HIST 1302 Part Two
23 From Roosevelt to Wilson in the
Age of Progressivism
Theodore Roosevelt
The Man and the President
Roosevelt ran for Vice-President in the 1900 election.
Roosevelt became President when McKinley was mortally wounded by anarchist
Leon Czolgosz at the Pan-American Exposition, Buffalo, New York, Sept. 6, 1901.
McKinley died Sept. 14.
At age 42, Theodore Roosevelt became the youngest ever U.S. president.
“T.R.” became one of the most photographed presidents.
1902: The “Teddy Bear” is named for Theodore Roosevelt.
Roosevelt enjoyed “the strenuous life.”
TR also had a brainy side. He
wrote 46 books and countless
magazine articles.
A 1903 family portrait; from left to right: Quentin, TR, Theodore Jr., Archie, Alice,
Kermit, Edith (TR’s second wife), and Ethel.
The Executive Mansion was now officially known as the “White House.”
TR’s Presidency
1901-1909
Oct. 16, 1901: TR invites
Booker T. Washington to
dinner.
Many Progressives wanted to “bust” the Trusts, large business combinations
that controlled various areas of the economy and drove up prices.
TR gets a reputation
as a “trust-buster.”
1902: TR files anti-trust suit
against J.P. Morgan’s Northern
Securities.
A federal court ordered
Northern Securities
broken up.
TR filed lawsuits against 43 other “trusts.”
In 1902, coal miners went on strike, demanding
recognition of their union, an eight-hour day, and a 15%
pay increase. The mine owners refused to negotiate.
As winter approached, the nation worried
about the dwindling coal reserves.
“A coal famine
in the winter is
an ugly thing and
I fear we shall
see terrible
suffering and
grave disaster”
--President Theodore Roosevelt
TR invited the coal mine operators and a union representative to the White
House, to discuss a solution. The mine owners wouldn’t budge.
"These men don't suffer. Why, hell, half of
them don't even speak English.”
--A mine owner
After TR threatened to nationalize the mines, the striking miners,
got a 10 percent wage increase and a 10-hour day (down from 12).
1903: TR encourages a Panamanian revolt.
After gaining independence from Colombia,
Panama accepts $10 million from the U.S. for
the right to build a canal.
Work commenced in 1905 and in
1907 TR visited the Canal Zone.
The canal was completed in
1914. It cost $375 million.
Promising Americans a “Square
Deal,” TR runs for president
against Democrat Alton Parker
and Socialist Eugene Debs in
1904.
March 4, 1905: TR is inaugurated.
“The conditions which have told for our marvelous material well-being…have also brought the
care and anxiety inseparable from the accumulation of great wealth in industrial centers. Upon
the success of our experiment much depends…If we fail, the cause of free self-government
throughout the world will rock to its foundations, and therefore our responsibility is heavy, to
ourselves, to the world as it is to-day, and to the generations yet unborn. There is no good reason
why we should fear the future, but there is every reason why we should face it seriously, neither
hiding from ourselves the gravity of the problems before us nor fearing to approach these
problems with the unbending, unflinching purpose to solve them aright.”
1905: Alice Roosevelt’s goodwill tour of Japan (accompanied by
Secretary of War William H. Taft).
While Alice distracted the press,
Taft made a secret deal, agreeing to
let the Japanese take over Korea in
return for a pledge to leave the
Philippines alone.
In 1905 TR mediated the Russo-Japanese treaty at Portsmouth, NH.
1906: TR wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
The “Roosevelt Corollary”
“…in the Western
Hemisphere, adherence of
the United States to the
Monroe Doctrine may force
the United States, however
reluctantly, in flagrant cases
of…wrongdoing or
impotence, to the exercise of
an international police
power.”
TR’s motto was
“Speak softly and
carry a big stick.”
TR exercised the “Corollary” in 1905, in
the case of Santo Domingo (the
Dominican Republic), which had
defaulted on loans to European countries.
TR’s greatest legacy was in the field of Conservation.
1908: TR issues an executive order declaring
the Grand Canyon a national monument.
"In the Grand Canyon, Arizona has a natural wonder which, so far as I know, is in kind
absolutely unparalleled throughout the rest of the world. I want to ask you to do one
thing in connection with it in your own interest and in the interest of the country - to
keep this great wonder of nature as it now is…You can not improve on it. The ages have
been at work on it, and man can only mar it. What you can do is to keep it for your
children, your children's children, and for all who come after you, as one of the great
sights which every American if he can travel at all should see.”
