1. Reformers in the White House
Progressivism
Reformers in the White House
Topic 3.4

2. Theodore Roosevelt Background Information
Grew up in Manhattan in comfort
Scrawny boy with poor eyesight
Intellectual
Athlete
Outdoor activities
Boxer, wrestler, mountain climber, hunter, outdoorsman, bird watcher, and historian
Known for his energy, fierce competitive spirit and willingness to express opinions on any and ALL subjects
Theodore Roosevelt

3. Theodore Roosevelt Elected to New York legislature Disaster struck
Moved west to take up cattle ranching!!!
Western career lasted only 2 years…he never quite got over being a cowboy
Theodore Roosevelt

4. Theodore Roosevelt Back in New York
2 years as New York City’s police commissioner
Patrol the streets at midnight…when he came upon a sleeping policeman he would hit them with his nightstick
1897 McKinley appointed Roosevelt assistant secretary of the navy
After serving in Cuba easily won the governorship of New York
1900-Republicans -McKinley and named Roosevelt his running mate
Theodore Roosevelt

5. McKinley was assassinated…. Roosevelt became President
Leon Czolgosz
28 years old
Self proclaimed anarchist
Deeply affected by the treatment of the miners during the coal strikes of 1897
Execution – the electric chair.
September 14, 1901, Buffalo, NY

6. Square Deal
Keep wealthy and powerful from taking advantage of small business owners and poor!
His notion of a “square Deal” implied that things would be FAIR!

7. Coal Strikes – 1902 Pennsylvania coal miners went on strike
Wanted a pay raise
Shorter workday
TR sympathized with the miners
Knew that a steady supply of coal was needed to keep factories running and homes warm

8. Coal Strikes – 1902
TR tried to get mine owners to listen to the workers
He threatened to send in federal troops to take control of mines and to run them with federal troops
Forced mine owners
Small pay raise
9 hour workday
For the first time the federal government stepped in to help workers in a labor dispute!

9. TR Takes on RR Trust
1877 Congress created the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC)
Regulate RR
Oversee rail charges for shipments that passed through more than one state
TR pushed Congress to pass the Hepburn Act

10. Hepburn Act Gave the ICC more powers
Allowed the ICC to set maximum shipping rates
Set maximum rates for ferries, toll bridges
Gave any ruling by the ICC the legal force of a court order

11. Trustbuster! Northern Securities Company (RR) Beef trust
Several powerful agricultural companies
TR not interested in bringing down all large companies
TR felt big business was bad if it bullied smaller companies or cheated consumers

12. Managing the Environment
1892 Congress gave TR the power to protect timberlands by setting aside land as federal forest
100 million acres
TR felt some lands should be preserved
Some land held valuable resources
TR thought those resources were meant to be used

13. Managing the Environment
John Muir -led Congress to create Yosemite National Park in 1890
Named Gifford Pinchot to head a new United States Forest Service
230,000,000 acres under protection during Roosevelt’s administration
TR worked with Congress to established 5 national parks

14. Roosevelt finishes the two terms Taft is TR’s chosen successor

15. 1908 Election Victory! Roosevelt would not seek another term
TR persuaded William Howard Taft to run for the job
Taft-Secretary of war
Taft-very reluctant to run
Made Taft his hand picked nominee on the Republican ticket
With Roosevelt's support Taft easily wins over Democrat William Jennings Bryan (3rd time to run)
Victory!

