Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad
1912 - 1916
AP U.S. History Ch. 29 – The American Pageant
Introduction

“American enterprise is not free; the man
with only a little capital is finding it
harder and harder to get into the
field, more and more impossible to
compete with the big fellow. Why?
Because the laws of this country do
not prevent the strong from crushing
the weak.”

Woodrow Wilson, The New Freedom, 1913

The split in the Republican party in 1912 gave
Democrats a chance to return to the White House for
the first time since 1896

The Democrats needed a reform minded leader in these
days of progressivism

A relative political novice, Dr. Woodrow Wilson,
appeared to fill the bill
Wilson was originally a mild conservative, but had
become a militant progressive. How and why did this
change occur?

1902 – President of Princeton University

1910 – Elected NJ Governor

1912 – Widely mentioned as a potential presidential
candidate
Now watch the video: Woodrow Wilson, Reluctant
Warrior
The “Bull Moose” Campaign of 1912

Democrats nominated Woodrow Wilson on the
46th ballot with the support of Bryan

Taft was nominated by the Republicans, as
stated in the previous presentation

TR ran on the third party Progressive
Republican ticket

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“We stand at Armageddon, and we battle for
the Lord”
Wide support from women and the social
justice movement
Campaign took on the air of a revival meeting
“I want to be a Bull Moose,
And with the Bull Moose stand
With Antlers on my forehead
And a Big Stick in my hand.”
The new party formed to support the TR presidential run in
1912 was nicknamed the “Bull Moose” Party because at the
convention TR proclaimed that he felt as strong as a bull
moose”.
TR and Taft Toss the Mud Around

TR and Taft slit each other’s political throats
by dividing the Republican vote, virtually
assuring a Democratic victory

The campaign was ugly with each candidate
slinging mud at the other

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Taft – “Roosevelt is a dangerous egotist” and a
“demagogue”.

TR – Taft is “a fathead with the brain of a
guinea pig”.
Putting aside the ad hominem arguments, the
overriding question of the 1912 campaign was
which of two varieties of progressivism would
prevail


TR’s “New Nationalism”, or
Wilson’s “New Freedom”
The Voters Get to Make a Real Choice

Both TR and Wilson favored a more active
government role in economic and social affairs, but
they disagreed sharply over specific strategies

TR’s “New Nationalism” advocated the theories
advanced by progressive thinker Herbert Croly in his
book The Promise of American Life (1910)
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Continued consolidation trusts and labor unions
Growth of powerful Washington regulatory
agencies
Woman suffrage
Broad social welfare programs

Minimum wage laws

Social insurance (branded “socialistic”
by many)
This program was a forerunner of the activist
welfare state programs of the FDR “New Deal”
Wilson’s “New Freedom” favored, by contrast

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Small enterprise and entrepreneurship (“the man
on the make”)
Unregulated and unmonopolized markets

Economic faith in competition

Fragmentation of the big industrial
combines by vigorous enforcement of
the antitrust laws
“Any man seeking a third term ought to be shot”

October 14, 1912 – While about to deliver a campaign
speech in Milwaukee, WI, TR is shot by a would-be
assassin

After having dinner at the Hotel Gilpatrick, TR headed
off to give his speech scheduled for that evening

Walking through the crowd, TR is shot in the chest pointblank by anarchist, John Schrank, who states that, “Any
man seeking a third term ought to be shot”.

TR barely reacted to the shooting, proceeding to his car,
and insisting that he wasn’t hurt

With blood seeping through his shirt, TR delivers his
speech

TR pulled the manuscript of the speech from his breast
pocket, and notices the bullet hole in the sheaf of papers

Literally, TR is spared by his speech
Woodrow Wilson: Minority President
The Presidential Vote, 1912
Candidate
Party
Wilson
Democrat
Roosevelt
Electoral
Vote
Popular
Vote
Approx. %
435
6,296,547
41%
Progressive
88
4,118,571
27%
Taft
Republican
8
3,486,720
23%
Debs
Socialist
---
900,672
6%
Chafin
Prohibition
---
206,275
1%
Reimer
SocialistLabor
---
28,750
0.2%
Minority President, con’t

With 41% of the vote, Wilson was clearly a minority president

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Democrats, though, won a majority of the seats in Congress
Wilson’s popular vote total was less than Bryan had won in any of this three presidential bids
Together, Taft and Roosevelt polled over 1.25 million votes more than Wilson
Progressivism, not Wilson, was the winner

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The combined progressive vote for Wilson and Roosevelt far exceeded the tally for the more
conservative Taft
The Progressive Party, though, had no future in the U.S.

