Summary Of The 1912 Election And The Power Of Progressivism

The 1912 Election and the Power of Progressivism: A Brief History with Documents by Brett Flehinger is about the four Presidential candidates during the election of 1912, their political parties and campaigns. The book shows how opposed each candidate 's platform was and which problems the candidates agreed on. The book has documents from this time to further aid in understanding what exactly was happening. None of the candidates, however, were as different as Theodore Roosevelt and his predecessor, William Howard Taft. Their platforms and ideas regarding trusts, direct democracy and courts and the constitution differed greatly, whilst they agreed on the important issue of women 's suffrage. In the early 1900s, corporations and monopolies were major concerns, especially the larger corporations and monopolies that dominated the market and were controlled by trusts.

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Theodore Roosevelt and Howard Taft 's platforms on trusts and direct democracy, judicial recall and constitution usage in courts may have contrasted, but they did share similar opinions about women 's voting rights. Roosevelt, throughout the entirety of the election made his opinion on Taft very clear. Roosevelt said "But I do not care for Taft, indeed I think less of him as time goes on, in spite of the fact that I believe he is improving his position before the people. He is a flubdub with a streak of the second-rate and the common in him, and he has not the slightest idea of what is necessary if this country is to make social and industrial progress" (72). Taft, similarly, based much of his campaign on bad mouthing Roosevelt, while simultaneously advocating strong constitutional governing of the people. The predecessor of Roosevelt stated, “He criticizes me because I prosecuted the Standard Oil Company and the Tobacco Company through to the Supreme Court and got decrees there.” Both Roosevelt and Taft had well thought out campaigns that eventually morphed into attempts to turn the people