16. Ballinger and Pinchot Affair
Taft chose Richard A. Ballinger for Secretary of the Interior
Opposed conservation
Sided with business interest that sought unrestricted development
Gifford Pinchot-head of U.S. Forest Service
Favored scientific management of wilderness lands to allow both preservation and development
Crafted TR’s conservation policies

17. Ballinger and Pinchot Affair
Ballinger allowed a private group of business people to obtain several million acres of Alaskan land containing rich coal deposits
Ballinger had represented some of these businessmen as a lawyer
Sold it to them cheaply
Conflict of interest
Pinchot objected
Taft who refused to intervene
He went public with controversy and Taft fired Pinchot
Ballinger later cleared of charges but the damage had been done

18. President Taft "Politics: when I am in it, it makes me sick."
Trust Buster (more than TR)
Conflict over Tariffs
Revised bill did not lower tariffs on important items
Hides, iron ore, coal, oil, cottons, boots, and shoes

19. Under TR’s Shadow: Taft never measured up to Teddy’s legacy.

20. Roosevelt
After the election of 1908 TR set off on a long safari to East Africa
Returned to America
Cheering crowd in New York
People protesting against Taft

21. 1912 Election
Roosevelt challenged Taft for the Republican presidential nomination
Knew they could control Taft
Taft wins
Progressives form their own party
TR asked about his physical readiness for a campaign
“I feel fit as a bull moose!”
Bull Moose Party became the Progressive Party nickname

22. 1912 Election Bull Moose Party/Progressive Party
Moose-symbol to challenge the Republican elephant and Democratic donkey
TR’s new plan
New Nationalism:
Trustbusting
Tariff Reduction
Women’s Suffrage
8 Hour Workday

23. 1912 Election
Before a campaign speech in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Theodore Roosevelt was shot at close range while greeting the public
The bullet aimed directly at Roosevelt's heart
went through his overcoat, metal glasses case and the folded up speech in his pocket
Crushing a rib and lodging below his right lung
John Flammang Schrank

24. TR demanded to be driven to the venue for his speech
Took maximum advantage of what happen
Showing the crowed his bloody shirt and wound
“It takes more than that to kill a bull moose!”
He went on with his speech
In which he called Taft a “fathead” who had “less brains than a guinea pig”
He spoke for nearly an hour and then was rushed to the hospital.

26. Splitting the Republican Party
Taft and TR split the Republican vote, giving the election to…

27. Woodrow Wilson

28. Woodrow Wilson Wilson’s NEW FREEDOM plan:
Promised to enforce antitrust laws
Wilson’s first major victory was tariff reduction.
The Underwood Tariff Act 1913
Signed into law Federal income tax -16th Amendment
Labor Department attacked child labor and protected female workers

29. Woodrow Wilson
Attacked trusts by helping Congress pass the Clayton Antitrust Act (strengthened the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890.)
Favored by labor Unions
Legalized Unions
Legalized strikes, picketing and boycotts

30. Woodrow Wilson
1914
Wilson and Congress created the Federal Trade Commission
Identify
monopolistic business practices
False advertising
Dishonest labeling

31. Woodrow Wilson
Federal Reserve Act created the Federal Reserve System to overhaul banking system.
Divided the country into 12 districts
Each district has a federal reserve bank
“Bankers” banks
Every national bank was required to become a member of the Federal Reserve bank in its district
Deposit some capital into that bank
Member banks could borrow
Helped to prevent bank failures

32. Limits of Progressivism
The changes made by Progressives were limited to certain groups in the United States.
Did little to aid tenant and migrant farmers

33. Limits of Progressivism
Progressive Presidents took little action to pursue social justice reforms.
Wilson continued the Jim Crow practice, begun under Taft, of separating the races in federal offices
TR invited Booker T. Washington to White House
TR did little else to support African American rights
At the 1912 Progressive Party convention, Roosevelt declined to seat black delegates from the South for fear of alienating white Southern Progressives.

34. African-American Movements
Ida B. Wells documented lynching's of African Americans. She showed how it was often a way to control or punish blacks who competed with whites economically.
Co-founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
W. E. B. DuBois advocated liberal arts education for African-Americans to achieve equal rights. Not work skills.
Booker T. Washington advocated learning workable job skills to achieve equal rights
Founded the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama to teach engineering and vocational skills.

35. WWI ends the Progressive Movement
Amendments
16th - Income Tax
17th - Direct Election of Senators
18th - Prohibition
19th - Women’s Suffrage