The Year of the Spoiler.

When Roosevelt broke with Taft in 1912, the two defeated each other

They were once the best of friends. Theodore Roosevelt said William Howard Taft had "the most lovable personality I have ever come in contact with." But in 1912, their friendship gave way to a feud that shook the political world.

In a two-party system, third-party candidates always risk being spoilers--that is, siphoning votes from the major candidate whose views are closer to their own and helping to elect the other candidate. "Spoiler" is what Gore supporters call the Green Party's Ralph Nader this year and what Bush backers call Patrick Buchanan of the Reform Party. But Teddy Roosevelt in 1912 was the biggest spoiler of them all.

As a Republican President (1901-1909), Roosevelt had followed progressive policies, starting the regulation of food and drugs, setting public lands aside for protection, and curbing the power of big business. He boosted Secretary of War Taft--all 326 pounds of him--to succeed him in 1908. Taft won easily, and T.R. left on an African hunting trip after Taft's inauguration.

While abroad, Roosevelt got complaining letters from friends about Taft. They said he had lost the progressive spirit and fallen in with Old Guard Republicans in Congress, who toadied to big business. By the time T.R. returned to a hero's welcome in 1910, he had begun to agree with Taft's critics. To one he wrote:

I very keenly share your disappointment in Taft, and in a way perhaps feel it even more deeply than you do, because it was I who mede him President.

Actually, Taft's administration was progressive in some ways. For example, it stepped up the prosecution of trusts--companies that controlled their industries and stifled competition. But Roosevelt wanted many more reforms. Also, at 53, he was restless and missed the political fray.

So Roosevelt entered the race for the 1912 Republican nomination. Because party leaders supported Taft, T.R. appealed directly to the people in a new kind of election, state presidential primaries. Taft hit the hustings too, in what The New York Times called "the most remarkable political joust that the United States has ever seen." But opposition from his old patron saddened Taft. Biographer Henry Pringle writes that after one tiring day, a reporter found him aboard a train,

seated in one of the lounges, slumped over, with his bead between his hands. As the journalist entered he looked up. "Roosevelt was my closest friend," he said brokenly. Then he could restrain himself no longer, and he began to weep.

But tears didn't immobilize Taft. He told one crowd:

I'm man of peace, and I don't want to fight. But when I do fight I want to hit hard. Even a rat in a corner will fight.

Though voters in nine out of 10 primary states chose Roosevelt, party bosses rammed through Taft's nomination to face the Democratic candidate, New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson, who also favored reforms. So an irate Roosevelt left the Republicans to form the Progressive Party. When he told a reporter he felt "like a bull moose," that animal became the new party's symbol. T.R. declared:

We are warring against bossis, against privilege social and industrial; we are warring for the elemental virtues of honesty and decency, of fair dealing as between man and man .... We fight in honorable fashion for the good of mankind... We stand at Armageddon, and we battle for the Lord.

Whether or not he had God on his side, Roosevelt did have a program. He dubbed it the New Nationalism, and it called for many things that became reality later on, including strong regulation of business, an end to child labor, a progressive income tax (one in which the rich pay a higher percentage), more presidential primaries, the direct election of U.S. Senators (then chosen by state legislatures), and women's right to vote. But T.R. also said the public should be able to overturn state court decisions --an idea that never came to pass.

On October 14, while campaigning in Milwaukee, Roosevelt was shot by an anti-third-term fanatic. The wound was not mortal, and T.R. insisted on giving an hour-and-a-half-long speech before being taken to the hospital. "I have just been shot," he said, "but it takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose!"

As the grudge match went on, Taft told a journalist:

Whether I win or lose is not the important thing. But I am in this race to perform a great public duty-the duty of keeping Theodore Roosevelt out of the White House.

Roosevelt, too, preferred a Wilson victory to the election of his ex-friend. He and Taft both got their wishes. Roosevelt won 4.1 million votes to Taft's 3.5 million--the only time in history that a third-party candidate has outpolled a major-party nominee. But the winner was Wilson, with 6.3 million votes. The bitter battle between two Presidents had created a third.

Crashing the Parties

Hundreds of independent or third-party candidates have run for President, but only eight have won more than 10 percent of the popular vote. The top vote-getters and their causes:

PERCENT   CANDIDATE              PARTY                  YEAR

27.4%    Theodore Roosevelt     Progressive            1912
21.6%    Millard Fillmore       American               1856
19.0%    H. Ross Perot          Independent            1992
18.1%    John C. Breckinridge   Southern Democratic    1860
16.6%    Robert M. LaFollette   Progressive            1924
13.5%    George Wallace         American Independent   1968
12.5%    John Bell              Constitutional Union   1860
10.1%    Martin Van Buren       Free Soil              1848

PERCENT   CAUSE

27.4%    Called for a variety of political and economic reforms.
21.6%    This former Whig President opposed immigration.
19.0%    Demanded reduction in federal budget deficit.
18.1%    Broke off from Democratic Party to defend slavery.
16.6%    Wanted public ownership of railroads and water power.
13.5%    This foe of racial integration called for "law and order."
12.5%    Pleaded for compromise on slavery to save the Union.
10.1%    Former Democratic President opposed slavery's spread.