Let the People Rule: Theodore Roosevelt and the Birth of the Presidential Primary
Let the People Rule tells the exhilarating story of the four-month campaign that changed American politics forever. In 1912 Theodore Roosevelt came out of retirement to challenge his close friend and handpicked successor, William Howard Taft, for the Republican Party nomination. To overcome the power of the incumbent, TR seized on the idea of presidential primaries, telling bosses everywhere to "Let the People Rule." The cheers and jeers of rowdy supporters and detractors echo from Geoffrey Cowan's pages as he explores TR's fight-to-the-finish battle to win popular support. After sweeping nine out of thirteen primaries, he felt entitled to the nomination. But the party bosses proved too powerful, leading Roosevelt to walk out of the convention and create a new political party of his own.
Using a trove of newly discovered documents, Cowan takes readers inside the colorful, dramatic, and often mean-spirited campaign, describing the political machinations and intrigue and painting indelible portraits of its larger-than-life characters. But Cowan also exposes the more unsavory parts of TR's campaign: seamy backroom deals, bribes made in TR's name during the Republican Convention, and then the shocking political calculation that led TR to ban any black delegates from the Deep South from his new "Bull Moose Party."
In this utterly compelling work, Cowan illuminates lessons of the past that have great resonance for American politics today.
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Cowan tells his story with great verve.--H. W. Brands
A lively, relevant primer in the sausage-making of candidate selection....Few historians have given this shameful chapter in the Progressive Party the attention that it deserves, and Cowan's documentation, drawn mostly from newspaper accounts from the summer of 1912, is compelling.--Thomas Curwen
Brings new insight to a well-worn story.... Cowan paints an admirably nuanced picture of Roosevelt.--Ari Berman
The 1912 presidential campaign makes for a dazzling story, and Mr. Cowan tells it well.... [he] brings fresh depth and breadth to this sordid tale. Thus do we see, through his research and deft storytelling, how reform movements are often encased in self-interested cant.--Robert Merry
A fascinating tale.... I found this book revelatory.--Janet Napolitano, President, University of California
You wouldn't think that there would be anything new to say about Theodore Roosevelt by now. But Geoffrey Cowan has brought to life a fascinating part of TR's story usually left out of the history books. He tells it with verve and suspense, warts and all, his insights deepened by his own impressive background as a democracy activist.--Adam Hochschild, author, To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918
Cowan has written a rich, eye-popping political history. Teddy Roosevelt was a progressive hero, but he could play as rough as today's most cynically expedient politicians.--Evan Thomas, author of Being Nixon and Robert Kennedy
Cowan has brilliantly re-created a pivotal moment in American political history...brought vividly to life through dogged and creative research and graceful storytelling. Political junkies across America are buckling in for another tumultuous primary season in 2016--and they couldn't find a better way to prepare than to devour this rollicking and remarkably current tale of how it all began, over a century ago.--Ronald Brownstein, editorial director for strategic partnerships, Atlantic Media
