TheUSAPresidents.com

Every Presidential Election Every American President About the Executive Branch Presidential Events All Political Parties America's Founding Documents

Thirty-first American presidential election of 1908

AndyHogan14, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Date

The 1908 election took place on November 3, 1908.

Candidates

• President
• William Howard Taft, Secretary of War from Ohio (winner)
• Philander Knox, former US Attorney General from Pennsylvania
• Charles Hughes, governor of New York
• Joseph Cannon, Speaker of the House from Illinois
• Charles Fairbanks, incumbent vice president
• Robert M. La Follete, Senator from Wisconsin
• Joseph Foraker, Senator from Ohio
• Leslie Shaw, former Secretary of the Treasury
• Vice President
• James Sherman, Representative from New York (winner)
• Franklin Murphy, former governor of New Jersey

• President
• William Jennings Byran, former presidential canddiate in 1896 & 1900 (winner)
• George Gray, Federal Appeals Judge from Delaware
• John Johnson, governor of Minnesota
• Vice President
• John Kern, former State Senator from Indiana

• President
• Eugene Debs, former presidential candidate (winner)
• James Carey, former State Representative from Massachusetts
• Carl Thompson, State Representative from Wisconsin
• Algie Simons, former editor of the International Socialist Review from Illinois
• Vice President
• Ben Hanford, former vice presidential candidate in 1904
• Seymour Stedman, member of the National Executive Branch of the Socialist party
• May Wood Simons, writer and teacher from Wisconsin
• John Slayton, lecturer from Virginia

Final tickets

William Howard Taft for president & James Sherman for vice president

William Jennings Bryan for president & John Kern for vice president

Eugene Debs for president & Ben Hanford for vice president (this photo is from 1904, as a 1908 poster could not be found)

Campaining & major issues

Though President Roosevelt's second term was not as eventful, he was still immensely popular, and most Americans, even some Democrats, liked him. Many Republicans urged him to reconsider, but he refused. Maybe he would reconsider (yes, that's foreshadowing.) Instead, Roosevelt endorsed his friend William Howard Taft. Taft did not want to be president as much, and had more of a passion for the Supreme Court, and most of his charisma came from Roosevelt. William Jennings Bryan, at this point, was still known by a lot of Americans. Bryan had considered running in 1904, but knew he would lose to Roosevelt. However, he thought Taft was vulnerable and he sought his third chance at the presidency. The Taft campaign made it hard though, with a famous slogan still mentioned by presidential enthusiasts: "Vote for Taft, you can vote for Bryan anytime!" Making fun of how he had already ran twice.

Electoral college & turn-out

The electoral college increased to 483 votes; 242 needed to win. 14,889,239 people voted in this election.

Results

• 321/483 electoral votes
• 51.57% of the popular vote

• 162/483 electoral votes
• 43.04% of the popular vote

• No electoral votes
• 2.83% of the popular vote

Other attributions (listed from top to bottom)

Kurz & Allison.., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Heritage Auctions / Kurz & Allison (Chicago), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Debs-Hanford Presidential Campaign, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

TheUSAPresidents.com

About Us Legal Political policy Reliability

Information on this site should not be plagiarized. This site is intended for hobby purposes, not commercial. Visit here for more information.