Editing Theodore Roosevelt (section)

===Election of 1912===
{{Main|1912 United States presidential election}}

====Republican primaries and convention====
[[File:For Auld Lang Syne - Leonard Raven-Hill.jpg|thumb|''Punch'' in May 1912, depicting no-holds-barred fight between [[Howard Taft]] and Roosevelt]]
In November 1911, a group of Ohio Republicans endorsed Roosevelt for the party's nomination for president. Roosevelt conspicuously declined to refuse a nomination. Soon thereafter, Roosevelt said, "I am really sorry for Taft... I am sure he means well, but he means well feebly, and he does not know how! He is utterly unfit for leadership and this is a time when we need leadership." In January 1912, Roosevelt declared "if the people make a draft on me I shall not decline to serve".{{Sfn|Brands|1997|p=698}} Roosevelt spoke before the Constitutional Convention in Ohio, identifying as a progressive and endorsing progressive reforms—even endorsing popular review of state judicial decisions.{{Sfn|Brands|1997|p=703}} In reaction to Roosevelt's proposals Taft said, "Such extremists are not progressives—they are political emotionalists or neurotics".{{Sfn|Brands|1997|p=709}}

Roosevelt began to envision himself as the savior of the party from defeat in the upcoming election. In February 1912 in [[Boston]], Roosevelt said, "I will accept the nomination for president if it is tendered to me".{{Sfn|Brands|1997|p=705}}<ref name="gloriousr">{{cite book | title = The Glorious Burden: The American Presidency | url = https://archive.org/details/gloriousburden00lora | url-access = registration | last=Lorant |first= Stefan |year= 1968 |page= [https://archive.org/details/gloriousburden00lora/page/512 512] | publisher = Harper & Row | isbn = 0-06-012686-8}}</ref> Elihu Root and Henry Cabot Lodge thought division would lead to defeat in the election, while Taft believed he would be defeated either in the primary or general election.{{Sfn|Brands|1997|p=706}}

The 1912 primaries represented the first extensive use of the [[United States presidential primary|presidential primary]], a reform achievement of the progressive movement.<ref>{{cite book|last=Norrander|first=Barbara|title=The Imperfect Primary: Oddities, Biases, and Strengths of U.S. Presidential Nomination Politics|date=2015|publisher=Routledge|page=14|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KbSgBgAAQBAJ|isbn=978-1-317-55332-8|access-date=October 6, 2017|archive-date=August 14, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210814074817/https://books.google.com/books?id=KbSgBgAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Republican Party presidential primaries, 1912|Republican primaries]] in the South, where party regulars dominated, went for Taft, as did New York, Indiana, Michigan, Kentucky, and Massachusetts. Meanwhile, Roosevelt won in Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota, California, Maryland, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.<ref>Norman M. Wilensky, ''Conservatives in the Progressive Era: The Taft Republicans of 1912'' (1965) pp. 61–62.</ref> At the [[1912 Republican National Convention]] in Chicago, Taft won the nomination on the first ballot.{{Sfn|Miller|1992|pp=524–526}}

According to [[Lewis L. Gould]], in 1912 <blockquote> Roosevelt saw Taft as the agent of "the forces of reaction and of political crookedness".... Roosevelt had become the most dangerous man in American history, said Taft, "because of his hold upon the less intelligent voters and the discontented." The Republican National Committee, dominated by the Taft forces, awarded 235 delegates to the president and 19 to Roosevelt...Roosevelt believed himself entitled to 72 delegates from Arizona, California, Texas and Washington that had been given to Taft. Firm in his conviction that the nomination was being stolen from him, Roosevelt ....told cheering supporters that there was "a great moral issue" at stake and he should have "sixty to eighty lawfully elected delegates" added to his total....Roosevelt ended his speech declaring: "Fearless of the future; unheeding of our individual fates; with unflinching hearts and undimmed eyes; we stand at Armageddon, and we battle for the Lord!"<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Lewis L. |last=Gould|title=1912 Republican Convention: Return of the Rough Rider|magazine=Smithsonian Magazine'|date=August 2008 |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/1912-republican-convention-855607/}}</ref></blockquote>

