Product Description
Between February 24, 1912, when TR came out of political retirement to challenge William Howard Taft for the Republican Party's nomination for president, and June 23 of that year, Roosevelt and his supporters created and benefited from thirteen new presidential primaries, the first in the nation's history. Stressing the importance of primaries, TR's campaign theme became the right of the people to rule. Though Roosevelt won about 70 percent of the delegates selected by public vote, it was not enough to overcome the power of party bosses and entrenched interests. He walked out of the convention to create the Bull Moose Party but then shocked many of his strongest supporters by excluding all black delegates from the Deep South. Let the People Rule shows how the political and social turmoil of that landmark year changed politics in ways that provide important lessons for America today.
Reviews/Praise
"Joe Barrett reads the book with relish. VERDICT A very appropriate listening choice in an election year." ---Library Journal Audio Review
“A suspenseful narrative, replete with larger-than-life personalities, and a must-read backstory for anyone concerned with the history and fate of a democracy that, at its best, aims to Let the People Rule.”—Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor, Harvard University
“You wouldn’t think that there would be anything new to say about Theodore Roosevelt by now. But Geoffrey Cowan has brought to life a fascinating part of TR’s story usually left out of the history books. He tells it with verve and suspense, warts and all, his insights deepened by his own impressive background as a democracy activist.”—Adam Hochschild, author of To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914—1918
“Geoffrey Cowan’s Let the People Rule rips the lid off of the 1912 presidential election. Cowan brilliantly illuminates everything from the birth of the political primary system to the disenfranchisement of African Americans to egos writ large. The narrative has a marvelous flow and the research is superb.” —Douglas Brinkley, Professor of History at Rice University and author of The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America
“Drawing on deep and fresh research, Geoffrey Cowan has written a rich, eye-popping political history. Teddy Roosevelt was a progressive hero, but he could play as rough as today’s most cynically expedient politicians.” —Evan Thomas, author of Being Nixon and Robert Kennedy
“A fresh and perceptive look at Theodore Roosevelt’s fight for the Republican nomination in 1912. Based on extensive research in original sources, Let the People Rule laces striking information on TR’s race against President Taft with new insights and a fresh and important analysis. Let the People Rule is the book to read on Roosevelt’s pivotal year.” —Lewis L. Gould, author of The Republicans: A History of the Grand Old Party
“For those of us who believe that modern American politics began at the turn of the twentieth and not the twenty-first century, Geoff Cowan has produced a fresh contribution to the argument. The modern mechanics of presidential selection, the rise of candidacies largely independent of party, and the mobilization of autonomous supporters: all come to life in Let the People Rule.”—Byron E. Shafer, Hawkins Chair of Political Science, University of Wisconsin