Part 3 of this series¹ noted that the Communist Party of the U.S. and the Congressional investigations of that Party both began in 1919. However, chronologically, I should have mentioned Teddy Roosevelt earlier and will now try to make amends.

TR was President from 1901 to 1909, having served out the term of assassinated President McKinley before running for President himself and winning. Most objective historians place TR among the top ten U.S. Presidents in U.S. history and he is one of only four Presidents whose faces grace (or deface, depending upon your POV) Mount Rushmore. The others are, of course, Washington, our first President; Lincoln, who saved the union and ended slavery in the U.S., both with bold brilliance; and Jefferson, who essentially invented Constitutional Republics when he wrote the Constitution of Virginia, which was the model for the COTUS, as originally ratified (the Magna Carta being the model for the Bill of Rights, ratified six months later).

As we all know, TR was a reformer, when "reform" meant improvement for Americans, rather than cutting back on, or ending, something good for Americans in service of austerity. For example, our anti-trust laws date back to his administration because he believed that business competition would be good for consumers. And so it would be, if POTUSes, Congress and the Department of Justice had not been busy over the years eviscerating anti-trust laws and enforcement. TR was also the first President to articulate that government should do something about health care, although, AFAIK, he did nothing more about it, other than mention it. By this time, however, corporate money had begun to play a role in the Republican Party, about which TR did nothing.

TR decided not to run for re-election in 1908, essentially anointing William Howard Taft as his successor, based on TR's belief that Taft's Presidency would be similar in nature to TR's. However, Taft disappointed TR, prompting TR to run for POTUS again in 1912. The Republican Party, however, nominated incumbent Taft over both TR and Senator LaFollette, prompting members of the left wing of the Republican Party to form a new party in 1912 to try to elect TR President for a second term. This was but one element of a unique Presidential election in 1912.

Seven candidates ran, five leftists and two rightists.² On the left were: Socialist Party nominee, Eugene V. Debs; Socialist Labor Party nominee, Arthur E. Reimer; TR, nominee of the new Progressive Party (formerly the left of the Republican Party); and incumbent President Taft, nominee of what remained of the Republican Party--still then considered more liberal than Democrats. On the right were racist Woodrow Wilson, nominee of the Democratic Party and Eugene W. Chafin, nominee of the Prohibition Party.

With five candidates, including two Republican Presidents, splitting the leftist vote, Wilson won the electoral vote in a landslide, but with a very low popular vote. Wilson even won the electoral votes of liberal New England, theretofore Republican, including Massachusetts--a first for a Democrat. TR finished second, winning six states, including electoral-vote rich California. Taft won only two states, Utah and Vermont, totaling 8 electoral votes, the lowest ever for an incumbent POTUS.

While Debs won no electoral votes, he did win double the number of popular votes that he had received in 1908, not bad for an election in which the leftist vote was split among five candidates, including two, count 'em, two, Republican Presidents, who both also failed to win the Presidency. Overall, the clout of America's oldest and largest political parties indisputably showed, but the popular vote and the full context of the election told a far more liberal story than Wilson's victory per se.

The election of 1912 was the only election between 1860 and the present in which four candidates each received 5% or more of the popular vote and also the only election ever in which a newer party candidate received more popular votes and electoral votes than one of the two older-party candidates. With TR as its standard bearer, the Progressive Party won impressive electoral vote for a brand new Party (though perhaps not for a new party headed by a beloved giant of a President). The Progressive Party dissolved in 1916, only four years after formation. Fortunately, Wilson's Congress was heavily Republican and the era of progressive legislation continued until the 1920s. Very unfortunately, during Wilson's tenure, the U.S. entered World War I. The official story is that Wilson had tried hard to keep the U.S. neutral in that war.

Some might imagine TR to have been the so-called "spoiler" candidate in the election of 1912, causing Taft's loss. However, another view is that the Republican Party, in nominating the lesser able and less popular candidate was responsible: Had it nominated the iconic TR over a corporate incumbent, it would have increased its chances of winning the election. Please bear that in mind when Democrats meme that that the Democratic Party cannot and will not allow another primary challenge to any sitting President ever because Kennedy's primary challenge to Carter caused Carter to lose to Reagan. Another view of 1980 is that Reagan was a unique candidate, humorous charismatic and extraordinarily well-known that only a Kennedy brother then may have been able to defeat, while Carter had had a very troubled four years, bad press and himself could not compete with Reagan's magnetism. But, "there you go again," HW, skipping ahead of the chronology.

Next: The Roaring Twenties

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¹ Links to Parts 1, 2 and 3 of this series, respectively: http://caucus99percent.com/content/presidential-elections-and-liberals-l... http://caucus99percent.com/content/presidential-elections-and-liberals-l... http://caucus99percent.com/content/presidential-elections-and-liberals-l...

² While now, most of the newer parties who run candidates for President are rightist, the opposite used to occur. I doubt the swap happened organically.