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Chapter 18 The Progressive Movement. Section 3 The Taft Administration. Taft Becomes President. Endorsed by Roosevelt, William Howard Taft easily defeated William Jennings Bryan in 1908. Taft had a slow approach to problem solving that led to conflicts with progressives.
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Chapter 18The Progressive Movement Section 3 The Taft Administration
Taft Becomes President • Endorsed by Roosevelt, William Howard Taft easily defeated William Jennings Bryan in 1908. • Taft had a slow approach to problem solving that led to conflicts with progressives.
The Payne-Aldrich Act • Taft felt high tariffs limited competition, hurt consumers, and protected trusts. • Called Congress into session to lower tariff rates.
Speaker of the House Cannon had the power to push bills through w/o discussion. Taft stopped a Republican campaign against Cannon, and in return he pushed through the tariff bill. Angered many progressives! Joseph G. Cannon
Payne-Aldrich Tariff • Raised some tariffs instead of lowering them. • Further alienated progressives. • Pinchot felt betrayed and angry with Taft.
The Ballinger-Pinchot Controversy • Taft then hired Richard Ballinger as secretary of the interior. • Pinchot charged that Ballinger had tried to turn over valuable public lands in Alaska to a private syndicate, or business group, for his own profit. • Charges were groundless, but Pinchot leaked the story to the press. • Taft fired Pinchot for insubordination, or disobedience.
Taft’s Legacy • Progressives thought Taft, “sold the Square Deal down the river”. • 1910 – Democrats took the majority in the House & Progressive Republicans gained control of the Senate from the conservatives.
Taft’s Progressive Reforms • Taft brought twice as many antitrust cases as Roosevelt and established the Children’s Bureau to fight child labor. • He was a conservationist who monitered the activities of the mining companies, expanded national forests, and protected waterpower sites from private development.
Taft’s Progressive Reforms • Roosevelt refused to criticize Taft’s actions until Taft brought an antitrust lawsuit against U.S. Steel – a trust Roosevelt established. • Progressives convinced Roosevelt to reenter politics and run for president in 1912.
End of Section 3 Next: Section 4 The Wilson Years