In early August, 1912, progressives from across the country gathered in Chicago to launch a new political party. It was to be “a convention managed by women and has-beens,” said a New York Times reporter dismissively. “About everyone here who wears trousers is an ex. There are ex-Senators, ex-Secretaries, and ex-Commissioners galore. Everybody who is not an ex is a woman.”

It was also to be a

convention that would nominate an ex-President to be their standard bearer, Theodore Roosevelt, who would do better in the general election than the soon-to-be-ex-President William Howard Taft.

Below is a transcript of Roosevelt’s speech to the convention, his “confession of faith,” as he put it. It was delivered one hundred years ago today, and in some of it’s particulars it shows it’s age. What is most interesting, however, is how much of it still needs to be said, but almost certainly won’t be, by the presidential candidates the New York Times will be focusing it’s attention on this year.

ADDRESS BY
 THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Before the Convention of the National Progressive Party 
in Chicago, August 6, 1912

To you, men and women who have come here to this great city of this great State formally to launch a new party, a party of the people of the whole Union, the National Progressive Party, I extend my hearty greeting. You are taking a bold and a greatly needed step for the service of our beloved country. The old parties are husks, with no real soul within either, divided on artificial lines, boss-ridden and privilege-controlled, each a jumble of incongruous elements, and neither daring to speak out wisely and fearlessly what should be said on the vital issues of the day.

(more…)