Wilsonian Progressivism At Home And Abroad

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Wilsonian Progressivism At Home And Abroad

• Chapter 29

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The Emergence Of Woodrow Wilson

• Democrats were thrilled about Republican split.
• Dems nominate Woodrow Wilson, a militant
  progressive.
• President of Princeton, instituted sweeping
  educational reforms
• Governor of New Jersey ignored party bosses.
  Progressive. Very Popular

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Woodrow Wilson

• Eloquent and somewhat of a zealot.
• Strong moral streak unwilling to compromise
  matters of principle.
• Appealed to the people over the heads of the
  bosses and legislature.
• In 1912 Democrats nominated him on the 46th
  ballot when Bryan swings his support to Wilson.
• New Freedom.

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The Bull Moose Campaign

• Roosevelt not ready to give up the fight.
• New Progressive Party nominates him as their
  candidate.
• Roosevelt and Taft rhetoric.

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Teddy v. Wilson

• TRs New Nationalism
• Attitude toward government regulation?
• Attitude toward trusts?
• favored womens suffrage
• Attitude toward social welfare programs.

• Wilsons New Freedom.
• Attitude toward government regulation?
• Attitude toward trusts?
• Attitude toward social welfare programs

Which parties would they fit in today?
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Presidential Election of 1912
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Meaning of Wilsons Win?

• Wilson wins with 41.
• Wilson gets fewer votes than Byran in any of his
  three defeats.
• Taft-TR combined had 1.2 Million more votes
• Progressives (Wilson and Roosevelt) together got
  far more votes than Taft.
• Thus, Progressivism was the winner.
• Wilson wins because Republicans split the vote

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Woodrow Wilson A Minority President

• Republicans minority in Congress and out of the
  White House for only the second time since before
  the Civil War.
• Why TR loses.
• Socialist Eugene Debs.
• Taft after the White House.

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Wilson The Idealist In Politics

• Wilson second democratic president since 1861.
• First southerner in the White House since Taylor.
  
• Racist Jeffersonian
• Son of a Presbyterian Minister fervent piety and
  a stark view of good and bad that makes it hard
  for him to compromise. He is rigid.
• Moving orator, but cold personally.
• Student of government professor of political
  science. Believed in strong president.
• Idealist
• Intellectual

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Wilsons Defects

• Cold and austere
• Lacked the common touch not good with humans
  individually.
• Intellectually arrogant.
• Morally righteous. Rigid and uncompromising
• Stubborn
• Racist

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Wilson Tackles The Tariff

• Triple wall of privilege
• Called a special session of congress. Personal
  State of the Union address.
• The house passed the Underwood Tariff Bill.
• goal.
• Senate attempts to gut it.
• What does Wilson do?
• What happens to it?
• Graduated income tax under the authority of the
  16th Amendment

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Wilson Battles The Bankers

• US financial system is antiquated.
• Most serious problem is the inelasticity of the
  currency
• money reserves heavily concentrated in NY and a
  few other large cities
• could not be mobilized easily to places under
  financial stress
• The republicans favored a Third Bank of the
  United States with 15 branches.
• Wilson opted for a decentralized bank in federal
  hands. Why?

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Federal Reserve Act

• Federal Reserve Act most important piece of
  economic legislation between the Civil War and
  the New Deal.
• Federal Reserve Board
• How organized, managed and owned
• Empowered to issue federal reserve notes backed
  by commercial paper
• Purpose?

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The President Tames The Trusts

• Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914
• Clayton Anti-Trust Act of 1914
• Strengthened Sherman Anti-Trust Act by
  lengthening the list of unfair trade practices.
• labor and agriculture.
• Provisions on strikes and picketing

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Wilson At High Tide

• Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916
• Warehouse Act of 1916
• Highway Construction
• Ag extension work in state colleges
• La Follette Seamens Act
• Workingmens Compensation Act of 1916
• Restriction on child labor on products in
  interstate commerce
• Adamson Act of 1916

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Wilsons Blind Spot

• Wilsons one failure in broadening the rights of
  the downtrodden was Blacks.
• He increased segregation in the Civil Service and
  generally had a very blind eyeeven a hostile
  eyetoward concerns of blacks regarding civil
  rights.
• Proclaimed Birth of a Nation an important insight
  into history.

