Presidential primaries have been held in the United States since 1912 to nominate the Republican presidential candidate.
1912
This was the first time that candidates were chosen through primaries. President William Taft ran to become the nominee and faced the opposition of former President Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt won most of the states and received more than half of the popular vote. He even defeated Taft in his home state of Ohio. However, Taft received more delegates than Roosevelt and thus was nominated during the convention. Roosevelt founded a new party, the Progressive Party, and challenged Taft and the Democratic nominee Woodrow Wilson in the general election. Wilson won the election, gaining a large majority in the Electoral College and winning 42% of the popular vote, while Roosevelt won 27% and Taft 23%.
See also
1912 United States presidential election
1912 Republican National Convention
1916
Pennsylvania Governor Martin Brumbaugh, Senator Albert Cummins of Iowa and former Vice President Charles Fairbanks were the main candidates. Henry Ford and former President Theodore Roosevelt were also candidates. However Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Charles Hughes won the nomination on the third ballot at the convention. Hughes lost the general election to President Wilson.
See also
1916 United States presidential election
1916 Republican National Convention
1920
Governor Hiram Johnson of California and Former Chief of Staff of the United States Army Leonard Wood were the main candidates. However Senator Warren Harding of Ohio managed to win the nomination on the tenth ballot at the convention. Harding easily won the election against Democratic candidate James Cox.
See also
1920 United States presidential election
1920 Republican National Convention
1924
Republican incumbent President Calvin Coolidge ran for election to a full term, and faced no major opposition in the primaries.
See also
1924 United States presidential election
1924 Republican National Convention
1928
United States Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover faced no major opposition in the primaries and easily won the general election against Al Smith.
See also
1928 United States presidential election
1928 Republican National Convention
1932
As the year 1932 began, the Republican Party believed Hoover's protectionism and aggressive fiscal policies would solve the depression. Former Senator Joseph France of Maryland was the major opponent of incumbent President Hoover and won the most states. Despite France's success in the primaries, President Herbert Hoover controlled the party and had little trouble securing a re-nomination. Soon afterwards Hoover lost the election to Democratic nominee Franklin Roosevelt.
See also
1932 United States presidential election
1932 Republican National Convention
1936
Following the landslide defeat of incumbent president Herbert Hoover by Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Republican Party sought its first nominee to attempt to unseat the largely popular incumbent president. There were six candidates in total, but four of them were seen as "favorite son" candidates who only won their respective home states: Earl Warren of California, Frank Knox of Illinois, Stephen A. Day of Ohio, and Warren E. Green of South Dakota. Thus, the only two serious candidates were Governors William Borah of Idaho and Alfred "Alf" Landon of Kansas. Although Borah won more states' primaries, more total popular votes, and a larger percentage overall (with 5 states to Landon's 2), Landon managed to use his connections to the party machinery to secure a majority of necessary delegates at the convention, and became the nominee. Knox was chosen as Landon's running mate.