The Origins of the Bull Moose Party

A Lesson in Natural History. The Bull Moose and the "Dough" Moose- Mayer in the New York Times.

Theodore Roosevelt is acknowledged by historians to have started the Progressive Party in the late 19th century. When he was a young and ambitious Republican politician in New York, he sought to promote reform to the New York City landscape when none of his peers had no interest in doing so. The origins of the Progressive Party began when Roosevelt and his political ally Henry Cabot Lodge refused to endorse James Blaine for president during the 1884 Presidential Election; "Blaine had long been tainted by accusations of receiving bribes when he served as Speaker of the House of Representatives, making his candidacy unpalatable to reformers like TR and Lodge. They instead backed the bland US Senator from Vermont, George Edmonds" (Ricard, 31). In the end, Roosevelt and Lodge had no other choice but to support Blaine once he received the nomination. However, after the same convention where Blaine received his nomination, Roosevelt received wide acclaim from New York City presses for his first speech to a national audience. The speech, which called for accountability among those present in the convention, motivated some Independent Republicans to endorse Democratic nominee Grover Cleveland. Even though he initially disagreed with the Republican Party's presidential nominee, at this time Roosevelt resolved to stay in the party. The Presidential Election of 1884 concluded with Blaine losing New York and the election altogether by fewer than 1,200 votes. He would have defeated Cleveland if only 600 Independent Republicans had his vote. This split in the New York Republican Party was not only a precursor to the birth of the Progressive Party, but it also temporarily tarnished Roosevelt's reputation as a politician.

Throughout his many occupations during his adulthood, Theodore Roosevelt made many accomplishments related to reform. As New York City Police Commissioner, he singled out and had police officers guilty of corruption resign, including the chief of police. "Gambling houses and brothels paid the police to ensure against raids; saloons paid thousands of dollars to obtain a liquor license; and even local greengrocers paid perhaps a dollar a day to be able to stack their produce on the sidewalk" (Ricard, 38). Before becoming the Police Commissioner, he championed the administering of civil service examinations meant to fairly give employment to people as Civil Service Commissioner. As New York City Police Commissioner, Roosevelt managed to shut down police lodging houses and to help "clean up" the streets of New York City with the help of Jacob Riis, who at the time was a police reporter who opened Roosevelt's eyes to specific areas of New York City life that needed to undergo reform. It was common for Roosevelt to go on nightly tours in order to see his officers at work. One night in particular, he went on a tour with Riis, Hamlin Garland, and Dr. Alexander Lambert and came across an Italian man selling peanuts on Rivington Street. Roosevelt asked the man what was the point in selling peanuts at a time when there were hardly any customers; "the Italian beamed with sudden understanding. 'Nah!' he said, with a gesture eloquent of resentment and resignation in one: 'W'at I maka on de peanút I losa on de dam banán' " (Riis, 145). According to Riis, most of the officers who served under Roosevelt respected him for making them do their duty. During Roosevelt's tenure as police commissioner, officers often received promotions and accolades for risking their lives while serving in the line of duty; "for the first time in the history of the department every man had a show on his merits" (Riis, 146).

When he was asked to become the leader of the four-member Board of Police Commissioners, Roosevelt was excited about this position because it was a reform administration. However, Henry Cabot Lodge, a Republican politican who was Roosevelt's mentor, knew that he was destined for national politics. During the 1894 mid-term elections, the Republican Party regained control of the House of Representatives as well as national offices in 24 states. In other words, there was a good chance that Roosevelt would have received an appointment in Washington, D.C. in any new Republican adminstration. Roosevelt reassured Lodge that he will only serve on the board for only two years or less and then set his eyes on the Presidential Election of 1896. However, he shared his mentor's fears of the new position being too difficult for him to meet everyone's expectations and possibly ruining his political career. Unfortunately, Roosevelt was not received well by many New Yorkers because of his enforcement of the Sunday Excise Law, which banned the sale of alcohol on Sundays; "this was a state law that reflected the rural, upstate temperance vote, and had long simply been ignored in the city" (Ricard, 38). Despite never being a prohibitionist and even believing the Sunday anti-liquor law to be a bad law, he still adhered to it since it was a law that needed to be enforced and since saloons were the most public and profitable of New York City's illicit ventures with ties to both the police force and to political corruption. Roosevelt seemed to be working in the interest of the Republican Party because several saloonkeepers were also political bosses and saloons often doubled as unofficial Tammany headquarters.

