Presidential Election of 1904

THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION of 1904, according to the New York Times, should have vaulted Democrat Alton B. Parker to the presidency over Republican Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt concerning the issue of the Panama Canal. The Times, however, was wrong and Roosevelt won in a landslide. Despite his long tenure as president, this was the only presidential election that Roosevelt won on his own accord. After the election, he noted, “I am glad to be elected President in my own right.” In many ways, Roosevelt was the first modern celebrity president, with great charisma and outstanding oratory skills, and his popularity played a pivotal role in the election of 1904.

Roosevelt, who had become president after William McKinley was assassinated in 1901, won with relative ease over Parker with over 57 percent of the popular vote. He received 336 votes in the Electoral College to Parker's 140 votes. Geographically, the split between Roosevelt and Parker was evident, with Roosevelt sweeping the north and west of the country, while Parker took the south. Of the 45 states in the union at the time, Parker carried all 13 southernmost states, from Maryland down to Florida and over to Texas. This, at least in terms of party, is the reverse of modern politics, whereby the Republican Party usually takes the south and the Democratic Party wins the northeast. Besides Roosevelt and Parker, a third-party candidate, Eugene V. Debs, garnered three percent of the popular vote for the Socialist Party.

At the outset, the election may not have seemed like it would even be close, but Parker had his opportunities with internal Republican quarrels, such as trade issues, and Roosevelt's policies regarding large corporations. Roosevelt had views similar to his predecessor, McKinley, with regards to the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1902, which led to some of his problems with big business. Among other things, the Democratic Party charged that Roosevelt wanted power for many years to come. Instead, he declared on Election Day that he would not seek a third term. Roosevelt would later renege on this commitment as he sought the presidency, in the 1912 election, for the Progressive Party (Bull Moose Party), when he was unable to overtake President Taft for the Republican Party nomination, despite a larger share of the delegates.