ABSTRACT
As Franklin D. Roosevelt rushed back and forth from Washington to New York that humid summer of 1914, he faced a crisis which could grind his hopes to dust. If he and his friends sat quietly, the regular organizations would sweep the primaries and kill their rebellion in its cradle. Roosevelt and Louis Howe knew better than most that the anti-boss machinery they had been drafting was hardly off the drawing boards. Some finished sections of it were grinding with friction. It was a summer of hysteria, of mad maneuver in many directions. Roosevelt tagged along in July with a plot to field a combined Independent-Democrat and Bull Moose ticket. Roosevelt opened his crusade against the Tammany boss who "regards a platform as a green-goods circular to delude honest voters" into approving his choice of racketeers. The core of the campaign was Roosevelt's attempt to convince voters that Gerard would be Murphy's tool, but his voice reechoed in an empty room.
