Theodore Roosevelt’s 1912 whirlwind presidential campaign was a grueling affair. He gave hundreds of speeches while his train car crisscrossed the country spreading the message of his newly founded “Bull Moose Party”.
On May 19, 1912, Roosevelt took a break to attend services at the Mentor Methodist Church and a quiet afternoon with the Garfield family. According to an account from the Plain Dealer;
Col. Roosevelt spent yesterday resting at the country home of James R. Garfield [son of the President] at Mentor where he went Saturday evening after the meetings in this city [Cleveland]. Yesterday morning he was greatly refreshed by the bracing air and quiet of the country and with Mr. and Mrs. Garfield attended services at the Methodist church in Mentor and listened to a sermon by Rev. B. B. Schaffner. He spent the afternoon quietly with his hosts.
Last evening his train left Mentor and reached the Union station here shortly before 11 o’clock and at that hour left for an all night trip to Marietta where he opens this morning. Following a speech at that city on the Ohio river he will speak at Caldwell, Cambridge, Zanesville, Newark, Trinway and Dresden, Coshocton, Newcomerstown and Denison, closing at the latter place at 3 o’clock and starting at once for his return trip to his home.
Though Roosevelt’s bid for a third-term ultimately fell short, it remains the most successful third-party campaign in U.S. history and a proud footnote here in Mentor.
