Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 7, 1916. The Democratic ticket of incumbent president Woodrow Wilson and incumbent vice president Thomas Marshall defeated the Republican ticket of former associate justice of the Supreme Court Charles Evans Hughes and former vice president Charles Fairbanks by a narrow margin. Wilson was the first incumbent Democrat since 1832 to win re-election to a second consecutive term.
In June, the 1916 Republican National Convention chose Hughes as a compromise between the conservative and progressive wings of the party. Hughes was on the Supreme Court in 1912 and was not involved in the bitter politics of that year. He defeated John W. Weeks, Elihu Root, and several other candidates on the third ballot. While conservative and progressive Republicans had been divided in the 1912 election between the candidacies of incumbent President William Howard Taft and former President Theodore Roosevelt, they largely united around Hughes in his bid to oust Wilson. Hughes remains the only person to have served as a Supreme Court justice and later been a major party's presidential nominee. Wilson was renominated at the 1916 Democratic National Convention, as was Vice President Thomas R. Marshall, both without opposition. Hughes's running mate was Charles W. Fairbanks, who had been Theodore Roosevelt's vice president in his second term.
Although many saw Hughes as the favorite to win, Wilson defeated him by nearly 600,000 votes out of about 18.5 million cast in the popular vote. Wilson secured a narrow majority in the Electoral College by sweeping the Solid South and winning several swing states with razor-thin margins. Wilson won California, the tipping point state, by a slim margin. Wilson's top vote-getting elector received just 3,773 more votes than Hughes's top vote-getting elector. Since the GOP was not as split as in 1912, Wilson did not have the same easy victory as he had four years earlier, losing his home state of New Jersey along with the states of Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Marshall's home state of Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, West Virginia (although he still won an electoral vote from the state), and Wisconsin. However, Wilson still managed to win two states that he had lost in 1912 (Utah and Washington), and fully won California after having only obtained two out of 13 electoral votes from California in 1912. The Socialist party under Allan L. Benson received 3.19% of the vote. This resulted in no candidate securing a majority in California, Washington, North Dakota, or New Hampshire, with the Prohibition party also receiving 1.19% of the vote.
Nominations
Democratic Party nomination
1916 Democratic Party ticket for presidentfor vice president 28thPresident of the United States(1913–1921) 28thVice President of the United States(1913–1921): 1,092 votes1,202,492 votes
The 1916 Democratic National Convention was held in St. Louis, Missouri between June 14 and 16. Given Wilson's incumbency and enormous popularity within the party, he was overwhelmingly re-nominated. Vice President Thomas R. Marshall was also re-nominated with no opposition.
Republican Party nomination 1916 Republican Party ticket for presidentfor vice president Associate Justiceof the U.S. Supreme Court(1910–1916)26thVice President of the United States(1905–1909): 18 delegates: 950 votes82,530 votes
Other major candidates Candidates in this section are sorted by their highest vote count on the nominating ballotsJohn W. WeeksElihu RootCharles W. FairbanksAlbert B. CumminsTheodore RooseveltTheodore E. BurtonU.S. Senatorfrom Massachusetts(1913–1919)U.S. Senatorfrom New York(1909–1915)U.S. Vice Presidentfrom Indiana(1905–1909)U.S. Senatorfrom Iowa(1908–1926)U.S. Presidentfrom New York(1901–1909)U.S. Senatorfrom Ohio(1909–1915):Before Third Ballot: 0 delegates: 105 votes0 votes:In Midst of Third Ballot: 0 delegates: 103 votes786 votes:In Midst of Third Ballot: 40 delegates: 89 votes176,080 votes: 82 delegates: 85 votes191,951 votes: 14 delegates: 81 votes83,739 votes:In Midst of Third Ballot: 40 delegates: 78 votes122,169 votesLawrence Y. ShermanPhilander C. KnoxHenry FordMartin G. BrumbaughRobert M. La FolletteT. Coleman du PontU.S. Senatorfrom Illinois(1913–1921)Secretary of Statefrom Pennsylvania(1909–1913)President of the<br/ >Ford Motor Companyfrom Michigan(1906–1919)Governorof Pennsylvania(1915–1919)U.S. Senatorfrom Wisconsin(1906–1925)President of DuPontfrom Delaware(?–1915): 56 delegates:Before Third Ballot: 66 votes155,945 votes: 0 delegates: 36 votes386 votes: 32 delegates: 32 votes131,965 votes: 19 delegates:Before Second Ballot: 29 votes233,100 votes: 25 delegates: 25 votes133,486 votes: 6 delegates: 13 votes0 votes
Delegate selection
Convention
The 1916 Republican National Convention was held in Chicago between June 7 and 10.
A major goal of the party leaders was to heal the bitter split that ripped the party apart in 1912. Although several candidates were openly competing for the 1916 nomination — most prominently Senator Elihu Root of New York and Senator John W. Weeks of Massachusetts — the leaders wanted a moderate who would be acceptable to both factions.
