Taft ran for re-election, but when a bitter Theodore Roosevelt split the vote by forming the Progressive Bull Moose Party, it opened the door for the election of the Democrat candidate, Woodrow Wilson.
Taft alienated many groups.
Teddy Roosevelt wanted a third term but did not get the Republican nomination so he organized his own party and ran against both Taft and Wilson. Added together, he and Taft got enough votes to beat Wilson, but with the vote split between them. they both lost.
It was a three-way contest. Teddy Roosevelt had been president for almost eight years since the assassination of McKinley, so he proposed that William Howard Taft be nominated to run as a Republican. Taft won, but within a year Roosevelt was unhappy with the course of his administration, which reversed Roosevelt's progressive path. So in 1912 Roosevelt decided to run against Taft as soon as the Republican convention had renominated him. His supporters convened and formed the Progressive party (nicknamed "Bull Moose" after T.R.), while the Democrats nominated Woodrow Wilson, the governor of New Jersey. Because the Republican voters were thus divided, Wilson won, T.R. came in second, and Taft ran a poor third.
The Republican Party was badly hurt in 1912 when ex-Republican president Theodore Roosevelt ran as a third party candidate against incumbent Taft. Roosevelt split the Republican vote, giving Wilson the win. Roosevelt and Taft together had more than enough votes to win.
If all of Taft's popular votes and all of Roosevelt's popular votes were combined in each state and given to one Republican candidate, that candidate would have won with a total of 379 (71.4%) of the 531 electoral votes. The Democratic Party would have won only AL, AZ, AR, FL, GA, KY, LA, MS, NC, OK, SC, TN, TX & VA (152 votes total).
Former President Theodore Roosevelt created the Progressive Party (nicknamed the "Bull Moose Party") after he failed to receive the Republic nomination in the 1912 presidential election. Democratic Party candidate Woodrow Wilson benefitted from the 1912 split in the Republican Party. Woodrow Wilson won the 1912 presidential election defeating Progressive Party candidate Theodore Roosevelt and Republican Party candidate incumbent President William Taft. In the 1912 presidential election Woodrow Wilson received 435 electoral votes, Theodore Roosevelt received 88 electoral votes, and William Taft received 8 electoral votes. The popular vote totals were Wilson 6,293,152 (42%), Roosevelt 4,119,207 (27%), and Taft 3,483,922 (23%). Socialist Party candidate Eugene Debs received 901,551 (6%) popular votes and no electoral votes.
President Taft Signing the Arizona Bill - 1912 was released on: USA: 17 February 1912
The cast of Taft and His Cabinet - 1912 includes: William Howard Taft as Himself - President
The cast of President Taft Signing the Arizona Bill - 1912 includes: William Howard Taft as himself Helen Taft as herself
William Howard Taft, the incumbent President, was nominated by the Republicans for a second term in 1912.
In April of 1912, William H. Taft was President of the United States.
President Taft in 1912
President William Taft was the Republican Party candidate in the 1912 presidential election .
New Mexico became a state in 1912. The president of the United States at that time was William Howard Taft.
Woodrow Wilson was elected President in 1912.
william taft
The incumbent President, William Howard Taft, ran for the Republicans and lost to Wilson in 1912.
William Howard Taft was the incumbent Republican President and was nominated for a second term by his party in 1912. Teddy Roosevelt who started off as a Republican left and started a new party. This cost Taft the re-election and put a Democrat, Woodrow Wilson in as President.