Title: Theodore Roosevelt and The Modern Presidency
1Theodore Roosevelt and The Modern Presidency
- 1901 President McKinley assassinated
- I told William McKinley that it was a mistake to
nominate that wild man at Philadelphia, I asked
him if he realized what would happen if he should
die. Now look, that damned cowboy is President
of the United States! Mark Hanna
2Theodore Roosevelt and The Modern Presidency
- Roosevelt became the youngest president (42) but
he never openly rebelled against the leaders of
his party, instead he became a champion of
cautious, moderate change
3Theodore Roosevelt and The Modern Presidency
- Believed that the government should be a mediator
of the public good, with the president at its
center, he also believed that economic
concentration had resulted in a consolidation of
power that produced dangerous abuses of power,
urged regulation (but not destruction) of the
trusts
4Theodore Roosevelt and The Modern Presidency
- Roosevelt wanted the government to have the power
to investigate the activities of the corporations
and publicize the results, believing that
educated public opinion would eliminate most of
the corporate abuses
5Theodore Roosevelt and The Modern Presidency
- Department of Commerce and Labor (1903) - along
with the Bureau of Corporations was to
investigate activities of corporations and
publicize them
6Theodore Roosevelt and The Modern Presidency
- In 1902 Roosevelt ordered the Justice Department
to invoke the Sherman Anti-Trust Act against the
Northern Securities Company, which was a 400
million railroad monopoly in the Northwest led by
JP Morgan, EH Harriman, and James J. Hill.
7Theodore Roosevelt and The Modern Presidency
- If we have done anything wrong, send your man to
my man and they can fix it up, Roosevelt
proceeded with the case and in 1904 the Supreme
Court case ruled that the company must be
dissolved
8Theodore Roosevelt and The Modern Presidency
- Even though Roosevelt filed more than 40
additional antitrust suits during his presidency,
he had no serious commitment to reverse the
prevailing trend toward economic concentration
9Theodore Roosevelt and The Modern Presidency
- In 1902 the United Mine Workers went on strike
against the anthracite coal industry, it dragged
on long enough to endanger coal supplies,
Roosevelt asked both operators and miners to
accept impartial
10Theodore Roosevelt and The Modern Presidency
- Federal arbitration, the mine operators resisted
and Roosevelt threatened to seize the mines, in
arbitration the miners got a 10 wage increase
and a 9 hour work day, more then the union
wouldve got without Roosevelts help, but
Roosevelt also on several occasions sent in
federal troops on the behalf of the employers,
Roosevelts Square Deal
11Theodore Roosevelt and The Modern Presidency
- During Roosevelts first term he was principally
concerned with winning re-election, so could not
afford to antagonize the conservative Republican
Old Guard, he dispensed patronage to
conservatives and progressives equally, he won
the support of northern businessmen and reformers
alike.
12Theodore Roosevelt and The Modern Presidency
- In the election of 1904 Roosevelt faced
conservative Democrat Alton B. Parker and won 57
of the popular vote and lost no state outside of
the South, was free to display the extent of his
commitment to reform in his second term
13Theodore Roosevelt and The Modern Presidency
- The Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 established
the Interstate Commerce Commission, which was an
early effort to regulate the railroad industry
but it was weakened by the courts, Roosevelt got
the Hepburn.
14Theodore Roosevelt and The Modern Presidency
- Railroad Regulation Act of 1905 passed which
sought to restore some regulatory authority over
railroad rates to the government, many were
enraged at how cautious it was (Senator
LaFollette)
15Theodore Roosevelt and The Modern Presidency
- The Pure Food and Drug Act restricted the sale of
dangerous or ineffective medicines, but was
limited by its weak enforcement mechanisms
16Theodore Roosevelt and The Modern Presidency
- In 1906 Upton Sinclair wrote the powerful novel
The Jungle, which caused Roosevelt to push for
the Meat Inspection Act that ultimately helped
eliminate many diseases once transported in
impure meat
17Theodore Roosevelt and The Modern Presidency
- Starting in 1907 Roosevelt began pushing for more
stringent reforms such as an 8-hour work day,
compensation for victims of industrial accidents,
an inheritance and income tax, and regulation of
the stock market.
