Teddy Roosevelt and the Progressive Era

“The principles for which we stand are the principles of fair play and a square deal for every man and every woman in the United States…I wish to see you boys join the Progressive Party, and act in that part as good citizens in the same way I’d expect any one of you to act in a football game. In other words, don’t flinch, don’t fold, and hit the line hard.”

--Theodore Roosevelt, Address to Boy’s Progressive League, 1913

Roosevelt and the Rough Riders

Theodore Roosevelt

• Roosevelt became a national war hero in the Spanish-American War.
• His volunteer cavalry brigade, the Rough Riders, won public acclaim for its role in the battle of San Juan Hill in Cuba.
• Roosevelt returned a hero and was soon elected governor of NY and later McKinley’s vice-president.

• Theodore Roosevelt was a charismatic figure who embraced Progressive ideals and ushered in a new era.
• He passed reforms and expanded the powers of the presidency.

The Modern President

Theodore Roosevelt

• When Roosevelt was thrust into the presidency in 1901, he became the youngest president ever at age 42.
• He quickly established himself as a modern president who could influence the media and shape legislation.

When President William McKinley was assassinated, Theodore Roosevelt became the nation’s 26th president.

Roosevelt and the Progressive Era

Roosevelt’s Square Deal

Trustbusting and Regulating Industry

• Roosevelt used his office and its powers to convince Americans of the need for change and to push through his reform proposals.
• He called his program the Square Deal.

-Goals were to keep the wealthy and powerful from taking advantage of small business owners and the poor.

“When is say I believe in a square deal, I do not mean to give every man the best hand. If good cards do not come to any man, or if they do come, and he has not got the power to play them, that is his affair. All I mean is that there shall be no crookedness in the dealing.”

--Theodore Roosevelt, 1905

• By 1900, trusts – controlled 80% of U.S. industries.

• Roosevelt filed 44 antitrust suits under the Sherman Anti-Trust Act

Environmental Policies:

-Set aside over 100 million acres of forest

-Created “rational” use plan for forests

-National Reclamation Act that controlled water

Economic Policies:

-Regulated Railroads

-Broke apart trusts

-Passed Pure Food and Drug Act

-Passed Meat Inspection Act

Trustbusting and Regulating Industry

• In 1902, 140,000 coal miners in Pennsylvania went on strike for increased wages, a 9-hour work day, and the right to unionize. Mine owners refused to bargain.
• Roosevelt called in both sides and settled the dispute.
• Thereafter, when a strike threatened public welfare, the federal government was expected to step in and help.

Roosevelt’s Square Deal

1912 Election

Roosevelt and Taft Differ

Regulating Food and Drug Industries

Trustbusting and Regulating Industry

• Roosevelt helps William Howard Taft win presidency of 1908 expecting him to continue his policies.

-However, Taft did not follow the course Roosevelt had set and Roosevelt became angry.

• After reading The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, Roosevelt pushed for passage of the Meat Inspection Act of 1906.

-The act mandated cleaner conditions for meatpacking plants.

• Republicans split in 1912 between Taft and Roosevelt.
• Republicans nominate Taft and reform minded Republicans formed a third party, the Progressive Party (nicknamed the Bull Moose Party), and nominated Roosevelt.
• The Democrats put forward a reform-minded New Jersey governor, Woodrow Wilson.

• Established the Department of Commerce and Labor:

-monitor businesses engaged in interstate commerce and keep capitalists from abusing their power.

• Congress passes Elkins and Hepburn Act, which gives Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) strong enforcement powers over railroads.

-Gives federal government the ability to set/limit shipping costs and set maximum prices.

Regulating Food and Drug Industries

Roosevelt vs. Taft

Taft:

-Preferred high tariffs

-Income tax

-Opposed some of Roosevelt’s conservation policies

Both:

-Trustbuster

-Republican

-Believed government should regulate business

-sought presidency in 1912

Roosevelt:

-War Hero

-Reformer

-Wanted to protect wilderness

-Believed government should help people

• Pure Food and Drug Act (1906): placed the same controls over other foods an medicines.

-The Act stopped the sale of contaminated foods and medicines and called for truth in labeling.

Roosevelt and the Environment

• Roosevelt set aside over 100 million acres of forest.
• Created a “rational” use plan for forests.
• National Reclamation Act

• Before Roosevelt’s presidency, the federal government paid very little attention to the nation’s natural resources.
• Roosevelt made conservation a primary concern of his administration.

Yellowstone National Park

Roosevelt Changes Water Policy

• As more and more people moved west, fights developed over who should own water rights and how water should be shared.
• In 1902, Congress passed the National Reclamation Act, which gave government the power to decide where and how water would be distributed.

-Federal government build/manage dams making water from one states rivers and streams available to farms in other states.