Progressive Party
an American political party that figured very PROGRESSIVE PARTY PROHIBITION the Republicans. largely during the presidential election time. The result of the election was of 1912. The origin of the party came that although the Democrats won the from the group of Progressive Republican election by an overwhelming vote in the senators and congressmen who opposed electoral college, the Progressives polled President Taft's attitude toward the a larger popular and electoral vote than tariff and the conservation of natural resources, regarding his position as too conservative and reactionary. In the pre-convention primaries of 1912 this group of Republicans persuaded ex- President Roosevelt to become their leader and to again become a candidate for the Republican nomination. Due largely to the forceful personality of
After 1912, the enthusiasm for the new party steadily waned, President Wilson's policies uniting the Progressives and Republicans in opposition. In 1916 the conventions of the two parties were both held in Chicago at the same time, and the Progressives, under the leadership of Roosevelt, decided to sup- Roosevelt and his vigorous campaigning port the Republican candidate, Justice he was able to win sweeping victories in every state where presidential preference primaries were held and came to the Republican convention with nearly half of that body pledged to his nomination. The conservative leaders of the party by the use of the national committee decided all of the contested delegations from the south in President Taft's favor, and thus were able by a narrow margin, to control the convention and re-nominate the President. Hughes. Although quite a few Progressives were dissatisfied with this merger, they were not numerous or influential enough to carry forward the new party.