18Theodore Roosevelt and The Modern Presidency
- Roosevelt also began to openly criticize
conservatives in Congress and the judiciary who
were obstructing these programs, this resulted in
a widening gap between the president and
conservative wing of his party
19Theodore Roosevelt and The Modern Presidency
- Roosevelt was concerned about the unregulated
exploitation of Americas natural resources and
its remaining wilderness, using his executive
powers Roosevelt restricted private development
on millions of acres of undeveloped land, mostly
in the West, by adding them to the National
Forest system
20Theodore Roosevelt and The Modern Presidency
- Conservatives in Congress passed a law in 1907
restricting Roosevelts authority over public
land, Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot (chief
forester) worked to seize all the forests and
many of the waterpower sites that were still in
the public domain before the bill became law
21Theodore Roosevelt and The Modern Presidency
- Conservationists promoted policies to protect
land for carefully managed development, the
National Forest Service (led by Pinchot)
supported rational and efficient human use of the
wilderness
22Establishment of National Parks and Forests
23Theodore Roosevelt and The Modern Presidency
- Roosevelt's legacy in conservation was that he
established the government role as a manager of
the continuing development of the wilderness
24Theodore Roosevelt and The Modern Presidency
- The National Reclamation Act (Newlands Act)
provided federal funds for the construction of
dams, reservoirs and canals in the West -
projects that would open new lands for
cultivation and provide cheap electric power this
was the beginning of many years of critical
federal aid for irrigation and power development
in the West
25Theodore Roosevelt and The Modern Presidency
- George Perkins wrote Man and Nature in which he
said the most important consequence of losing
forests was the forests role in stabilizing the
natural environment, received wide attention and
became the basis for the National Forest Service
26Theodore Roosevelt and The Modern Presidency
- Roosevelt championed the expansion of the
National Forest System as a way to protect the
landscape for continued rational lumbering, but
he also greatly expanded the National Park System
to protect public land from any exploitation or
development at all
27Theodore Roosevelt and The Modern Presidency
- First national park was Yellowstone in Wyoming
(1872), followed by Yosemite and Sequoia in
California and Mount Rainer in Washington
(1890s), Roosevelt added Crater Lake (OR), Mesa
Verde (UT), Platt (OK), Wind Cave (SD)
28Theodore Roosevelt and The Modern Presidency
- Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite was a spectacular
high walled valley highly popular with
conservationists, but San Francisco residents
wanted to dam it in order to create reservoir for
the city, after the San Francisco earthquake of
1906 and the resulting fire, the public outcry
for the dam increased.
29Theodore Roosevelt and The Modern Presidency
- Opposed by Muir and the Sierra Club, the case was
turned over to Pinchot who approved construction
of the dam, Pinchot who believed in the rational
use of nature was not swayed by Muirs aesthetic
and spiritual arguments
30Theodore Roosevelt and The Modern Presidency
- Muir helped place a referendum on the issue on
the ballot in 1908, but dam was approved by huge
margins, the construction of the dam would
finally begin after WWI, the fight against the
Hetch Hetchy dam helped mobilize a new coalition
of people committed to preservation, not the
"rational use" of wilderness
31Theodore Roosevelt and The Modern Presidency
- Panic of 1907 American industrial production
outran the ability of either domestic or foreign
markets to absorb it, the banking system and the
stock market displayed pathetic inadequacies, and
irresponsible speculation and rampant financial
mismanagement shattered the prosperity that many
thought was permanent
32Theodore Roosevelt and The Modern Presidency
- The conservatives blamed Roosevelt's "mad"
economic policies, he disagreed but did not
interfere with their recovery efforts, JP Morgan
helped create a pool of assets from several
important New York banks to prop up shaky
financial institutions.
