How did Theodore Roosevelt

modernize the presidency?

In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right
thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you
can do is nothing.

I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life; I
have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them
well.

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the
strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done
better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena,
whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives
valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because
there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the
great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a
worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high
achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while
daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and
timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

Theodore Roosevelt

exuberant, strong
personality and a
man of many interests

Saw the White

House as a
bully pulpit to
advocate policies

believed in an activist
presidency

Theodore Roosevelt

Saw the White

House as a
bully pulpit to
advocate policies

believed in an activist
presidency

The Square Deal (domestic policy): Ended laissez

faire approach and increased regulatory power of
federal govt to restore competition and fairness

The Trustbuster

Distinguish b/w good

and bad trusts

Used Sherman Anti-Trust

Act to successfully sue
Northern Securities

43 more trusts busted

during presidency

LABOR ARBITRATION

Consumer Protection

Consumer Protection
Legislations

Meat Inspection Act

Pure Food and Drug Act

Inspired by Upton Sinclair

s The Jungle
I aimed at the publics
heart, but instead hit its
stomach

4. CONSERVATIONISM

"Optimism is a good characteristic, but if carried to an excess,

it becomes foolishness. We are prone to speak of the resources
of this country as inexhaustible; this is not so."
- Seventh Annual Message to Congress, December 3, 1907

The 'greatest good for the greatest number' applies to the

number within the womb of time, compared to which those
now alive form but an insignificant fraction. Our duty to the
whole, including the unborn generations, bids us restrain an
unprincipled present-day minority from wasting the heritage
of these unborn generations. The movement for the
conservation of wild life and the larger movement for the
conservation of all our natural resources are essentially
democratic in spirit, purpose, and method."
- 1916

T.R. the CONSERVATIONIST

Roosevelt with John Muir in Yosemite National Park

The Conservationist
Gifford Pinchot appointed
as 1st head of US Forest
Service
TR with John Muir, the
environmentalist
founder of the Sierra
Club

Protected national park

lands (230 mil acres)
AND
Newlands Reclamation
Act, 1902 (federally funded
irrigation projects in 20
Western states)

Legacy of TR

Empowered the presidency bully pulpit at a

time when business and political machines
dominated

Initiated numerous reforms regulating business,

protecting consumers, and conserving resources

Lobbied for many more progressive reforms

William H. Taft (1909-1912)

Handpicked by
Roosevelt

Progressive
accomplishments:
1. 90+ trust-busts
2. 16th amendment fed income tax
3. contd conservation

How did the election of 1912 change

th
politics for the rest of the 20 century?

Presidential elections are among the devices

Americans use to prevent life from becoming
dull
- George Will

(political commentator)

The GOP After the Circus

Republican party split, 1912
1. Gifford Pinchot fired
2. Payne-Aldrich tariff
3. Taft stuck b/w 2 sides of
Republican party

The Republican Party must stand for

the rights of humanity, or else it must
stand for special privilege. - TR

Teddy Roosevelt William H. Taft

Progressive
Republican

Eugene V. Debs
Socialist

Woodrow Wilson
Democrat

1912 Presidential Candidates

Roosevelt vs. Wilson in 1912

NEW NATIONALISM (TR) - R

Womens suffrage.

Graduated income tax.

Inheritance tax for the rich.

NEW FREEDOM (WILSON) D

Government control of the

monopolies
trusts in general were bad
eliminate them!!

Lower tariffs.

Tariff reduction.

Limits on campaign spending.

One-term President.

Currency reform.

Direct election of Senators.

Minimum wage laws.

Create a Department of Labor.

Social insurance.

Abolition of child labor.

Strengthen the Sherman Anti-Trust

Act.

Workmens compensation.

Did NOT support womens suffrage.

Progressive Reform Under Wilson

A. Attacked the triple wall of privilege tariffs, banking, trusts
1. Tariff reduction Underwood Tariff 1913
Graduated income tax rate from 1-6 percent to compensate
2. Banking reform Proposed Federal Reserve Act to stabilize and
make more flexible the US financial system
Created The Fed the Federal Reserve
Hybrid public and private centralized bank
3. Clayton Antitrust Act strengthened Sherman and exempt
unions from being prosecuted as trusts

How did the 1912 election change

politics for the rest of the century?

Birth of modern American politics

Public welfare became a focus of gvt
Activist modern presidency is born

Women got involved in politics of the election (ie.

Jane Addams seconded the nomination of Roosevelt),
foreshadowing the 19th amendment