Presidential Election of 1908

WITH PRESIDENT THEODORE Roosevelt deciding to not run for a third term, William Howard Taft, Roosevelt's choice for the Republican nomination, handily defeated Democrat William Tennings Bryan, who was making his third run for the office. In 1904, the Democrats turned away from Bryan, nominating Alton Parker, a “gold bug” and conservative, as the party's standard-bearer. Following Parker's devastating defeat by Roosevelt, the Democrats again turned to the progressive wing of their party for a candidate in 1908, and Bryan would once again be a frontrunner for the party's nomination.

Minnesota Governor fohn Albert fohnson challenged Bryan for the Democratic nomination. Bryan, who had been the Democratic nominee in 1896 and 1900, losing to William McKinley both times, handily defeated fohnson on the first ballot at the Democratic Convention, which took place in Denver, Colorado in July 1908. The party nominated fohn W Kern of Indiana for vice president.

When the Republicans met in Tune 1908 at the Chicago Coliseum, the other candidates seeking the nomination included loseph Cannon, the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; New York Governor Charles Evans Hughes; Wisconsin Senator Robert M. LaFollette; and former Treasury Secretary Leslie M. Shaw, who had resigned from Roosevelt's cabinet in 1907. With Roosevelt's support, Taft secured the Republican nomination on the third ballot. Taft offered the vice presidential nomination to Hughes, who declined and instead ran for re-election in New York. Taft then selected another New Yorker, Congressman lames S. Sherman, as his running mate. Sherman was considered a progressive in the party, and Taft chose him over Massachusetts Governor Curtis Guild, Ir., a member of the conservative Stalwart wing of the Republican Party, who had been seeking support for the nomination.

Both parties candidates claimed that they were best qualified to continue Roosevelt's progressive agenda. Bryan, who in his previous two campaigns had run on a platform calling for the United States to lower the gold standard to silver, abandoned that issue in his 1908 campaign. Instead, Bryan offered a progressive agenda similar to Roosevelt's, promoting “trust busting.” Bryan said that, if he were elected, he would wage war on the trusts and big banks, and regulate the railroads. He also proposed [Page 611]that the government guarantee deposits held in national banks, a plan that Taft contended would put a premium on reckless banking. Bryan attempted to gain the support of organized labor, but was unsuccessful.

Taft, as Roosevelt's chosen successor, also campaigned on the progressive agenda made popular by Roosevelt. The Republican slogan, “Vote for Taft now, you can vote for Bryan anytime,” was a reference to Bryan's many campaigns for the presidency. Taft opposed free trade, contending that the periods of protection in the United States had been the periods of prosperity. This stand insured the support of big business for the Republican ticket. Bryan made a major strategic error when, while campaigning, he called for a takeover by the federal government of the nation's railroads. While the Democrats had called for government regulation of the railroads in their platform, Bryan's stand went beyond that and it backfired, as many voters saw Bryan's plans as socialistic.

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