Claim: Theodore Roosevelt was President of the United States.

The United States presidential election of 1908 was the 31st quadrennial presidential election , held on Tuesday , November 3 , 1908 . Popular incumbent President Theodore Roosevelt , honoring a promise not to seek a third term , persuaded the Republican Party to nominate William Howard Taft , his close friend and Secretary of War , to become his successor . Having lost the 1904 election badly with a conservative candidate , the Democratic Party turned to two-time nominee William Jennings Bryan , who had been defeated in 1896 and 1900 by Republican William McKinley .   Despite his two previous defeats , Bryan remained extremely popular among the more liberal and populist elements of the Democratic Party . Although he ran a vigorous campaign against the nation 's business elite , Bryan suffered the worst loss of his three presidential campaigns .