TOWARD the end of 1911, a chasm dividing Taft and Roosevelt,
the prospects of LaFollette for the Presidential nomination
were dwindling. He had announced his candidacy on June 17
and began seeking delegations for the Republican convention. ¹ LaFol-
lette then committed an error which, knowing Roosevelt, he should
have avoided. He mistook an attitude of cordiality, combined with
Roosevelt's reiterated statement that he would actively endorse no one,
for tacit support. No available letter promised such support. LaFollette,
in so far as his papers show, wrote nothing to Roosevelt expressing
appreciation or commenting on any pledge. ² "I have endorsed no man
for 1912," Roosevelt said on June 7, 1911. ³

In his memoirs, LaFollette told of a visit from Gilson Gardner, a
correspondent for the Scripps newspapers. Gardner told him in May,
LaFollette said, that Roosevelt believed he should "get into the fight
at once." The ex-President could not openly support LaFollette. He
would, however, continue to comment favorably on the Wisconsin idea
in the Outlook. ⁴ Actually, this was little more than Roosevelt had
agreed to do five months before. But when, at last, Roosevelt tossed
his own hat into the ring, LaFollette felt that he had been betrayed.
A final estimate of the situation must await examination of Roosevelt's
private letters for this period, but the probability is that in 1911 he was
considering 1916, not 1912. ⁵ The swing was toward Roosevelt, and
away from LaFollette. To add to the anxiety of the Wisconsin Sena-
tor, only evasive statements now came from Sagamore Hill. On Novem-
ber 26 1911, Roosevelt said that he was "not a candidate . . . [and]
have repeatedly discouraged suggestions of this character." ⁶ He discour-
aged the idea, but he did not forbid it.

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