Details
ROOSEVELT, THEODORE, President. Typed letter signed ("Theodore Roosevelt") to W.S. Graham, New York, 28 March 1913. 2 pages, 4to, 241 x 193mm. (9 1/2 x 7 7/8 in.), on rectos only, letterhead of The Outlook, weak central fold line neatly strengthened.
ROOSEVELT LIKENS HIS BULL-MOOSE OR PROGRESSIVE PARTY TO "THE REPUBLICAN PARTY ...IN THE DAYS OF LINCOLN"
Teddy, Progressive candidate for President since the previous August, is unable to attend a Progressive Party function but in "a letter of good will," forcefully asserts that "The Progressive Party stands today precisely where the Republican Party stood in the days of Lincoln, when it was the progressive party of the nation. It is as idle to talk of our amalgamating with either of the old party machines as it would have been to talk of the Lincoln Republicans amalgamating with the Bourbon Democrats or the cotton whigs of their day. We stand absolutely for our platform....There is no place in our ranks for the boss, for the man who represents the alliance between privilege in business and privilege in politics.....There are literally millions of progressives among the...Republican and Democratic parties, and...these men will sooner or later realize that they can do nothing where they are, and the only way they can efficiently fight for social and industrial justice, for political and economic freedom, is by joining the Progressive Party. They shall have exact equality...whether they are ex-Democrats or ex-Republicans. We welcome all honest citizens...." A fine letter during his ill-fated third-party campaign for the White House, which fatally split the Republican vote and virtually ensured the election of Democrat Woodrow Wilson.
ROOSEVELT LIKENS HIS BULL-MOOSE OR PROGRESSIVE PARTY TO "THE REPUBLICAN PARTY ...IN THE DAYS OF LINCOLN"
Teddy, Progressive candidate for President since the previous August, is unable to attend a Progressive Party function but in "a letter of good will," forcefully asserts that "The Progressive Party stands today precisely where the Republican Party stood in the days of Lincoln, when it was the progressive party of the nation. It is as idle to talk of our amalgamating with either of the old party machines as it would have been to talk of the Lincoln Republicans amalgamating with the Bourbon Democrats or the cotton whigs of their day. We stand absolutely for our platform....There is no place in our ranks for the boss, for the man who represents the alliance between privilege in business and privilege in politics.....There are literally millions of progressives among the...Republican and Democratic parties, and...these men will sooner or later realize that they can do nothing where they are, and the only way they can efficiently fight for social and industrial justice, for political and economic freedom, is by joining the Progressive Party. They shall have exact equality...whether they are ex-Democrats or ex-Republicans. We welcome all honest citizens...." A fine letter during his ill-fated third-party campaign for the White House, which fatally split the Republican vote and virtually ensured the election of Democrat Woodrow Wilson.