When Roosevelt took office in early 1895, New York City had between 12,000 and 15,000 saloons. By Sunday, June 30, 1895, he had succeeded in closing 97% of the saloons in accordance with the law, stopping the regular flow of 3,000,000 glasses of beer. As a result of supporting the Sunday Excise Law, Roosevelt became the most unpopular man in New York, and he was attacked not only by Tammany Democrats but by German-Americans, who typically voted Republican and liked a traditional drink of beer on Sundays. When Tammany Democrat David Hill, a US senator from New York, attacked him for wasting police resources enforcing the Sunday at the cost of fighting crime, Roosevelt responded in a speech to German-Americans, who were the second-largest ethnic group in New York City behind the Irish. In his speech, Roosevelt made it clear that the law was meant to take action against the big Tammany Hall bosses who owned saloons, not the saloonkeepers who did not have ties to Tammany Hall. Even with the speech, Roosevelt was concerned that city Republicans were distancing themselves away from him. Many people blamed him for the poor attendance among city Republicans during the 1895 Assembly elections, and party leaders refused to allow him to campaign for Republican candidates. Lodge again reassured Roosevelt by telling him that he might have been losing support in New York City, but he was gaining support statewide, maybe for the next run for political office. 1896 was a difficult year for Roosevelt; "In January TR had fought to keep his job, in danger of being legislated out of existence by an Assembly bill engineered by Republican leaders, The following month he began a dispute with a fellow commissioner, Democrat Andrew D. Parker, which would color the rest of his time in New York" (Ricard, 40). In alliance with the new Chief of Police, Parker often placed obstacles in the path of Roosevelt's conduct of the commission, by holding up officer promotions and failing to attend commission meetings. In April TR testified in Albany in favor of a bill to break the commission's deadlock. He and Parker butted heads in their testimony, with Parker accusing Roosevelt of playing politics with the police promotions. In the end, the committee decided to not accept the bill, which was a disappointing defeat for TR. The following month, Roosevelt challenged the city comptroller to a duel with pistols because he lectured him about using taxpayers' money to pay off informants; "in June, unable to remove Parker without a trial, Mayor Strong had decided to bring him up on charges to prove 'neglected duty'. Essentially, Strong, using 'evidence' supplied by TR, accused Parker of missing many meetings and falling behind on paperwork." (Ricard, 40). Even though the testimony ended in July, the matter was never fully resolved. These unfortunate events that Roosevelt had to endure were the low points of his New York City career. 

The climax of Teddy Roosevelt's tenure as police commissioner came in August 1896, as a deadly ten-day heatwave loomed over New York. A virtual monopoly on ice in the city by the Consolidated Ice Company priced the much-needed item out of reach of many impoverished New Yorkers. While Mayor William Strong and many other city officials failed to take action on the matter, Roosevelt was only a handful of New York officials who decided to do something about the heat wave. He ordered that police wagons be pressed into service as ambulances and addressed the ice monopoly, asking that the city buy and distribute ice in the poorest districts. Not only did Roosevelt personally supervise the distribution from police precinct houses, he made a point of investigating how people made use of the ice. The events of the heat wave had a profound effect on him; "just as his intimate involvement with the poor of the city shaped his education as an urban progressive, his championing the city's distribution of free ice was his first experience as a trustbuster" (Ricard, 41). Shortly after, Roosevelt made an effort to offer his services to aid William McKinley's presidential campaign. He did this because he wanted to guarantee himself a position in Washington, D.C. if McKinley were to win. Roosevelt's saloon-closing crusade made him a political outcast in New York, and the police commission was deadlocked by his feud with Parker. He managed to campaign for McKinley in Michigan, Minnesota, and North Dakota, three states that swung to McKinley on Election Day. By December, it was more unlikely that Roosevelt would get a position in Washington as the New York state legislature began proceedings to appoint a new United States Senator. There were only two serious candidates for Republican senator: Joseph Choate, Roosevelt's old family friend and political advisor, and Thomas Platt, the Easy Boss. Platt's seat in the Senate was assured since he was the boss of the Republican machine; "showing again his political savvy and ability to compromise, TR requested a meeting with Platt, and turned down requests to speak on Choate's behalf" (Ricard, 41). As he waited for months to hear back from President McKinley and his Vice-President Mark Hanna, discipline in the police ranks began to crumble, and the deadlock on the police commission persisted. TR finally learned in early April 1897 that he was selected for the position of Assistant Secretary of the Navy. Platt had obviously been convinced that Roosevelt would do less harm in Washington than in New York City. He would again come to this conclusion in 1900 as he considered placing Governor Roosevelt on the Republican national ticket.