33Theodore Roosevelt and The Modern Presidency
- The key to this arrangement was the purchase of
the shares of Tennessee Coal and Iron Company
which were held by a threatened New York bank, US
Steel would buy the shares but needed assurances
from Roosevelt that he would not face antitrust
action, Roosevelt agreed and the Panic soon
subsided
34Theodore Roosevelt and The Modern Presidency
- Roosevelt made a promise in 1904 that he would
not seek a third term, so after 8 years in the
White House in which he had transformed the role
of the presidency in American government,
Roosevelt retired from public life at the age of
50
35The Troubled Succession
- William Howard Taft was Roosevelt's handpicked
successor, seemed acceptable to both progressives
and conservatives, easily defeated William
Jennings Bryan in the 1908 election, however, 4
years later Taft left office as the most
decisively defeated president of the 20th
Century, his party deeply divided, and with the
Democrats in control of the government for the
first time in 20 years
36The Troubled Succession
- Taft called Congress into special session to
lower protective tariff rates, but Taft made no
attempt to overcome the opposition of Old Guard
Republicans arguing that it would violate
doctrine of separation of powers, the result was
the Payne-Aldrich Tariff which reduced tariff
rates scarcely at all, and in some areas raised
them, progressives resented Tafts passivity
37The Troubled Succession
- Taft replaced Roosevelt's secretary of interior,
James R. Garfield an ardent conservationist, with
a the conservative Richard A. Ballinger, a
conservative corporate lawyer, Ballinger
attempted to invalidate Roosevelt's removal of 1
million acres of forests and mineral reserves
from the public lands available for private
development
38The Troubled Succession
- Louis Glavis, an Interior Department
investigator, charged Ballinger with having
connived to turn over valuable public coal lands
in Alaska to a private syndicate for personal
profit, Glavis took the evidence to Pinchot and
Pinchot took the investigation to Taft.
39The Troubled Succession
- Taft investigated the claims, found that they
were groundless and fired Glavis, Pinchot leaked
the story out into the press and Taft fired
Pinchot for insubordination.
40The Troubled Succession
- The result of the Ballinger-Pinchot dispute
aroused public passion and Taft alienated
supporters of Roosevelt completely - Roosevelt became furious with Taft when he
returned to New York in 1910 and felt that he
alone was capable of reuniting the Republican
Party
(Taft has) completely twisted around the
policies I advocated and acted upon.
Theodore Roosevelt
41The Troubled Succession
- Roosevelt's New Nationalism made it clear he
had moved away from the cautious conservatism of
the first years of his presidency, argued that
social justice was possible only through vigorous
efforts of strong federal government whose
executive acted as the steward of the public
welfare, those who thought primarily of property
rights and personal profit must now give way to
the advocate of human welfare
42The Troubled Succession
- Roosevelt supported graduated income and
inheritance taxes, workers' compensation for
industrial accidents, regulation of the labor of
women and children, tariff revision, firmer
regulation of corporations
43The Troubled Succession
- In the Congressional elections of 1910,
conservative Republicans went down to defeat
while progressive Republican incumbents were
reelected, Democrats ran progressive candidates
of their own and gained control of the House of
Representatives for the first time in 16 years,
reform sentiment was on the rise
