1912 United States presidential election in Alabama

Main article: 1912 United States presidential election
1912 United States presidential election in Alabama
← 1908 November 5, 1912 1916 →
 
Nominee Woodrow Wilson Theodore Roosevelt William Howard Taft
Party Democratic Progressive Republican
Home state New Jersey New York Ohio
Running mate Thomas R. Marshall Hiram Johnson Nicholas M. Butler
Electoral vote 12 0 0
Popular vote 82,438 22,680 9,717
Percentage 69.94% 19.24% 8.24%
County results
President before election

William Howard Taft
Republican

Elected President

Woodrow Wilson
Democratic

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The 1912 United States presidential election in Alabama took place on November 5, 1912, as part of the 1912 United States presidential election. Alabama voters chose twelve representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Over the preceding twenty years, Alabama had become effectively a one-party state ruled by the Democratic Party. Disenfranchisement of almost all African Americans and a large proportion of poor whites via poll taxes, literacy tests[1] and extralegal violence[2] had essentially eliminated opposition parties outside of Unionist Winston County and a few other northern hill counties that had been Populist strongholds.[3] The only competitive statewide elections became Democratic Party primaries limited by law to white voters.

Because the supporters of the Populist Party had previously been frequently lily-white Republicans,[4] and Alabama had the most substantial white Republican support in the Deep South, Alabama’s white Republicans would after the 1901 constitutional convention immediately make efforts to expel blacks from the state Republican Party.[5] For the 1904 Convention, President Theodore Roosevelt rejected this proposal, unlike in North Carolina where he acquiesced without opposition to the demands of Jeter Connelly Pritchard.[5] During the rest of the decade, as conservative Democratic rule was consolidated throughout the state, the party did shift toward a more progressive policy,[6] although African-American convict labour was increased in the coalfields near Birmingham during strikes late in the decade.[7]

In the election year of 1912, Oscar D. Street was appointed state Republican Party boss as part of the black-and-tan faction loyal to incumbent president William Howard Taft and Columbia University President Nicholas Murray Butler.[8] At the same time, Theodore Roosevelt and governor of California Hiram Johnson planned “lily-whitism” for the South with the “Bull Moose Party” after Roosevelt broke from the GOP.[9]

No polls were taken in the state during the election season, and despite Roosevelt’s popularity even in the Solid South,[10] Democratic nominees former Princeton University President and governor of New Jersey Woodrow Wilson and governor of Indiana Thomas R. Marshall won Alabama easily with 69.94% of the popular vote, against the 26th president of the United States, with 19.24 percent to Roosevelt and 8.24 percent to Taft.[11]

Results

1912 United States presidential election in Alabama[11]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Woodrow Wilson 82,438 69.94%
Progressive Theodore Roosevelt 22,680 19.24%
Republican William Howard Taft (incumbent) 9,717 8.24%
Socialist Eugene V. Debs 3,029 2.57%
Independent Write-in 5 0.00%
Total votes 117,869 100%

