The Progressive Party, better known as the Bull Moose Party, was a progressive political party in the United States which was active from 1912 to 1920. The party was founded by the former President Theodore Roosevelt, whose Republican Party had become fragmented between its progressive “insurgent” and conservative “Standpatter” wings amid infighting over his pro-labor “Square Deal” agenda and over the tariff issue. After losing the 1912 Republican presidential primary to his liberal-conservative protege William Howard Taft, Roosevelt decided to form a third party to run for a third presidential term, calling to end the “unholy alliance” between “corrupt business” and “corrupt politics”. The party advocated restrictions on campaign finance contributions, a reduction of tariffs, the establishment of a social insurance system, an eight-hour workday, and women’s suffrage. Roosevelt failed, however, to secure the defection of most progressive Republicans to his third party, and his attempt to win the American South by appealing to Southern whites rather than the Southern Republican machine-controlled African-American voting bloc further divided his constituency. Roosevelt and his party outperformed Taft’s GOP in the 1912 presidential election, winning Pennsylvania, Michigan, Minnesota, South Dakota, Washington, and California, and with them 88 electoral votes and 27.4% of the popular vote. However, the divided Republican Party was defeated by the progressive Democrat Woodrow Wilson, who won 435 electoral votes and 41.8% of the popular vote. The Bull Moose Party’s heyday was quickly over, and, in 1916, Roosevelt refused the party’s nomination and called on his followers to vote for the progressive Republican Charles Evans Hughes. Most Progressives rejoined the Republican Party, while others joined the Democratic Party or played a role in founding Robert M. La Follette’s Progressive Party in 1924.
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