1. The Taft & Wilson Years
Have the students tell about a time when they had to give an oral report right after a great speaker, or had to follow a terrific athlete where you don’t excel. That is what it must have been like for Taft to follow TR.

2. Taft becomes President
Refusing a 3rd term, TR hand picks successor.
William Howard Taft angers his party’s progressive wing.
Doesn’t cut tariffs as much as promised
Public land can be used for industry.
A tariff is a tax on imports. Consumers will have to pay more for foreign goods, but USA made goods will seem better.

3. Republican Party Split
I want the
BULL MOOSE Party
to Win!
Taft’s support of Boss Joe Cannon further alienates Progressive republicans.
Republican Party splits, TR comes back to lead Bull Moose Party.
TR boasted he was as strong as a Bull Moose
Democrats nominate Woodrow Wilson for President
The Republican split was similar to the 1992 election, when Ross Perot took away some of the republican votes from George Bush Sr. Bill Clinton won the election with 40% of the vote. It can also be compared to the 2000 vote, when Ralph Nader and the Green Party took 3% of the vote, enough to have given Al Gore the win.

4. The Election of 1912
Woodrow Wilson, reform governor from New Jersey, wins election of 1912.
Campaign turned nasty
75% of votes go to candidates who support reform.
Taft called TR “ A dangerous egoist” while TR called Taft a “fathead” with the brain of a “guinea pig”. Wilson stayed above the fray, saying “Don’t interfere when your enemy is destroying himself”

5. Wilson brings reforms
Woodrow Wilson attacked the trusts with the Federal Trade Act and Clayton Anti-Trust Act.
Wilson established Federal Reserve System.
Wilson lowers tariffs, making up revenue loss with new income tax, the 16th amendment.
Wilson’s Anti-Trust measures went after a few things
Monopolies: a business can not buy another business if that purchase would create a monopoly. For example, There can not be only one telephone company or steel company or oil company.
Unions: Unions have the right to exist and and are not subject to antitrust laws.
Watchdog agencies: The Federal Trade Commission has the power to investigate business practices.

6. Comparing the 3 Progressive Presidents
Category of reform
Teddy Roosevelt
Taft
Wilson
How they became President
Consumer protection
Approach to government corruption
Economic Reform
Biggest Accomplishments

7. Voting Rights for Women
Women press for voting rights, winning some local battles.
Carrie Chapman Catt became president of NAWSA
19th Amendment in 1920 finally gives women the right to vote
Wyoming allowed women the right to vote in 1869, the first state to do so.
It was not until so many women filled the shows of the men fighting WWI that women achieve suffrage.

8. Limits to Progressivism
Wilson retreats on civil rights
Fails to pass anti-lynching laws
Segregation in nation’s capital returns
Reforms pushed aside as America goes into WWI.