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The American Pageant
Chapter 29:
―Wilsonian
Progressivism at
Home and Abroad‖
1912-1916
COVER SLIDE
1912 buttons: Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson
Political buttons continued to be ubiquitous in 1912. Roosevelt and his running mate,
Hiram Johnson, the governor of California, are pictured with the Bull Moose that
came to symbolize the Progressive Party after Roosevelt exclaimed that he felt as fit
as a bull moose. Taft, the Republican candidate, and Wilson, the Democrat, are
depicted with more traditional symbols of patriotism and party. (Collection of Janice
L. and David J. Frent)
1912 BUTTONS: ROOSEVELT, TAFT, AND WILSON
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Caribbean immigrants at Ellis Island
The Caribbean as well as Europe sent
immigrants to the United States. Proud
and confident on arrival from their
homeland of Guadeloupe, these women
perhaps were unprepared for the double
disadvantage they faced as both blacks
and foreigners. (William Williams
Papers, Manuscripts & Archives
Division, The New York Public Library)
CARIBBEAN IMMIGRANTS AT ELLIS ISLAND
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Election Day
Critics of the woman-suffrage
movement, including this cartoonist,
believed that women's place was in the
home, not in the public sphere. (Library
of Congress)
ELECTION DAY
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Poster in six languages to encourage
immigrant education
Those who wished to Americanize the
immigrants believed that public schools
could provide the best setting for
assimilation. This 1917 poster from the
Cleveland Board of Education and the
Cleveland Americanization Committee
used the languages most common to the
new immigrants--Slovene, Italian,
Polish, Hungarian, and Yiddish--as well
as English to invite newcomers to free
classes where they could learn "the
language of America" and "citizenship."
(National Park Service Collection, Ellis
Island Immigration Museum. Photo:
Chermayeff & Geismar/MetaForm)
POSTER IN SIX LANGUAGES TO ENCOURAGE IMMIGRANT EDUCATION
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
San Francisco Chinese grocery store
Though Chinese immigrants struggled, like other immigrants, to succeed in American society,
they often faced severe discrimination because of their different lifestyles. As this photo of a
San Francisco grocery shows, the Chinese looked, dressed, and ate differently than did white
Americans. Occasionally, they suffered from racist violence that caused them to fear not only
for their personal safety but also for the safety of establishments like this one, which could
suffer damage from resentful mobs. (The Bancroft Library, University of California)
SAN FRANCISCO CHINESE GROCERY STORE
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Wilson and Taft
Having just squared off in the 1912 election campaign, the two politicians share a
light moment before Wilson's inauguration on March 4, 1913. (Library of Congress)
WILSON AND TAFT
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Address to the American Indians(1913. Great Speeches of the 20th Century, Rhino Records, Los Angeles, CA, 1991.)
AUDIO: ADDRESS TO THE AMERICAN INDIANS
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Click on image to launch audio.
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BULL MOOSE CAMPAIGN OF 1912
Democrats nominate
(Thomas) Woodrow Wilson –
Progressive Idealist
New Jersey governor
Past president of Princeton
Born in the South
Believed the President should
play a dynamic role
Republicans nominate
William H. Taft (again) a mild
Progressive
Theodore Roosevelt bolts the
Republican Party & joins with
the Progressive Party – AKA
―Bull Moose‖ he is a
Progressive
1912 ELECTION
Wilson wins the election
with fewer votes than
Bryan in any of his 3
attempts
435 EV, 6 million Pop.
Republican Party is split
but combine for 7
Million popular votes
Roosevelt & Taft had
been friends – now bitter
enemies
Bull Moose Party =
Roosevelt will win 88 EV
most successful 3rd Party
ever.
