Why do you think the election of 1912 got so personal between Roosevelt and Taft?

Question

Theodore Roosevelt.

Answer 1

wow that's an ambitious question

Answer 2

Since Roosevelt hand picked Taft to be his successor, I guess he thought Taft would have govern in comparison to him(which would have been quite presumptous). After returning from a safari in 1910 in Africa, Roosevelt was well informed about what Taft was doing and he was displeased. n actuality they called TR the "trust-buster" but Taft was more like a trust buster and TR a trust regulator. By the time of the convention in 1912 there were vast differences between the two men and when Taft received the nomination and TR stormed out of the convention in disgust due to Taft's influence with party insider then the rift was complete.

Answer 3

Roosevelt and Taft had opposing styles of leadership. The polar opposite chemistry that was great between them during Roosevelt's presidency was offensive to both during Taft's. Taft felt Roosevelt should be more of a traditionalist and not run for office. Taft thought Roosevelt's entry in the election would be sure defeat. Roosevelt's ego would not let him turn down a fight, even if it meant disaster for his party. Oh well, that's history now!

Answer 4

At the time there was no term limit on the presidency. Teddy Roosevelt only stepped down because he believed his friend, William Howard Taft, would follow the same path he had. It turned out that Taft followed a completely different agenda, and Roosevelt was outraged. This was the reason he ran again as a member of the "Bull Moose" party--to get his old policies enacted again.

Answer 5

Roosevelt groomed Taft for office and then felt betrayed when Taft took the country in a different direction.
Taft, in fact, hated the presidency. He really wanted to sit on the Supreme Court and when he finally got there he was very happy.

Answer 6

Roosevelt felt that Taft had unravelled his presidency. That he did not maintain Roosevelt's policies or proceed the way Roosevelt wanted him too.
It became embittered and personal because Taft was handpicked by Roosevelt for this very reason to maintain Roosevelts previous course of action.

Roosevelt impassioned and exciteable just rolled-over Taft who took this bitterly. This completely split apart the Republican Party and led to Taft's defeat.

Answer 7

Several of the answers thus given are quite valid. Different styles of Leadership, differences in temperment, but the cold hard truth is that when Teddy Roosevelt relinquished his hold on the White House in 1908 he fully imagined he wanted to leave the White House and go off hunting in Africa.

However the African Safari was not all that fulfilling and by 1910 Teddy Roosevelt was bored & frustrated and eager to retake the reins of power. In some odd fashion Teddy imagined that Taft would step aside for his pal. However Howard, prompted by his ambitious Wife, and Republicans who had never liked Roosevelt, Taft said 'No' and that angered Teddy. Actually the situation dragged on for a year, with William Howard Taft dodging the issue for as long as possible and then 'coldly' making it clear he wanted reelection.

(We had a simliar situation in Honolulu when our Mayor stepped down to run for governor, leaving the mayor job to his managing director. When the former mayor failed to get the governorship, he expected the managing director now mayor to stay out of the next election. Lots of bitterness ensued.)

It should also be stated that despite Repubhlicans trotting out Teddy Roosevelt's name whenever anyone ask who were the great Republican Leaders, T.R was a rebel, outside of the main Republican Powers, who pushed T.R. into the Vice Presidency to get him out of the New York's Governor office, not expecting healthy likable William McKinley to become the victim of a killer. Actually no one hated McKinley enough to kill him, the anarchist was acting on (misguided) principals.
The Republicans reluctantly supported T.R. in 1904, were releived when Roosevelt refused reelection in 1908 and were not prepared to work with him again. The core Republicans backed Taft and their machinations added to the bitterness & strife.

Taking a page from the Deomocrat Handbook, the Republicans fought among themselves and elected a Democrat.

Peace....

Answer 8

roosevelt thought taft was too weak and roosevelt wanted to make him look bad. He went wayyyy too far and then the public got sickened and thats why wilson won.

Answer 9

TR felt Taft was leading the country in the wrong direction

Answer 10

I would think it was because of differences of opinion about where the Progressive movement was heading.

The Progressive Era is not my area of knowledge, so I could very well be incorrect.