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It elected few candidates to state and local offices
In contrast, the Socialists elected over 1,000 state and local officials
Is there another practical political reason for the demise of the Progressives?

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Without elected officials, there is no patronage to distribute.
Following his defeat, Taft taught law at Yale for eight years before becoming Chief Justice
of the Supreme Court in 1921 – the only ex-president to sit on the nation’s highest court.
Wilson: The Idealist in Politics

Son of a Presbyterian minister, Wilson was reared in
an atmosphere of fervent piety.
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A profound student of government

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Believed that the chief executive must provide
leadership, otherwise Congress could not function
properly
Wilson suffers from serious defects of personality

Woodrow Wilson, Class of 1879 and thirteenth president of
Princeton University, and Andrew Carnegie lead a graduation
procession, circa 1906.
“He was born halfway between the Bible and the
dictionary and never strayed far from either.”
Cold and standoffish in public
Lacked the common touch – loved humanity in the mass
rather than the individual in person
Intolerant of “stupid senators whose bungalow minds
make me sick”.
Wilson’s burning idealism was infused with a sense of
moral righteousness which made compromise difficult
for him
Wilson Tackles the Tariff

Wilson called for an all-out assault on “the triple wall
of privilege”:
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Wilson summoned Congress into special session in
early 1913, shattering precedent in the process by
delivering the address himself

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The tariff
The banks
The trusts
The House passed the Underwood Tariff Bill, which
provided for a substantial reduction in tariff rates
Lobbyists descended on the Senate to block the bill
Using the “bully pulpit” Wilson marshaled public opinion
in favor of the bill, securing passage in late 1913
The Underwood Tariff
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Substantially reduced import fees
Under authority of the sixteenth amendment, the first
graduated income tax is imposed on incomes over $3,000
By 1917 revenue from the income tax surpassed receipts
from the tariff for the first time
Wilson Battles the Bankers

In 1913 the banking and currency system was
still governed by the Civil War era National
Banking Act

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Reading the Currency Message to the Money
Trust: This cartoon appeared in a New York
newspaper soon after Woodrow Wilson called
for dramatic reform of the banking system
before both houses of Congress. With the
“money trust” of bankers and businessmen
cowed, Wilson was able to win popular and
congressional support for the Federal Reserve
Act of 1913.

This system was outgrown by the nation’s
economic expansion
The most serious deficiency was the inelasticity
of the currency, as exposed by the “Roosevelt
Recession” of 1907
Banking reserves were heavily concentrated in
New York and other large cities
Reserves could not be mobilized in times of
financial stress into areas that were badly
pinched
In 1908, Republican Senator Aldrich and his
Special Committee on Banking, recommended
the creation of a Third Bank of the United
States – a huge private bank with fifteen
branches.
The Federal Reserve Act of 1913

Democratic banking reformers chose to follow the
recommendations of the House Special Committee on
Banking Reform chaired by Congressman Arsene Pujo

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The House committee was advised by progressive
attorney, Louis D. Brandeis
Brandeis’ ideas were chronicled in his book Other
People’s Money and How the Bankers Use It (1914)
June 1913, Wilson returns to Capitol Hill to address a
joint session for the second time
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He proposes a decentralized bank in government hands
Again, using the “bully pulpit” he mobilizes public
opinion in support of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913,
which creates
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A Federal Reserve Board appointed by the
President
A system of twelve regional reserve
districts, each with its own central bank
The central banks are owned by the member
banks (making them bankers’ banks), but
under final authority of the Federal Reserve
Board
The Board is authorized to issue “Federal
Reserve Notes’ – paper money
The Federal Reserve Act is one of the most notable
achievements of the Wilson administration
The President Tames the Trusts

Early 1914, Wilson appears before Congress for a third time - now to attack the
trusts

Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914

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Established a presidentially appointed commission to investigate
industries engaged in interstate commerce
Crush monopoly by attacking unfair trade practices such as

