POL 344, CRITICAL PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS, FALL 2011

 

The 1912 FREE FOR ALL, DAY ONE

 

Questions for Chace, Prologue and chapters 1-8

Additional reading assigned by Kyle & Jacob:  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/rockefellers/sfeature/sf_7.html

Wednesday, October 12

 

1. The office of President of the United States is one that, by all accounts, William Howard Taft never really wanted. Woodrow Wilson on the other hand clearly held presidential aspirations. Is a base level of ambition necessary for being an effective candidate or President? How did their different attitudes towards the office influence the presidencies of Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson?

 

2. TR's lifestyle does not necessarily fit with what most think of when they think of members of the Progressive Movement or Party, and typically in modern politics individuals want candidates to have a similar lifestyle as they do. Do you take much stock in personal lifestyle when voting? Do you believe that it is beneficial, or necessary, for an official to look or act like their constituents? (Descriptive Representatives)

 

3. What are some causes of the rift between Taft and Roosevelt After sharing an intimate friendship and mutual respect for one another politically, how did the campaign for nomination turn into a heated and contested campaign? Keep in mind, Taft had been mentioned in the text to have wanted to be a part of the law more than politics, what was the driving factor for him to seek re-election?

 

 

4. Roosevelt proposed a policy called "New Nationalism", which involved placing “national needs above sectional or personal advantage", creating the graduated income and inheritance tax, and various other acts and revisions placing more power in the national government. Is this “New Nationalism" a template for what would eventually become FDR's "New Deal"?

 

 

5. Was TR "duped" or was the Sherman Anti-Trust Act violated by J.P Morgan and US Steel's actions with the Tennessee Coal Company?  How did that affect TR's feelings about the size of government and the way trusts were to be governed?

 

 

6. Was abandoning and attacking the Republican Party the right thing for TR to do, politically and/or personally? Why or why not? Is it better to stand up for what you believe to be right, even if you have no chance of winning, or to bide your time and wait for your turn to set things right?

 

 

7. Was Wilson a puppet of the New Jersey, and largely the East coast, bosses? Or, did his speech to the Democratic delegates on September 15, in Trenton, New Jersey, reveal his rousing of public conscience and his future campaign for nomination to the presidency?


8. To what extent, as described in length in Chapter 5, did big business lead to Taft’s inadequacies?  How might big business and Taft's actions against big business provide the opportunity for Roosevelt to run for nomination for the presidency? Is there a causation factor here?

 

 

9. The Democratic and Republican parties seemed to share many of the same ideas in the 1912 election.  In fact, some of the greatest disagreements were between politicians belonging to the same parties.  In what ways did Democrats and Republicans (Socialists and Progressives) share the same vision?  In what ways did their views differ?  What major candidate had the most unique ideas?

 

 

10. What are the political stances of all four candidates in the 1912 election?  Identify and describe the various groups of people that supported each candidate and the strengths, weaknesses, triumphs and failures of each candidate prior to the 1912 election.

 

 

11. The central question for the Republican Party in the nomination battle is how to reconcile the traditional conservatism of the party with a public desire for progressive ideals, and the inability to do so ultimately split the party. Is this a question the Republican Party has ever found an answer to? As we move in to the 2012 election season, is this a question that modern day Republicans are struggling with?

 

 

12. Roosevelt's campaign was well funded but lacked the organization that Taft had control of. Playing the guessing game, which we love to do, would the outcome for TR been different if he didn't have to spend so much time focused on Taft and could push his attention more towards Wilson?