What was Theodore Roosevelt's Bull Moose Party, and could its politics be revived?
Short answerIt was the unusually successful Progressive Party of 1912, built around Roosevelt's Square Deal and an expansive program of democratic, social, economic, and arms-control reform.
NotesThe Progressive or Bull Moose Party was one of the most successful third-party efforts in United States history. Roosevelt formed it in 1912 after losing the Republican nomination to incumbent William Howard Taft, his former protege turned conservative rival. The party dissolved in 1920, although successor Progressive organizations lasted until 1936. Its Square Deal platform joined conservation, corporate regulation, consumer protection, and fairer opportunity without calling for nationalization. The party attacked the alliance of corrupt business and corrupt politics through campaign finance disclosure and registration of lobbyists. Labor protection, social insurance, democratic reforms, and limits on naval armaments by international agreement made the program unusually ambitious for 1912.