44The Troubled Succession
- In 1911 the Taft administration announced a suit
that charged US Steel with antitrust violations
in the 1907 acquisition of the Tennessee Coal and
Iron Company, Roosevelt was enraged by the
implication that he had acted improperly
45The Troubled Succession
- In 1912 Senator La Follette, who had been
campaigning for president himself, suffered a
nervous breakdown (exhausted and distraught over
his daughters illness) Roosevelt announced his
candidacy for president on February 22, 1912
46The Troubled Succession
- The campaign for the Republican nomination was
battle between Roosevelt (progressives) and Taft
(conservatives) but Taft remained the choice of
most party leaders who controlled the nominating
process, Roosevelt told the convention We stand
at Armageddon and we battle for the Lord, the
Republican convention nominated Taft
47The Troubled Succession
- Roosevelt launched the new Progressive Party and
nominated himself as the presidential candidate,
Roosevelt approached the campaign "fit as a bull
moose", but many of the insurgents who had
supported him during the primaries refused to
follow him out of the Republican party
48Woodrow Wilson and the New Freedom
- Democrats nominated the only true progressive
candidate, Woodrow Wilson, on the 46th ballot at
the convention in Baltimore in 1912 - President of Princeton University 1902 1910,
Governor of New Jersey 1910 1912, displayed a
commitment to reform
49Woodrow Wilson and the New Freedom
- Wilson's New Freedom believed bigness (economic
concentration in the trusts) was both unjust and
inefficient, proper response to monopoly was not
to regulate it but to destroy it
50Woodrow Wilson and the New Freedom
- 1912 Election Roosevelt and Taft split the
Republican vote allowing Wilson to win the
election
51Woodrow Wilson and the New Freedom
- Wilson concentrated the powers of the executive
branch in his own hands, he exerted firm control
over his cabinet, and delegated real authority to
those whose loyalty to him was beyond question,
Colonel Edward M. House was Wilsons most
powerful advisor even though he held no official
position in the executive branch
52Woodrow Wilson and the New Freedom
- The Democrats captured both houses of Congress in
the 1912 election, which made it much easier for
Wilson to get his progressive agenda passed
53Woodrow Wilson and the New Freedom
- Wilson called Congress into special session in
order to pass the Underwood- Simmons Tariff,
which substantially lowered the protective tariff
in order to allow real competition into American
markets and break the power of the trusts.
54Woodrow Wilson and the New Freedom
- Congress approved a graduated income tax (under
the 16th Amendment) to make up for lost revenue
from the tariff, this first modern income tax
imposed a 1 tax on individuals and corporations
earning over 4,000 up to a maximum of 6 on
incomes of over 500,000
55Woodrow Wilson and the New Freedom
- The Federal Reserve Act (1913) created twelve
regional banks, each to be owned and controlled
by the individual banks of its district, these
regional banks would hold a certain percentage of
the assets of their member banks in reserve.
56Woodrow Wilson and the New Freedom
- The system would use those reserves to support
loans to private banks at an interest rate that
the Federal Reserve Board would set, they would
also issue a new type of currency, Federal
Reserve Notes, which would become the nations
basic medium of trade and backed by the
government.
57Woodrow Wilson and the New Freedom
- The Federal Reserve System would be able to shift
funds quickly to troubled areas, to meet
increased demand for credit, or to protect
imperiled banks.
