The memoirs of Will H. Hays (1955)

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SHOOTING THE BULL MOOSE 141 injustice had been done to the colonel and that they had been deprived of their rightful share in the deliberations of the convention. Thus on June 22 was born a Sacred Cow, which soon turned out to be a Bull Moose. What was destined to be a White Elephant bemoaned the turn of events, for the Elephant was doubtless wise enough to know that the Donkey would win the race in November. What had happened nationally soon reached down into states, districts, counties, townships, and precincts. Certainly the most important thing to note— and this was admitted by leading Progressives— was that this was a movement from the top down and not a well-nourished grass-roots affair coming up out of the national soil. That was the factor which wrote the death notice of the third party much earlier than it would have been written had it sprung from the people. But it is also only fair to note that the men who launched the Progressive party honestly felt that the Republican National Committee had assumed arbitrary power, exercised so unjustly as to create the impression of denying free representative government. Judged by the price the party paid, a greater mistake could hardly have been made. It was a striking thing, but perhaps not a healthy sign, that the evolution—the rise and fall, if we wish to call it such— of the Bull Moose party occurred so rapidly. If we look carefully we might discover four phases: organization, internal disintegration, Republican assimilation, and a final "shadow" showing. As one looks back, there was probably too little time and too little basis for a permanent party. From still another point of view the Progressives sought to be an entirely independent party. Their leaders took a definite position against rejoining the Republican party from which they had broken off. They sought to capitalize on their "progressive" principles; but these were gradually taken over by one of the old-line parties. Eventually, as we now know, the Democrats under Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman went far beyond any ' progressivism" ever imagined by the Bull Moose. Launched with a running start under Colonel Roosevelt, the party made haste to organize for the success of their standard-bearer in November. In Indiana the situation was alarming. Their state leader, Ed Lee, was an able politician and a sincere worker, who until the preceding January had been Republican state chairman. The new party organization reached our county in August, and in September the "Moosers" of our Second District held their first convention. Time was short, but unusual progress was made. In October the Bull Moose almost had its rider shot off its back when a demented crank fired at the colonel in Milwaukee. But he was not seriously wounded, and the campaign went on galloping apace toward November. I believe the majority of seasoned political workers frankly expected the election of Woodrow Wilson, with the opposing voters