Fans of history will likely enjoy Time magazine’s special Teddy Roosevelt issue this week.
I was struck particularly by the following passage from an article detailing the 1912 election:
T.R. welcomed African Americans into his new party [the Progressive or Bull Moose Party], but the whites organizing the Progressives of the Deep South insisted that if any black were permitted to hold a party office or serve as a delegate, Southern whites would refuse to join. Left to choose between acquiescence and no presence in the South, Roosevelt acquiesced and was roundly criticized. W.E.B. DuBois and other black leaders saw Roosevelt as a hypocrite and threw their support to the Democratic nominee, Governor Woodrow Wilson of New Jersey. They would regret it. Southern Democrats were frankly committed to white supremacy. Wilson’s Cabinet, dominated by Southerners, soon resegregated the civil service, erasing most of the gains made during the Roosevelt and Taft presidencies.
The passage underscores the need to consider the political parties in their historical context. Republicans, Democrats, and Progressives were much different animals 94 years ago.