58Woodrow Wilson and the New Freedom
- The Federal Trade Commission created a regulatory
agency that would help businesses determine in
advance whether their actions would be acceptable
to the government, the agency would also have
authority to launch prosecutions against "unfair
trade practices", it would also have the power to
investigate corporate behavior
59Woodrow Wilson and the New Freedom
- The Clayton Antitrust Act was attacked by
conservative interests and weakened it greatly - Wilson did little to protect it
60Woodrow Wilson and the New Freedom
- By the fall of 1914, Wilson believed that
agitation for reform would slowly subside, he
refused to support movement for women's suffrage,
condoned the reimposition of segregation in the
agencies of the federal government (southern
Democrats), he dismissed progressive proposals
for additional reform legislation as
unconstitutional or unnecessary
61Woodrow Wilson and the New Freedom
- The 1914 congressional elections resulted in the
Democrats suffering major losses in Congress led
by voters who had supported the Progressive Party
returning to the Republican Party
62Woodrow Wilson and the New Freedom
- In January 1916, Wilson appointed Louis Brandeis
to the Supreme Court becoming the first Jewish
member of the Court and also the most progressive
member of the Court
63Woodrow Wilson and the New Freedom
- Wilson sponsored measures that expanded the role
of the national government, he supported the
Keating-Owen Act (1916) which was the first
federal law regulating child labor, it prohibited
the shipment of goods produced by underage
children across state lines, the Supreme Court
struck down the Keating-Owen Act in 1918
64The "Big Stick" America and the World, 1901-1917
- The President could act in foreign policy with
less regard for Congress and the Supreme Court
overseas the president could exercise power
unfettered and alone
65The "Big Stick" America and the World, 1901-1917
- Roosevelt pursued an activist foreign policy,
believed in the value of using American power in
the world "speak softly but carry a big stick", - He believed in an important distinction between
the "civilized" and "uncivilized" nations of the
world
66The "Big Stick" America and the World, 1901-1917
- Civilized nations were predominantly white,
Anglo-Saxon, producers of industrial goods, had a
right and duty to intervene in the affairs of the
backward nation to preserve order and stability. - Uncivilized nations were non-white, Latin or
Slavic, suppliers of raw materials and markets,
not yet industrialized
67The "Big Stick" America and the World, 1901-1917
- By 1906, the American navy was surpassed only by
that of Britain, although Germany was rapidly
gaining ground
68The "Big Stick" America and the World, 1901-1917
- Japan staged a surprise attack on the Russian
fleet at Port Arthur in southern Manchuria
(China), Roosevelt agreed to mediate an end to
the conflict, at the peace conference in
Portsmouth, New Hampshire Roosevelt extracted
from the Russians a recognition of Japan's
territorial gains, and from Japan an agreement to
cease fighting and expansion
69The "Big Stick" America and the World, 1901-1917
- He also negotiated a secret agreement with the
Japanese to ensure that the US could continue to
trade freely in the region, Roosevelt won the
Nobel Peace Prize in 1906 for his work in ending
the Russo-Japanese War
70The "Big Stick" America and the World, 1901-1917
- Japan destroyed the Russian fleet at Port Arthur
and began to emerge as the preeminent naval power
in the Pacific, the Japanese began to exclude
American trade from many of the territories that
it controlled.
71The "Big Stick" America and the World, 1901-1917
- Roosevelt sent the Great White Fleet (sixteen
American battleships) on a trip around the world
to remind Japan of the potential might of the US
Naval forces
72The "Big Stick" America and the World, 1901-1917
- In 1902, the naval forces of Britain, Italy and
Germany blockaded Venezuela's coast in response
to Venezuela's reneging on debts owed to European
countries, German ships began to bombard a
Venezuelan port amid rumors that Germany planned
to establish a permanent base in the region,
Roosevelt used the threat of American naval power
to pressure German navy to withdraw
73The "Big Stick" America and the World, 1901-1917
- Roosevelt Corollary (1904) to the Monroe
doctrine, the US had the right not only to oppose
European intervention in the Western Hemisphere,
but to intervene itself in the domestic affairs
of its neighbors if they proved unable to
maintain order and national sovereignty on their
own
74The United States and Latin America, 1895-1941
75The "Big Stick" America and the World, 1901-1917
- In 1903 the Dominican Republic went bankrupt, it
owed 22 million to European nations, Roosevelt
gained control of Dominican customs and
distributed 45 of the revenues to Dominicans and
the rest to foreign creditors
76The "Big Stick" America and the World, 1901-1917
- The Platt Amendment gave the US the right to
prevent any foreign power from intruding into
Cuba, in 1906 American troops landed to keep the
peace and remained there for 3 years
77The "Big Stick" America and the World, 1901-1917
- The Panama Canal was the most celebrated
accomplishment of Roosevelt's presidency it
linked the Pacific and the Atlantic by creating a
channel through Central America
78The "Big Stick" America and the World, 1901-1917
- Roosevelt sent John Hay, his Secretary of State,
to negotiate an agreement with Colombian
diplomats, Tomas Herren signed an agreement
giving US perpetual rights to six-mile wide
"canal zone" across Colombia in return for 10
million and an annual rent of 250,000
79The "Big Stick" America and the World, 1901-1917
- The Colombian Senate was outraged and did not
ratify the Herren agreement, sent a new
representative to Washington demanding 20
million and share of the payment to the French
80The "Big Stick" America and the World, 1901-1917
- Phillippe Bunau-Varilla was the chief engineer of
the French canal project, he helped organize and
finance a revolution in Panama, Roosevelt landed
troops from the U.S.S Nashville to maintain
order and their presence prevented Colombian
forced from suppressing the rebellion.
