1912 Progressive National Convention

1912 Progressive National Convention

1912 presidential election
Nominees Roosevelt and Johnson
Convention
Date(s)	August 5 - August 7
City	Chicago, Illinois
Venue	Chicago Coliseum
Candidates
Presidential nominee	Theodore Roosevelt of New York
Vice Presidential nominee	Hiram Johnson of California
Other candidates	none
Voting
Total delegates	2000+
Votes needed for nomination	?
Results (President)	Theodore Roosevelt (NY): 2000+ (100%)
Ballots	1
1916 ›

Being angry at their candidate being robbed of the 1912 Republican presidential nomination they thought was rightfully his, supporters of former president Theodore Roosevelt convened in Chicago and endorsed the formation of a national progressive party. When formally launched later that summer, the new Progressive Party acclaimed Roosevelt as its presidential nominee and Governor Hiram Johnson of California as his running mate. Questioned by reporters, Roosevelt said he felt as strong as a "bull moose." Henceforth known as the "Bull Moose Party," the Progressives promised to increase federal regulation and protect the welfare of ordinary people.

The party was funded by publisher Frank Munsey and its executive secretary George Walbridge Perkins, an employee of banker J. P. Morgan and International Harvester. Perkins blocked an anti-trust plank, shocking reformers who thought of Roosevelt as a true trust-buster. The delegates to the convention sang the hymn "Onward, Christian Soldiers" as their anthem. In a famous acceptance speech, Roosevelt compared the coming presidential campaign to the Battle of Armageddon and stated that the Progressives were going to "battle for the Lord."

The August convention opened with great enthusiasm. Over 2,000 delegates attended, including many women. In 1912, neither the Republican candidate, President Taft, nor the Democratic nominee Woodrow Wilson, had endorsed women's suffrage on the national level and the famed suffragette and social worker Jane Addams gave a seconding speech for Roosevelt's nomination.

Although Roosevelt insisted on excluding African-American Republicans from the South (whom he regarded as a corrupt and ineffective element), he did include black delegates from all other parts of the country, and he further alienated white southern supporters on the eve of the election by publicly dining with black people at a Rhode Island hotel.