They turned to Supreme Court Justice Charles Evans Hughes, who had been serving on the court since 1910 and had the advantage of not having publicly spoken about political issues in six years. Although he had not actively sought the nomination, Hughes made it known that he would not turn it down. He won the nomination on the third ballot. Former Vice President Charles W. Fairbanks was nominated as his running mate. Hughes remains, as of today, the only serving Supreme Court justice to be nominated for president by a major political party. Ballot1 2 3 Charles Evans Hughes253 326 950 John W. Weeks105 102 2 Elihu Root103 89 9 Charles W. Fairbanks89 75 7 Albert B. Cummins85 77 2 Theodore Roosevelt81 65 19 Theodore E. Burton78 69 9 Lawrence Yates Sherman66 59 5 Philander C. Knox36 30 6 Henry Ford32 29 9 Martin Grove Brumbaugh29 22 2 Robert M. La Follette25 25 23 William Howard Taft14 4 0 T. Coleman du Pont7 13 6 Henry Cabot Lodge7 2 0 John Wanamaker5 1 1 Frank B. Willis1 2 2 William Borah2 0 2 Warren G. Harding1 0 1 Samuel W. McCall0 1 1 Leonard Wood0 1 1
Progressive Party nomination
1916 Progressive Party ticketfor presidentfor vice president N/ABusinessman and 1916 nominee for Governor of Louisiana
Candidates considered
Candidates consideredTheodore RooseveltVictor MurdockHiram JohnsonGifford PinchotU.S. Presidentfrom New York(1901–1909)U.S. Representativefrom Kansas(1903–1915)Governorof California(1911–1917)Chief of theU.S. Forest Servicefrom Pennsylvania(1905–1910)
The Progressive Party re-nominated former President Theodore Roosevelt.
For Vice President, Progressives nominated businessman John M. Parker of Louisiana, who had run an unsuccessful campaign. California Governor Hiram Johnson was suggested for renomination, and Raymond Robins, chairman of the party convention, was proposed, but both withdrew their names in favor of Parker.
However, Roosevelt telegraphed the convention and declared that he could not accept their nomination and would be endorsing Republican nominee Charles Evans Hughes for the presidency. Roosevelt turned down the Progressive nomination for both personal and political reasons. He was convinced that running for president on a third-party ticket again would merely give the election to the Democrats and had developed a strong dislike for President Wilson. He also believed Wilson was allowing Germany and other warring nations in Europe to "bully" and intimidate the United States.
Former U.S. representative Victor Murdock of Kansas pushed for a ticket consisting of William Jennings Bryan and Henry Ford but nothing came of it. Some, such as National Committeeman Harold L. Ickes, refused to consider endorsing Hughes. There was some talk of replacing Roosevelt with Hiram Johnson or Gifford Pinchot. All those discussed refused to consider the notion, and by this point, some leaders such as Henry Justin Allen had started to follow Roosevelt's lead and endorsed Hughes. Various state parties, such as those in Iowa and Maine, began to disband.
Finally, when the Progressive Party National Committee met in Chicago on June 26, those in attendance begrudgingly endorsed Hughes; even those like Ickes who had vehemently refused to consider granting an endorsement to Hughes began to recognize that without Roosevelt the party had no electoral staying power. There had been a weak attempt to replace Roosevelt on the ticket with Victor Murdock, but the motion was defeated 31 to 15.
With Roosevelt refusing their nomination, the Progressive Party quickly fell into disarray. Most members returned to the Republican Party, but a substantial minority supported Wilson for his efforts in keeping the United States out of World War I.
Without a presidential nominee, many in the party, notably vice-presidential nominee John M. Parker and Bainbridge Colby, remained steadfast in their refusal to support Hughes. Parker desired the presidential nomination himself. Colby, while opposed to the endorsement of Hughes, now considered a Progressive campaign impractical and privately supported Wilson. It appeared likely for a time that another convention would be called in early August, until a conference held among the remaining representatives of the party in Indianapolis decided against it, while also narrowly voting against filling the vacancy that had been caused by Roosevelt's refusal to be placed on the ticket (though Parker remained the vice-presidential nominee). Electoral tickets would still be put in place where the Progressive Party remained organized in the hopes of electing enough electors so as to possibly hold the balance of power in a close contest between the Democratic and Republican candidates.
While running as the vice-presidential nominee, John Parker would endorse Woodrow Wilson for the presidency.
Socialist Party nomination
1916 Socialist Party ticketfor presidentfor vice president Newspaper Editorfrom New YorkWriter and Political Activistfrom New Jersey
Other candidates
Candidates in this section are sorted by number of votes received in the Mail-In PrimaryJames H. MaurerArthur LeSueurState Representativefrom Pennsylvania(1915–1919)Newspaper Editorfrom North Dakota12,264 votes3,495 votes
Eugene V. Debs and Charles Edward Russell declined to run for the nomination. Debs, who had served as the party's presidential nominee since its foundation, chose to run for a seat in the United States House of Representatives from Indiana's 5th congressional district. Allan Benson, a newspaper editor from New York, quickly came to dominate the field on a platform of his fervent opposition to militarism and proposal that all wars should be voted upon in a national referendum. Rather than a traditional nominating convention, the vote was conducted through a mail-order ballot, with Benson capturing 16,639 out of a total of 32,398 cast (to 12,264 for Maurer and 3,495 for Le Sueur). A vote for the vice-presidential nomination was jointly held with George Ross Kirkpatrick, a lecturer from New Jersey, winning the nomination 20,607 to 11,388 over Kate Richards O'Hare of Missouri.
Prohibition Party nomination
1916 Prohibition Party ticketfor presidentfor vice president 26thGovernor of Indiana(1905–1909)Minister and Temperance Activistfrom Tennessee
Other candidates
Candidates in this section are sorted by their highest vote count on the nominating ballotsWilliam SulzerState assemblymanfrom New York(1914–1914)181 votes