====Progressive Party====
{{See also|New Nationalism (Theodore Roosevelt)|Bull Moose Party}}
[[File:Perkins-pinchot.JPG|thumb|A 1912 cartoon depicting George Perkins (left, with checkbook symbolizing control of money) and [[Amos Pinchot]] (wielding an endorsement from Roosevelt campaign manager, Senator [[Joseph M. Dixon]]) in battle for Progressive Party control]]
Once his defeat appeared probable, Roosevelt announced he would "accept the progressive nomination on a progressive platform and I shall fight to the end, win or lose". Roosevelt prophetically said, "My feeling is that the Democrats will probably win if they nominate a progressive".{{Sfn|Brands|1997|p=717}} Roosevelt left the Republican Party and created the Progressive Party.{{sfn|Miller|1992|p=526}}{{Sfn|Gould|2008a|pp=127–128}} Leadership of the new party included a range of reformers. Jane Addams campaigned vigorously for the party as a breakthrough in social reform.<ref>Allen F. Davis, ''American Heroine: The Life and Legend of Jane Addams'' (1973) pp. 185–197.</ref> [[Gifford Pinchot]] represented environmentalists and anti-trust crusaders. Publisher [[Frank Munsey]] provided cash<ref>Marena Cole, "A Progressive Conservative": The Roles of George Perkins and Frank Munsey in the Progressive Party Campaign of 1912" (PhD dissertation, Tufts University ProQuest Dissertations Publishing,  2017. 10273522).</ref> and [[George Walbridge Perkins|George W. Perkins]], a Wall Street financier came from the [[efficiency movement]]. He handled the new party's finances efficiently but was distrusted by many reformers.<ref>John A. Garraty, ''Right-Hand Man: The Life of George W. Perkins'' (1960) pp. 264–284.</ref>

Governor [[Hiram Johnson]] controlled the California party, forcing out the Taft supporters. He was nominated as Roosevelt's running mate.<ref>{{cite journal | doi=10.2307/3636471 | jstor=3636471 | last1=Lincoln | first1=A. | title=Theodore Roosevelt, Hiram Johnson, and the Vice-Presidential Nomination of 1912 | journal=Pacific Historical Review | year=1959 | volume=28 | issue=3 | pages=267–283 }}</ref> Roosevelt's platform echoed his radical 1907–1908 proposals, calling for vigorous government intervention to protect the people from selfish interests:

{{blockquote|To destroy this invisible Government, to dissolve the [[wikt:unholy alliance|unholy alliance]] between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day.<ref>{{Cite news | first = Patricia | last = O'Toole |title=The War of 1912 |date=June 25, 2006 |work=[[Time Magazine]] | url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1207791-2,00.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060703102342/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1207791-2,00.html | archive-date = July 3, 2006 |access-date=August 8, 2008}}</ref>{{Sfn|Roosevelt|1913|loc = [http://www.bartleby.com/55/15b.html XV. The Peace of Righteousness, Appendix B]}} This country belongs to the people. Its resources, its business, its laws, its institutions, should be utilized, maintained, or altered in whatever manner will best promote the general interest. This assertion is explicit... Mr. Wilson must know that every monopoly in the United States opposes the Progressive party... I challenge him... to name the monopoly that did support the Progressive party, whether... the Sugar Trust, the US Steel Trust, the Harvester Trust, the Standard Oil Trust, the Tobacco Trust, or any other... Ours was the only program to which they objected, and they supported either Mr. Wilson or Mr. Taft.{{Sfn|Thayer|1919|loc=Chapter XXII|pp=25–31}}}}