--Theodore Roosevelt, May 6, 1903
Altogether, TR put 230 million acres of public land under federal
protection; creating 5 national parks, 18 national monuments, 150
national forests, and 51 national wildlife refuges.
In 1906 TR supported
both the Meat Inspection
Act and the Pure Food
and Drug Act of 1906,
which sought to put an
end to ineffective and
oftentimes harmful
“patent medicines.”
In 1906 TR dishonorably discharged 167 black soldiers
(including 6 medal of honor winners) stationed at Fort Brown,
Texas for an alleged riot. There was no court martial.
1907-1908: TR co-opts the Democrats and confounds his own party.
“The last session of Congress…saw a series of contests between the
[Republican] majorities in both houses of Congress and the President—
Myself—quite as bitter as if they and I belonged to opposite parties.”
--Theodore Roosevelt, Autobiography
TR advocated regulation of big business and
an inheritance (death) tax on the wealthy.
The conservatives in his party opposed him.
“Our purpose should be…to regulate big
corporations…so as to help legitimate
business as an incident to thoroughly and
completely safeguarding the interest of the
people as a whole...including producers,
consumers, and wage-workers.”
“Against all such increase of Government
regulation the argument is raised [by
Conservatives] that it would amount to a
form of Socialism.”
--Theodore Roosevelt, Autobiography
1907: TR sends “The Great White Fleet” around the world.
In 1909 TR greeted the
Great White Fleet when it
came home.
TR vs. Taft
TR’s handpicked successor
was Secretary of War
William Howard Taft, who
took office in 1909.
After Taft took office in
March 1909, TR went biggame hunting in Africa.
TR shot all sorts of animals, including the symbol of the Republican party.
Taft disappointed Roosevelt by
siding with the Conservative wing
of the Republican Party.
1909-1910: The BallingerPinchot Affair
Pinchot
Secretary of the Interior, R. R. Ballinger (a
Taft man) fired Chief Forester Gifford
Pinchot (a Roosevelt man).
TR arrived back
in the United
States, at New
York, in 1910, to
great acclaim. It
was as if he was
still president.
Before he left for Africa, TR had
written several editorials in which he
espoused a progressive ideology.
"Ruin faces us...if we permit ourselves to be
misled...into refusing to exert the common
power of the community where only
collective action can do what individualism
has left undone, or can remedy the wrongs
done by an unrestricted and ill-regulated
individualism.”
--Theodore Roosevelt, Outlook Magazine, March 27, 1909
In 1910, at Osawatomie, Kansas, TR
revealed the components of what he called
the “New Nationalism.”
“In every wise struggle for human
betterment, one of the main objects, and
often the only object, has been to achieve in
large measure equality of opportunity.”
“I stand for the square deal…I mean not
merely that I stand for for fair play under
the present rules of the game, but that I
stand for having those rules changed.”
“The citizens of the United States must
effectively control the mighty commercial
forces which they have themselves called
into being.”
TR decided to challenge Taft for the
Republican nomination in 1912.
Although TR won all the
Republican primaries, the party
bosses chose President Taft as the
Republican candidate for 1912.
“I second the nomination of Theodore
Roosevelt because he is one of the few
men in our public life who has been
responsive to the social appeal and who
has caught the significance of the
modern movement.”
--Jane Addams, Progressive Party Convention, 1912
Aug. 1912: TR becomes the nominee of
the new Progressive Party.
TR was supported by many leading
Socialists, including Jane Addams, who
gave a speech at the convention.
Progressive Party Platform
(partial)
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Women’s Suffrage
Old Age Pensions
The Right of Labor to Organize
Unemployment Insurance
Workmen’s Compensation
Abolish Child Labor
8-Hour Workday
A National Health Service
The Progressive Party was also
called the “Bull Moose” Party.
The “New Nationalism”
The “New Freedom”
The Choice Between Two Progressives
TR wanted to regulate the trusts.
Wilson wanted to “bust” the trusts.
Taft barely campaigned because he knew
he was going to lose.
Oct. 14, 1912: Assassination attempt
on TR in Milwaukee.
The first and only time a third
party has come in second place!