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Light green | country = United States }} The Progressive Party of 1912 was an American political party. It was formed by former President Theodore Roosevelt, after a split in the Republican Party between him and President William Howard Taft. The party also became known as the Bull Moose Party after journalists quoted Roosevelt saying "I feel like a bull moose" shortly after the new party was formed. ==Birth of a new party== Roosevelt left office in 1909. He had selected Taft, his Secretary of War, to succeed him as presidential candidate, and Taft easily won the 1908 presidential election. Roosevelt became disappointed by Taft's increasingly conservative policies. Taft upset Roosevelt when he used the Sherman Anti-Trust Act to break up U.S. Steel. During his own presidency, Roosevelt had approved J.P. Morgan-owned U.S. Steel as a "good" trust. They became openly hostile, and Roosevelt decided to seek the presidency. Roosevelt entered the campaign late, as Taft was already being challenged by progressive leader Senator Robert La Follette of Wisconsin. Roosevelt far outpolled Taft in the primary elections which were held in a few of the more progressive states. But Taft had worked far harder than TR to control the Republican Party's organizational operations and the mechanism for choosing its presidential nominee, the 1912 Republican National Convention. So, despite Roosevelt's last-minute attempt to block Taft's re-nomination, the party re-nominated Taft in June. Before the final vote, Roosevelt had said that he would accept a presidential nomination from a new, "honestly elected", convention. He ordered pro-Roosevelt Republican convention delegates to abstain from voting, in rebuke of Taft's "steamroller tactics"... The next day, Roosevelt supporters met to form a new political party of their own. California governor Hiram Johnson became its chairman, and a new convention was scheduled for August.〔''CQG'', 1985, p. 75〕 Magazine publisher Frank A. Munsey provided $135,000 ; George W. Perkins, a director of U.S. Steel and Chairman of the International Harvester Company — one of the trusts Taft had attacked — gave $130,000 and became its executive secretary. Roosevelt's family gave $77,500 and others gave $164,000. The total was nearly $600,000, far less than the major parties.〔John A. Garraty, ''Right Hand Man: The Life of George W. Perkins'' (1960)〕 Roosevelt's ambitions to reclaim the Presidency suffered two setbacks in the interim. First, not many Republicans joined his new party. Only 5 of the 15 "progressive" Republican Senators declared support for it. Republican Representatives, governors, committeemen, and the publishers and editors of Republican-leaning newspapers showed comparable reluctance. Many of Roosevelt's closest political allies supported Taft, including his son-in-law, Nicholas Longworth (though Roosevelt's daughter Alice stuck with her father, causing a permanent chill in her marriage). For men like Longworth, expecting a future of his own in Republican politics, bolting the party would have seemed tantamount to career suicide. However, many independent reformers still signed up. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Progressive Party (United States, 1912)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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