His administration was filled with conflict between the conservative wing of the Republican Party , with which Taft often sympathized , and the progressive wing , toward which Roosevelt moved more and more during Taft 's presidency . Controversies over conservation and over antitrust cases filed by the Taft administration served to further separate the two men . Roosevelt challenged Taft at the 1912 Republican National Convention , but Taft was able to use his control of the party machinery to narrowly win his party 's nomination . After the convention , Roosevelt left the party , formed the Progressive Party , and ran for president in the 1912 election under its banner . This split among Republicans all but doomed Taft 's chances for re-election , giving Democrats , in the person of Woodrow Wilson , control of the White House for the first time in sixteen years . Historians generally consider Taft to have been an average president
1912 Republican National Convention
1912 Republican National Convention
Presidency of William Howard Taft