The Battle for National Reform

1
The Battle for National Reform

• Chapter 22

2
Theodore Roosevelt and the Modern Presidency

• The loveable president
• Changed the powers, role and perception of the
  president
• The Accidental President
• that damned cowboy! Mark Hanna

3
Theodore Roosevelt

• Never rebelled against leaders of his party
• TR philosophy on reform / govt

4
Government, Capital and Labor

• TR allied himself with progressives who urged
  regulation, but not destruction, of the trusts
• wanted to investigate the activities of
  corporations and publish them

5
TR Trust Buster?

• 1902 ordered the Justice Department to invoke the
  Sherman Antitrust Act against Northern Securities
  Company (J.P Morgan)
• 40 anti-trust suits filed during the TR
  presidency

J.P Morgan
6
TR Friend of Labor?

• 1902 United Mine Workers Strike
• TR viewed himself as a champion of management and
  labor

7
The Square Deal

• Through skillful politicking, Roosevelt wins
  re-election in 1904
• Hepburn Railroad Regulation Act of 1906 sought to
  restore regulatory authority to government
  (empower the I.C.C.)

8
Square Deal Acts

• Pure Food and Drug Act
• Meat Inspection Act (Upton Sinclair, The Jungle)

9
The Square Deal Continued

• eight-hour day for workers
• broader compensation for victims of industrial
  accidents

10
Conservation

• TR life time sportsman and naturalist, was the
  first president to take an active interest in the
  new and struggling American conservation movement
• Spent four days hiking in the Sierras with John
  Muir, founder of the Sierra Club
• Gifford Pinchot was TR chief forester 1907
  worked furiously to seize all the forests and
  many of the water power sites till in the public
  domain before a Conservative Congress restricted
  presidents authority.

11
Gifford Pinchot

• Gifford Pinchot was TR chief forester 1907
  worked furiously to seize all the forests and
  many of the water power sites till in the public
  domain before a Conservative Congress restricted
  presidents authority.

12
Conservation Continued

• TRs administration established governments
  role as manager of the continuing development
  of the wilderness
• Pleasing the opposition Newlands Act provided
  federal funds for the construction of dams,
  reservoirs, and canals in the West

13
The Panic of 1907

• despite reforms govt had little control over the
  economy
• Same three mistakes as 1893
• Roosevelt falsely blamed for mad economic
  policies

14
The Panic of 1907 Continued

• Roosevelt and Morgan make a deal Morgan props
  up shaky financial institutions in return for
  protection from anti-trust action
• TR does not run again in 1908

15
The Troubled Succession

• Hand-picked by Roosevelt to succeed him
• Attention to law and detail instead of aggressive
  like Roosevelt
• Came to office as the darling of both
  progressives and conservatives soon found he
  could not please both

16
Taft and the Progressives

• Payne-Aldrich Tariff

17
The Pinchot-Ballinger Controversy

• Taft replaces Roosevelts secretary of the
  interior who was a conversationalist with a
  conservative corporate lawyer, Richard Ballinger
• Ballinger removes 1 million acres of public
  forests and mineral reserves to private
  enterprises
• Glavis fired by Taft
• Pinchot, not happy takes the case to the Press
  and asks Congress to investigate the issue
• Symbolic

18
The Return of Roosevelt

• Gone for two years on an African Safari
• Return to America, a major public event turned
  down an invitation to the White House to meet
  with Pinchot
• Announced a public speaking tour

19
New Nationalism

• made clear he had moved a considerable way from
  the cautious conservatism of the first years of
  his presidency
• social justice only possible through a strong
  federal government
• inheritance taxes

20
Spreading Insurgency

• 1910 Congressional Elections
• Roosevelt says he does not want to run for
  President, but rather urge Taft to return to
  progressivism two things changed his mind

Fighting Bob
21
The Republican Schism

• Roosevelt wins almost every primary election at
  the individual state level
• Republican Party leaders override the primary and
  refuse to admit Roosevelts delegates

