Election+of+1916

The Election of 1916 took place while Europe was involved in World War 1. The US was struggling to stay neutral and favored the Allied forces because of Germany's treatment of civilians in Belgium. The two presidential nominees were Woodrow Wilson (Democrat), who was running for his second term, and Charles Evans Hughes (Republican). The election proved to be a hard-fought and evenly-matched one that came down to a surprising result in the final state's vote.
 * __Overview:__**

__**Woodrow Wilson:**__ Wilson was considered lucky in his first election because of the split in the Republican votes between Theodore Roosevelt and William Taft. Roosevelt did not agree with Wilson's refusal to enter the war and vowed to side with any candidate going against Wilson. Many progressives were also against Wilson because his lack of domestic reforms as the president. This made a reelection for Wilson look very improbable. Wilson gained support in January of 1916 when he appointed Louis D. Brandeis to the Supreme Court. Brandeis, an advanced progressive, was the first Jewish American appointed to the Supreme Court. This resulted in support from minority groups and their supporters. It also increased progressive support now that they had one of them in the Supreme Court. In July, Wilson bid for the farm vote by passing acts such as the Farm Loan Act, Keating-Owen Child Labor Act, and the Adamson Act, all which added support from the working class. Each of these acts went against Wilson's policies at the beginning of his term. Because Roosevelt changed his support from the Progressives to the Republican candidate, Hughes, many of Roosevelt's supporters felt betrayed and voted for Wilson. Although Wilson was successful in keeping the country out of the war during his first term, he adopted a policy of preparedness towards the war. Without his consent, the Democratic party made the slogan "He kept us out of war" which was used all throughout the election despite the lack of Wilson's support. In fact, Wilson made no promises to keep the country out of war. He acknowledged that any German action could bring the US into the war at any given time. This attitude lost him the votes of extremists but won him the backing of thousands of moderates.

__**The 1916 Republican Convention:**__ The Republican Convention for the 1916 election was held in Chicago, Illinois from June 7th to June 10th. One of the major goals of the Republican Party was to heal the split in the party that occurred during the 1912 election. Theodore Roosevelt split from the Republican Party in order to run against William Taft. This split the Republican vote and allowed Wilson to be elected to his 1st term. Conservative Senator Elihu Root of New York and liberal Senator John W. Weeks of Massachusetts were supposed to be the two favorites to win the nomination. However, the party bosses wanted a moderate who would be accepted by both factions of the party. The nominated Supreme Court Justice Charles Evans Hughes. Hughes had been serving on the Supreme Court since 1910 and had the advantage of not speaking publicly about politics in six years. Hughes is the only Supreme Court Justice to run for ther presidency. Former Vice Persident Charles W. Fairbanks was nominated as his running mate. He won the vote overwhelmingly.
 * ~ Ballot ||~ 1 ||~ 2 ||~ 3 ||
 * ~ [|Charles E. Hughes] ||~ 253 ||~ 326 ||~ 950 ||
 * ~ [|John W. Weeks] ||~ 105 ||~ 102 ||~ 2 ||
 * ~ [|Elihu Root] ||~ 103 ||~ 89 ||~ 9 ||
 * ~ [|Charles Fairbanks] ||~ 89 ||~ 75 ||~ 7 ||
 * ~ [|Albert Cummins] ||~ 85 ||~ 77 ||~ 2 ||
 * ~ [|Theodore Roosevelt] ||~ 81 ||~ 65 ||~ 19 ||
 * ~ [|Theodore Burton] ||~ 78 ||~ 69 ||~ 9 ||
 * ~ [|Lawrence Sherman] ||~ 66 ||~ 59 ||~ 5 ||
 * ~ [|Philander Knox] ||~ 36 ||~ 30 ||~ 6 ||
 * ~ [|Henry Ford] ||~ 32 ||~ 29 ||~ 9 ||
 * ~ [|Martin Brumbaugh] ||~ 29 ||~ 22 ||~ 2 ||
 * ~ [|Robert M. La Follette, Sr.] ||~ 25 ||~ 25 ||~ 23 ||
 * ~ [|William Howard Taft] ||~ 14 ||~ 4 ||~ 0 ||
 * ~ [|Thomas C. DuPont] ||~ 7 ||~ 13 ||~ 6 ||
 * ~ [|Henry Cabot Lodge] ||~ 7 ||~ 2 ||~ 0 ||
 * ~ [|John Wanamaker] ||~ 5 ||~ 1 ||~ 1 ||
 * ~ [|Frank B. Willis] ||~ 1 ||~ 2 ||~ 2 ||
 * ~ [|William Borah] ||~ 2 ||~ 0 ||~ 2 ||
 * ~ [|Warren G. Harding] ||~ 1 ||~ 0 ||~ 1 ||
 * ~ [|Samuel W. McCall] ||~ 0 ||~ 1 ||~ 1 ||
 * ~ [|Leonard Wood] ||~ 0 ||~ 1 ||~ 1 ||

__**Charles Evans Hughes:**__ On June 10th, 1916, Charles Evans Hughes resigned from the Supreme Court in order to run for the Republican Candidate for the presidency. Hughes won the nomination easily and took Roosevelt's former Vice President, Charles W. Fairbanks as his Vice President nominee. With progressive candidate Roosevelt dropping out of the election and supporting Hughes, Hughes looked like a clear cut favorite to win the election. Because of Wilson's changed attitude towards progressivism and the peace issue, this left the Democrats and Republicans on even ground. The difference in the election was to be the personality of the candidates. Hughes was a very stiff and ineffective speaker. He also offended multiple politicians, most importantly in the state of California. __**Results:**__ On the night of the election, Hughes took an early lead in the Eastern and Mid-Western states. A lot of the media declared Hughes the winner because of his overwhelming lead. As the night went on, WIlson succeeded in getting most of the southern states and made the election very close. The key state in the election was California which Wilson won by a mere 3800 votes giving Wilson the presidency. The election proved to be one of the closest in history with Wilson winning the electoral vote 277 to 254 and the popular vote 9,126,868 to 8,548,728. If Hughes were to take California, he would've won the election. Nevertheless, Wilson was elected to his second term as president.

__**Impact:**__ With the Election of 1916 decided, it was Woodrow Wilson who took the United States into World War I. The slogan made for his party was "he kept us out of war." As mentioned earlier he said he could not keep any promises and reasons such as colonization and nationalistic beliefs left Wilson no choice. The Zimmerman telegram pushed him over the top and he made the declaration of war. He was the president that witnessed the people of America come together in a time of war under his presidency. He also solidified his legacy with his famous fourteen points speech, where he reassured the nation that the Great War was being fought for moral causes and they sought peace in Europe after the war. He also oversaw the the Treaty of Versailles and passed the 18th and 19th amendent. After winning the war and having two amendenments passed, if Wilson had not won the Election of 1916 this country might not have had the right leader taking the United states into War. His term would probably be considered as one of the most busy presidencies of the 20th century.

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