The United States presidential election of 1912 was the 32nd quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 5, 1912. Democratic Governor Woodrow Wilson of New Jersey unseated incumbent Republican President William Howard Taft and defeated former President Theodore Roosevelt, who ran as the Progressive Party (“Bull Moose”) nominee. Roosevelt remains the only third party presidential candidate in U.S. history to finish better than third in the popular or electoral vote.1
James Perloff explains:
A famous example of “splitter” strategy occurred in 1912. The banksters of the day (then known as the “Money Trust” —the houses of Rockefeller, Morgan, Rothschild, and their confederates) wanted Democrat Woodrow Wilson as the next President. Wilson had promised banker Bernard Baruch that, if elected, he would approve a central bank (Federal Reserve), approve an income tax, and “lend an ear to advice” if war broke out in Europe.6 Indeed, both the income tax and Federal Reserve became law in 1913 (the year Wilson took office), and six months after the Fed passed, Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated, touching off World War I. After maneuvering the U.S. into the war, largely through the Lusitania incident, Wilson brought his plan for the League of Nations (a pseudonym for world government) to the postwar Paris Peace Conference.
However, the Money Trust faced hurdles in getting Wilson elected. Prior to 1911, he had never held any public office. That year, he became governor of New Jersey with campaign backing from Cleveland Dodge of National City Bank.7 Still, a single year of political experience made him a tough sell as President, even with the mainstream press behind him.
This is where the “splitter” strategy emerged. The incumbent Republican President, William Howard Taft, was challenged when former Republican President, popular Teddy Roosevelt, ran on the short-lived Progressive or “Bull Moose” ticket. In the 1912 election, Republican votes were split between Taft and Roosevelt, enabling Wilson to win the Presidency with less than 42 percent of the popular vote.
There was another facet to this “splitter” election that is little-remembered. Republicans had occupied the White House for 16 years. However, led by Senator Bob La Follette (who might arguably be called the Ron Paul of his day) there was a growing insurgency within the party called the Reform Movement. The Reformers sought to wrest the party’s control away from Wall Street (J. P. Morgan and John D. Rockefeller) and believed La Follette had a genuine chance to secure a nomination in 1912. This was a major reason why the Money Trust decided to switch White House control to the Democrats, and also a factor in rolling out Roosevelt and his “Bull Moose” Party. Roosevelt whistle-stopped the nation making tongue-in-cheek speeches calling for “reform,” taking all the steam out of the movement for La Follette.8
The 1912 election presented an incredible opportunity for the Network. Although William Howard Taft had served the conspirators well (by openly entertaining the idea of relinquishing US sovereignty and supporting the Network’s long-sought funding mechanism, the income tax[30]), he’d failed to support the one measure that was more important than all others. He refused to support Nelson Aldrich’s plan to hand the nation’s money supply over to the Network through the creation of a central bank.[31] Since the central bank was necessary to truly dominate the United States, Taft’s rejection of the Aldrich plan constituted a major transgression. But there was a remedy, and that remedy’s name was Woodrow Wilson.
Wilson had done more than “openly entertain the idea of relinquishing national sovereignty,” he’d developed a near-fanatical obsession with the idea. There would be no problem getting him to passionately evangelize the New World Order on behalf of the Network.
It would also be no problem getting Wilson to sign the Network’s income-tax scam into law. (The income tax was “sold” as a way to punish the rich and enrich the poor. In reality, the tax simply extracts money from US citizens and dumps it directly into the Network’s projects and pockets.)
Last but certainly not least, control of the nation’s money supply would be far easier to secure with Wilson in the White House. For one reason, Wilson admitted that he really didn’t understand central banking,[32] and this was very convenient. The Network could provide all the “right” advisors, steering the creation of the so-called Federal Reserve System from start to finish.
Another reason the central bank would be easier to secure under Wilson is because the entire issue had been successfully framed in partisan terms. That is, a previous central-bank plan had been put forward by a Republican senator named Nelson Aldrich. Since everyone knew that Aldrich was a Network-connected insider, the legislation was shot down by Democrats when it bore his name. (For this, the Democrats were largely seen as having protected the “little guy” from another big-business Republican scheme.)
With the people convinced that the Democrats had protected them, any alternative central-bank plan put forward under a Democratic administration would rouse far less suspicion. The Network could simply drop the name “Aldrich,” wrap the legislation in some progressive rhetoric, and sell the exact same thing with Wilson and his Democratic administration acting as trusted pitchmen. (Like the income tax, the central bank would be presented as a way to “protect the people” from the rich and powerful. In truth, it accomplished the exact opposite.)
Here is what Carroll Quigley said the Network intended to create with its central banking power:
…a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country…The apex of the system was to be…a private bank owned and controlled by the world’s central banks which were themselves private corporations. Each central bank…sought to dominate its government by its ability to control Treasury loans, to manipulate foreign exchanges, to influence the level of economic activity in the country, and to influence cooperative politicians by subsequent economic rewards in the business world.[34]
As a quick reminder, this isn’t a case of Quigley guessing at the Network’s intentions. He speaks with the authority of a man who, in his own words, knows “of the operations of this network” because he “studied it for twenty years and was permitted for two years, in the early 1960’s, to examine its papers and secret records.”[35]
So, when comparing the Republican candidate, Taft, to the Democratic candidate, Wilson, there was no question who the Network wanted more. The decision was made, Mandell House paid Wilson a visit, and the process of grooming Wilson for the presidency began.
