Theodore Roosevelt became the most prestigious minor party candidate in American history, when he left the Republican Party to challenge Woodrow Wilson and William Howard Taft in the 1912 presidential contest. TR as the candidate for the newly created Progressive Party would throw a monkey wrench into the campaign. "The Bull Moose Party" would change people's perspectives on what minor party candidates could accomplish in the race to the presidency. Colonel Roosevelt's effect on the race had far reach effect for American policy before and during World War I.