Theodore Rex - Edmund Morris [442]
143 Purged by his John Hay diary, 6–7 Nov. 1904 (JH); Washington Evening Star, 11 Nov. 1904; Longworth, Crowded Hours, 64. Several observers noted TR’s strange calm on this evening. He confided to his sister Corinne “that he had never wanted anything in his life quite as much as the outward and visible sign of his country’s approval,” and for the first time she understood how painful it had been for him to function as McKinley’s “accidental” heir (Douglas, Many-Sided Roosevelt, 268–69; Robinson, My Brother, 217–18). According to Douglas, TR’s disclaimer of another run was, like many of his apparently impulsive decisions, premeditated. He had discussed it several weeks before with Attorney General Moody.
144 “On the fourth” Washington Evening Star, 9 Nov. 1904. TR’s final popular vote was 7,628,461, exceeding McKinley’s total in 1900 by 409,970. He carried every northern and western state as well as Delaware, West Virginia, and Missouri. Parker’s total of 5,084,223 fell short of Bryan’s in 1900 by 1,272,511. In the Electoral College, TR scored a record 336 to Parker’s 140. Republicans strengthened their domination of Congress, with a 57 to 33 division of seats with Democrats in the Senate, and 250 to 136 in the House. Altogether it was, in the words of Charles Dawes, “the greatest Republican victory on record,” and, as Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World magnanimously conceded, “the greatest personal triumph ever won by any President” (Dawes, Journal of the McKinley Years, 387; Heaton, Story of a Page, 211). For a comprehensive analysis of voting patterns, broken down in virtually every category save hairstyle, see Wheaton, “Genius and the Jurist,” chap. 13. His figures reveal some interesting negatives. For example, Democratic disillusionment with Parker (doubtless influenced by TR’s pre-election tirade) had more to do with the end result than Republican enchantment with the President. Both parties lost voter support in the South, mainly because of black disfranchisement. TR personally—and surprisingly, in view of his habitual identification with the American farmer—lost votes in most rural counties across the Corn Belt. Wherever soil was poor, he gained; wherever it was rich, his support declined. His best strength was in big cities (Jews voted for him almost solidly in New York) and in areas of thriving industry. The coal-strike conference notwithstanding, TR did not do well in depressed or strike-torn counties. Wheaton concludes that the prime causes of his plurality were economic prosperity and Republican loyalty.
INTERLUDE
1 ON THE DAY Except where otherwise indicated, the following two paragraphs are based on James J. Horgan, “Aeronautics at the World’s Fair of 1904,” Missouri Historical Society Bulletin 24.3 (1968).
2 “quite drunk” Adams, Letters, vol. 5, 588.
3 “One asked oneself” Education of Henry Adams, 467.
4 He had tried See ibid., chap. 25, “The Dynamo and the Virgin.”
5 The settled life Education of Henry Adams, passim and 500.
6 the very personification Ernest Samuels, Henry Adams: The Major Phase (Cambridge, Mass., 1964), 324.
7 “The devil is” Adams, Letters, vol. 5, 537.
8 ROOSEVELT GOT TO Education of Henry Adams, 468. TR was in St. Louis on 26 and 27 Nov. 1904. It was not technically his first visit to the fairgrounds, since he had stopped by and spoken there in the early planning stage, during his Western tour.
9 He came at Education of Henry Adams, 468.
10 “We really had” TR, Letters, vol. 3, 1047–48.
11 He stomped Alice was convulsed when her father paused to peer shortsightedly at a statue, and pronounced it a “particularly fine Diana.” As she could well see, it had all the attributes of an Apollo. Longworth, Crowded Hours, 65.
12 He was impressed TR, Letters, vol. 3, 1048.