This is the first historical account of one of the closest presidential elections on record—the 1916 race in which incum­bent Woodrow Wilson defeated Repub­lican Charles Evans Hughes by 600,000 popular votes, but by a mere 23 electoral votes.

S. D. Lovell analyzes the candidates, the times, and the issues during one of the most issue-oriented campaigns in history. America was facing the war in Europe, sparring with Mexico, and un­dergoing a painful adjustment from an agrarian to an industrial society. Other issues included women’s suffrage, labor vs. business, prohibition, and the econ­omy. Wilson defeated Hughes in Cali­fornia (which he had to do to win the election) by only 4,000 votes. Slightly more than 2,000 votes cast the other way would have given the electoral majority and the presidency to Hughes, even though Wilson still would have won the popular majority. The candidates were similar in politics and tem­perament. But a small modification by either of them on any issue might have altered world history.