Though many Progressive party activists in the North opposed the steady loss of civil rights for blacks, Roosevelt ran a "[[Lily-white movement|lily-white]]" campaign in the South. Rival all-white and all-black delegations from southern states arrived at the Progressive national convention, and Roosevelt decided to seat the all-white delegations.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 2191208|title = The South and the Progressive Lily White Party of 1912|journal = The Journal of Southern History|volume = 6|issue = 2|pages = 237–247|last1 = Mowry|first1 = George E.|year = 1940|doi = 10.2307/2191208}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 2715292|title = The Negro as a Factor in the Campaign of 1912|journal = The Journal of Negro History|volume = 32|issue = 1|pages = 81–99|last1 = Link|first1 = Arthur S.|year = 1947|doi = 10.2307/2715292| s2cid=150222134 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 23515317|title = Theodore Roosevelt and the South in 1912|journal = The North Carolina Historical Review|volume = 23|issue = 3|pages = 313–324|last1 = Link|first1 = Arthur S.|year = 1946}}</ref> Nevertheless, he won few votes outside traditional Republican strongholds. Out of 1,100 counties in the South, Roosevelt won two counties in Alabama, one in Arkansas, seven in North Carolina, three in Georgia, 17 in Tennessee, two in Texas, one in Virginia, and none in Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, or South Carolina.<ref>Edgar Eugene Robinson, ''The Presidential Vote 1896–1932'' (1947), pp. 65–127.</ref>

====Attempted assassination====
{{Main|Attempted assassination of Theodore Roosevelt}}
On October 14, 1912, while arriving at a campaign event in [[Milwaukee]], Roosevelt was shot by delusional saloonkeeper [[John Schrank]], who believed the ghost of assassinated president [[William McKinley]] had directed him to kill Roosevelt.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1943/09/17/archives/schrank-who-shot-t-roosevelt-dies-insane-man-had-no-visitors-in-31.html |title=Schrank, Who Shot T. Roosevelt, Dies |date=September 17, 1943 |work=The New York Times |page=23 |access-date=May 6, 2021 |url-access=limited |archive-date=May 6, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210506155913/https://www.nytimes.com/1943/09/17/archives/schrank-who-shot-t-roosevelt-dies-insane-man-had-no-visitors-in-31.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>Stan Gores, "The attempted assassination of Teddy Roosevelt." ''Wisconsin Magazine of History'' (1970) 53#4: 269–277 [https://content.wisconsinhistory.org/digital/collection/wmh/id/25324/rec/1 online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126010614/https://content.wisconsinhistory.org/digital/collection/wmh/id/25324/rec/1 |date=January 26, 2021 }}</ref> The bullet lodged in Roosevelt's chest after penetrating his eyeglass case and passing through a 50-page folded copy of the speech titled "[[s::Progressive Cause Greater Than Any Individual|Progressive Cause Greater Than Any Individual]]".<ref>{{cite web | work = Museum | title = Artifacts | url = http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/museum/artifacts/archives/001692.asp | publisher = Wisconsin Historical Society | access-date = September 14, 2010 | archive-date = November 5, 2010 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101105085613/http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/museum/artifacts/archives/001692.asp | url-status= live }}</ref> Schrank was disarmed and captured by Roosevelt's [[Shorthand|stenographer]], [[Elbert E. Martin]] as he attempted to fire a second time, and might have been lynched had Roosevelt not shouted for Schrank to remain unharmed.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Congress|first=United States|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YnQelRTN9AEC&q=frank+bukovsky+theodore+roosevelt&pg=SL1-PA1146|title=Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the ... Congress|date=1951|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|access-date=October 31, 2020|archive-date=August 14, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210814104934/https://books.google.com/books?id=YnQelRTN9AEC&q=frank+bukovsky+theodore+roosevelt&pg=SL1-PA1146|url-status=live}}</ref> Roosevelt assured the crowd he was all right, then ordered police to take Schrank and make sure no violence was done to him.<ref name="remey">{{cite book |first1=Oliver E. |last1=Remey |first2=Henry F. |last2=Cochems |first3=Wheeler P. |last3=Bloodgood |title=The Attempted Assassination of Ex-President Theodore Roosevelt |publisher=The Progressive Publishing Company |year=1912 |page=192 |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/21261 |access-date=March 20, 2018 |archive-date=June 21, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180621170923/http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/21261 |url-status=live }}</ref>

