United States presidential election, 1908

Infobox Election
election_name = United States presidential election, 1908
country = United States
type = presidential
ongoing = no
previous_election = United States presidential election, 1904
previous_year = 1904
next_election = United States presidential election, 1912
next_year = 1912
election_date = November 3, 1908

nominee1 = William Howard Taft
party1 = Republican Party (United States)
home_state1 = Ohio
running_mate1 = James S. Sherman
electoral_vote1 = 321
states_carried1 = 29
popular_vote1 = 7,678,395
percentage1 = 51.6%

nominee2 = William Jennings Bryan
party2 = Democratic Party (United States)
home_state2 = Nebraska
running_mate2 = John Worth Kern
electoral_vote2 = 162
states_carried2 = 17
popular_vote2 = 6,408,984
percentage2 = 43.0%

map_

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map_size = 350px
map_caption = Presidential election results map. Blue denotes states won by Bryan/Kern, Red denotes those won by Taft/Sherman. Numbers indicate the number of electoral votes allotted to each state.

title = President
before_election = Theodore Roosevelt
before_party = Republican Party (United States)
after_election = William Howard Taft
after_party = Republican Party (United States)

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 June 16 to June 19. 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 received the vice-presidential nomination.

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 July 7 to July 10. 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): Leip PV source 2| year=1908| as of=July 28, 2005

Source (Electoral Vote): National Archives EV source| year=1900| as of=July 31, 2005

Campaign memorabilia

ee also

* President of the United States
* History of the United States (1865-1918)

Further reading

*

External links

* [http://geoelections.free.fr/USA/elec_comtes/1908.htm 1908 popular vote by counties]
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=BLsJAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA1&dq=Republican+Campaign+Textbook&as_brr=1#PPP1,M1 "The Republican Campaign Textbook 1908"]
* [http://www.msu.edu/~sheppa28/elections.html#1908 How close was the 1908 election?] - Michael Sheppard, Michigan State University

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