Direct democracy played an
important role in the 1912 campaign. This Harper's Weekly cover for June 8
suggests one reason for its importance: Roosevelt. (Harper's Weekly was a
Democratic magazine editorially, although its editor, George Harvey Smith, did not support
Wilson before his nomination.)
Roosevelt came out squarely for the Initiative, the Referendum, and the Recall during
his quest for reelection. (Roosevelt's opponents, like the editors of Harper's
Weekly liked to brand him with the "third term" label, although TR had only
once been elected President.)
This cartoonist in the Republican magazine Judge, May 11, 1912,
observed how the Recall had been the wedge that had split off many progressives.
(This wedge divided the party before the raucous Chicago Republican
Convention, and
Roosevelt's bolt from the party to form the Progressive Party.)
Having popular primaries for the nomination of candidates was also part of the movement
for direct democracy. Primaries promised to reduce the influence of professional
politicians, who reformers saw as too often corrupt. Primaries would allow Americans
to rid themselves of "boss" politics. Roosevelt advocated direct primaries
for choosing delegates to the Republican convention in 1912, counting on his popularity to
win support, wresting it away from the established Republican politicians who the
incumbent President controlled. This cartoon, scanned from the Democratic Puck April 10, 1912, shows Taft's ambivalence about primary elections for choosing convention
delegates:
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