The Political Impact of Progressivism Theodore Roosevelt became President in 1901 with the assassination of William McKinley Roosevelt is considered the first Progressive President Roosevelt, while not anti-business, was not afraid to use his power as President to curb the abuses of big business Roosevelt was the first President to actively use the Sherman Anti-Trust Act to break up trusts and monopolies

During the first months of Roosevelt's Presidency he was faced with a coal strike from the United Mine Workers Roosevelt threatened to have federal troops take over the mines in order to force the workers and the owners agree to “Arbitration” Roosevelt called his actions an attempt to get a “Square Deal” for both sides Roosevelt would use the Square Deal as part of his reelection campaign in 1904

Roosevelt also began the National Park Service and set aside millions of acres of land for public use While Roosevelt's Progressive ideas made few friends in the political world, it made him extremely popular with the average person In 1904 Roosevelt will win reelection with a landslide victory In 1908 Roosevelt will not run for a 3rd term and instead advocated to his vise President William Howard Taft

Taft Presidency Taft will win the election of 1908 running on a platform of carrying on Roosevelt's Progressive reforms In many ways Taft will be more Progressive than Roosevelt, Taft breaks up more Trusts and Monopolies than Roosevelt did Taft also sets aside almost twice as much land for national parks than Roosevelt had set aside

Taft however was not the public figure that Roosevelt had been A scandal early in Taft's Presidency over the sale of public land in Alaska would haunt his Presidency Taft would be seen as being in the pocket of big business and did not out to help the common man Even Roosevelt would not like the way Taft appeared to be running the country

The Election of 1912 In the election of 1912 Roosevelt decided to run against Taft for the Republican nomination for President At the Republican Convention however Roosevelt's delegates would be blocked from entering the building or participating and Taft won the nomination Roosevelt was furious at what he saw as big party political corruption and formed his own political party the “Bull Moose” party

Roosevelt's Bull Moose party split the Republican party in half, half voted for Taft and half voted for Roosevelt The split in the Republican party allowed the Democrat Woodrow Wilson to win the Presidency with less than half of the popular vote

The Wilson Presidency Wilson was also a reform minded President Wilson created the Federal Reserve System which helped stabilize the banking system and reduced the problem of “Bank Runs” Wilson established the Federal Trade Commission, FTC, which is in charge of making sure business comply with Federal Trade Regulations

Wilson pushed through Congress the Clayton Anti-Trust Act which spelled out specifically what activates businesses could not engage in Finally Wilson exempted Labor Unions from Anti-Trust lawsuits