the political impact of progressivism theodore roosevelt became president in 1901 with the...

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