The American Presidential Election of 1904

The 30th episode in a very long series about the American presidential elections from 1788 to the present. In 1904, Theodore Roosevelt is pretty darn popular, so does anyone stand a chance?

Feeling extra dorky? Then visit here:

The 30th Presidential election in American history took place on November 8, 1904. Theodore Roosevelt was running for re-election. Hold up. Teddy Roosevelt? Re-election? What happened to McKinley? Let’s rewind three years.

Back on September 6, 1901, an anarchist named Leon Czolgosz shot President William McKinley twice as he was shaking hands at the Temple of Music in Buffalo, New York. The wounds became infected, and McKinley died 8 days later. It was after this that the Secret Service provided full-time presidential protection, by the way.

Vice President Theodore Roosevelt was sworn in and became the 26th President in American history. At age 42, he was the youngest man to ever become President. But he wasn’t intimidated. He went straight to work, promising the average Joe fairness, fighting the giant corporations that had monopolies on the market, championing the construction of the Panama Canal (oh yeah, click here to see my video about the Panama Canal), and regulating the railroads, food and drugs. He made conservation a top priority, establishing a bunch of national parks, forests, and monuments. He even helped end the Russo-Japanese War, becoming the first President to earn a Nobel Peace Prize for doing so. More than any President before him, he welcomed the press with open arms. After noticing reporters just outside the White House getting wet in the rain one day, he let them in and gave them their own room. By doing so, he basically invented the presidential press briefing.

He truly became a man of the people, and because of this, he was extremely popular. Some fellow Republicans, however, called him a radical due to his Progressive policies, and they tried to get Mark Hanna to run against him as the official nominee. However, Hanna died in February, and no serious contender rose to compete with Roosevelt. So Roosevelt was the nominee, but to make the conservatives happy the Republicans nominated Charles Fairbanks, the likable Senator from Indiana, as his running mate.

The Democrats had a hard time finding a strong nominee that could compete with Roosevelt. William Jennings Bryan didn’t want to run a third time, and they even asked Grover Cleveland to run again but he turned it down, too. A lot of Bryan’s supporters flocked to the New York newspaper publisher turned- U.S. Representative William Randolph Hearst. But Hearst frankly scared many Democrats to death, so many of them turned to Alton Parker, the Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals. They nominated Henry Davis, a former Senator from West Virginia, as his running mate. At 80 years old, Davis was the oldest major-party candidate ever to be nominated for national office.

I will mention two third parties for this election. A new political party called the Socialist Party of America, or just Socialist Party for short, nominated a well-known socialist, perhaps one of the original socialists, Eugene Debs. Debs ran and lost in 1900, but his support seemed to be growing. The Socialist Party nominated Ben Hanford, a printer based out of New York.

The Prohibition Party nominated Silas Swallow, a Methodist preacher from Pennsylvania with an awkward name, for President with George Washington Carroll, a Texas oilman and lumberman, as his running mate.

The campaigning in 1904 was fairly low-key. Maybe it was because most everyone knew Alton Parker didn’t stand a chance against the popular Roosevelt. While Roosevelt was charismatic and energetic, Parker was boring and didn’t get even Democrats excited. Plus, Parker and Roosevelt agreed on most issues, so this election became more about the difference between their personalities.

[redjirachi]

The youngest man to become president(Theodore Roosevelt) on one side, the oldest man on a main ticket(Henry G Davis) on the other side.

[sharkronical]

Imagine how unique Cleveland would be if he was elected again at that time

[karsentubeyt]

1:18 the first *AMERICAN* to get the Nobel Peace Prize even

[georgewashington]

Roosevelt won Maryland by 51 votes, yet Parker received 7 of Maryland's 8 electoral votes.

[tannerwilson]

Fun fact about 1904. The first time the USA hosted the Olympic Games in St. Louis of all places.

I would have to see if they any museums, historical centers related to the 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis.

But one thing you will love to check out is the story of the Olympic Marathon. That was one weird event that took place for many reasons.

[rajendrastarks]

Cleveland must have been one hell of a man to be in consideration after being president twice already

[XSSaviourGundam]

From tragedy (Death of McKinley) came greatness. Roosevelt inspired me as a progressive and as a person.

[TimmyTheTinman]

I think we all would of voted for Roosevelt if we lived back again.

[simonster-]

Trump and Pence are the second President and Vice President from New York and Indiana since Roosevelt and Fairbanks

[SiVlog]

Fun fact, in later life, as WW2 broke out in Europe, William Randolph Hearst organised the emigration to the United States of William Patrick Hitler, Adolf Hitler's English born, half Irish nephew, for a speaking tour against his Uncle. Later, William Patrick Hitler volunteered for armed combat, being granted permission by FDR to join the US Navy. Earning a Purple Heart in combat, he changed his surname to Stuart-Houston after the war, no doubt to avoid drawing attention to his infamous name

[MeesterTweester]

This was the first election where both major party nominees were from the same home state, which was New York. The second time was in 1920 with Ohio and the third time was in 2016, again with New York.

[survivor]

Teddy Roosevelt!! One of my all time favorite presidents. He was a badass

[jeremydobbs]

My hometown of Buffalo, NY. Gave the country 2 presidents (Fillmore and Cleveland) and took one out

[malcolml]

Actually, Theodore Roosevelt, wasn't reelected president in 1904. But was rather elected president IN HIS OWN RIGHT

[charlottealpert]

At 1:22 Theodore Roosevelt got the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906!

[ayyybob]

"At 80 years old, davis was the oldest candidate to ever be nominated by a major party for national office"
Joe biden: **laughing hysterically**

[johnweber]

The fact that Roosevelt and Parker agreed upon so much such as antitrust regulation and the gold standard is interesting given that the former is often viewed as being on the historical Republican Party’s “Left” while the latter is likewise often viewed as being on the contemporaneous Democratic Party’s “Right”. Largely due to differences they had with some of their respective intra-party rivals. Roosevelt’s with right-wing establishment Republicans like Mark Hanna and Parker’s with left-wing populist Democrats like William Jennings Bryan. But arguably, the terms “progressive conservative” and “classical liberal”, though commonly forgotten, would be the most accurate descriptors for them. In any case, it’s very similar to how during the election of 1876, you had Rutherford B. Hayes who was understood to be a reformist “Half-Breed Republican” and Samuel Tilden who was understood to be an orthodox “Bourbon Democrat” competing against each other even though they agreed on many of the pressing issues of the day such as civil service reform and sound money. To me at least, highlighting these points of overlap stands out as being useful in trying to map the wider political landscape of these time periods.

[ashleighstratmann]

It should be noted that although McKinley was president at the start of the 20th century (1900s0 TR was the first president elected in the 20th century.

[trentmeier]

If you think about it it wasn’t that big of a landslide in the electoral college 336-140 it is a landslide in the amount of states he won 32-13 and the popular vote 56.4% to 37.6% but Rosevelt only won the electoral college and the election by 196 votes

[jeffmiller]

Hey Mr beat there was another man who ran for president in 1904. His name was t.k harter, you never hear anything about him because he ran independent. He was my great great great grandfather. Is there any way you could look into it and see if you can find out any info on him.