22
Woodrow Wilson and The New Freedom

• The Rise of Wilson
• Born and raised in the South
• Author of books on the American political system

Woodrow Wilson
23
Election of 1912

• traditional Republicans split
• Roosevelt Impaired
• Wilsons New Freedom vs. Roosevelts New
  Nationalism

24
The Scholar as President

• Wilson more bold and forceful that both Roosevelt
  and Taft
• Democrat majorities in both houses helped his
  platform

25
The Scholar as President Continued

• Tariffs
• substantial lowering of the protective tariff
• Underwood-Simmons Tariff
• graduated income tax

26
The Scholar as President Continued Again

• Banking Reform
• Federal Reserve Act most important piece of
  domestic legislation during Wilsons
  administration

27
Problem of the Trusts

• During 1912 Campaign, Wilson promised to attack
  economic concentration (aka monopolistic trusts)
  but his philosophy began to change into one of
  regulation, like Roosevelt

28
Federal Trade Commission Act

• created a regulatory agency that would help
  businesses determine in advance whether their
  actions would be acceptable to the government
• would have authority to launch prosecutions
  against unfair trade practices
• increased governments regulatory authority
  significantly

29
Clayton Antitrust Act

• originally reflected the ideals of 1912 campaign
• Wilson did not back it strongly, weakened in
  Congress
• Promises of 1912 election never materialized

Wilsons conclusion supervision over
dismemberment
30
Retreat and Advance

• Fall of 1914 Wilson decides Reform Movement is
  complete and that agitation for reform would end
• Congressional elections of 1914 shattered
  Presidents complacency Democrats ousted by
  re-united Republicans
• With 1916 on his mind, Wilson began to push for
  a second flurry of reforms

31
The Big Stick America and The World,1901
1917 (Pre-WWI PPT)

• Little public involvement in countrys
  international affairs prior to World War I

32
Roosevelt and Civilization

• TR believed in the value and importance of using
  American power in the world (Proverb Speak
  softly, but carry a big stick)
• Clear distinction between civilized and
  uncivilized nations
• Economic development also important American
  interests
• Roosevelt believed in order to preserve order and
  stability, build a strong navy

33
Protecting the Open Door in Asia

• TR was concerned with military tensions between
  Japan, Russia, Germany, France and Asia
• Mediated conflict between Russia and Japan in
  1905
• Russian Fleet destroyed by Japan Japan begins
  to exert authority in Pacific
• Domestic issues
• The Great White Fleet on world tour

34
The Iron-Fisted Neighbor

• Principal Sphere of interest Latin America
• 1902 Venezuela European powers converge off
  Venezuelan coast, TR uses threat of US naval
  power to force Germany to withdrawal
• Roosevelt Corollary TR states that US has the
  right to intervene in domestic affairs of its
  neighbor if they proved unable to maintain order
  on their own

35
The Panama Canal

• Roosevelt determined to achieve dream of
  connecting Atlantic to Pacific
• 1901 Hay-Pauncefote Treaty eliminated Britain
  from the deal
• Trouble with closing deal with Columbia

36
The Panama Canal Continued

• US and French organize and support revolution in
  Panama
• Independent Nation of Panama officially
  recognized by the US
• 1914 Panama Canal opens TR exclaims I took the
  Canal Zone and let Congress debate!

37
Taft and Dollar Diplomacy

• Taft also worked to expand the nations economic
  interest overseas, but little interest in world
  stability
• P.C. Knox worked to expand US investments into
  less developed regions
• Failure and greed of Taft-Knox diplomacy Asia
• Failure and greed of Taft-Knox diplomacy
  Caribbean

38
Diplomacy and Morality

• Dominican Republic
• Mexico
• Porfirio Diaz, corrupt leader in Mexico, but
  friendly to American Businessmen
• Victoriano Huerta seizes leadership, Wilson calls
  him a government of butchers