Progressive Presidents – National Reform

National Level Reform • Progressives look to the national government for reform

•  17th Amendment – make senate more responsive to public demands

•  Look to the presidency •  Become more actively engaged in domestic and foreign affairs

The Accidental President • McKinley assassinated in 1901

•  Theodore Roosevelt was his vice president

• Roosevelt had reputation as a “wild man” •  One of the most well-liked presidents in history

Roosevelt’s View of Federal Power • Regulation, not destruction of the trusts • Power to investigate activities of corporations and

publicize results •  Educate the public

“Trust Busting” •  Invoked Sherman Antitrust Act against Northern Securities

Company • No serious commitment to reverse trend towards

economic consolidation

Roosevelt and Labor • Considered labor’s position – shift from the past •  Offered federal arbitration

when United Mine Workers went on strike

•  When mine operators refused, he threatened to send troops to resume operations

•  Arbitrators awarded a 10% pay raise and a nine-hour day

“The Square Deal” • Committed to reform during second term • Committed to a “square deal” for Americans •  Targeted railroads: The Hepburn Act – restored some

regulatory authority • Pure Food and Drug Act: restricted sale of dangerous and

ineffective medicines •  Meat Inspection Act

Roosevelt and Conservation • Restricted development on government land – added to national forest program

• Established role of federal government as manager of developing the wilderness

• The Newlands Act: provided federal funds for the construction of dams, reservoirs, and canals in the West

Roosevelt and Preservation • Added significantly to the National Park System

•  Crater Lake: Oregon •  Mesa Verde: Utah •  Platt: Oklahoma •  Wind Cave: South Dakota

Hetch Hetchy Valley Controversy • Seen as an ideal location for a reservoir for San Francisco • Roosevelt turned decision over to his chief forester,

Gifford Pinchot •  Led to battle between naturalists and dam advocates

•  John Muir

The Panic of 1907 • American industrial production outran demand as it had in

1893 • Conservatives blamed Roosevelt • Roosevelt allowed U.S. Steel to buy shares of Tennessee

Coal and Iron Co.

Roosevelt’s Foreign Policy • Active approach to foreign policy

•  “Speak softly, but carry a big stick”

• Distinction between “civilized” and “uncivilized” nations •  “civilized” produced industrial goods •  “uncivilized” provided raw materials and markets

•  “civilized” nations had the right to intervene in “uncivilized” nations

Protecting the “Open Door” • Roosevelt mediated negotiation between Japan and

Russia over Manchuria •  Russo-Japanese War

• Negotiated secret agreement that would allow U.S. to continue free trade in the region •  Japanese began to restrict American trade in Pacific territories •  Roosevelt sent “Great White Fleet” to demonstrate power of U.S.

Roosevelt and Latin America • Added “Roosevelt Corrollary” to the Monroe Doctrine

•  U.S. had right to intervene itself in the affairs of its neighbors if they could not maintain order and national sovereignty on their own

• Platt Amendment: gave U.S. right to prevent any foreign influence in Cuba

The Panama Canal • Linked Atlantic to Pacific – opened in 1914

• Completed failed French attempt

• Had to negotiate with Colombia – negotiations broke down •  Orchestrated Panamanian

revolt against Colombia

The Troubled Succession: William Howard Taft • Roosevelt’s hand-picked successor

• Easily won election in 1908 over William Jennings Bryan •  Failed to match

Roosevelt’s popularity

Taft and “Dollar Diplomacy” • Worked aggressively to invest in less developed regions

•  Especially in Latin America

• Supported insurgency in Nicaragua •  Bankers offered loans to the freed nation – increased financial

leverage over the country

Taft and the Progressives • Payne-Aldrich Tariff: lowered tariff rates little, raised in

some areas •  Progressives resented Taft’s reluctance to challenge “Old Guard”

• Created federal Children’s Bureau to investigate “all matters pertaining to the welfare of children…”

• Controversies: •  Replaced Roosevelt’s conservationist secretary of the interior with

a conservative corporate lawyer •  Ballinger-Pinchot Dispute: new secretary charged with turning over

public coal lands in Alaska for personal profit

The Return of Roosevelt •  Taft contributed to split of Republican Party: Progressives

and Conservatives • Roosevelt furious with Taft – intended to reunite the

Republican Party •  “New Nationalism”: social justice through strong federal

government

Roosevelt vs. Taft • Campaign for Republican nomination in 1912 election • Roosevelt won all primaries, but Taft was the choice of

most party leaders • Roosevelt continued campaign without Republicans –

launched Progressive Party (Bull Moose Party)

Woodrow Wilson • Progressive Democrat – proven dedication to reform as

New Jersey governor •  “New Freedom” – Wilson’s progressive program

•  Believed in destroying monopoly, not regulating it • Roosevelt and Taft split the Republican vote – gave

Wilson the win

The Scholar as President • Concentrated executive power

• Underwood-Simmons Tariff: significantly lowered rates

• Graduated income tax to make up revenue

• Federal Reserve Act: created twelve regional banks •  Issued new “Federal

Reserve notes” •  Established Federal

Reserve Board

Wilson and Monopoly •  Federal Trade Commission Act: created a regulatory

agency to help businesses determine in advance if their actions would be acceptable to the government

• Clayton Antitrust Act: meant to limit trusts – greatly weakened by conservative opponents

Retreat and Advance • Believed progressive goals had been met by 1912

•  Refused to support women’s suffrage and condoned racial segregation in the South

•  1914 Congressional elections ended complacency • Supported second wave of reforms

•  Keating-Owen Act: regulated child labor

Wilson and Foreign Policy •  Little experience or interest in international affairs at first

•  Established military government in Dominican Republic •  Quelled revolution in Haiti •  Bought Virgin Islands from Denmark

• Moral Diplomacy: •  Opposed Huerta regime in Mexico •  Seized Mexican port of Veracruz •  Expedition to pursue Pancho Villa •  Narrowly avoided war with Mexico