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Unlawful competition
False advertising
Mislabeling
Adulteration
Bribery
Clayton Anti-Trust Act of 1914

Added practices to the list of those deemed objectionable in the
Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890, including
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Price discrimination
Interlocking directorates
Benefited organized labor by
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Exempting labor and agricultural organizations from antitrust
prosecution
Explicitly legalized strikes and peaceful picketing
Samuel Gompers described the Clayton Act as “the Magna
Carta of labor”
Wilsonian Progressivism at High Tide

In the first eighteen months of his presidency, Wilson
delivered on his campaign promises – he continued to
deliver during his first term:

Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916 – made credit
available to farmers at low rates

Warehouse Act of 1916 – authorized loans on the
security of staple crops

Other laws provided for highway construction and
established agricultural extension services in state
colleges

LaFollette Seamen’s Act of 1915 – required decent
living conditions and a living wage on American
merchant ships

Unintentionally crippled the American
merchant marine due to spiraling freight
rates

Workingmen’s Compensation Act of 1916 –
provided assistance to federal civil-service
employees during times of disability

Restrictions on child labor on products flowing into
interstate commerce – found unconstitutional by the
Supreme Court
Wilsonian Progressivism, con’t

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Louis D. Brandeis is nominated for the Supreme Court
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Adamson Act of 1916 – established an eight hour
work day for all employees on trains in interstate
commerce, with extra pay for overtime
Noted progressive scholar and attorney
Do you remember the name of the influential book
that he wrote in 1914?

Other People’s Money and How the
Bankers Use It
First Jew to serve on the Supreme Court
Wilson’s progressivism stopped short of providing for
better treatment of blacks

In fact, accelerated segregation occurred in the
federal bureaucracy during Wilson’s presidency

To appease businesspeople who opposed the
progressive changes in federal policy, Wilson
appointed conservatives to the Federal Reserve Board
and the Federal Trade Commission

Nonetheless, Wilson knew that to be reelected in 1916
he would have to court the progressive Bull Moose
voters who supported TR in 1912
New Directions in Foreign Policy

In contrast to TR and Taft, Wilson opposed an aggressive foreign policy

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He was repelled by “Big Stickism”
He distrusted “Dollar Diplomacy”

In reaction to Wilson’s rejection of “Dollar Diplomacy” American bankers pulled out of the Taft engineered six-nation
loan to China

As an anti-imperialist in the Bryan tradition, Wilson convinced Congress to:
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Repeal the Panama Canal Toll Act of 1912, which exempted American coastwise shipping from tolls
Pass the Jones Act of 1916 – which granted the Philippines territorial status, and promised independence as soon as
a “stable government” could be established (July 4, 1946)
Confirm William Jennings Bryan as Secretary of State
Relations with Japan deteriorated in 1913 when the California legislature prohibited Japanese settlers from owning land
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Tokyo lodged vehement protests, and threatened war
The U.S. military was put on high alert at Fortress Corregidor in the Philippines
Bryan convinced the California lawmakers to soften their position, and violence was avoided
Wilson Changes His Foreign Policy Tune
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Haiti 1915 – Civil disorders force Wilson to reconsider his antiimperialist policies in the Caribbean.

July 27, 1915 – General Vilbrun Guillaume Sam,
unpopular President of Haiti, executes 167 of his political
opponents

Popular outrage led to uncontrolled mob violence in Portau-Prince, resulting in the capture of Guillaume Sam in
the French embassy and he being torn to pieces by the
mob

The parading through the streets of the dismembered
corpse of Guillaume Sam convinces Wilson to dispatch
the marines to protect American lives and property
November 1915 – Wilson concludes a treaty with the Haitian
government providing for U.S. supervision of finances and the
police, a condition that lasts until 1934

Do the provisions of this treaty remind you of past events
in the Caribbean?
U.S. Marines in Haiti, 1915
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TR’s intervention in the Dominican Republic in
1905
The Roosevelt Corollary of the Monroe
Doctrine

1916 – Wilson orders the marines into the Dominican Republic to
quell riots there, and the marines remain there for eight years

1917 – Wilson purchases the Virgin Islands from Denmark,
securing U.S. dominance in the Caribbean, and recognizing it as a
vital approach to the Panama Canal
Moralistic Diplomacy in Mexico

