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Bull Moose on the Stump

Bull Moose on the Stump

The 1912 Campaign Speeches of Theodore Roosevelt

Edited by Lewis L. Gould

Sales Date: November 3, 2008

232 Pages, 6.00 x 9.00 in

Hardcover
9780700616060
Published: November 2008

$49.99

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eBook
9780700639113
Published: November 2008

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As standard bearer of the Progressive Party in 1912, Theodore Roosevelt played to enthusiastic crowds wherever he traveled. When he was targeted by an assassin while campaigning for president, a bullet passed through the speech in his breast pocket-pages that he then held aloft while assuring the crowd “It takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose . . . and you cannot escape listening to this speech!”

This first full edition of his campaign speeches takes readers on the stump from New England to California, collecting thirty-five texts largely overlooked since they were first delivered. They offer a more nuanced picture of his third-party candidacy than has ever existed, providing a companion to Lewis Gould’s recent Four Hats in the Ring and shedding new light on both the Progressive movement and the dynamics of an extraordinary campaign that changed American politics forever.

Culled from nation-wide newspaper archives, these speeches show TR at his most radical. He echoes the missionary spirit of the Progressives as they challenged partisan orthodoxy, advocating for “the plain people, for their right to rule, and for their duty to secure for themselves and for others social and industrial justice.” All over the country, he speaks out on government regulation of business, social justice, the role of the president, the place of reform in national politics, and of course his differences with Woodrow Wilson.

Given the wide availability of Wilson's speeches, having Roosevelt’s available makes the study of the 1912 campaign more meaningful-not only the debate between the New Nationalism and the New Freedom but also differences on such issues as tariffs and campaign contributions. These texts also reveal how Roosevelt massaged Wilson’s words to serve his own polemical purposes.

“We do not propose to do anything that will interfere with prosperity,” proclaimed Roosevelt, “but we want it passed around”; and these speeches show that, even in a new century, his words are as relevant as ever.

Editor’s Preface

Introduction: The Bull Moose on the Stump

1: Starting Out in New England

-Portions of a Speech at Providence, Rhode Island, 16 August 1912
-A Speech on Boston Common as Reported in the Boston Globe, 17 August 1912
-A Speech in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, 22 August 1912

2: The Second New England Tour

-A Speech at Burlington, Vermont, 29 August 1912
-A Speech at St. Johnsbury, Vermont, 30 August 1912
-A Speech at Hartford, Connecticut, 2 September 1912

3: Campaigning in the Middle West

-Remarks to the Progressive State Convention, St. Louis, Missouri, 3 September 1912
-A Speech to the Iowa Progressive State Convention, Des Moines, 4 September 1912
-A Speech at Grand Forks, North Dakota, 6 September 1912
-The Taft-Wilson Trust Programme: An -Address at Fargo, North Dakota, 6 September 1912

4: The Pacific Northwest and the Pacific Coast

-A Speech to the Montana State Progressive Convention, Helena, 7 September 1912
-Brief Remarks at Hathaway, Montana, 7 September 1912
-Comments on the Nomination of Oscar S. Straus as the Progressive Party Candidate for Governor of New York, 8 September 1912
-The Minimum Wage: Comments at Spokane, Washington, 9 September 1912
-An Address at Portland, Oregon, 11 September 1912
-An Address at the San Francisco Coliseum, 14 September 1912

5: Returning to Oyster Bay

-Two Speeches at Pueblo and Trinidad, Colorado, 19 September 1912
-A Speech at Topeka, Kansas, on Woodrow Wilson, 21 September 1912
-Levee Convention Address, Memphis, Tennessee, 26 September 1912
-An Address at New Orleans, Louisiana, 27 September 1912
-A Roosevelt Speech at Atlanta, Georgia, 28 September 1912
-A Brief Address from His Railroad Car at Columbus, Georgia, 28 September 1912

6: The Second Western Tour

-Remarks about Woodrow Wilson and Labor at Houghton, Michigan, 9 October 1912
-A Campaign Address at Houghton, Michigan, 9 October 1912
-A Speech at Superior, Wisconsin, 10 October 1912
-A Speech at Duluth, Minnesota, 10 October 1912
-Remarks on the Tariff at Oshkosh, Wisconsin, 11 October 1912
-A Speech at the Chicago Coliseum on the Trusts, 12 October 1912
-Excerpts from the Chicago Speech, 12 October 1912
-A Speech at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 14 October 1912

7: The End of the Campaign

-A Statement from the Hospital, 17 October 1912
-An Address at Madison Square Garden, 30 October 1912
-A Speech to New York Progressives, 1 November 1912
-A Statement on Wilson and the Trusts, 2 November 1912
-An Address at the Oyster Bay Opera House, 4 November 1912
-A Pre-Election Statement, 4 November 1912
-A Postelection Statement, 5 November 1912