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CHAPTER 9
Shooting the Bull Moose
THE story of the Progressive party is one of the strangest tales in American politics. Though it was the culmination of an intense political faith which had taken various forms under various leaders, it came into being in a matter of hours. At its birth it was the projection of Theodore Roosevelt. As it looks now, its short life proves at least two things: first, that no party in America should be built around an individual, and second, that we are essentially a two-party country. That has always seemed natural to me; and our political history seems to prove that the country as a whole considers that on major political questions there are usually only two sides, not three or four.
From my own viewpoint and that of my own story, the Progressive party was tremendously important. For the Republican party it posed a problem with which my activities were so closely bound up that it might be called the determining element in my political experience.
This problem brought into sharp relief my deepest political convictions; it did much to develop them and undoubtedly led me to the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee. To trace this story, it will be necessary to go back a few years in national events.
The break between Taft and Roosevelt, which finally led to the birth of the third party, can be traced back to 1908, when Taft followed Colonel Roosevelt as President. Much of this story is well known. Both men have so sure a place in history that it is no disparagement of their qualities to observe that the marked differences between the two— when circumstances drew them into certain situations— inevitably brought about a clash.
It was in February of 191 2 that Roosevelt made a speech in Columbus, Ohio, which practically advocated a recall of judges and a review of judicial decisions, with neither of which I could possibly agree. As I have mentioned, the matter became a personal one when later that month, by appointment, I met the colonel in New York. When I told him how strongly I disagreed with his recent declarations, he said: 'That's all right, but I want you to be chairman of a third party." This I felt entirely unable to do, and told him so. From the standpoint of our