For decades American investors had exploited
Mexican resources, so that by 1913 American
capitalists had approximately $ 1 Billion
invested in Mexico

The Mexican poor revolted and installed a
popular new revolutionary president, Francisco
Madero

Madero was president for less than two years
when a group of Northern Mexicans led by
Victoriano Huerta deposed him

With Mexico in rebellion, a huge influx of
Mexican refugees poured into the Southwest
U.S. (TX, AZ, NM, CA)

Cries for intervention came from U.S. jingoes,
led by William Randolph Hearst, who owned a
Mexican ranch larger than the state of R.I.
Francisco Madero
Victoriano Huerta
Wilson Stands Firm – For a Short Time

Wilson stood firm against the demands of the jingoes –
“It is perilous to determine foreign policy in the terms
of material interest”.
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Pancho Villa

Yet, Wilson refused to have the U.S. recognize the
Huerta government
“I am going to teach the South American republics to
elect good men”.
1914 – Wilson allowed American arms to flow to
Huerta’s principal rivals – Venustiano Carranza and
Pancho Villa
April 1914 – The Mexicans arrest a small party of
American sailors in Tampico
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The Mexican officials promptly released the sailors and
apologized
Using this illegal arrest as a pretext, Wilson asks
Congress for permission to use force against Mexico
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Venustiano Carranza
Wilson is stubbornly determined to eliminate Huerta
Before Congress could act, Wilson orders the navy to
seize the Mexican port of Vera Cruz
Huerta, and Carranza, protest this move by Wilson
Intervention in Mexico

The U.S. and Mexico were on the verge of a shooting
war when the ABC Powers – Argentina, Brazil, and
Chile – volunteered to act as mediators
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To challenge Carranza’s authority, to punish the
“gringos” for meddling in Mexican affairs, and to
provoke a war between Carranza and Wilson, Villa
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Huerta’s support collapsed in July 1914
Carranza becomes Mexico’s President, but he is still
resentful of Wilson’s military action in Vera Cruz
Pancho Villa, formerly an ally of Carranza against
Huerta, now emerges as Carranza’s rival
Murders sixteen American workers in January 1916
Crosses the border into Columbus, NM and kills nineteen
Americans in February 1916
To retaliate for the killing of Americans, Wilson sends
“Black Jack” Pershing and his troops to pursue Villa
into Mexico
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They fight the Villistas and maul them – but fail to
capture Villa
They also clash with Carranza’s forces
January 1917 – Wilson withdraws Pershing as threats
from Germany take precedence
General John J. (“Black Jack”) Pershing
Thunder Across the Sea
Archduke Franz Ferdinand,
Heir to the throne of
Austria-Hungary

June 28, 1914 – Archduke Franz Ferdinand is
assassinated by Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo,
Bosnia-Herzegovina. For details of this
fascinating event, go to the Assassination at
Sarajevo site.

As a consequence of a tangled web of
defensive alliance treaties, Europe goes to war:

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The Central Powers: Germany, Austria –
Hungary, Turkey, and Bulgaria

The Allied Powers: France, Britain, Russia,
Japan, and Italy
America, being an ocean away from the
conflict, felt strong, snug, smug, and secure –
but not for long.
A Precarious Neutrality

At the outbreak of World War I, Wilson urged Americans to “be neutral in thought as well
as deed”.

Both sides wooed the United States:

Allies advantages
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German and Austro-Hungarian advantages
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Close cultural, linguistic, and economic ties
The British controlled most of the transatlantic cables, enabling them to censor out stories harmful to the
Allies, and allowing stories of German atrocities
Anti-German feelings prevailed in the U.S. because of the perceived autocratic arrogance of Kaiser Wilhelm
II
German spies in the U.S. were caught with plans to sabotage U.S. factories
11 million German and Austro-Hungarian immigrants lived in the U.S. in 1914
The great majority of Americans hoped to stay out of the war in 1914
Principal Foreign Elements in the United States (census of 1910;
total U.S. population: 91,972,266
Country of Origin
Foreign-Born
Natives with Two
Foreign Born Parents
Natives with One
Foreign Born Parent
Total
Germany
2,501,181
3,911,847
1,896,590
8,282,618
Austria-Hungary
1,670,524
900,129
131,133
2,701,786
Great Britain
1,219,968
852,610
1,158,474
3,231,052
(Ireland)*
1,352,155
2,141,577
1,010,628
4,504,360
Russia
1,732,421
949,316
70,938
2,752,675
Italy
1,343,070
695,187
60,103
2,098,360
Total (for all foreign
countries, including
those not listed
13,345,545
12,916,311
5,981,526
32,243,282
Percentage of total
U.S. population
14.5
14.0
6.5
35.0
* Ireland was not yet independent
America Earns Blood Money

