UNITED STATES PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, 1916

The 'United States presidential election of 1916' took place while Europe was embroiled in World War I. Public sentiment in the still neutral United States leaned towards the British and French (allied) forces, due to the harsh treatment of civilians by the German Army, which had invaded and occupied large parts of Belgium and northern France. However, despite their sympathy with the allied forces most American voters wanted to avoid involvement in the war, and preferred to continue a policy of neutrality. The campaign pitted incumbent President Woodrow Wilson, the Democratic candidate, against Supreme Court Justice Charles Evans Hughes, the Republican candidate. After a hard-fought contest, Wilson defeated Hughes by a narrow margin.

Contents

Nominations

Republican Party Nomination

Democratic Party Nomination

Progressive Party Nomination

General election

The fall campaign

Results

Bibliography

See also

External links

Navigation

Nominations

Republican Party Nomination

Republican Candidates

★ Martin G. Brumbaugh, Governor of Pennsylvania

★ Theodore E. Burton, U.S. senator from Ohio

★ Albert B. Cummins, U.S. senator from Iowa

★ Charles W. Fairbanks, former Vice President of the United States from Indiana

★ Henry Ford, automobile manufacturer from Michigan

★ Charles E. Hughes, U.S. Supreme Court Justice and former Governor of New York

★ Philander C. Knox, former U.S. Secretary of State and candidate for the 1908 nomination

★ Robert M. LaFollette, U.S. senator and candidate for the 1908 and 1916 nominations from Wisconsin

★ Theodore Roosevelt, former President of the United States from New York

★ Elihu Root, former U.S. senator from New York

★ John W. Weeks, U.S. senator from Massachusetts
The 1916 Republican National Convention was held in Chicago from 7 June to 10 June. A major goal of the party's bosses at the convention was to heal the bitter split within the Republican Party (GOP) that had occurred in the 1912 presidential campaign. In that year Theodore Roosevelt had bolted the GOP and formed his own political party, the Progressive Party, which contained most of the GOP's liberals. William Howard Taft, the incumbent President, had won the nomination of the regular Republican Party. This split in the GOP ranks had divided the Republican vote and led to the election of Democrat Woodrow Wilson. Although several candidates were openly competing for the 1916 nomination - most prominently conservative Senator Elihu Root of New York and liberal Senator John W. Weeks of Massachusetts - the party's bosses wanted a moderate who would be acceptable to both factions of the party. They turned to Supreme Court Justice Charles Evans Hughes, who had served on the court since 1910 and thus had the advantage of not having publicly spoken about political issues in six years. Although he had not actively sought the nomination, Hughes made it known that he would not turn it down; he won the nomination on the third ballot. Former Vice-President Charles W. Fairbanks was nominated as his running mate. Hughes is the only Supreme Court Justice to be nominated for President by a major political party.

Democratic Party Nomination

The 1916 Democratic National Convention was held in St. Louis, Missouri from 14 June to 16 June. Given Wilson's enormous popularity within the party, he was overwhelmingly renominated. His Vice-President, Thomas R. Marshall, was also renominated with no opposition.

Progressive Party Nomination

The Progressives renominated former President Theodore Roosevelt, but he withdrew from the race and supported Hughes. When Roosevelt refused to be their candidate, the Progressive Party quickly fell apart; most of its members returned to the Republican Party, although a substantial minority supported Wilson for his efforts in keeping the United States out of World War I. Roosevelt turned down the Progressive nomination for both personal and political reasons; he had become convinced that running for President on a third-party ticket again would merely give the election to the Democrats. He had also developed a strong dislike for President Wilson, whom he believed was allowing Germany and other warring nations in Europe to "bully" the United States.

General election

The fall campaign

The fighting in Europe dominated the campaign. Woodrow Wilson campaigned for reelection on a pledge of continued neutrality in the Great War in Europe. His campaign slogan, "He Kept Us out of War", was highly popular. Hughes advocated a program of greater mobilization and preparedness; some pro-Wilson newspapers claimed that Hughes, if elected, was secretly planning to take America into the war. With Wilson having successfully pressured the Germans to suspend unrestricted submarine warfare, it was difficult for Hughes to attack Wilson's peace platform. Hughes criticized Wilson's military interventions in Mexico, where the U.S. was supporting various factions in a civil war. Hughes also attacked Wilson for his support of various "pro-labor" laws (such as limiting the workday to eight hours), on the grounds that they were harmful to business interests. However, his criticisms gained little traction, especially among factory workers who had benefited from such laws. Hughes was helped by the vigorous support of popular former President Theodore Roosevelt, and by the fact that the Republicans were still the nation's majority party at the time. A key mistake by Hughes was made in California. Just before the election Hughes made a campaign swing through the state. While in Long Beach he stayed in the same hotel as Hiram Johnson, the powerful Republican Governor of the state. Hughes - who may not have known of Johnson's presence in the hotel - never made the short trip to greet Johnson in his hotel suite; Johnson took this as a deliberate snub and never gave Hughes his full support. Given the extremely narrow loss Hughes suffered in California, this unintentional slight may have cost him the Presidency.

Results

On election night Hughes took an early lead in the Eastern and Midwestern states, and several newspapers declared him the winner. However, Wilson refused to concede, and as returns trickled in from the South and West Wilson made a comeback and eventually took the lead. The key state proved to be California, which Wilson won by only 3,800 votes out of nearly a million cast. The electoral vote was one of the closest in American history - with 266 votes needed to win, Wilson took 30 states for 277 electoral votes, while Hughes won 18 states and 254 electoral votes. If Hughes had won California and its 13 electoral votes, he would have won the election. In the popular vote Wilson's lead was larger, although it was still narrow - Wilson took 49% of the popular vote to Hughes' 46%. A popular legend from the 1916 campaign states that Hughes went to bed on Election Night thinking that he was the newly-elected president. When a reporter tried to telephone him the next morning to get his reaction to his loss, someone (stories vary as to whether this person was his son or a butler or valet) answered the phone and told the reporter that "the President is sleeping." The reporter retorted, "When he wakes up, tell him he isn't the President anymore."
Vice President Thomas R. Marshall became the first Vice President elected to a second term since John C. Calhoun in 1828.
'Source (Popular Vote):'
'Source (Electoral Vote):'

Bibliography

★ William M. Leary, Jr. "Woodrow Wilson, Irish Americans, and the Election of 1916," ''The Journal of American History,'' Vol. 54, No. 1. (Jun., 1967), pp. 57-72. in JSTOR

★ Link, Arthur S. ''Wilson: Campaigns For Progressivism and Peace 1916-1917'' (ISBN 0-691-04576-3) (1965)

★ Link, Arthur Stanley. ''Woodrow Wilson and the Progressive Era, 1910-1917'' (1972)

★ Lovell, S. D. ''The Presidential Election of 1916'' (1980)

★ Pusey, Merlo J. ''Charles Evans Hughes'' (1951) vol 1.

See also

★ President of the United States

★ History of the United States (1865-1918)

External links

★ 1916 popular vote by counties

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