The United States presidential election of 1908 was held on November 3, 1908. Popular incumbent President Theodore Roosevelt, honoring a promise not to seek a third term, persuaded the Republicans to nominate William Howard Taft, his close friend and Secretary of War, as his successor. Having badly lost the 1904 election with a conservative candidate, the Democrats turned to two-time nominee William Jennings Bryan, who had been defeated in 1896 and 1900 by Republican William McKinley. Despite his two previous defeats, Bryan remained extremely popular among the more liberal and populist elements of the Democratic Party. Despite running a vigorous campaign against the nation's business elite, Bryan suffered the worst loss in his three presidential campaigns, and Taft won by a comfortable margin.
Nominations
Republican Party nomination
Republican candidates
- Joseph Cannon, U.S. Speaker of the House from Illinois
- Charles W. Fairbanks, U.S. Vice President from Indiana
- Joseph B. Foraker, U.S. senator from Ohio
- Charles Evans Hughes, U.S. governor of New York
- Philander C. Knox, U.S. senator from Pennsylvania
- Robert M. LaFollette, U.S. senator from Wisconsin
- Leslie M. Shaw, former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury from Iowa
- William H. Taft, U.S. Secretary of War from Ohio
Candidates gallery
The 1908 Republican Convention was held in Chicago from 16 June to 19 June. Prominent Republican candidates included House Speaker Joseph Gurney Cannon of Illinois, Charles Evans Hughes of New York, Leslie M. Shaw of Iowa and Robert M. La Follette of Wisconsin, but William Howard Taft, the Secretary of War, prevailed with the backing of outgoing President Theodore Roosevelt. Representative James S. Sherman of New York was received the vice-presidential nomination.
| Vice Presidential Ballot | |
| James S. Sherman | 702 |
|---|---|
| Edward F. Murphy | 77 |
| Curtis Guild | 75 |
| George L. Sheldon | 10 |
| Charles W. Fairbanks | 1 |
Democratic Party nomination
Democratic candidates
- William J. Bryan, former U.S. representative and 1896 and 1900 presidential nominee from Nebraska
- George Gray, former U.S. senator from Delaware
- John Albert Johnson, Governor of Minnesota
Candidates gallery
The 1908 Democratic Convention was held in Denver from 7 July to 10 July. Despite a challenge by Minnesota governor John Albert Johnson, two time previous nominee William Jennings Bryan quickly won the overwhelming support of his party.
General election
Campaign
With the free silver issue no longer dominant, Bryan campaigned on a progressive platform attacking "government by privilege". His campaign slogan, "Shall the People Rule?", was featured on numerous posters and campaign memorabilia. However, Taft undercut Bryan's liberal support by accepting some of his reformist ideas, and Roosevelt's progressive policies blurred the distinctions between the parties. Republicans also used the slogan "Vote for Taft now, you can vote for Bryan anytime", a sarcastic reference to Bryan's two failed previous presidential campaigns. Businessmen continued to support the Republican Party, and Bryan failed to secure the support of labor. As a result, Bryan ended up with the worst of his three defeats in the national popular vote, losing almost all the Northern states to Taft and losing the popular vote by eight percentage points. This would be Bryan's last campaign for the presidency; however, he would remain a popular figure within the Democratic Party and in 1912 would play a key role in securing the presidential nomination for Woodrow Wilson.
Results
(46 States participated, as Oklahoma had joined the Union the year before)
Source (Popular Vote):
Source (Electoral Vote):
Campaign memorabilia
See also
Further reading
- Daniels, Josephus (1908). "Mr. Bryan's Third Campaign". Review of Reviews 38 423–31.
External links
- 1908 popular vote by counties
- The Republican Campaign Textbook 1908
- How close was the 1908 election? - Michael Sheppard, Michigan State University
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Last updated on Wednesday July 23, 2008 at 16:59:13 PDT (GMT -0700)
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