Tuesday, Nov. 04, 2008
1912: Split Decision
The scholarly and cerebral Wilson, ex-president of Princeton University, benefited greatly from a split in the Republican Party. Former President Roosevelt ran as a Progressive, taking votes from Republican incumbent President William Howard Taft. Democrat Wilson won with just 42% of the popular vote. Though more understated than T.R. (who wasn't?), Wilson also took a big-stick approach, using it to rein in Big Business. He helped create the Federal Trade Commission and signed the Clayton Anti-Trust Act, both of which gave regulators authority to limit the power of large corporations.