Four Candidates, One Election: The Campaign of 1912 in Archival Images

People gather outside the building where Wilson campaigned at Sea Girt, New Jersey, in 1912. The scene includes the audience as much as the candidate’s surroundings. Wilson entered the national contest as a governor facing two men who had already occupied the White House.

The printed caption describes politicians and campaign workers waiting for a chance to help elect Wilson. Chairs line the room at Democratic National Headquarters. National campaigns depended on these less spectacular spaces too, where speakers, organizers and would-be volunteers sought a place in the effort.

President William Howard Taft addresses an audience in Springfield, Massachusetts. The Library of Congress dates the photograph probably to April 25, 1912, while noting that he had also visited in 1909. The uncertainty remains part of the record. By the election, his party’s divided support would leave him with only eight electoral votes.