The Progressive Party of 1912 (The Bull Moose Party)
The Progressive Party of 1924
The Progressive Party of 1948
- Opposing the entrenched conservatism of the regular Republican Party which was controlled by President William Howard Taft, a National Republican Progressive League was organized in 1911 by Sen. Robert M. La Follette of Wisconsin. This group soon became the Progressive Party the following year and ran Theodore Roosevelt for president and Senator Hiram Johnson for vice president respectively.
- It called for revision of the political nominating machinery and an aggressive program of social legislation. The 1912 Progressive platform supported measures including a minimum wage, workers' compensation, and women's suffrage. It advocated "a contract with the people," with government acting to improve social and economic conditions. Many people considered the party's aims socialistic.
- The party’s popular nickname of Bull Moose was derived from the characteristics of strength and vigour often used by Roosevelt to describe himself. The Bull Moose ticket polled some 25% of the popular vote. Thus split, the Republicans lost the election to the Democrats under Woodrow Wilson. The Bull Moose Party evaporated and the Republicans were reunited four years later in 1916.
The Progressive Party of 1924
- In 1924, a group of Progressives, including former members of the Bull Moose Party, united with railroad union workers, an organization called the Conference for Progressive Political Action (CPPA), the American Federation of Labor and the American Socialist Party to support the presidential candidacy of Senator Robert M. La Follette. A liberal Republican, "Fighting Bob" La Follette was a three-term Wisconsin governor who broke with the Republican establishment to lead the fight for tax reform, control of railroad rates, the establishment of the direct primary, and other reform measures such as intensive monopoly control, abolition of the Supreme Court's power of judicial review, and extended farm relief that were collectively labeled the "Wisconsin Idea." In 1906, La Follette, whose wife Belle Case La Follette was an attorney and champion of women's suffrage, began the first of three terms in the U.S. Senate, where he championed reform along the lines of the Wisconsin Idea and also displayed an isolationist streak, opposing U.S. entry into World War I and also into the League of Nations. The party received one-sixth of the popular votes but took only the electoral votes of Wisconsin, losing to Republican incumbent Calvin Coolidge.
The Progressive Party of 1948
- Splitting from the Democrats, this Progressive party nominated former vice president Henry A. Wallace as its presidential candidate. Its platform called for the repeal of the Taft-Hartley Act, demanded strong civil rights legislation, urged reconciliation of United States - Soviet Union conflicts, and opposed the Marshall Plan and the Truman Doctrine. The party polled only 2% of the popular votes and received no electoral votes, losing to Democratic incumbent Harry S. Truman.
Evans, C. Wyatt. "Bull Moose Party." Dictionary of American History. Ed. Stanley I. Kutler. 3rd ed. Vol. 1. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2003. 566. U.S. History in Context
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"Progressive Party." West's Encyclopedia of American Law. Ed. Shirelle Phelps and Jeffrey Lehman. 2nd ed. Vol. 8. Detroit: Gale, 2005. 138-139. U.S. History in Context. Web. 10 June 2015.
Yanak, T.,and Pam Cornelison. (1993). Progressive parties The Great American History Fact-Finder. Retrieved from http://sks.sirs.com
. Web. 10 June 2015.
"Progressive Party." West's Encyclopedia of American Law. Ed. Shirelle Phelps and Jeffrey Lehman. 2nd ed. Vol. 8. Detroit: Gale, 2005. 138-139. U.S. History in Context. Web. 10 June 2015.
Yanak, T.,and Pam Cornelison. (1993). Progressive parties The Great American History Fact-Finder. Retrieved from http://sks.sirs.com