Republican William Howard Taft defeated Democrat William Jennings Bryan in the presidential election of 1908. Taft had previously served as the Secretary of War from 1904 to 1908 during the Theodore Roosevelt Administration. When Roosevelt decided not run for a third term, he picked Taft as his successor. With Roosevelt's backing, Taft went on to easily win the Republican nomination and then defeat Bryan, who lost his third bid for the presidency as the Democratic nominee.

The digital collections of the Library of Congress contain a wide variety of material associated with the presidential election of 1908, including manuscripts, photographs, political cartoons, broadsides, newspaper articles, and sound recordings. This guide compiles links to digital materials related to the presidential election of 1908 that are available throughout the Library of Congress website. In addition, it provides links to external websites focusing on the 1908 election and a selected bibliography.

1908 Presidential Election Results [1]

Notes

1. Presidential Elections, 1789-2008. (Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2010), 146, 236.