748 



Woodrow Wilson l of New Jersey, formerly president of Princeton University, whose 

 political administration had been characterised by great vigour and independence, and 

 whose reputation as a publicist stood very high. Mr. Bryan (see E. B. iv, 697) 

 announced that he would not offer himself as a candidate; but his attitude toward the 

 various aspirants was felt to be important. In a series of speeches he denounced 

 Governor Harmon as " a reactionary and the choice of the predatory interests," saying 

 that either Speaker Clark or Governor Wilson would meet with his approval. 



As the primary campaign proceeded, the public utterances of President Taft and 



Mr. Roosevelt were marked by increasing bitterness; and the irreconcilable differences 



between these leaders spread to the rank and file of the party. When the 



The , Republican convention met at Chicago on June 18, 1012, it was evident 



nominating . . . ,, , . . J . ', y 



conventions that everything depended upon the decision of more than two hundred and 



Republican fifty contests. Mr. Roosevelt denounced as theft the action, of the national 

 comm ittee in placing only 19 of his contestants upon the temporary roll. 

 But an appeal to the convention was lost by more than fifty votes; and it 

 was by about the same margin that the selection of Senator Elihu Root (see E. B. 

 xxiii, 711) as temporary chairman was made. When the committee on credentials 

 decided against the seating of his contesting delegates, Mr. Roosevelt denounced their 

 conduct as fraudulent and advised his followers to take no active part in the proceed- 

 ings. Accordingly most of them sat in silent protest while the platform was adopted 

 and the nominations made. President Taft received 561 votes on the first ballot, or 

 twenty-one more than the necessary majority. Vice-President Sherman (see Obituary, 

 below), who was also renominated, died a few days before the general election. 2 



The disruption of the Republican convention led to the birth of a new party which 

 took the name of National Progressive and appealed for the support of Democrats and 

 Progressives alike. Its convention was held in Chicago early in August. 

 The new There Mr. Roosevelt made a declaration of his political views, which were 

 received with enthusiasm and embodied in the platform. He was nomi- 

 nated for president, and Governor Hiram Johnson of California (see 

 CALIFORNIA) for vice-president. The convention was remarkable for several things: 

 the absence of professional politicians, the prominent part taken by women and social 

 workers, and the quasi-religious fervor which pervaded it. 



1 Woodrow Wilson was born in Staunton, Virginia, on December 28, 1856, the son of 

 Joseph R. Wilson, a Presbyterian clergyman and professor of theology. He graduated at 

 Princeton in 1879, studied law at the University of Virginia and practised in Atlanta, Georgia, 

 in 1882-83, a d in 1886 received the degree of doctor of philosophy at Johns Hopkins Univers- 

 ity. He was associate professor of history and political economy in 1885-88, at Bryn Mawr, 

 and in 1889-90 at Wesleyan University, where he acted for a time as foot-ball coach. From 

 1890 to 1902 he was professor of jurisprudence and politics at Princeton, of which he became 

 president on August I, 1902. This position he resigned on October 20, 1910 and in Novem- 

 ber he was elected governor of New Jersey (by 233,682 to 1 84,626 votes for Lewis, Republican). 

 As president of Princeton he attempted to democratise the University and aroused the 

 opposition of many wealthy alumni by his criticism of the upper class clubs. In a 

 controversy over the site and plan of a graduate school he argued for buildings on the 

 present campus, and the faculty and alumni were divided between him and Andrew Fleming 

 West (b. 1853), clean of the graduate school, who wished a separate campus for the elaborate 

 graduate school he planned. At the age of twenty-three VVilson had published in the Inter- 

 national Revieiv (August 1879) the outline of his Congressional Government, which appeared 

 in 1885. His The State (1889) has become a standard work. He wrote, besides, Division 

 and Reunion, 1829-1889 (1893), a short volume in a series on U.S. history; two volumes of 

 essays, An Old Master and Mere Literature (1893); a life f Washington (1896), and a popular 

 History of the American People (1902). As governor of New Jersey (q.v.) his administration 

 was marked by legislative reforms and by the defeat of the "machine" element in the 

 Democratic party. In 1912 he favoured the Initiative and Referendum, which he had for- 

 merly opposed. See the biography (1912) by W. B. Hale; H. E. Hosford's Woodrow Wilson 

 and New Jersey Made Over (1912); A. L. P. Dennis in Contemporary Review, Dec. 1912, and 

 W. G. McAdoo and Bliss Perry in The Century, Mar. 1913. 



2 The electoral votes of Utah and Vermont were formally cast for Taft for president, 

 and for Nicholas Murray Butler of New York (president of Columbia University) for vice- 

 president. 