WILSON THE IDEALIST
Born in Virginia and raised in Georgia – first Southern president in 64 years
Believed south should have had the right to secede –promotes self-determination
Son of Presbyterian minister – against evil
Somewhat cold in public –he was self-assured and superior especially toward politicians and journalists
He found compromise difficult
TRIPLE WALL OF PRIVILEGE
Tariff
Banks
Trusts
All hurting the public in
some way or another and
therefore Wilson’s
program was to solve
them
WILSON AND THE TARIFF
Calls Congress into special
session – he delivered his
presidential message to a
joint session of Congress in
person (had not been done
since Adams)
Underwood Tariff Bill 1913-
down to 27%
16th Amendment = Income
tax (over $3,000)
WILSON AND THE BANKS
Still using the Civil War National Banking Act a temporary
measure at the time
shortcoming –inelasticity of currency
1908 (Senate) Aldrich investigation –recommendation: huge bank with many branches
House Arsene Pujo: $$ traced to hidden vaults of US banks & businesses
Louis D. Brandies’ Other People’s Money and How the Bankers Use It 1914 book showing that
the wealthy were consolidating funds and establishing a monopoly
He will testify for Pujo
These illustrations came from Harper’s Weekly’s Other People’s
Money articles by Brandeis.
WILSON AND THE BANKS
Federal Reserve Act 1913
Most important economic legislation between Civil War and New Deal
Establishes a Federal Reserve System
Restricted private control of money and banks
12 regional reserve districts and a central bank
Banks are for bankers
Issue Federal Reserve Notes
LOUIS D. BRANDEIS
Muller v Oregon, 1908: Brandeis convinced the Supreme Court
to use sociological & statistical evidence upholding an Oregon law that regulated the working conditions of women (10 hour day)
Significance: first such evidence acknowledged by law in the US
1916 is appointed to the Supreme Court Wilson nomination
First person of Jewish faith to serve on Supreme Court
WILSON AND THE TRUSTS
Federal Trade Commission
of 1914
Crush monopolies by
eliminating
1. Unfair trade practices
2. Unlawful competition
3. False advertising
4. Bribery
5. Has investigative powers
WILSON AND THE TRUSTS
Clayton Anti-Trust Act 1914
Attacks price discrimination and interlocking directorates (same individuals were on the boards of competing firms)
Labor and agriculture both exempted from anti-trust action
Allowed strikes and peaceful picketing
Samuel Gompers called it the ―Magna Carta of labor‖
DANBURY HATTER’S CASE 1908
Example of why Clayton Anti-Trust Act needed to
exempt labor as a monopoly:
Strike has lasted several months and the hat
company lost $250,000
US Supreme Court assessed the workers 3x the
amount of damages
The S.C. invoked the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of
1890 saying that ―conspiracy is restraint of trade‖
Fined workers – lost savings and homes
WILSON PROGRESSIVISM AT HIGH TIDE
Federal Farm Loan Act,
1916
Credit to farmers at low %
rates
Warehouse Act 1916
Loans available (to farmers)
based on security of staple
(cash) crops
Highway construction & help
to agricultural state colleges
La Follette Seamen’s Act,
1915
Required decent treatment
A living wage
unexpected result—crippled US
Merchant Marine with higher
freight costs
Workingmen’s Compensation
Act, 1916
Assistance given to disabled
federal employees
WILSON PROGRESSIVISM AT HIGH TIDE
Keating-Owen, 1916 Child labor Act is
passed but ruled unconstitutional in 1918 by Hammer v. Dagenhart
Adamson Act, 1916 8 hour work day
for RR workers and overtime pay (interstate commerce)
Wilson Progressivism stopped short of better treatment for blacks Likely due to his
southern roots & prejudices
When a delegation of blacks visited him he ―froze‖ them out of his office
CHILD LABOR IN WEST VIRGINIA COAL MINE
WILSON AND FOREIGN POLICY
He hated imperialism and Dollar Diplomacy
Government no longer offer special support to American investors in Latin America and China
