Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1948-08-15

Wallace's Group Fifth
of Kind Since the
Civil War
BY Alexander R. George
The candidacy Of Henry A. Wal
lace is the fifth sisable third-party
bid for the presidency since the
Civil War.
No third-party candidate has
come close to winning election, but
Bull Moose Progressive Theodore
Roosevelt got more votes than one
Of his major party opponents. He
received So electoral votes to 8 for
President Taft, the Republican, in
1912. Democrat Woodrow Wilson
won with 435 electoral votes.
| Weaver Polled Million
The Republicans were . third
party when they organized in 1854
but in the 1856 campaign they BE-
came the major opponent of the
Democrats. Four years later ~they
elected their first President, Abra-
ham Lincoln.
Wallace Is the. second Iowan te
head a third party ticket. The first
was James B. Weaver, presidential
nominee of the Populists in 1892
He received az electoral votes ano
more than 1000, 900 popular votes.
Third best showing In the post.
Civil War period was made by Sen.
ator Robert M. La Toilette, ST., Pro.
gressive candidate in 1924. He wor
the 10 electoral votes of Wisconsin
and about one sixth Of the tota,
popular vote in q race against Presi.
dent Coolidge and Democrat John
w. Davis.
Horace Greeley, standard bearer
Of the liberal Republicans in 1872
was also the nominee OF the Demo-
cratic Party. President Grant, reg
ular Republican candidate, defeated
Greeley by an overwhelming cleo
toral majority.
Political Melodrama
Teddy Roosevelt's showmanshir
made the 1912 campaign one of the
liveliest in history. It reached q
dramatic climax when Col. Roose-
welt was shot and wounded by q
fanatic three weeks before the cleo
ton.
The Rough Rider was shot as he
was getting into an automobile to
go to an auditorium in Milwaukee
John Schrank Of New York City
squirmed through q crowd of Roose-
welt admirers, drew a revolver from
coat pocket and sent a bullet into
the colonel's right breast.
Teddy insisted on delivering his
speech. The bullet pierced ar
outercoat and the manuscript Of his
speech in the inside pocket OF his
jacket.
Stepping to the front OF the audi
torium platform, he pulled the
blood-stained manuscript from his
pocket, showed 1t to the audience
and said: "You see it takes more
than that to kill Bull Moose"
I'm going to ask you to be very
quiet and please excuse me from
making very long speech" he add
ed. "I'll do the best I can, but you
see there's bullet in my body. But
it's nothing; I'm not badly injured "
Intraparty Warfare
He spoke for more than an hour
before he consented to being taken
to hospital. Schrank told police
that deceased President Mckinley
had appeared to him In q dream and
commanded him to kill Roosevelt
He said he had been following him
three weeks, trying to get shot at
him.
The Roosevelt supporters, first
thirty party to adopt the title Pro-
gressive, chose the Bull Moose en-
blem to compete with the COP
elephant and the Democratic
donkey. Regular Republicans dubbed
the Bull Mosers "elephadonks" and
"party wreckers."
4llC LAtlC Z AOSl CooANC ctCilAlACu llOlAi
the National Progressive Republi-
can League, organized early in 1911
by the elder Senator La Toilette
and Senator Jonathan Bourne of
Oregon. Republican Governors Of
six Western States, Senators Dol
liver and Cummins Of Iowa, Editors
William Allen White and William
Rockhill Nelson were among the
prominent supporters Of the Pro-
gfessive movement.
Republican intraparty warfare in
Congress had been bitter for three
years. A coalition Of insurgent Re-
publicans and Democrats stripped
Speaker Joe Cannon, Gear Of the
House." of authority to pick men,
bers of the Rules Committee and Of
other autocratic powers.
La Toilette and Wheeler
The Progressives' 1912 platform
called for a minimum wage and
maximum hours of work, old-age
pensions and unemployment insur-