As for
the promise never to run again, we have already seen what he said
about that. The notion that Washington laid down some law against
reelecting a President for more than two terms is an example of
how a complete error may pass into popular belief and become a
superstition. Washington said and believed the very opposite. He
did not wish a third term himself, because he was old and weary,
but in regard to third terms he seems to have been even more
liberal than Roosevelt, who disapproved of three terms IN
SUCCESSION. But Washington distinctly said that he saw no reason
why a President should not be reelected as often as the people
needed his services. He said nothing about four, eight, or twelve
years, but in discussing this very question in a letter to
Lafayette, wrote:
"I can see no propriety in precluding ourselves from the services
of any man, who on some emergency shall be deemed most capable of
serving the public." [Footnote: Sparks, "Writings of George
Washington," ix. 358.]
In the primary campaign, in the spring of 1912, the Progressive
Republicans and Mr. Roosevelt proved their case up to the hilt. In
every instance but one, where it was possible to get a direct vote
of the people, Roosevelt beat President Taft, and overwhelmingly.
Thus, in California he beat him nearly two to one; in Illinois,
more than two to one, in Nebraska more than three to one, in North
Dakota more than twenty to one, in South Dakota more than three to
one.
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