[1] Roosevelt's first term was notable for his trust busting, his successful arbitration in and resolution of a 1902 strike of 150,000 Pennsylvania coal miners, his advocacy against lynching, his conservation efforts, and the Panama Canal Treaty.

[3] After Gorman's withdrawal, former President Grover Cleveland was discussed as an ideal candidate by the conservative faction of the Democratic Party, but he preferred to remain in retirement and thus refused to run in 1904.

[3] Parker played well to the Democratic Party's white base by refusing to criticize the lynchings and denial of black suffrage in the South.

[3] He argued in a speech before the Georgia Bar Association that the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was not originally understood as granting Congress or the Supreme Court the authority to restrict states' rights.

[3] While he lacked Bryan's support, newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst ran an energetic campaign for the 1904 Democratic nomination on a Progressive platform.

[3] His bid failed because his views were contrary to the general direction of the party that year, other politicians were alienated by his arrogance, and his morals offended many of Bryan's supporters.

[3] Parker and the Democrats campaigned in favor of reduced federal spending (especially on the military), greater funding to improve national waterways, tariff reform, a thorough investigation of public corruption, direct election of U.S.

[6] Throughout the 1904 campaign, the Democrats raised less than $500,000 (equivalent to $17.5 million in 2024), with more than half of it coming from Virginia tobacco magnate Thomas Fortune Ryan.