Roosevelt and Wilson Election

Essay by Babyphat09University, Bachelor'sA-, October 2014

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Election 1

Presidential Election of Roosevelt & Wilson

HIS204 American History Since 1865

Instructor

February 18, 2013

The election of 1912 was one of the most controversial elections of all time. The two frontrunners were Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. Wilson represented the Democratic Party while Roosevelt represented Progressive, or Bull Moose Party. William H. Taft represented the Republicans while Eugene Debs was a Socialist. Taft and Roosevelt started out as friends, with Taft even working closely with Roosevelt. Later they would have disagreements on certain policies and become enemies. Roosevelt and Wilson seemed to have wanted a similar goal, although their views were quite different. Wilson and Roosevelt were both Progressives that sought progressivism to be in control of the government. William Taft was in a league of his own; being one of the most modest candidates to date.

Theodore Roosevelt mainly focused on what he coined as 'The Square Deal."

The main focus of the Square Deal was to end inequality. Roosevelt was all about growth whether it was dealing with government, business or labor. In 1902, a large group of miners went on strike. The miners wanted better pay and better housing situations. Typically the military would intervene and force the miners to work by threat. With Roosevelt, he felt peaceful negotiation would work best. The miners refused to compromise with the political pressure and remained on strike. At this point using Roosevelt's canny thinking, he threatened that the army would take over working (Davidson 2008). The mining companies knew this meant they would no longer be making a profit if the army took over their mines, so they agreed to the miner's demands in order to end the strike.

In his first State of the Union address, he told Congress that he did not oppose...