1. Progressive Era Politics
Teddy Roosevelt &
Progressive Era Politics

2. An asthma sufferer, Teddy drove himself to accomplish demanding physical feats. As a teenager, he mastered marksmanship and horseback riding. Unlike previous Presidents, Roosevelt enjoyed boxing, although one of his opponents blinded him in the left eye. On another day, he galloped 100 miles on horseback, merely to prove that it was possible to do so.
Teddy Roosevelt enjoyed a very active lifestyle, which often crept into his political beliefs (especially about conserving the land). When the President spared a bear cub on a hunting expedition, a toymaker marketed a popular new product, the teddy bear.

3. 1.Life Before President -rose steadily through gov’t ranks
-Spanish American War
Led Rough Riders at San Juan Hill
-Governor of NY
reform governor
Political machines want him out of NY because he is cleaning gov’t
-Vice President of William McKinley
-Became President with McKinley’s assassination
Youngest President (42)
Federal responsibility to help the citizens when the states cannot
“In life, as in a football game, the principle to follow is: Hit the line hard.”
~Theodore Roosevelt
Teddy Roosevelt was born into a wealthy New York family in At an early age, the ambitious Roosevelt became a leader in New York politics. After serving 3 terms in the NY State Assembly, he became New York’s police commissioner and then assistant secretary of the U.S. Navy. The aspiring politician grabbed national attention, advocating war against Spain in 1898, as his cavalry brigade won public acclaim for its role in San Juan Hill. Roosevelt returned a hero and was soon elected governor of NY, then later won the Vice Presidency.

4. 2.Square Deal -”hit the line hard” -Presidency as the “bully pulpit”
Use media to shape legislation
he serves as the protector of the people
-Square Deal was his program to fix the evils of society
Modern America requires a strong federal government
-”politics is the art of the possible”
-”speak softly and carry a big stick”
Foreign and domestic policy
“It is the duty of the President to act upon the theory that he is the steward of the people, and…to assume that he has the legal right to do whatever the needs of the people demand, unless the Constitution or the laws explicitly forbid him to do it.”
~Teddy Roosevelt

5. Government Involvement
-1902 coal strike
mine owners refused to bargain
-strike threatens fuel needs of the nation
Roosevelt threatens to take over mines unless issue is resolved
-Roosevelt had both groups to meet and go to arbitration
Showed disputes could be settled orderly with experts
-this set an example of Presidents mediating conflicts!
Federal government expected to intervene in large strikes
The Coal Strike of 1902 was a strike by the United Mine Workers of America in Pennsylvania. The strike threatened to shut down the winter fuel supply to all major cities. President Roosevelt became involved and set up a commission that suspended the strike. The strike never resumed, as the miners received more pay for fewer hours; the owners got a higher price for coal. It was the first labor episode in which the federal government intervened as a neutral arbitrator.

6. 3.Trustbusting -trusts controlled 4/5 of industry
This limits competition and hurts the consumer
-Roosevelt believed in good and bad trusts
He wanted to stop those that harmed public interest
-several trusts broken and real gov’t regulation began
44 suits filed, most won
-RR regulation
Northern Securities v. US
Had a monopoly over northwestern railroads; Supreme Court dissolved company
President Roosevelt took a stand against the large trusts of the nation.

7. As part of his Square Deal, President Roosevelt aggressively used the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 to attack big businesses engaging in unfair practices. His victory over his first target, the Northern Securities Company, earned him a reputation as a hard-hitting trustbuster committed to protecting the public interest. The cartoonist shows Roosevelt trying to tame the wild lions that symbolize the great and powerful companies of 1904.

8. President Roosevelt took a stand against the large trusts of the nation, filing 44 suits against large trusts, and winning most of his claims.

9. 4.Conservation
-industry was consuming large portions of natural resources
-pollution was destroying waterways
Coal mining and lumbering ruining the nation’s natural resources
Roosevelt wants to protect the land and resources
-Roosevelt establishes several national parks
National Reclamation Act, 1902
-set aside large portions of forestlands (reserves) – kept land from private sale
-Gifford Pinchot
-development of land for the common good
Some land set aside for the common good
These temple destroyers, devotees of ravaging commercialism seem to have a perfect contempt for Nature, and instead of lifting their eyes to the God of the Mountains, lift them to the Almighty Dollar.
~John Muir (1912)

10. “Thousands of…over civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home.”
~John Muir

11. William Jennings Bryan
1908 Election
Democratic Candidate
William Jennings Bryan
vs.
Republican Candidate
William Howard Taft
After winning the election in 1904, Roosevelt pledged not to run for reelection in He handpicked his secretary of war, William Howard Taft to run against William Jennings Bryan, who had been nominated by the Democrats for the third time. Under the slogan, “Vote for Taft this time, you can vote for Bryan any time,” Taft and the Republicans won an easy victory.

