THE BULL MOOSE CAMPAIGN OF 1912
Teddy explained away his "no third term" pledge by explaining he had meant no consecutive third term. One of his supporters further explained that a man may say he does not want a second cup of coffee, but that does not mean he will never want another cup of coffee in the future. Vaudeville comedians had a lot of fun with "another cup of coffee?" jokes.
Taft had little chance of winning, but was determined that TR not win. He referred to himself as a "man of straw" saying he had been one for too long, and that "even a rat in a corner will fight." Of course, describing himself as a cornered rat did not do much for his re-election chances.
The Democratic Party nominated Governor Woodrow Wilson of New Jersey. Wilson was also a progressive who agreed with TR and Taft on most issues. There were one or two issues on which Wilson and Roosevelt disagreed, and these became the basis of the campaign.
Taft more or less dropped out of the campaign early, leaving it a mainly two-way fight between TR and Wilson. TR called his program New Nationalism, which called for the strengthening of the federal government. He said trusts were not necessarily bad if they were controlled. He considered them necessary for an efficient economy. His plan called for more regulatory powers for the federal government to control those trusts that needed it.
Wilson called his program New Freedom. To him, all monopolies were bad and needed to be broken up and eliminated. He felt that the freedom of competition had been removed form the marketplace and had to be restored. This could not be done as long as the trusts survived. His plan called for less federal power and more freedom for the people.
All three candidates took to the stump in one of the most active campaigns yet. There was one lull in the campaign. On October 14, while getting into a car in Milwaukee, Roosevelt was shot by a fanatic named John Shrank. Shrank yelled something about no third term, and fired at Roosevelt. The bullet struck Roosevelt, but he refused to go to the hospital. He said that he had a speech to make and stated "I will make this speech or die." With great drama, he made his speech in almost a whisper to a silent audience. At the end of the speech, the audience stood and
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