1912: Wilson, Roosevelt, Taft and
Debs–The Election That Changed The Country
James
Chace
Reviewed
by Jim Melcher
Political commentator George Will
once said that presidential elections are one of the main elements in
American
life preventing life from becoming dull.
One of the best examples one could use to prove Will’s point is
the
American presidential election of 1912.
So, it isn’t surprising that the late Bard College professor James Chace chose to
write a book
length treatment of the subject in 1912:
Wilson, Roosevelt, Taft and Debs–The Election That Changed the Country,
published in 2004. No other American
election has featured a former president (Theodore Roosevelt), the
current
president (William Howard Taft), and a future president (Woodrow
Wilson) among
the candidates. Once one throws in the strongest Socialist candidacy
ever (that
of Eugene Debs), and the unusual success of a third party that has not
been
equaled since (Roosevelt’s Progressive Party finished second in both
the
popular and electoral votes), all of the ingredients are in place for a
good
story.
Chace was equal to this challenge in
this, his ninth book. While academic
historians won’t see a great deal that is new in terms of primary
source
materials here, Chace’s use of existing sources is detailed and
exhaustive and
will be more than adequate to satisfy readers in the general public. 1912 is
not merely a rundown of the facts of the 1912 campaign, but a book that
Chace
makes a strong and successful effort to provide context about how each
of the
four men got to where they were in 1912. While this would be useful in
any
campaign history, it is particularly crucial for the 1912 election. Taft was Roosevelt’s handpicked successor for
the 1908 Republican nomination, and Chace does a good job tracing how
the
once-close friends became such bitter enemies by 1912 that they split
the
Republican Party in a way it has not been divided before or since. The divisions within Debs’ socialist movement
and the strains his relentless political activity placed on his
marriage are
chronicled well, too, as is the improbable political rise of Woodrow
Wilson
from former President of Princeton University to President of the
United
States. Chace is effective in painting a picture of the personalities
of all
four candidates.
In
addition to the development of
the candidates’ personalities and positions, Chace also develops
several other
themes in this book. Chief among these
is the changing American society of the time and how this presidential
campaign
may have been the most radical in American history in proposing change
and
solutions. The role of race in the
campaign and the political careers of the four candidates also receive
extensive attention, particularly Wilson’s segregationist views. To a modern reader, this is one of the
reasons why Wilson generally comes off as the least
sympathetic of the four candidates in this book.
The subtitle “The Election That
Changed The Country” suggests that a major theme of the book will be
the ways
in which American politics was transformed by this election. Here,
Chace is not
on his strongest ground. Overall, he
does a better job of explaining what was different
about this election than what was transforming
in it. A relatively brief epilogue is
his chief vehicle for laying this out. However, he does do a good job
in the
final section of the book in discussing what became of each of the four
candidates after the election. For those with an interest in American
elections, the United States of the early 20th century, or
simply
those with an interest in strong political personalities, Chace’s book
will
prove to be very worthwhile reading indeed.