Results by county

1912 United States presidential election in Alabama by county
County Thomas Woodrow Wilson[12]
Democratic 		William Howard Taft[12]
Republican 		Theodore Roosevelt[13]
Progressive "Bull Moose" 		Eugene Victor Debs[14]
Socialist 		Margin[a] Total votes cast
# % # % # % # % # %
Autauga 622 73.35% 43 5.07% 127 14.98% 56 6.60% 495 58.37% 848
Baldwin 623 67.28% 37 4.00% 141 15.23% 125 13.50% 482 52.05% 926
Barbour 1,155 90.38% 18 1.41% 88 6.89% 17 1.33% 1,067 83.49% 1,278
Bibb 820 71.87% 40 3.51% 178 15.60% 103 9.03% 642 56.27% 1,141
Blount 1,121 48.74% 567 24.65% 580 25.22% 32 1.39% 541 23.52% 2,300
Bullock 736 99.19% 4 0.54% 2 0.27% 0 0.00% 732[b] 98.65% 742
Butler 903 83.00% 86 7.90% 80 7.35% 19 1.75% 817[b] 75.09% 1,088
Calhoun 1,666 70.62% 238 10.09% 423 17.93% 32 1.36% 1,243 52.69% 2,359
Chambers 1,486 90.83% 28 1.71% 113 6.91% 9 0.55% 1,373 83.92% 1,636
Cherokee 814 46.57% 88 5.03% 799 45.71% 47 2.69% 15 0.86% 1,748
Chilton 880 39.18% 140 6.23% 1,154 51.38% 72 3.21% -274 -12.20% 2,246
Choctaw 489 86.40% 7 1.24% 66 11.66% 4 0.71% 423 74.73% 566
Clarke 1,024 95.34% 13 1.21% 12 1.12% 25 2.33% 999[c] 93.02% 1,074
Clay 1,109 52.46% 64 3.03% 939 44.42% 2 0.09% 170 8.04% 2,114
Cleburne 691 51.72% 133 9.96% 510 38.17% 2 0.15% 181 13.55% 1,336
Coffee 1,277 70.67% 68 3.76% 395 21.86% 67 3.71% 882 48.81% 1,807
Colbert 946 63.28% 228 15.25% 242 16.19% 79 5.28% 704 47.09% 1,495
Conecuh 802 80.93% 60 6.05% 103 10.39% 26 2.62% 699 70.53% 991
Coosa 763 63.27% 109 9.04% 317 26.29% 17 1.41% 446 36.98% 1,206
Covington 1,251 73.54% 110 6.47% 147 8.64% 193 11.35% 1,058[c] 62.20% 1,701
Crenshaw 986 84.49% 47 4.03% 127 10.88% 7 0.60% 859 73.61% 1,167
Cullman 1,230 42.49% 264 9.12% 1,374 47.46% 27 0.93% -144 -4.97% 2,895
Dale 1,059 66.02% 99 6.17% 443 27.62% 3 0.19% 616 38.40% 1,604
Dallas 1,461 96.69% 16 1.06% 18 1.19% 16 1.06% 1,443 95.50% 1,511
DeKalb 1,379 54.61% 492 19.49% 623 24.67% 31 1.23% 756 29.94% 2,525
Elmore 1,152 81.70% 81 5.74% 167 11.84% 10 0.71% 985 69.86% 1,410
Escambia 829 85.64% 52 5.37% 74 7.64% 13 1.34% 755 78.00% 968
Etowah 1,511 52.18% 354 12.22% 887 30.63% 144 4.97% 624 21.55% 2,896
Fayette 762 50.07% 434 28.52% 306 20.11% 20 1.31% 328[b] 21.55% 1,522
Franklin 849 47.09% 309 17.14% 570 31.61% 75 4.16% 279 15.47% 1,803
Geneva 891 57.93% 99 6.44% 511 33.22% 37 2.41% 380 24.71% 1,538
Greene 418 81.01% 4 0.78% 94 18.22% 0 0.00% 324 62.79% 516
Hale 720 98.50% 4 0.55% 7 0.96% 0 0.00% 713 97.54% 731
Henry 711 75.88% 47 5.02% 153 16.33% 26 2.77% 558 59.55% 937
Houston 1,160 70.18% 82 4.96% 366 22.14% 45 2.72% 794 48.03% 1,653
Jackson 1,597 70.82% 229 10.16% 406 18.00% 23 1.02% 1,191 52.82% 2,255
Jefferson 8,887 72.69% 693 5.67% 2,034 16.64% 612 5.01% 6,853 56.05% 12,226
Lamar 816 77.94% 61 5.83% 160 15.28% 10 0.96% 656 62.66% 1,047
Lauderdale 1,386 68.68% 263 13.03% 297 14.72% 72 3.57% 1,089 53.96% 2,018
Lawrence 643 56.70% 198 17.46% 261 23.02% 32 2.82% 382 33.69% 1,134
Lee 1,179 88.98% 43 3.25% 43 3.25% 60 4.53% 1,119[c] 84.45% 1,325
Limestone 1,012 83.02% 90 7.38% 83 6.81% 34 2.79% 922[b] 75.64% 1,219
Lowndes 583 97.00% 4 0.67% 10 1.66% 4 0.67% 573 95.34% 601
Macon 647 93.23% 24 3.46% 23 3.31% 0 0.00% 623[b] 89.77% 694
Madison 2,146 78.21% 150 5.47% 357 13.01% 91 3.32% 1,789 65.20% 2,744
Marengo 1,386 97.88% 9 0.64% 20 1.41% 1 0.07% 1,366 96.47% 1,416
Marion 1,098 65.05% 378 22.39% 205 12.14% 7 0.41% 720[b] 42.65% 1,688
Marshall 1,457 47.11% 428 13.84% 1,184 38.28% 24 0.78% 273 8.83% 3,093
Mobile 3,009 79.98% 140 3.72% 445 11.83% 168 4.47% 2,564 68.16% 3,762
Monroe 878 97.12% 2 0.22% 21 2.32% 3 0.33% 857 94.80% 904
Montgomery 3,047 94.10% 43 1.33% 131 4.05% 17 0.53% 2,916 90.06% 3,238
Morgan 1,686 71.11% 241 10.16% 362 15.27% 82 3.46% 1,324 55.84% 2,371
Perry 731 93.84% 3 0.39% 31 3.98% 14 1.80% 700 89.86% 779
Pickens 815 88.01% 22 2.38% 73 7.88% 16 1.73% 742 80.13% 926
Pike 1,293 95.14% 13 0.96% 48 3.53% 5 0.37% 1,245 91.61% 1,359
Randolph 1,177 64.99% 268 14.80% 366 20.21% 0 0.00% 811 44.78% 1,811
Russell 1,553 96.22% 4 0.25% 35 2.17% 22 1.36% 1,518 94.05% 1,614
Shelby 1,181 44.45% 201 7.56% 1,233 46.41% 42 1.58% -52 -1.96% 2,657
St. Clair 787 43.50% 260 14.37% 687 37.98% 75 4.15% 100 5.53% 1,809
Sumter 701 97.09% 9 1.25% 2 0.28% 10 1.39% 691[c] 95.71% 722
Talladega 1,312 72.49% 111 6.13% 386 21.33% 1 0.06% 926 51.16% 1,810
Tallapoosa 1,586 86.06% 84 4.56% 151 8.19% 22 1.19% 1,435 77.86% 1,843
Tuscaloosa 1,695 85.22% 87 4.37% 158 7.94% 49 2.46% 1,537 77.28% 1,989
Walker 2,063 57.71% 881 24.64% 504 14.10% 127 3.55% 1,182[b] 33.06% 3,575
Washington 405 90.20% 14 3.12% 18 4.01% 12 2.67% 387 86.19% 449
Wilcox 878 97.77% 7 0.78% 7 0.78% 6 0.67% 871 96.99% 898
Winston 508 29.88% 292 17.18% 893 52.53% 7 0.41% -385 -22.65% 1,700
Totals 82,438 69.89% 9,717 8.24% 22,770[d] 19.30% 3,029 2.57% 59,668 50.59% 117,954

