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The Presidential campaign of 1912 records one of the more 

interesting political upsets in American history. The incumbent, 

William Howard Taft, was a popular president, and the Republicans, 
in a period of general prosperity, were firmly in control of the 
government through a Republican majority in both houses. The 

Democratic challenger, Woodrow Wilson, Governor of New Jersey, 

had no national recognition, and was a stiff, austere man who 
excited little public support. Both parties included a monetary 

reform bill in their platforms: The Republicans were committed to the 

Aldrich Plan, which had been denounced as a Wall Street plan, 
and the Democrats had the Federal Reserve Act. Neither party 

bothered to inform the public that the bills were almost identical 
except for the names. In retrospect, it seems obvious that the 

money creators decided to dump Taft and go with Wilson. How do 
we know this? Taft seemed certain of reelection, and Wilson would 

return to obscurity. Suddenly, Theodore Roosevelt "threw his hat into 

the ring." He announced that he was running as a third party 
candidate, the "Bull Moose". His candidacy would have been 

ludicrous had it not been for the fact that he was exceptionally 
well-financed. Moreover, he was given unlimited press coverage, 

more than Taft and Wilson combined. As a Republican ex-president, 
it was obvious that Roosevelt would cut deeply into Taft’s vote. This 

proved the case, and Wilson won the election. To this day, no one 
can say what Theodore Roosevelt’s program was, or why he would 

sabotage his own party. Since the bankers were financing all three 
candi- 

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dates, they would win regardless of the outcome. Later 

Congressional testimony showed that in the firm of Kuhn Loeb 
Company, Felix Warburg was supporting Taft, Paul Warburg and 

Jacob Schiff were supporting Wilson, and Otto Kahn was supporting 
Roosevelt. The result was that a Democratic Congress and a 
Democratic President were elected in 1912 to get the central bank 

legislation passed. It seems probable that the identification of the 
Aldrich Plan as a Wall Street operation predicted that it would have 

a difficult passage through Congress, as the Democrats would 
solidly oppose it, whereas a successful Democratic candidate, 

supported by a Democratic Congress, would be able to pass the 

central bank plan. Taft was thrown overboard because the bankers 
doubted he could deliver on the Aldrich Plan, and Roosevelt was