U.S. presidential election, 1908

The U.S. presidential election of 1908 was held on November 3, 1908. It was not a close race. Popular incumbent President Theodore Roosevelt, honoring a promise not to seek a third term, annointed William Howard Taft as his successor. The Democrats nominated a candidate, William Jennings Bryan, who had been defeated in two previous outings against Republican William McKinley. Taft defeated Bryan in a landslide.

Contents

1 Nominations 1.1 Republican Party nomination 1.2 Democratic Party nomination 2 General election 2.1 Results 3 See also

Nominations

Republican Party nomination

The 1908 Republican Convention was held in Chicago from 16 June to 19 June. Prominent Republican candidates included House Speaker Joseph Gurney Cannon of Illinois, Charles Evans Hughes of New York, and Robert M. La Follette of Wisconsin, but William Howard Taft, the Secretary of War, prevailed with the backing of outgoing President Theodore Roosevelt.

Democratic Party nomination

The 1908 Democratic Convention was held in Denver from 7 July to 10 July. Despite a challenge by Minnesota governor John Albert Johnson, two time previous nominee William Jennings Bryan quickly won the overwhelming support of his party.

General election

Results

|- | William Jennings Bryan | Democratic | Nebraska | style="text-align:right;" | 6,409,104 | style="text-align:right;" | 43.0% | style="text-align:right;" | 162 | John Worth Kern | Indiana | style="text-align:right;" | 162

|- | Eugene Victor Debs | Socialist | Indiana | style="text-align:right;" | 420,793 | style="text-align:right;" | 2.8% | style="text-align:right;" | 0 | Benjamin Hanford | New York | style="text-align:right;" | 0

|- | Eugene Wilder Chafin | Prohibition | Illinois | style="text-align:right;" | 253,840 | style="text-align:right;" | 1.7% | style="text-align:right;" | 0 | Aaron Sherman Watkins | Ohio | style="text-align:right;" | 0

|- | Thomas Louis Hisgen | Independence | Massachusetts | style="text-align:right;" | 82,872 | style="text-align:right;" | 0.6% | style="text-align:right;" | 0 | John Temple Graves | Georgia | style="text-align:right;" | 0

|- | Thomas Edward Watson | Populist | Georgia | style="text-align:right;" | 29,100 | style="text-align:right;" | 0.2% | style="text-align:right;" | 0 | Samuel Williams | Indiana | style="text-align:right;" | 0

|- | August Gilhaus | Socialist Labor | New York | style="text-align:right;" | 14,021 | style="text-align:right;" | 0.1% | style="text-align:right;" | 0 | Donald L. Munro | Virginia | style="text-align:right;" | 0

|- | Daniel Braxton Turney | United Christian | Illinois | style="text-align:right;" | 400 | style="text-align:right;" | 0.0% | style="text-align:right;" | 0 | Lorenzo S. Coffin | Iowa | style="text-align:right;" | 0 ^(a) '

See also

• President of the United States
• History of the United States (1865-1918)