The Progressive Presidents

1. The Progressive Presidents US History: Spiconardi

2. Theodore Roosevelt • Despite being a conservative, Teddy used the power of the presidency to deal directly with social and economic problems • Presidency had any power not specifically denied in the Constitution

3. Theodore Roosevelt: The Square Deal • Consumer Protection • Upon reading Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, TR orders investigations • TR supports legislation to ensure purity of food & drugs • Pure Food and Drug Act (1906) • Meat Inspection Act (1906)

4. Theodore Roosevelt: The Square Deal • Regulating Business • The “Trustbuster” • TR was not against trusts; he believed there were good ones and bad ones • Uses Justice Department to prosecute • Railroad, meatpacking, and oil trusts • Encouraged companies that wanted to merge to work with the government

7. Theodore Roosevelt: The Square Deal • Labor Conditions • Investigated coal mines in Pennsylvania when company refused to go to arbitration with striking workers • Threatened to re-open mines using federal troops • This forced management to go to arbitration • TR wants a square deal  fair for everyone: management, labor, consumers

8. Theodore Roosevelt: The Square Deal • Conservation • “We are prone to think of the resources of this country as inexhaustible; this is not so.” • Protected nations environment and wilderness • Purchased parkland, forests, monuments and wildlife refuges • Triples the amount of public land

10. William Howard Taft • Hand picked successor of TR (Teddy kept GW’s precedent of two-terms)

11. William Howard Taft: Reforms • Reforms • Contrary to popular belief, busts more trusts than TR • Supported eight-hour workday and mine safety legislation • Sixteenth Amendment federal income tax • Seventeenth Amendment direct election of senators

12. William Howard Taft: Reforms

13. William Howard Taft: Problems • Problems • Not a great politician like TR • Wanted to lower tariffs, while Congress raised them • Progressives felt he backed down on this by not vetoing a tariff raising bill • Republican Party spilt over protecting American business, while combating trusts

14. Election of 1912 • Election of 1912 • TR upset that Taft allows business men to buy public land in Alaska • Decides to run against Taft as a member of “Bull Moose Party”

15. Election of 1912 • Best showing of a third party candidate

16. Woodrow Wilson • Republicans split vote and democrat Woodrow Wilson wins presidency

17. Woodrow Wilson: New Freedom • New Freedom • Concentrated economic power threatened individual liberty • Monopolies had to be broken up so the marketplace could truly be open • “Without …interference of the government…there can be no fair play between individuals and such powerful institutions as the trust.”

18. Woodrow Wilson: Financial Reforms • Financial Reforms • Underwood Tariff Act • lowers tariffs for the first times since the Civil War • provides for graduated income tax/progressive tax • Creates Federal Trade Commission to investigate businesses • Federal Reserve System • National Banking System (12 banks) • Provided for fair interest rates • Money no longer would depend on gold supply

19. Woodrow Wilson

20. Bye-Bye Progressives • End of the Progressive Era • World War I causes US to focus on war effort and not social change