Monday, Mar. 29, 2010
The Bull Moose Party
Shaking up the predictable Republican-Democratic dynamic in the 1912 presidential election was former Commander in Chief Teddy Roosevelt. When it became clear that he would not receive the Republican nomination — the powers in Roosevelt's former party stuck with the more conservative incumbent William Howard Taft — Roosevelt ran as the candidate of the newly formed Progressive Party. The new group took its nickname from the old Rough Rider himself, who boasted that he was "as strong as a bull moose." While America did not end up choosing Roosevelt, the party had a strong enough showing to split the Republican vote, thereby enabling Democrat Woodrow Wilson to take office.