United States presidential election, 1908

The United States presidential election of 1908 was held on November 3, 1908. Popular incumbent President Theodore Roosevelt, honoring a promise not to seek a third term, persuaded the Republicans to nominate William Howard Taft, his close friend and Secretary of War, as his successor. Having badly lost the 1904 election with a conservative candidate, the Democrats turned to two-time nominee William Jennings Bryan, who had been defeated in 1896 and 1900 by Republican William McKinley. Despite his two previous defeats, Bryan remained extremely popular among the more liberal and populist elements of the Democratic Party. Despite running a vigorous campaign against the nation's business elite, Bryan suffered the worst loss in his three presidential campaigns, and Taft won by a comfortable margin.

Nominations

Republican Party nomination

Republican candidates

Joseph Cannon, U.S. Speaker of the House from Illinois
Charles W. Fairbanks, U.S. Vice President from Indiana
Joseph B. Foraker, U.S. senator from Ohio
Charles Evans Hughes, U.S. governor of New York
Philander C. Knox, U.S. senator from Pennsylvania
Robert M. LaFollette, U.S. senator from Wisconsin
Leslie M. Shaw, former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury from Iowa
William H. Taft, U.S. Secretary of War from Ohio

Candidates gallery

House Speaker Joseph Cannon of Illinois	Vice President Charles Fairbanks of Indiana	Senator Joseph B. Foraker of Ohio	New York Governor Charles Evans Hughes of New York
Senator Philander Knox of Pennsylvania	Senator Robert M. LaFollette of Wisconsin	Former Secretary of the Treasury Leslie M. Shaw of Iowa	Secretary of War William Howard Taft of Ohio

Republican campaign postcard

The 1908 Republican Convention was held in Chicago from June 16 to June 19. Prominent Republican candidates included House Speaker Joseph Gurney Cannon of Illinois, Charles Evans Hughes of New York, Leslie M. Shaw of Iowa and Robert M. La Follette of Wisconsin, but William Howard Taft, the Secretary of War, prevailed with the backing of outgoing President Theodore Roosevelt. Representative James S. Sherman of New York received the vice-presidential nomination.

James S. Sherman	702
Vice Presidential Ballot
Edward F. Murphy	77
Curtis Guild	75
George L. Sheldon	10
Charles W. Fairbanks	1

Democratic Party nomination

Democratic candidates

William J. Bryan, former U.S. representative and 1896 and 1900 presidential nominee from Nebraska
George Gray, former U.S. senator from Delaware
John Albert Johnson, Governor of Minnesota

Candidates gallery

Former Democratic presidential nominee William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska

Former Senator George Gray of Delaware

Governor John Albert Johnson of Minnesota

The 1908 Democratic Convention was held in Denver from July 7 to July 10. Despite a challenge by Minnesota governor John Albert Johnson, two time previous nominee William Jennings Bryan quickly won the overwhelming support of his party.

The Balloting
Presidential Ballot		Vice Presidential Ballot
William Jennings Bryan	892.5	John W. Kern	1002
George Gray	50.5
John A. Johnson	46

General election

Campaign

Bryan giving a speech during his 1908 run for the presidency.

Taft-Sherman postcard with U.S. Capitol

With the free silver issue no longer dominant, Bryan campaigned on a progressive platform attacking "government by privilege". His campaign slogan, "Shall the People Rule?", was featured on numerous posters and campaign memorabilia. However, Taft undercut Bryan's liberal support by accepting some of his reformist ideas, and Roosevelt's progressive policies blurred the distinctions between the parties. Republicans also used the slogan "Vote for Taft now, you can vote for Bryan anytime", a sarcastic reference to Bryan's two failed previous presidential campaigns. Businessmen continued to support the Republican Party, and Bryan failed to secure the support of labor. As a result, Bryan ended up with the worst of his three defeats in the national popular vote, losing almost all the Northern states to Taft and losing the popular vote by eight percentage points. This would be Bryan's last campaign for the presidency; however, he would remain a popular figure within the Democratic Party and in 1912 would play a key role in securing the presidential nomination for Woodrow Wilson.

Roosevelt handing over his policies to his politicial protégé, William H. Taft.

Results

(46 States participated, as Oklahoma had joined the Union the year before)

Presidential Candidate	Party	Home State	Popular Vote		Electoral Vote	Running Mate	Running Mate's Home State	RM's Electoral Vote
Presidential Candidate	Party	Home State	Count	Pct	Electoral Vote	Running Mate	Running Mate's Home State	RM's Electoral Vote
William Howard Taft	Republican	Ohio	7,678,395	51.6%	321	James Schoolcraft Sherman	New York	321
William Jennings Bryan	Democratic	Nebraska	6,408,984	43.0%	162	John Worth Kern	Indiana	162
Eugene Victor Debs	Socialist	Indiana	420,793	2.8%	0	Benjamin Hanford	New York	0
Eugene Wilder Chafin	Prohibition	Illinois	254,087	1.7%	0	Aaron Sherman Watkins	Ohio	0
Thomas Louis Hisgen	Independence	Massachusetts	82,571	0.6%	0	John Temple Graves	Georgia	0
Thomas Edward Watson	Populist	Georgia	28,822	0.2%	0	Samuel Williams	Indiana	0
Other			15,550	0.1%	–	Other		–
Total			14,889,261	100 %	483			483
Needed to win					242			242