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New Directions In Foreign Policy

• Wilsons had a much different view of foreign
  policy than either Roosevelt or Taft.
• Attitude toward TRs big-stickism and American
  imperialism.
• Attitude toward dollar diplomacy.
• Wilson looked at foreign policy issues through
  the lens of moralism.
• What was the thesis of Wilsonian foreign policy.
• Ironically, he intervened in foreign countries
  MORE than had Roosevelt of Taft.

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Wilson Foreign Policy

• Jones Act of 1916 What did it do for the
  Philippines?
• Wilson continued republican policy of intervening
  in Caribbean affairs.
• Sent the Marines into Haiti in 1915
• Same year sent marines into the Dominican
  Republic to quell riots.
• Why was Caribbean increasingly important to US?
• Purchases the Virgin Islands in the West Indies
  from Denmark in 1917

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Caribbean Intervention
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Moralistic Diplomacy In Mexico

• Huerta becomes president. Wilson refuses to
  recognize him. Why?
• Carranza and Pancho Villa.
• Tampico dispute
• US seizure of Vera Cruz. Germans
• Carranza v. Villa
• Columbus, NM raid

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US Invasion of Mexico

• Wilson and America are outraged.
• He sends General Pershing across the border to
  capture Villa.
• Pershing chases Villa across northern Mexico but
  cant find him.
• Mexicans love seeing the inept Americans
  floundering around in the desert.
• Wilson withdraws in 1917 as war for America looms
  in Europe

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Road to WWI

• Serb patriot killed Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand,
  the heir to the throne of the Austria-Hungary
  empire in Serajevo in 1914.
• Austrians blame Serbia. Backed by Germany, send
  stern ultimatum to Serbia
• Serbia backed by Russia, mobilizes, menacing
  Germany on the east.
• France mobilizes on Germanys other side.
• Germans strike at France through Belgium.
• England enters the war against Germans.
• Japan eventually comes in against Germany, as
  well.
• Central Powers Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey
  and Bulgaria
• Allies France, Russia, Britain, Japan.

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(No Transcript)
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A Precarious Neutrality

• Americans had no desire to get involved.
• Wilson neutrality proclamation
• Trade with belligerents allowed?
• Impact on US economy?

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A Precarious Neutrality

• US population overwhelmingly in support of allies
  and staying out of the war.
• Reasons citizens favored allies?
• Wilson saw himself as the neutral arbitrator
  above the fray and hoped to be called upon to
  negotiate a peace.
• He calls for peace without victory.

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America Earns Blood Money

• Orders from European nations quickly snap us out
  of recession and starts a business boom.
• US banks provide a great deal of financing to the
  allies.
• International law on trade with combatants
• Shipping causes strain with combatants.
• US trade is a much greater benefit to Allies than
  Axis. Why?
• British Blockade

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U-Boats

• Feb. 1915 German U-Boat war around the British
  Isles.
• Sank merchant ships headed to England without
  warning.
• German actions violate international law.
• How?
• Why does Germany do it?
• What did Germans pledge?
• In the early months of 1915 German U-boats sink
  about 90 ships.

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Lusitania

• May 1915 Germans sink the British passenger liner
  the Lusitania.
• 1198 killed including 128 Americans.
• It was secretly carrying munitions in cargo
  compartment
• US public outraged.

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Sussex Pledge

• Americans on the east coast started drumming for
  war. But Midwest is very isolationist.
• Wilson does not want war. Why?
• TR tried to push Wilson into the war.
• Wilsons warning to Germany.
• German Sussex Pledge
• US nevertheless at the brink of war. Why?

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Wilson Wins Reelection In 1916

• Wilson faced a tough battle in 1916.
• Progressive renominate TR, but he refuses to run.
• Republicans nominate Charles Evans Hughes.
• Hughes is a poor candidate who tailors his
  rhetoric concerning the war depending on his
  audience.
• Impact of TR rhetoric
• Wilson runs on the slogan, He kept us out of
  war.
• Wilson wins narrowly

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Election of 1916