The Progressive Presidents

Problems facing Progressive Presidents

• Immigration:– TR's era

• Influx of immigrants from southern and eastern Europe.

• Gentleman's Agreement dealing with Japanese immigration

– Today• Influx of immigrants from Mexico• Various proposals for amnesty for

illegal immigrants.

Conservation:TR's era

Resistance to presidential efforts to set aside western lands for National Forests, Reclamation Projects, Game & Bird Preserves, etc.

Today

Efforts to reopen western public lands to development.

• Balancing Labor with Big Business and Consumerism:– TR's era

• Mediating Anthracite Coal Strike• Addressing consumer concerns for safer food.

– Today• Balancing American labor demands with corporate

need to keep down labor costs by sending jobs overseas.

• Renewed concerns for food, especially meat, safety.

• Anti-Trust Issues:– TR's era

• 45 suits to break trusts that set prices/stop competition.

– Today• Concerns and lawsuits, especially directed toward tele-communications and computer technology corporations to oppose domination of industry by a few companies.

• Defining America's Role in the World:TR's era

• Presidential use of mediation, international arbitration and courts in dealing with international problems.

– Today -• America's relationship with the international

community, especially with regard to the United Nations, the World Court, the international arbitration of problems, etc.

Theodore Roosevelt as President

Teddy Becomes President

• 1901 becomes president when William McKinley is assassinated

• Youngest person to serve as president (42 years old)

• 1st Progressive President

• Plan for Progressive Reforms called the Square Deal

TR vs. Big Business

• Known as “Trustbuster” because he breaks up Standard Oil

• He didn’t think all trusts were bad

• Sets up the Bureau of Corporations to Monitor Big Business

• Used Gentleman’s Agreements to give Business owners a chance to fix any wrongdoings

TR and Upton Sinclair

• Upton Sinclair was a muckraker

• Book forced TR to get the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act

Video: Great Books: The Jungle

Compare Upton Sinclair’s book The Jungle to Super Size Me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2diPZOtty0

TR and Conservation• Adds over 100 million acres to the national

park system

• Protects the land from Industry

• Appoints Gifford Pinchot head of US Forest Service

Other TR Reforms

• Hepburn Act – Federal Government sets max Railroad Rates

• Newlands Reclamation Act – uses Federal Money to pay for irrigation and land development projects

William Taft

As President

Taft Becomes President

• Hand picked by Roosevelt to succeed him in 1908

• Both were Republicans

Taft’s Progressive Reforms

• Children’s Bureau – Set up to monitor Child Labor

• Mann-Elkins Act – regulate telephones and telegraphs

• Bigger Trustbuster than T. Roosevelt

Taft, Not Progressive Enough?

• Ballinger Pinchot Controversy– Richard Ballenger = Taft’s

Secretary of the Interior– Planned to sell natural

forests– Ratted out in Press by

Gifford Pinchot (Roosevelt’s head of Forest Service)

– Taft fires Pinchot – TR furious

• Breaks up US Steel– Roosevelt used a Gentlemen’s agreement to

allow US Steel to operate– Standard Oil Co. v US – court determines

what is a reasonable trust – Standard Oil broken up

Roosevelt and Taft Split

• Taft receives the Republican Nomination for President in 1912

• Roosevelt forms his own party – The Progressive (Bull Moose) Party- runs for president

Campaign Buttons from 1912 election

Democratic Party Progressive Party Republican Party

Republican Party Platform

Republican Party PlatformHigh import tariffs.High import tariffs.

Put limitations on female and child Put limitations on female and child labor.labor.

Workman’s Compensation Laws.Workman’s Compensation Laws.

Against initiative, referendum, and Against initiative, referendum, and recall.recall.

Against “bad” trusts.Against “bad” trusts.

Creation of a Federal Trade Creation of a Federal Trade Commission.Commission.

Stay on the gold standard.Stay on the gold standard.

Conservation of natural resources Conservation of natural resources because they are finite.because they are finite.

Progressive Party Platform

Progressive Party PlatformWomen’s suffrage.Women’s suffrage.

Graduated income tax.Graduated income tax.

Inheritance tax for the rich.Inheritance tax for the rich.

Lower tariffs.Lower tariffs.

Limits on campaign Limits on campaign spending.spending.