12. 5.Taft Elected -Roosevelt serves two terms Will not seek a third
-William Howard Taft designated to replace him
Secretary of War under Roosevelt (hand-picked)
-Taft never wanted or liked being President
-reluctant to use Presidency as bully pulpit
Does not want to expand Roosevelt’s reforms, just wanted to consolidate reforms
Taft pursued a cautiously progressive agenda, seeking to consolidate rather than expand Roosevelt’s reforms. Taft confessed that he never felt like the president. “When I am addressed as ‘Mr. President,’ I turn to see whether you are not at my elbow.” Taft hesitated to use the bully pulpit, nor could he subdue troublesome members of his own political party.

13. 6. Taft In Office
-Roosevelt earned name as trustbuster. However, Taft breaks up twice as many trusts in half the time
90 trusts split up in 4 years
Not recognized for work
-tried to lower tariffs
Failed when Senate offered a countering bill to raise tariff
Payne-Aldrich increased tariff and angered Progressives
-angered the conservation movement by opening up gov’t lands - 1 million acres taken out of government reserve
-Fires Pinchot
Less conservation angers Progressives
Roosevelt realized that lowering tariffs would risk severe tensions, pitting producers (manufacturers and farmers) against consumers. Taft ignored the risks and tackled the tariff boldly, on the one hand encouraging reformers to fight for lower rates, then cutting deals with conservative leaders that kept overall rates high. The resulting Payne-Aldrich tariff of 1909 was too high for most reformers, but Taft took credit, calling it the best bill to come from the Republicans. He alienated all sides.

14. Taft angered conservationists by appointing as his Secretary of the Interior Richard A. Ballinger, a wealthy lawyer from Seattle. Ballinger, who disapproved of conservationist controls on western lands, removed 1 million acres of forest and mining lands from the reserved list and returned it to the public domain.
When a Department of the Interior official was fired for protesting Ballinger’s actions, the fired worked published a muckraking article against Ballinger. President Taft sided with Ballinger, and he fired other protestors from the U.S. Forest Service.

15. 7.Political Struggles
-progressive and conservative parts of Republican party begin to fight
- old style conservative goals clashed with progressives
Conservatives do not want change, Progressives do
Ignores Progressive bills
-Republicans argue over party goals and leaders
As President, Taft supported House Speaker and former political boss “Uncle Joe” Cannon, who often disregarded seniority in filling committee slots and weakening progressive bills. This led to discontent within the Republican party and eventually hurt President Taft.

16. 7. Political Struggles
-Republicans lose control of H.O.R. - split in Republican party loses voters’ support
-TR decides to try for third term
New Nationalism campaign
-Taft and Roosevelt vie for 1912 Republican party nomination
Both want Republican nomination for President
Once Roosevelt returned from safari in Africa, he wanted to run for a third term as President. Therefore, Roosevelt and Taft were fighting to gain the nomination from the Republican Party, which can only nominate one candidate for President.

17. 8.Bull Moose Party -Roosevelt decides to run for 3rd term
Republicans want Roosevelt, but Taft controls convention and wins nomination
-Roosevelt forms his own Progressive Party, the Bull Moose Party
-New Nationalism
federal powers should be expanded to protect the public
-supported many Progressive reforms
Voting and workers’ rights
Many Republicans liked Roosevelt, but since Taft was the incumbent and had control of the Republican National Convention, Taft won the Republican nomination. Roosevelt’s supporters then formed their own Party, the Progressive Party, and nominated him for President in the 1912 election.

18. Roosevelt’s Progressive Party was often called the “Bull Moose” party
Roosevelt’s Progressive Party was often called the “Bull Moose” party. Supporters started this nickname after Roosevelt was shot in the shoulder during one of his speeches, yet continued his speech until he finished. One onlooker said, “Look at Roosevelt, standing there like a bull moose!” The Bull Moose Party influenced the election of 1912 by taking votes away from the countering Republicans, and leaving more percentage of votes for Democrats. How do you think this affected the overall election?

19. 9.Election of 1912
-Democrats nominated reform governor Woodrow Wilson, who termed his domestic policy New Freedom
-voters had choice between Taft, Roosevelt, Wilson, Debs
-Roosevelt and Taft split the Republican voting
-Wilson wins the election with only 42% popular vote
Democrat Woodrow Wilson becomes President in 1912
Republican vote/Bull Moose vote =
Democratic Victory in 1912
“Don’t interfere when your enemy is destroying himself.”
~Woodrow Wilson

20. William Howard Taft never wanted to be President
William Howard Taft never wanted to be President. After serving one term, Taft left the White House, which he called “the lonesomest place in the world,” and taught constitutional law at Yale for 8 years. In 1921, President Harding named Taft chief justice of the Supreme Court. The man whose family had nicknamed him “Big Lub” called this appointment the highest honor he had ever received. As chief justice, Taft wrote that “in my present life I don’t remember that I ever was President.” However, Americans remember Taft for many things, especially the Presidential custom of throwing out the first ball of the major league baseball season.