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Because Roosevelt finished ahead of Taft in Alabama as a whole, all margins given are Wilson minus Roosevelt unless stated in the total for the county in question.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g In this county where Taft did run second ahead of Roosevelt, the margin given is that between Wilson and Taft.
  3. ^ a b c d In this county where Debs ran second ahead of both Roosevelt and Taft, the margin given is that between Wilson and Debs.
  4. ^ For the Roosevelt ticket only, there are differences between the Géoelections/Edgar Eugene Robinson figure and that from Dave Leip’s Atlas, with the former used only for the county table.

References

  1. ^ Perman, Michael (2001). Struggle for Mastery: Disfranchisement in the South, 1888–1908. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press. p. Introduction. ISBN 9780807849095.
  2. ^ Feldman, Glenn (2004). The Disfranchisement Myth: Poor Whites and Suffrage Restriction in Alabama. University of Georgia Press. p. 157. ISBN 0820326151.
  3. ^ Webb, Samuel L. "From Independents to Populists to Progressive Republicans: The Case of Chilton County, Alabama, 1880-1920". The Journal of Southern History. 59 (4): 707–736. doi:10.2307/2210539. JSTOR 2210539.
  4. ^ Feldman, The Disfranchisement Myth, p. 151
  5. ^ a b Heersink, Boris; Jenkins, Jeffery A. (2020). Republican Party Politics and the American South, 1865-1968. Cambridge University Press. pp. 251–253. ISBN 9781107158436.
  6. ^ "Harris, "Braxton Bragg Comer (1901-11)"". Encyclopedia of Alabama.
  7. ^ Kelly, Brian (2001). Race, Class and Power in the Alabama Coalfields 1908-1921. Urbana: University of Illinois Free Press. ISBN 0252069331.
  8. ^ Casdorph, Paul D. (1981). Republicans, Negroes, and Progressives in the South, 1912-1916. The University of Alabama Press. pp. 70, 94–95. ISBN 0817300481.
  9. ^ Link, Arthur S. (January 1947). "The Negro as a Factor in the Campaign of 1912". The Journal of Negro History. 32 (1). The University of Chicago Press: 81–99. doi:10.2307/2715292. JSTOR 2715292.
  10. ^ Link, Arthur S. (July 1946). "Theodore Roosevelt and the South in 1912". The North Carolina Historical Review. 23 (3). North Carolina Office of Archives and History: 313–324.
  11. ^ a b "1912 Presidential Election Results – Alabama". Dave Leip’s U.S. Election Atlas.
  12. ^ a b Robinson, Edgar Eugene; The Presidential Vote; 1896-1932 (second edition), pp. 226–227. Published 1947 by Stanford University Press.
  13. ^ "1912 Presidential Election Popular Vote for Theodore Roosevelt". Géoelections. (.xlsx file for €15)
  14. ^ "1912 Presidential Election Popular Vote for Eugene Debs". Géoelections. (.xlsx file for €15)