Reform Under Taft & Wilson
The Fattest President 6 Foot,
350 Pounds
Once got stuck in a Whitehouse
bathtub
1st President to own a car and
converted the Whitehouse stables
into a 4 car garage
Liked milk so much that he
brought a cow to the Whitehouse
Taft Takes Office
1908 Election
Republican- William Taft
Democrat- Williams Bryan
Roosevelt backed Taft because
he believed Taft had the same reform ideas
Because Roosevelt backed Taft, Taft wins
Pair Share—
Analyze this
political
cartoon.
• Pair Share—
Analyze this
political cartoon.
Taft Angers the Progressives
Despite major reforms Taft lost the support
Progressive Republicans
Tariff Bill, Conservation
Roosevelt, “I don’t think that under the Taft regime
there has been a real appreciation of the needs of the
country.”
Roosevelt and the elections of 1910
Republican party was split between
Roosevelt’s progressive republicans
and Taft’s conservative republicans
As a result of this division, the republicans
lost control of Congress to the Democrats
Roosevelt returns to politics
Disturbed by what Taft was doing to the
republican party, Roosevelt decided to
run again for presidency in 1912
Roosevelt ran under the Progressive Party
also called the Bull Moose Party
Roosevelt said he felt fit as a Bull Moose to
run again
• Teddy Roosevelt, who was president from 1901-1909, was
shot by John Schrank while campaigned as the candidate of
the new Progressive party on Oct. 14, 1912. His 50-page
speech and glasses case slowed the bullet enough so that it
entered his body, but did not penetrate the heart. Rather than
go to the hospital, Roosevelt went on with the show. "I don't
know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot;
but it takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose," Roosevelt
said. "The bullet is in me now, so that I cannot make a very
long speech, but I will try my best."
• He spoke for 90 minutes.
• Later, doctors decided it would be too dangerous to remove
the bullet -- so the former president carried it in his body for
the rest of his life. The bullet is the shadowy shape on the
lower left of this image.
1912 Election
Republicans- President Taft
Progressives (Former Rep.)- Roosevelt
Democrats- Woodrow Wilson
Wilson
Roosevelt
Taft
Results
435 electoral votes
88 electoral votes
8 electoral votes
42%
27%
23%
Do you think that The U.S. should have
a viable 3rd party? What are the
positives and negatives to a 2 party vs.
3 party system?
Taft becomes chief Justice of the Supreme Court- 1925
Woodrow
Wilson
Democrat
1913-1921
A Democratic Victory
Wilson’s campaign slogan , New Freedom,
promised to help out small businesses
“A return to an America where people
were free of big business and gov.”
Tariff reduction, banking reform, anti-trust
legislation
Clayton Antitrust Act, FTC,
Federal Reserve.
• Clayton Antitrust Act—Clarified and extended the
Sherman Antitrust Act.
• FTC—Federal Trade Commission—Enforced
antitrust laws.
Federal Reserve Act—Banking collapsed was
common so Wilson created a national banking
system that could borrow money to prevent collapse
during financial panic.
19th Amendment
Ratified in 1920
Gave women full voting rights
Wyoming Territory was the first to
give women the right to vote.
Why do you think it took woman so
long to get the right to vote? Explain
your answer.
End of Progressivism
World War I (1914) brought an end to
the progressive era
Reformers were more interested in
the war and less devoted to reform
movements