As an experienced hunter and anatomist, Roosevelt correctly concluded that since he was not coughing blood, the bullet had not reached his lung. He declined to go to hospital immediately and instead delivered a [[s:I have just been shot|90-minute speech]] with blood seeping into his shirt.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.doctorzebra.com/prez/z_x26a_g.htm |title= Medical History of American Presidents |publisher= Doctor Zebra |access-date= September 14, 2010 |archive-date= October 20, 2010 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20101020003715/http://doctorzebra.com/prez/z_x26a_g.htm |url-status= live }}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=September 2021}} Only afterwards did he accept medical attention. Probes and an [[x-ray]] showed the bullet had lodged in Roosevelt's chest muscle, but did not penetrate the [[pleura]]. Doctors concluded it would be less dangerous to leave it than attempt to remove it, and Roosevelt carried the bullet in him for the rest of his life.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.theodoreroosevelt.org/life/timeline.htm |title=Roosevelt Timeline |publisher=Theodore Roosevelt |access-date=September 14, 2010 |archive-date=May 29, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100529022345/http://www.theodoreroosevelt.org/life/timeline.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>Gerard Helferich, ''Theodore Roosevelt and the Assassin: Madness, Vengeance, and the Campaign of 1912'' (2013)</ref> Taft and Democratic nominee [[Woodrow Wilson]] suspended their campaigning until Roosevelt resumed his. When asked if the shooting would affect his election campaign, he said to the reporter "I'm fit as a bull moose." The bull moose became a symbol of Roosevelt and the Progressive Party, and it often was referred to as the [[Bull Moose Party]]. He spent two weeks recuperating before returning to campaign. He wrote a friend about the bullet, "I do not mind it any more than if it were in my waistcoat-pocket."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Roosevelt |first1=Theodore |editor1-last=Bishop |editor1-first=Joseph Bucklin |title=The Works of Theodore Roosevelt, Volume 24 - Theodore Roosevelt and His Times Shown in His Own Letters |date=1926 |publisher=[[C. Scribner's Sons]] |page=405 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rYunAPADRLAC&pg=PA405 |access-date=January 20, 2024}}</ref>

====Democratic victory====
After the Democrats nominated Governor Woodrow Wilson, Roosevelt did not expect to win the election, as Wilson had compiled a record attractive to progressive Democrats who might have considered voting for Roosevelt.{{Sfn|Miller|1992|p=529}} Roosevelt still campaigned vigorously, and the election developed into a two-person contest despite Taft's quiet presence. Roosevelt respected Wilson, but they differed on various issues; Wilson opposed federal intervention regarding [[women's suffrage]] or [[child labor]], and attacked Roosevelt's tolerance of large businesses.{{Sfn|Miller|1992|pp=529–530}}

Roosevelt won 4.1&nbsp;million votes (27%), compared to Taft's 3.5&nbsp;million (23%) and Wilson's 6.3&nbsp;million (42%). Wilson scored a landslide in the [[Electoral College (United States)|Electoral College]] with 435 electoral votes; Roosevelt 88, and Taft 8. Pennsylvania was the only eastern state won by Roosevelt; in the Midwest, he carried Michigan, Minnesota, and South Dakota; in the West, California, and Washington.{{Sfn|Gould|2008a|p=132}} Roosevelt garnered a [[List of third party performances in United States presidential elections|higher share of the popular vote]] than any other third-party presidential candidate in history and won the most states of any third-party candidate after the Civil War.<ref name="cnnthirdparty1">{{cite news|last1=Dexter|first1=Jim|title=How third-party candidates affect elections|url=http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/03/10/how-third-party-candidates-affect-elections/|access-date=November 7, 2016|publisher=CNN|date=March 10, 2010|archive-date=November 13, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161113080626/http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/03/10/how-third-party-candidates-affect-elections/|url-status=dead}}</ref>