Everything old is new again.

Just in time for the contentious campaign battles of 2016, we get some historical perspective from Geoffrey Cowan via his latest book, LET THE PEOPLE RULE: Theodore Roosevelt and the Birth of the Presidential Primary, a well-researched and remarkable saga of our current system.

“TR” had served almost two full terms as president, the first as a result of the assassination of William McKinley in 1901. The custom of the day was that no one should run for a third term because, basically, two had been good enough for George Washington.

At first, Roosevelt was content in his forced retirement, travelling the world and accepting a position with The Outlook, a political magazine. But as his successor, William Howard Taft, stumbled along (in Roosevelt’s opinion) and at the urging of his supporters, TR began thinking the unthinkable. He might refuse to actively seek the nomination, but if the people wanted him, well, how could he say no?

"...a well-researched and remarkable saga of our current system.... There is a tremendous amount of detail to sift through, but those who do ultimately will be rewarded by the process, if not the actual story of Roosevelt’s failure."

So began the lugubrious process of trying to win the Republican nomination. In one corner, you had Roosevelt, a man of the people, who thought the majority was smart enough to decide whom they wanted to see as commander-in-chief, without the interference of politicians and hacks. In the other, representing hand-picked, smoke-filled-room, patronage-seeking supporters, you had the sitting president and Roosevelt protégé, Taft.

Lest anyone think hyperbole is a modern invention, Cowan reminds us otherwise. Roosevelt was characterized by a former colleague as “the most dangerous figure in public life in America.” And just as Bernie Sanders has accused fellow candidates of being in the pockets of the rich and influential, so, too, did Roosevelt, as he battled against the system in which prosperous white men called all the shots. (Yet TR’s motives were not altogether altruistic. Would he have proposed the primary system if he didn’t think it would be beneficial?)

Readers will come away thinking no time has passed: rivals still accuse each other of chicanery, deceit and fraud. The only difference is that more money is involved these days. 

“To have any chance of winning,” Cowan writes, “TR’s campaign concluded that they would have to resort to tactics that seemed a bit more acceptable in the slightly ‘wild west’ than in the drawing rooms….” There were also disputes over actual number of delegates earned, as well as the outright “stealing” of delegates. In another passage, the author notes that Roosevelt’s campaign “had become more than political combat --- it was now political theater, a carnival that built public excitement wherever he went.” Sound familiar? (There were even accusations of wire-tapping Roosevelt’s home telephones!)

Despite the best efforts of Roosevelt and his supporters, which actually resulted in a superior number of delegates, Taft still came away with the nomination at the 1912 convention (although he would be defeated in November by Woodrow Wilson). Cowan quotes a Saturday Evening Post article that foretold the outcome: “Taft will win because the men who control the convention, control the machinery, are for him.”

“Many of the concerns, problems, and opportunities that surfaced before and during TR’s campaign remain a part of the political landscape,” Cowan writes in the book’s epilogue.

Politics is a complicated “game,” perhaps made so deliberately to exclude a number of people who lack the discipline or interest to stick it out. Those who do will most hopefully be satisfied. That idea holds true for LET THE PEOPLE RULE. There is a tremendous amount of detail to sift through, but those who do ultimately will be rewarded by the process, if not the actual story of Roosevelt’s failure.