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Angel Flores

What if Theodore Roosevelt Ran for More Than Two Terms?

Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt is one of the most popular presidents the United States had.

From 1901 to 1909, Roosevelt pushed his progressive agenda through the government. This

includes expanding national forests and parks, breaking monopolies, regulations on food and

meat, installing the Panama Canal, and his “Big Stick” policy. Despite his popularity, by the end

of his second term Roosevelt decided not to run for a third term in order to follow tradition set by

George Washington. Roosevelt sat back and supported William Taft for his first term. However,

by the end of Taft’s term Roosevelt was dissatisfied with Taft’s presidency and did not want

him to run again. Teddy Roosevelt decided to run against him under the Bull Moose Party. This

caused the Republican vote to split and give the election to Wildrow Wilson. These series of

events changed US history forever, and brings an interesting scenario. What if Roosevelt ran for

more terms similar to his cousin instead of stepping down in order to keep tradition? Would he

be able to and be allowed to win a third term? What would he do in a third term? How would it

change the events that follow? If he ran for a fourth term like his cousin, how would he handle

the events of that time period?

The YouTube video The Election That Ruined Everything (And If It Never Happened) by

Alternate History Hub, made a video somewhat similar to my topic addressing the failures and

impact the Wilson presidency had on the century and what Taft and Rosevelt would do

differently in those scenarios.

In order to find the answers to the questions I will use several resources. I will use The

San Francisco Call published in November 7th, 1912 in order to see if Roosevelt had a chance to

win the presidency as it highlights the rise of socialist voters in the 1912 election. It also shows
how Roosevelt ended up being more popular than Taft. The New York Tribune published on

December 13th, 1907 will be used to reason why Rosevelt would possibly run again as it

demonstrations his specific wants n a candidate and dissatisfaction with the candidates that do

not follow his perspective. I will use the National Archives as a secondary resource to show the

election results from the 1908 and 1912 election.

The University of Virginia’s Miller Center will serve as a resource to find the key events

and accomplishments of Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson. This will be used to make an educated

inference on how Roosevelt would handle the latter’s key events and scenarios. I will use the

YouTube video listed before as a reference to the possibilities and impact of the actions each

president would take during Wilson’s presidency. Most importantly, I will used The Heritage

Foundation, as it describes Teddy Roosevelt’s perspectives, policies, impacts. This will help me

to understand what kind of stance Roosevelt would take in the key events that occurred with

Wilson and Taft.

All the sources listed above will help me answer the questions as stated in the intro

paragraph. Alternate history is never certain as thousands of different outcomes could occur for

each scenario any historian decides to analyze, but I will use the resources to give an educated

inference on my scenario.

I have added sources necessary for the thesis:

● https://millercenter.org/transforming-american-democracy-tr-and-bull-moose-campaign-

1912 The Millercenter will serve as a background in the history of the Bull Moose party

and its influence in democracy at the time.

● Thompson JA. Woodrow Wilson. London: Routledge; 2013. https://search-ebscohost-

com.ezproxy.hacc.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e000xna&AN=1106227&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
Accessed November 13, 2019. This book called Woodrow Wilson will serve as a biography

and events of the former president.

● https://ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Bull_Moose_Party : This will give further information on the Bull

Moose party. I will use the source to find the impact of the Bull Moose party and its

history.

● I will use True Americanism and Progressive Principles written by Theordore Roosevelt

to find his core principles, so I can make better inferences on what Roosevelt would do.

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