Currency reform.Currency reform.

Minimum wage laws.Minimum wage laws.

Social insurance.Social insurance.

Abolition of child labor.Abolition of child labor.

Workmen’s compensation.Workmen’s compensation.

NNeeww

NNaattiioonnaalliissmm

NNeeww

NNaattiioonnaalliissmm

Democratic Party Platform

Democratic Party PlatformGovernment control of the Government control of the

monopolies monopolies trusts in general were bad trusts in general were bad eliminate them!! eliminate them!!

Tariff reduction.Tariff reduction.

One-term President.One-term President.

Direct election of Senators.Direct election of Senators.

Create a Department of Labor.Create a Department of Labor.

Strengthen the Sherman Anti-Strengthen the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.Trust Act.

Did NOT support women’s Did NOT support women’s suffrage.suffrage.

Opposed to a central bank.Opposed to a central bank.

NNeeww

FFrreeeeddoomm

NNeeww

FFrreeeeddoomm

The Socialist Party

& Eugene V. Debs

The Socialist Party

& Eugene V. Debs

The issue is Socialism The issue is Socialism versus Capitalism. I am versus Capitalism. I am for Socialism because I for Socialism because I am for humanity.am for humanity.

Growth of the Socialist VoteGrowth of the Socialist VoteYear

Socialist Party

Socialist Labor Party Total

1888   2,068 2,068

1890   13,704 13,704

1892   21,512 21,512

1894   30,020 30,020

1896   36,275 36,274

1898   82,204 82,204

1900 96,931 33,405 130,336

1902 223,494 53,763 277,257

1904 408,230 33,546 441,776

1906 331,043 20,265 351,308

1908 424,488 14,021 438,509

1910 607,674 34,115 641,789

1912 901,873901,873

Socialist Party PlatformSocialist Party Platform

Government ownership of Government ownership of railroads and utilities.railroads and utilities.

Guaranteed income tax.Guaranteed income tax.

No tariffs.No tariffs.

8-hour work day.8-hour work day.

Better housing.Better housing.

Government inspection of Government inspection of factories.factories.

Women’s suffrage.Women’s suffrage.

UpAgainst

theHurdles

UpAgainst

theHurdles

Conservation

Issue:

TheBallinger-Pinchot

Controversy

Conservation

Issue:

TheBallinger-Pinchot

Controversy

The Unanswerable Argument for Suffrage

The Unanswerable Argument for Suffrage

Never Again!Never Again!

Taft Abandons Support for Women’s Taft Abandons Support for Women’s SuffrageSuffrage

Lynching& theRaceIssue

Lynching& theRaceIssue

An Actual 1912 BallotAn Actual 1912 Ballot

Political Parties during the Progressive Era

• Cut out the circles and paste them on your paper

• Cut out the descriptions of political parties and try to match them up to the political party names

• Glue descriptions onto paper

• Keep this in your notebook to help explain political parties

Election ResultsElection Results

By 1912, 100,000 fewer people had voted By 1912, 100,000 fewer people had voted for Wilson than had voted for Bryan in for Wilson than had voted for Bryan in 1908.1908.

The 1912 election marked the apogee of The 1912 election marked the apogee of the Socialist movement in America.the Socialist movement in America.

GOP Divided by Bull Moose Equals

Democratic Victory!

GOP Divided by Bull Moose Equals

Democratic Victory!

• Taft and Roosevelt split votes

• Democrat Woodrow Wilson is elected

Woodrow Wilson

As President

Wilson as a Progressive

• Called his plan for progressive reforms: New Freedom

• Only Progressive President who was a Democrat

Wilson Progressive Reforms

• Federal Reserve Act– Creates Federal Reserve System– Uses interest rates to regulate money supply

• Federal Trade Commission– Can issue cease and desist orders on

companies that hurt fair competition

• Clayton Anti-Trust Act– Gave unions the right to exist

• Underwood Tariff– Included provision for a federal income tax

Legacy of Progressivism

• 1st time the Federal Government passed laws that protected workers and regulated big business

• Role of Federal government expanded

Limits of Progressivism

• Does not address problems facing African Americans– Sharecropping– Jim Crow– Poll Taxes, Literacy tests, or Grandfather

Clause

• African Americans from NAACP to help themselves achieve goals