on a "landslide" for him. A speech by Roosevelt a few weeks earlier before the Ohio Constitutional Convention, advocating the " Recall " of judicial decisions, also gave alarm to some men who might otherwise have supported him. Once organized, the Taft forces were able to carry through the report of the Committee on Credentials, which assigned them a safe majority.
Roosevelt himself had come to Chicago a few days before the Convention, and was the centre of the hardest battle of his life. He rallied his supporters, and addressed an enormous pub- lic meeting, ending his speech with " We stand at Armageddon, and we battle for the Lord." Most of his followers stood by him; but they could not break down the walls of precedent and conservatism. The Roosevelt delegates, on their leader's re- quest, remained in the Convention until the end, but refused to vote on the nomination; and Taft was duly nominated for a second term by the vote of about two-thirds of the Convention.
Roosevelt was a party man, who had stood by the party in 1884 when many of his friends bolted. His standpoint in 1912 was that he was trying to save the Republican party from a ruinous yielding to the forces of organized wealth and reaction. He was also a fighter, and felt himself deprived, by technicali- ties and personal hatreds, of an honour which the majority of his party was eager to bestow upon him. He unhesitatingly decided to " bolt," and on the evening of the adjournment of the Convention, at a meeting in Orchestra Hall, he advised the formation of a Progressive party. A later Convention of the Roosevelt men throughout the country, including a considera- ble number of Democrats, nominated Roosevelt, with Gov. Hiram W. Johnson of California for vice-president. Meanwhile the Democrats had nominated Woodrow Wilson, governor of New Jersey. The result was a three-cornered political contest, in which it was clear at the beginning that Taft could not be elected, but that Roosevelt probably could not win enough Demo- cratic votes to prevent the choice of Wilson. Nevertheless, Roosevelt fought vigorously through the campaign, violently attacking Taft as a reactionary and tool of reactionaries. While on a speaking tour at Milwaukee he was shot by a fanatic, but was not seriously injured.
The result of the election was the choice of Wilson, who had 6, 000,000 popular votes and 435 electoral votes; Roosevelt, 4,000,- ooo popular votes, and 88 electoral; Taft, 3,500,000 popular votes, and 8 electoral. On this showing the Progressives had more votes than their Republican adversaries, and therefore hoped to compel a reconstruction of the party. Their Repub- lican opponents, however, kept tight hold of the name, organi- zation and prestige. They had deliberately accepted defeat in advance in order to put Roosevelt out of the running.
This, the first serious defeat that Roosevelt had ever encoun- tered, was to him a bitter humiliation. He felt that his public career was ended. His first movement was characteristic. He had cordial invitations to visit S. America and make addresses in the principal cities. As in his experiences of 1910, this dove- tailed in with a plan of exploration. Accordingly, early in 1913, after visiting several S. American countries, including Brazil and Argentina, he returned to Brazil, made his way overland, and came down a river, whose uncharted course he followed for 600 miles. The hardships were severe, and he received an injury, serious for a time, and drew into his system the seeds of tropical malaria. The Brazilian Government named the stream Rio Teodoro.
On his return to the United States, out of office, a defeated candidate, an insurgent, the personal enemy of the Republican leaders, he seemed justified in his belief that his career was over. But as usual his enemies played into his hands. An obscure journalist ventured publicly to accuse him of drunken- ness. In May 1913 he instituted a suit for defamation of charac- ter, with the result that the defendant broke down and acknowl- edged his error. A large section of the American people resented the affront, and rejoiced in the vindication. During this period Roosevelt was indefatigable as journalist and writer, first in The Outlook, then in the Metropolitan magazine, and finally through the columns of the Kansas City Star.
The outbreak of the World War gave him a new opportunity for his pen and voice. His instinct was against Germany as an oppressor of weak nations; but he stayed his desire for positive action for a time, from the feeling that he ought not to embarrass the President. It was at this time that a personal enemy gave Roosevelt the opportunity of again showing his character to his countrymen, through a publicity which both Roosevelt and the public enjoyed. William Barnes, one of the acknowl- edged leaders of the Republican party, brought a suit in April 1915 against Roosevelt because of an accusation of unfair and corrupt politics as a " boss " which Roosevelt had made against him. Roosevelt vigorously defended himself and won the suit. For 10 days he was on the witness-stand, and his testimony, which was spread broadcast throughout the land, revealed his undiminished force and appealed to the popular imagination.
The sinking of the " Lusitania " by a German submarine in May 1915 brought his bitterest denunciation, and from that time he foresaw first the possibility and then the likelihood of war between Germany and the United States. He made him- self the leading spokesman for " preparedness," and presently drew down the wrath of President Wilson's administration for a speech at Plattsburg. From that time he did not spare sharp criticisms of President Wilson's policy as showing unwillingness to face the dangers of war. His utterances against Germany and in favour of the Allies had great influence.
As the election of 1916 drew near, the remaining Progressives, aided by some who had stayed in the Republican party, made an effort to force the Republican Convention to nominate Roosevelt. They called a Progressive Convention to meet at Chicago at the same time as the Republican, hoping to make a joint nomination with the Republicans. Roosevelt did his best to secure the prize, but again the party leaders would have none of him. Hughes was nominated, and this time Roosevelt accepted the situation as a loyal member of the Republican party, and supported the nominee.
As the World War went on, Roosevelt became the severest critic of the administration and the strongest advocate of pre- paredness. He formed a plan for raising a special division, in which he hoped to have a command, and which he would offer to the Government. Early in 1917, when the American breach with Germany came, he offered the services of himself and his sons, all four of whom subsequently enlisted. He requested that he might have a personal command, which was denied by the administration, although both Houses of Congress united in a bill making his plan possible. During the year he made some of the most notable addresses of his life, especially that be- fore the "Order of Moose" Convention in Pittsburgh. By this time the Republican politicians were looking forward to the election of 1920 and began to group themselves about Roosevelt. His most persistent enemies, even Wilh'am Barnes, accepted his nomination as a foregone conclusion. The year 1918, however, was a sad one for Roosevelt. His son Quentin was killed in the war. Ever since returning from Brazil, Roose- velt's constitution had shown weakness. He was several times in hospitals, and underwent a serious operation for abscess due to infection received during his Brazilian explorations. The hearing of his left ear was wholly destroyed. Still he continued his writing and speaking, and his direct personal influence upon his thousands of friends. Even in the first days of 1919, when he suffered from renewed disease, he looked forward to public service. On Jan. 6 1919 he died in his sleep.
A man who could do so much could not do everything per- fectly, though few have ever done so many things so well. It was more true of him than of most men that his defects were inherent in his virtues. There were few half-tones in Roose- velt's moral perceptions and fewer in his vocabulary; he saw things as either black or white, and he forgot sometimes that he had not previously seen them as he saw them at the moment. He had enemies, and even former friends, who charged him with breaking promises, betraying political associates and set- ting his own wishes and interests above all others. The very intensity of his convictions sometimes blinded him to the sincer-
