's railroad line, and he let the organization of the AFL and its national general strike for the eight-hour-day pass without comment in his magazine. Debs v. United States | The First Amendment Encyclopedia Taft also fired popular conservationist Gifford Pinchot as head of the Bureau of Forestry in 1910. [43] In only two regions, New England and the Pacific, was Wilson's vote greater than the greatest Bryan vote.[44]. [15], The Progressives promised to increase federal regulation and protect the welfare of ordinary people. Taft's conservatism angered Roosevelt, so he challenged Taft for the party nomination at the 1912 Republican National Convention. He was found guilty ofviolating the Espionage Act of 1917, which essentially prohibited all actsincluding speechthat were seditious, and the Sedition Act of 1918, which strengthened the anti-sedition provision of the 1917 law by making it a crime to utter, print, write, or publish any disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language about the U.S. government, Constitution, or armed forces. Advertisement This article was published more than 3 years ago Retropolis The socialist who ran for president from prison and won nearly a million votes Before Bernie and AOC, Eugene V.. Britannica Quiz "The Republican Party Convention of 1912 and the Role of Herbert S. Hadley in National Politics. American institutions are on trial before a court of American citizens. (Read George Bernard Shaw's 1926 Britannica essay on socialism.) Hed opposed U.S. involvement in World War I, believing the war only benefited arms manufacturers and business interests. In the six months he spent behind bars, Debs read a lot, including Karl Marx. [20] Warren G. Harding presented Taft's name for the nomination. "Jane Addams and the Progressive Party Campaign for President in 1912. 388 delegates were selected through the primaries and Roosevelt won 281 delegates, Taft received 71 delegates, and La Follette received 36 delegates. Omissions? [5], Taft also fought against Roosevelt's antitrust policy. This article was published more than3 years ago. In 1977, President Jimmy Carter pardoned many Vietnam War draft resisters who had fled to Canada. [15], Roosevelt broke with tradition and attended the convention, where he was welcomed with great support from voters. Lane County, OR is Strongly liberal. Eugene V. Debs: Socialist 900,369 Eugene W. Chafin Prohibition: 207,972 Arthur E. Reimer . Has Anyone Ever Run for President While in Prison? And More Questions Throughout the nation, draftees skipped physicals, gave a wrong address at their induction or filed claims for exempted status. 1912 United States presidential election - Wikipedia However, Roosevelt had rejected an attempt to abolish delegations from the south at the 1908 Republican National Convention due to him needing them for Taft's nomination. In 1894, workers struck George Pullman's paternalistic railroad sleeping car manufacturing company and the Pullman Company refused to negotiate with the ARU. The 1920 "To the Woman Voter" campaign leaflet seeks . Socialist Party candidate Eugene Debs won 6 percent of the vote. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Two years earlier, Debs, a labor leader, had spoken out against America's . Though Clark received the most votes on early ballots, he was unable to get the two-thirds majority required to win. Other Socialist candidates suffered similar defeats elsewhere, and Debs' dream of a socialist commonwealth, like his earlier dreams of an industrial union for all railroad workers and one big union for all workers, proved illusory. But as scholars dig deeper into the archives, they're discovering a much different side of Katherine Metzel Debs. Workers organized the strike after massive cuts in pay at the Pullman Palace Car Company, and only returned to work after President Cleveland sent federal troops into Chicago to break up the strike. Democratic Governor Woodrow Wilson of New Jersey unseated incumbent Republican President William Howard Taft while defeating former President Theodore Roosevelt (who ran under the banner of the new Progressive or "Bull Moose" Party) and Socialist Party nominee Eugene V. The Presidential Election of 1912 | Teaching American History Debs was beaten by Chafin in two states, Vermont and Delaware, with Debs finishing 5th in both states. No man, Wertz said, even though four times the candidate of his party for the highest office in the land, can violate the basic law of this land.. He finished 2nd in 24 states, behind Wilson in 23, and behind Taft in Vermont. Debs carried four counties: Lake and Beltrami in Minnesota, Burke in North Dakota, and Crawford in Kansas. [15], Herbert S. Hadley served as Roosevelt's floor manager at the convention. If he knew me then, I know him now. social democratic party. The top 1 percent fought tooth-and-nail to keep every nickel they squeezed from the wage slaves whose twelve and sixteen-hour days fueled the industrial revolution. more than 6 years ago. This was the first time since 1852 that Iowa, Maine, New Hampshire, Ohio, and Rhode Island voted for a Democrat, and the first time in history that Massachusetts voted Democratic. Socialist Eugene V. Debs gathered 3,159 votes, the poorest showing for the Socialist party since it was first placed on the Utah ballot in 1904. But in all the history of the world you, the people, have never had a voice in declaring war, and strange as it certainly appears, no war by any nation in any age has ever been declared by the people., He added emphatically: The working class who freely shed their blood and furnish the corpses, have never yet had a voice in either declaring war or making peace. 2023 The Progressive Inc. 931 E. Main Street, Suite 10 Madison, Wisconsin 53703 (608) 257-4626, Eugene Debs Got 1 Million Votes For PresidentAs Convict Number 9653, Increasing the number of people who can vote. [17] Despite Roosevelt's presence in Chicago and his attempts to disqualify Taft supporters, the incumbent ticket of Taft and James S. Sherman was renominated on the first ballot. Democrats would not win Maine again until 1964, Connecticut and Delaware until 1936, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, West Virginia, and Wisconsin until 1932, and Massachusetts and Rhode Island until 1928. Debs' campaign spent only $66,000, mostly on 3.5million leaflets and travel to locally organized rallies. Running for president himself in 1900, Debs received 96,000 votes and in 1901 merged his party with supporters of the reformist wing of the Socialist Labor Party to form the Socialist Party of America. Though Wilson's rhetoric paid homage to the traditional Democratic Party skepticisms of government and "collectivism", after his election win Wilson would embrace some of the progressive reforms which Roosevelt had campaigned on. Wilson won the presidency with a lower percentage of the popular vote than any candidate since Abraham Lincoln in 1860. He is working on two books, one on forgotten labor history and one on the fatally flawed foster and adoption system, and some ways to fix it. Schrank was immediately disarmed and captured. When the news hit the papers, veterans groups protested and Harding now had to factor in the political optics of their opposition. On Nov. 18, 1918 a week after Armistice Day he was sentenced to three concurrent 10-year sentences and lost his right to vote. Politics & Voting in Eugene, Oregon - Sperling's BestPlaces As of 2023, 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. 1912 Presidential General Election Results Wertz called several draft-age men in a vain attempt to prove the speech discouraged registration. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. He finished 3rd in 21 states. But it forged a new Marine Corps.
