The 1916 United States presidential election was the 33rd quadrennial presidential election. Incumbent Democratic President Woodrow Wilson defeated former Governor of New York Charles Evans Hughes, the Republican candidate. As of 2020, Hughes remains the only current or former Supreme Court Justice to serve as a major party’s presidential nominee. The campaign took place against a background dominated by war — the Mexican Revolution and World War I.
About 1916 United States presidential election in brief
The 1916 United States presidential election was the 33rd quadrennial presidential election. Incumbent Democratic President Woodrow Wilson defeated former Governor of New York Charles Evans Hughes, the Republican candidate. As of 2020, Hughes remains the only current or former Supreme Court Justice to serve as a major party’s presidential nominee. Wilson secured a narrow majority in the Electoral College by sweeping the Solid South and winning several swing states with razor-thin margins. The campaign took place against a background dominated by war — the Mexican Revolution and World War I. Although officially neutral in the European conflict, public opinion in the United States favored the Allied forces led by Great Britain and France against the German Empire and Austria-Hungary. Most American voters wanted to avoid involvement in the war and preferred to continue a policy of neutrality. The Progressive Party re-nominated former President Theodore Roosevelt. However, Roosevelt later telegraphed the convention and declared that he could not accept their nomination and would be endorsing Republican nominee Charles Hughes for the Presidency. He turned down the Progressive nomination for both personal and political reasons. He believed that running for president again would merely give the election to the Democrats and had a strong dislike for President Wilson. All those who wanted to replace Roosevelt with Hiram Johnson or Gifford Pinchot refused to follow the lead of some leaders and follow Roosevelt’s lead. Some, like William Jennings and Henry Ford, pushed for a ticket consisting of William Bryan and HenryFord but came nothing of nothing of it came of it.
The United States entered the war in April 1917, one month after Wilson’s second term began. The 1916 Republican National Convention was held in Chicago between June 7 and 10. Although several candidates were openly competing for the 1916 nomination — most prominently Senator Elihu Root and Senator John W. Weeks — the party’s bosses wanted a moderate who would be acceptable to both factions of the party. They turned to Supreme Court justice Charles EvansHughes, 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 of the convention. Wilson was re- Nominated at the 1916 Democratic National Convention a few days later, without opposition. Former Vice President Charles W. Fairbanks was nominated as his running mate. Wilson won California, the decisive state, by just 3,773 votes. He was overwhelmingly re- nominated with no opposition. The election was held on November 7, 1916, and Wilson won the presidency by nearly 600,000 votes in the popular vote. The U.S. became a member of the European Union in July 1917, and joined the League of Nations in July 1918, and became the first country to join the European Economic Community in July 1919. The European Union was established in July 1920. The Treaty of Versailles was signed on July 1, 1920.
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