Repealed the Panama Tolls Act 1912 (no tolls on US coast-wide shipping)
Philippines gains territorial status –promised self-rule
Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan persuades the California legislature to renege on a law that would not allow Japanese to own land –eases relations with Japan
WILSON AND FOREIGN POLICY
HaitiRevolution (1912-1915)
Forces Wilson to send in troopsMarines– to protect US lives and property
Stay 19 years
Dominican Republic (1916) Similar to Haiti—debt problems
Marines stay 8 years
Virgin Islands (1917) Purchased from Denmark for $25 Million to stop
Germany
WILSON AND MEXICO
US investments =$1 Billion
Revolutions 1913 Porfirio Diaz
overthrown
General Victoriano Huerta in power
Wilson sent arms to rivals Venustiano Carranza and Francisco ―Pancho‖ Villa
William Randolph Hearst Has a Rhode Island sized
ranch in Mexico
Begs for US intervention but Wilson promotes human rights over property rights
Pancho Villa
WILSON AND MEXICO
Tampico, April 1914 – US sailors arrested Mexico releases them and apologizes but
Wilson demands a 21-gun salute When Mexico will not grant this Wilson orders
the Navy to take Vera Cruz Mexican leaders, Huerta & Carranza protest ABC Powers intervene for the US (Argentina,
Brazil, Chile) Harms US-Mexican relations, and then…
General John ―Blackjack‖ Pershing Sent into Mexico Pursue ―Pancho‖ Villa who has killed 16 US
engineers in Mexico, and 19 in Columbus, New Mexico
No success: US had conflicts with Mexican troops & finally withdrew as conflict in Europe threatens
The Brancho-Buster:
President Wilson: “I
wonder what I do next?”
THE GREAT WAR
Assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand, in Sarajevo
Austria-Hungary allied with Germany, in essence, demands that Serbia become a possession of Austria-Hungary
Russia- the protector of the Slavic Nations, mobilizes to protect Serbia
Europe at war within weeks
Wilson’s states that the US position is neutral – trade with the Allies will pull the US out of a Recession and
Wilson is still hoping to keep the US out of war
THE GREAT WAR
Central Powers = Germany,
Austria-Hungary, later,
Turkey & Bulgaria
Allied Powers = France,
England, Russia, later, Italy
& Japan
German U-boat warfare
threatens US neutrality (we
really were supporting the
Allied Powers economically)
US NEUTRALITY
Slowly become more pro-Allies
Wilson is privately pro-British – as are most Americans also pro-French
Dislike for German attack on neutral Belgium – Hoover fed Belgium with US support
Germans sinister and strange – evil Heinous and militaristic – Kaiser Wilhelm
US NEUTRALITY
Most Americans thought Germany caused the war
Propaganda-British controlled the information – transatlantic cable
US sold weapons to the Allies –commitment
German Sabotage – agent left briefcase with info about munitions plants on NY Subway –1916 New Jersey munitions plant explodes – Germans suspected
LUSITANIA
US wants to be neutral but continues to ship to Allied Powers because England has control of the seas and a tight blockade around Germany
Germany then declares a submarine War Zone around Britain Feb. 1915
Wilson protests saying that Germany will be held to ―strict accountability‖ for any attacks on US vessels or citizens
On May 7, 1915 the British passenger linger Lusitania is sunk, by a U-boat killing 1,198 (128 Americans)
This nearly leads to war
SUSSEX PLEDGE
Arabic sunk killing 2 Americans French Ship the Sussex is sunk
Wilson threatened to break diplomatic relations with Germany- a prelude to war
Germany offers the Sussex Pledge – will not sink passenger and merchant vessels without giving warning IF the US will try to break the British Blockade
ELECTION OF 1916
Democrats: Wilson ―He kept us out of war.‖ In the election, he sweeps
the Midwest and west Wins 277 to 254 EV
Republicans: Charles Evans Hughes NY –
Supreme Court Justice Attacks Wilson for not
standing up to the Kaiser, in isolationist areas takes a softer line – flip-flops
Will win the Eastern States
