The first indication of the stand Roosevelt was to take appeared when he let it become known that he approved Gifford Pinchot’s stand in his controversy with Ballinger, whom Taft had supported. He also announced that he opposed certain treaties with Japan and South America which Taft was advocating. As the months passed Taft became the champion of conservative Republicanism, and the forceful personality and progressive spirit of Roosevelt made him the natural leader of the revolting group.
In 1910 Roosevelt made a tour of the country, in which he announced the doctrine of the New Nationalism. He advocated a closer relation between the states and the national government; making economic opportunity equal; conserving the resources of the nation; military preparedness; and the shifting of the viewpoints of the courts from too much emphasis on the security of property and contracts to a greater concern for the welfare of human beings.
To these principles Roosevelt added, in 1912, the issues of direct nominations, preferential primaries, the initiative, the referendum, and the recall for judicial decisions as well as for officials. These reforms he announced as a new Charter for Democracy and when, in 1912, in answer to the appeal of seven Governors, he announced that he would become a candidate for the Presidency, these doctrines were embodied in the platform of his party.
Roosevelt made a typically strenuous fight for the control of delegates to the national Republican Convention, and when he was defeated he and his supporters created the Progressive party, by which at Chicago, he was nominated for the Presidency. In response to those who criticised him for seeking a third term when he had previously announced that he would not accept another nomination, he explained that he had meant three consecutive terms.
It was while he was conducting a whirlwind campaign for election that he was shot by a crank. The shooting occurred in Milwaukee. Roosevelt was entering the automobile that was to drive him to the meeting place when the fanatic fired at him. The bullet lodged in his shoulder. With characteristic dauntlessness, Roosevelt insisted on going on the platform, where he told the waiting multitude that he had been shot, and then went on to deliver a rousing speech that lasted over an hour.