Bull Moose Party in the United States
Progressive Party (United States) The Bull Moose Party
Introduction to Bull Moose Party
The first Progressive Party, known colloquially as the Bull Moose Party, was founded after a bitter fight for the Republican presidential nomination among the incumbent president William H. Taft, the Wisconsin senator Robert M. La Follette (leader of the Republican Party’s progressive “insurgents”), and the former president Theodore Roosevelt. At the Republican convention in June 1912, most La Follette supporters switched to Roosevelt, but the nomination went to Taft. Roosevelt, incensed at Taft’s conservative bent, then formed the Progressive Party. Many liberal Republicans bolted to the new party, which in August 1912 nominated Roosevelt for president and the California governor Hiram W. Johnson for vice president. Condemning Taft as unduly responsive to big business, the Progressives advocated primary elections, prohibition of child labor, woman suffrage, national social insurance, and restrictions on the use of injunctions in labor disputes. Although the Progressives greatly outpolled the Republicans in the election, the net result was a victory for the Democratic candidate, Woodrow Wilson. Most Progressives soon rejoined the Republican Party, and the Progressive Party died out in 1917.” (1)
Resources
Notes and References
- Information about Bull Moose Party in the Encarta Online Encyclopedia