He failed, walked out, and founded the so-called 'Bull Moose' Party which called for wide-ranging progressive reforms. He ran in the 1912 election and the split allowed the Democratic nominee Woodrow Wilson to win the election. Following the defeat, Roosevelt led a two-year expedition to the Amazon basin where he nearly died of tropical disease. == First marriage and widowerhood == After his father's death, Roosevelt had inherited $125,000 (equivalent to $3.3 million in 2019), enough to live comfortably for the rest of his life. After his election victory, Roosevelt decided to drop out of law school, later saying, 'I intended to be one of the governing class.'