1904

Theodore Roosevelt and the 1904 map

Theodore Roosevelt won a full term in his own right in a landslide over conservative Democrat Alton B. Parker. Roosevelt had become enormously popular as a trust-busting progressive reformer, and the country was prosperous. Democrats nominated the conservative Parker as a contrast to Roosevelt, but this strategy failed badly. Roosevelt declared after his victory that he would not seek a third term — a pledge he would later regret. His landslide gave him a mandate for continued progressive reform.