In November 1911, Wilson met Colonel Edward Mandell House, one of the first kingmakers in modern American politics. “Almost from the first,” the Colonel later recalled, “our minds vibrated in unison.” Wilson concurred: “Mr. House is my second personality…His thoughts and mine are one.”[36]
Wilson received an “indoctrination course” from the leaders convened there, during which he agreed, in principle, to do the following if elected:
- Support the projected Federal Reserve [central bank];
- Support income tax;
- Lend an ear to advice should war break out in Europe;
- Lend an ear to advice on who should occupy his cabinet.[37]
As mentioned in footnote 16, House pulled all of the necessary strings to ensure the Democratic nomination for president went to Wilson. But as impressive as that level of influence might be, it’s still a long way from actually putting a man in the White House. And, unfortunately for the Network, Taft was heavily favored to win against its preferred candidate. Not a problem.
As “luck” would have it, the Network found another potential candidate that it could run against Taft. Not just any candidate, mind you, but a former two-term Republican president. And not just any two-term Republican president, but the same one that Republican President Taft had just replaced in 1909: Teddy Roosevelt.
This was a brilliant strategic move. The most obvious reason being, ten months prior to the 1912 election, Roosevelt had expressed a willingness to support the Aldrich plan.[38] Therefore, whether Wilson or Roosevelt won, the Network could get its central bank. But the most obvious reason isn’t the only or best reason for why the Network poured more than ten million dollars[39] (inflation adjusted) into Roosevelt’s campaign. Sure, Roosevelt was acceptable, but the Network still preferred Wilson. And by splitting the vote, they could have him. Perloff explains:
Polls showed incumbent President Taft as a clear favorite over the stiff-looking professor from Princeton. So, to divide the Republican vote, the [Network] put money behind Teddy Roosevelt on the Progressive Party ticket. J.P. Morgan was the financial backbone of the Roosevelt campaign. Felix Warburg financed Taft while Paul Warburg and Jacob Schiff provided the funds for Wilson. The strategy succeeded. Republican ballots were split between Taft and Roosevelt, and Woodrow Wilson became President with only forty-two percent of the popular vote.[40]
The full results of the 1912 election were as follows: Wilson received 41.8 percent of the vote, Roosevelt received 27.4 percent, and Taft received only 23.2 percent.[41] How is that for impressive? William Howard Taft, a man who would have handily won the election with a strong majority, wound up dead last in a three-way race against two Network-manufactured candidates. House summed it up this way: “Wilson was elected by Teddy Roosevelt.”[42] The rest, as they say, is history.
After the election, House proceeded to fill the president’s important cabinet positions with the “best” advisors the Network had to offer. He guided Wilson’s policy decisions like a “disembodied spirit” that had “found its opportunity” to shape the world with Wilson’s hands.
Before the end of 1913, the income tax would be law. Before the end of 1913, the central bank would be a reality. These new instruments provided the funding and leverage that the Network needed to greatly accelerate its sovereignty-destruction project. But they, alone, would not provide the greatest opportunity to capitalize on Wilson’s evangelical crusade to “make the world safe for democracy.” Only a long and protracted world war, with funding guaranteed by the new instruments, could achieve that.
Once again, as luck would have it, just such an opportunity presented itself shortly after Wilson took office. World War I provided the political impetus for the Network’s first major attempt at establishing a global government (the League of Nations). And although it wasn’t as successful as they might have hoped, the League of Nations, along with all the other “instruments” that came into existence under Wilson, laid the foundation for all of the Network’s progress over the past one hundred years.
As G Edward Griffin explains in ‘The Creature from Jekkyl Island‘,
The outcome of the election was exactly as the strategists had anticipated. Wilson won with only forty-two per cent of the popular vote, which means, of course, that fifty-eight per cent had been cast against him. Had Roosevelt not entered the race, most of his votes undoubtedly would have gone to Taft, and Wilson would have become a footnote. “
Footnotes:
- [30]Wikipedia, William Howard Taft
- [31]The Creature from Jekyll Island, page 451
- [32]The Creature from Jekyll Island, page 459
- [33] See Dishonest Money: Financing the Road to Ruin
- [34]Tragedy and Hope, page 324
- [35]Tragedy and Hope, page 950
- [36]To End All Wars: Woodrow Wilson and the Quest for a New World Order, page 20
- [37]The Shadows of Power—The Council on Foreign Relations and the American Decline, page 27
- [38]The Creature from Jekyll Island, page 455
- [39]The Creature from Jekyll Island, page 453
- [40]The Shadows of Power—The Council on Foreign Relations and the American Decline, page 27
- [41]Wikipedia, 1912 presidential campaign
- [42] As quoted in The Creature from Jekyll Island, page 456