81The "Big Stick" America and the World, 1901-1917
- The new Panamanian government was recognized by
Roosevelt 3 days later and quickly agreed to the
canal project, it opened in 1914
82The "Big Stick" America and the World, 1901-1917
- Dollar Diplomacy Taft's Secretary of State
Philander C. Knox worked aggressively to extend
American investments into less-developed regions,
Americans intervene in Nicaragua (1909) and then
made substantial loans to the new government thus
increasing the US financial leverage over the
country, two years later a revolution broke out
again and US troops remained in Nicaragua for
over a decade
83The "Big Stick" America and the World, 1901-1917
- 1916 Americans established a military government
in Dominican Republic after Dominicans refused to
accept a treaty that would have made the country
a virtual American protectorate Wilson bought the
Danish West Indies from the Dutch (fearful that
the Germans were about to acquire them) and
renamed them the Virgin Islands
84The "Big Stick" America and the World, 1901-1917
- Under Porfirio Diaz, the corrupt dictator of
Mexico, American businesses had been establishing
an enormous economic presence in Mexico, in 1910,
Diaz was overthrown by Francisco Madero who
promised democratic reform and seemed hostile to
American businesses in Mexico.
85The "Big Stick" America and the World, 1901-1917
- The US encouraged Victoriano Huerta to depose
Madero and the Taft administration was ready to
recognize the new Huerta regime and welcome back
a receptive environment for American investments
in Mexico.
86The "Big Stick" America and the World, 1901-1917
- The new government murdered Madero and Wilson
announced he would never recognize Huerta's
government of butchers, in 1913, Huerta, with the
help of American business interests, established
a full military dictatorship in Mexico
87The "Big Stick" America and the World, 1901-1917
- In April 1914, an officer in Huertas army
temporarily arrested several American sailors
from the U.S.S Dolphin who had gone ashore in
Tampico, the men were immediately released but
the American admiral was not satisfied with the
apology he received demanded that the Huerta
forces fire a 21 gun salute to the American flag
as display of public penance, the Mexicans refused
88The "Big Stick" America and the World, 1901-1917
- Wilson used the incident as a pretext for seizing
the Mexican port of Veracruz, in a clash with
Mexican forces Americans killed 126 of the
defenders and suffered 19 casualties of their own
89The "Big Stick" America and the World, 1901-1917
- The Carranza faction captured Mexico City, but
refused to accept American guidelines for the
creation of a new government, Wilson considered
throwing American support to Pancho Villa but his
military position deteriorated and Wilson
abandoned him.
90The "Big Stick" America and the World, 1901-1917
- Pancho Villa retaliated by taking 16 American
mining engineers off a train in northern Mexico
and shooting them, 3 months later Pancho Villa
led his soldiers across the border into Columbus,
New Mexico where he killed 17 more Americans
91The "Big Stick" America and the World, 1901-1917
- Wilson ordered General John J. Pershing to lead
an American expeditionary force across the
Mexican border in pursuit of Pancho Villa, they
never captured him but did get into conflicts
with the Mexican army in which 40 Mexicans were
killed and 12 Americans were killed.
92The "Big Stick" America and the World, 1901-1917
- The US and Mexico looked ready to go to war, but
Wilson withdraw quietly and granted formal
recognition to the Carranza regime.