1908  1916
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| US Presidential Election of 1912 | ||||
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| November 5, 1912 | ||||
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| Nominee | Eugene V. Debs | Richard Olney | James S. Sherman | |
| Party | Socialist Party | Democrat Party | Republican Party | |
The US Presidential Election of 1912 saw the first election of a Socialist candidate to the Presidency of the United States.
The election of Eugene V. Debs is often consider to be highly coincidental. The Republican Candidate, James S. Sherman died six days prior to the election. As such, the Republican voters largely did not turn up to support either remaining candidate.
Contents
Background
Nominations
The nomination process was in 1912 was not very notable. The Republicans nominated James S. Sherman, who died before the election, while the Democrats nominated Richard Olney, an old-school Bourbon Democrat.
Meanwhile, the Socialists nominated Eugene V. Debs, who was expected to have a very low turnout but ended up wining the election when James S. Sherman died right before the election.
Republican Party Nomination
The Republicans nominated James S. Sherman, the Vice President of William Howard Taft. While not immensely popular, Sherman had recent executive experience, and had served an Old Guard Republican in the House of Representatives on and off from 1887- midway of Taft's term.
Democratic Party Nomination
The Democrats nominated Richard Olney, former Attorney General under Grover Cleveland (who was responsible for many actions taken against Debs in the Pullman Strike), Secretary State under Cleveland, and Senator from Massachussetts.
