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The Taft Presidency

The Taft Presidency. Do Now - Primary Source Analysis: Campaigning Against Child Labor p.534. Divide into groups of 4. Taft’s Problems. What was the Payne Aldrich Tariff? Explain the Ballinger-Pinchot controversy. How did Taft react to the problem of child labor? Who pushed the issue?

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The Taft Presidency

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  1. The Taft Presidency Do Now - Primary Source Analysis: Campaigning Against Child Labor p.534 Divide into groups of 4

  2. Taft’s Problems • What was the Payne Aldrich Tariff? • Explain the Ballinger-Pinchot controversy. • How did Taft react to the problem of child labor? Who pushed the issue? • Was Taft a “real” trustbuster?

  3. Payne-Aldrich Tariff • It was the first change in tariff laws since the Dingley Act of 1897 • The Republican platform of 1908 pledged revision of the tariff downward. • The House promptly passed a tariff bill, sponsored by Payne, which called for some reduced rates. • The Senate substituted a bill, by Aldrich, which made fewer downward revisions and increased numerous rates. • After a sustained attack on the Aldrich Bill by a group of insurgent Republicans in the Senate, a compromise bill was adopted, which somewhat moderated the high rates of the Aldrich bill

  4. Payne-Aldrich Tariff • the measure was immediately signed by Taft. • It lowered 650 tariff schedules, raised 220, and left 1,150 unchanged. • The Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act was less aggressively protectionist than the McKinley Tariff Act (1890) • The struggle over Payne-Aldrich clearly identified the growing division within the Republican Party. • The progressive or insurgent element was growing away from the G.O.P. Old Guard.

  5. Ballinger-Pinchot Controversy • Ballinger was convinced that Theodore Roosevelt had improperly used his power to move large tracts of public lands into reserve status • Ballinger began the process of opening some tracts to commercial users. • Gifford Pinchot charged that Ballinger had acted improperly by opening Alaskan coal fields to private mining interests.

  6. Ballinger-Pinchot Controversy • Both Congress and the president conducted investigations and concluded that Ballinger had acted properly in the Alaskan coal matter. • Pinchot was dismissed for insubordination, having criticized Ballinger openly and Taft indirectly. • The Ballinger-Pinchot revealed deep fault lines in the Republican Party and finally ended the strained friendship between Taft and Roosevelt

  7. Joseph Cannon • Cannon served as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1903 to 1911, and historians generally consider him to be the most dominant Speaker in United States history. • Progressive Republicans became angry with Taft when he failed to support their effort to reduce the dictatorial powers of Cannon. • Midterm elections of 1910 revealed a split in the Republican party Progressives (insurgents) vs. Conservatives (Old Guard)

  8. New Nationalism • American political policy espoused by Theodore Roosevelt. • Influenced by Herbert Croly's The Promise of American Life (1910) • Roosevelt used the phrase in a speech in which he tried to reconcile the liberal and conservative wings of the Republican Party. • New Nationalism called for federal intervention to promote social justice and the economic welfare of the underprivileged.

  9. Dollar Diplomacy • During the period from 1909 to 1913, President William Howard Taft and Secretary of State Philander C. Knox followed a foreign policy known as “dollar diplomacy.” • Taft shared the view held by Knox that the goal of diplomacy was to create stability and order abroad in order to promote American commercial interests. • Knox not only used diplomacy to improve financial opportunities, but believed in investing private capital to further U.S. interests overseas.

  10. Dollar Diplomacy • Dollar diplomacy was evident in extensive U.S. interventions in the Caribbean and Central America, especially in measures undertaken to safeguard American financial interests in the region. • In spite of successes, dollar diplomacy failed to counteract economic instability and the tide of revolution in countries like Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and China.

  11. This cartoon remarks on the foreign policy of President William Howard Taft. The cartoon is a play on the saying "the pen is mightier than the sword," championing Taft's peaceful "Dollar Diplomacy" foreign policy over former President Theodore Roosevelt's more forceful "Big Stick" diplomacy.

  12. Taft’s Success • Prosecuted twice as many antitrust suits as Roosevelt • Established the Tariff Board to investigate tariff rates • Supported the 16th Amendment (income tax) • Supported the 17th Amendment (direct election of senators) • New Mexico and Arizona became states

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