1912: Wilson, Roosevelt, Taft & Debs-The Election That Changed the Country

James Chace has an exquisite use of the written word and biographical knowledge to depict the key players in the Election of 1912 with humanity and true personality. He understands the inner struggles and personal agenda of the candidates and how each one played a part in changing history forever. Mark A. Leon Author - Sonni's Abyss

I read 1912 expecting your typical Woodwardesque political history. What I got was probably the best read of the year and one of my favorite works of nonfiction. Not only was 1912 the election that changed America, it also firmly established conservative principles of the Republican party while featuring a cast of four of the most colorful characters ever featured in a presidential election. I was especially impressed with the treatment of Eugene V. Debs, usually overlooked by historians except for the bit of trivia about pulling 1 million votes from prison. I whole-heartedly recommend James Chase brilliant 1912.

Despite the apocalyptic title, the fact is that for all of the candidates for the presidency the nominations and subsequent campaign of 1912 could not come fast enough. For everything claimed about the 1912 election being a benchmark of later twentieth century electoral trends, the candidates themselves were men running on empty or close to it. Where the four candidates themselves [three, realistically, at any rate] were concerned, the prize of the White House was a reprieve from decline, oblivion, or in Debs' case, jail. One can argue whether Eugene Debs deserves the attention he commands in this work. On election day he tallied about what one would expect from the least known candidate in a four man race, and there is no reading of the results that suggests Debs' share of the vote seriously affected the outcome. But the Socialist candidate is a charming fellow in his own way, an Adlai Stevenson in coveralls or a cheap suit, and James Chace gives him extended exposure to a current generation that has forgotten the struggles of American Labor. Debs was a combination of things: laborer, philosopher, public office holder, labor leader, and perennial presidential candidate. The 1912 election would be his fourth run for the White House, though even Debs realized that his presidential campaigns were more about exposure on the bully pulpit than the prize itself. Chace provides a biography that briefly chronicles not just the colorful career of Debs but a thumbnail sketch of the labor-management problems coming to a boil in mainstream electoral politics. Unfortunately for Debs in 1912, the issue of populism was now becoming semi-respectable, and others with more name recognition were willing to take the banner that Debs had manfully carried alone in past elections. Robert LaFollette appeared to be the front-runner until a physical and mental breakdown led reform-minded Republican governors in the West to coax, if that be the right word, Theodore Roosevelt out of retirement. If the reader winces at the juxtaposition of "coax" and "Roosevelt," that is probably understandable. Yet Roosevelt's third party candidacy was not an inevitability. The popular wisdom has held that Roosevelt was literally panting to get back into the limelight, that four years of retirement had been a torment. This is only partly true. Roosevelt, for all his faults, was no fool. He knew he would be running against an incumbent of his own party, albeit a weak one, a crossing of the Rubicon if ever there was one. Unfortunately for Roosevelt, this was also an incumbent he had hand picked and groomed, a man once seen by Roosevelt as something of a younger brother. The rupture of Roosevelt's relationship with William Howard Taft was tragic, public, and unbearably cruel, and its impact was that of a two-edged sword in this campaign. Moreover, Roosevelt's sense of two-party order was strong; his positioning as a potential third-party reformer would put him in close proximity with peo

This history of the 1912 Presidential Election details the events of one of the most dramatic years in US history. In 1912 the US had been through approximately a dozen years of reform and regulation known by historians as the Progressive Era. The Republican Party, led by Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft, had been the chief agent of Progressive legislation during two Administrations. Now in 1912 the GOP turned on itself, with the widely perceived as more conservative Taft, the incumbent President, in battle with his former friend Theodore Roosevelt, who had become steadily more radical in his thinking. The result was a revolt at the Republican Convention and the splintering off of the Progressive or Bull Moose Party. The Democrats had been traditionally slower to embrace Progressive reforms, but in 1912 their standardbearer Woodrow Wilson, originally nominated as a conservative, led them to acceptance of a reforming agenda. Finally, Eugene Debs and his Socialist Party had been calling for even more far reaching reforms. The election ended with an Electoral College landslide for Wilson and the Democrats. The Socialists and the Progressives did quite well in the popular vote, and the more conservative Republicans were all but annihilated. The realignment which began in 1912 led to the Democrats becoming the chief party of reform in the twentieth century, with the Republicans locked in battle between their conservative and moderate wings. Much of the next century's political history was set on course in 1912. This is a well written account of the election which does not go deeply into theory or ideology. It is a personal account, with many entertaining anecdotes and biographies of the candidates and their families and supporters. I recommend it for arm chair politicians and historians.

This is a great story. The election of 1912 was one of the few times since 1804 when the country was given the opportunity to debate its future.James Chace, a history profession Bard College, spins an interesting and readable story about the four men who sought office. Theodore Roosevelt, a former President, sought to redirect the Republican Party's focus towards nationalism and social justice.William Howard Taft, his chosen successor, wanted only to sit on the Supreme Court.Woodrow Wilson, the former president of Princeton, who surprised himself and the nation by snatching New Jersey governorship without the support of the state's political bosses.Eugene Debs, running for the third time as a Socialist, sought economic justice for all the country's workers.What made the 1912 campaign unusual by today's standards was the race was punctuated by a basic decency, honesty and quality of debate rarely seen in my lifetime. Chace recounts it all. 1912 changed America. Had Roosevelt been the Republican nominee he almost surely would have been re-elected president. His platform would have transformed his party into the party of reform. Instead, the GOP passed into a conservative ascendancy that peaked with Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. Today, the party still struggles between reform and reaction, isolationism and internationalism. If you are tired of our current quadrennial circus, this trip into our nation's past may restore your faith in our system. The election of 1912 dealt with substantive issues. The candidates staked out differentiated positions. The nation spoke. Chace relates the story with all the zeal and passion it held for participants and voters in 1912.