The U.S. was bogged down in a business recession in 1914 at the time war started in Europe
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The Central Powers protested about the increased trade between the U.S. and the Allies

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British and French war orders pulled the U.S. out of the poor economic cycle in a wartime boom
Part of the boom was financed by American Bankers – most notably J.P. Morgan and Company,
which eventually advanced $2.3 billion during the period of American neutrality
The U.S. responded that Germany was free to trade with the U.S.
No U.S. policy prevented, or even hinted at diminishing trade with any of the Central Powers
In fact, it was the British navy that hindered trade with Germany

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The British blockaded the North Sea, gateway to Germany, with warships and mines
The British forced American vessels destined to Germany into their ports
U.S. Exports to Belligerents, 1914 - 1916
Belligerent
1914
1915
1916
1916 Figure as a
Percentage of 1914
Figure
Britain
$594,271,863
$911,794,954
$1,526,685,102
257%
France
159,818,924
369,397,170
628,851,988
393%
Italy*
74,235,012
184,819,688
269,246,105
363%
Germany
344,794,276
28,863,354
288,899
0.08%
* Italy joined the Allies in April 1915
The Fatherland, the chief German-American
propaganda newspaper
in the United States cried,
“We [Americans] prattle about humanity
while we manufacture poisoned shrapnel
and picric acid for profit. Ten thousand
German widows, ten thousand orphans,
ten thousand graves bear the legend
‘Made in America’.”
Germany Retaliates


February 1915 – Germany retaliates for the British blockade by
announcing a submarine war against the British Isles

Berlin declared that they would try not to sink neutral ships – but they
warned that mistakes were inevitable

Wilson warned Germany that they would be held to “strict
accountability” for any attacks on American vessels or citizens

In the first months of 1915, German U-boats (Unterseeboot, or
“undersea boat”), sank 90 ships in the war zone
May 7, 1915 – the British passenger liner Lusitania is sunk off the coast
of Ireland

1,198 dead, including 128 Americans

4,200 cases of small arms are on the ship’s manifest

Americans accuse the Germans of “mass murder” and “piracy”

The Eastern U.S. urges Wilson to fight, but the rest of the country does
not want to go to war

Wilson, the student of history, remembers the mistake made in 1812 by
fellow Princetonian, James Madison, who led a disunited country into
war.

Secretary of State Bryan resigns when Wilson sends a series of strongly
worded notes of protest to Germany

Wilson declares, “There is such a thing as a man too proud to fight”.
Wilson’s Attempts at Diplomacy


August 1915 – The Germans sink the British
liner, the Arabic, resulting in the deaths of two
Americans

Wilson protests vehemently, resulting in the
Germans agreeing not to sink unarmed and
unresisting passenger ships without warning

The Germans appeared to violate the so-called
Arabic agreement when in March 1916 the
French passenger steamer, the Sussex is sent to
the bottom
Wilson threatens to break diplomatic relations
with Germany – a sure sign that war is
imminent – the Sussex ultimatum

Germany responds with the Sussex Pledge –
they will not sink passenger ships without
warning if the U.S. persuades the Allies to
modify the blockade
The 1916 Presidential Campaign


Both the Bull Moose Progressives and the Republicans had their nominating conventions in
Chicago

The Progressives renominated TR - he refused to run because he did not want to split the
Republicans again.

The Republicans also attempted to draft Teddy, but the conservative wing of the party did not
forgive him for 1912, resulting in the nomination of Charles Evans Hughes, Supreme Court Justice
and former liberal governor of NY.

The Republican Platform attacked the Democrats’ tariff reform, assault on trusts, and Wilson’s wishywashiness in dealing with Mexico and Germany

In anti-German areas of the country Hughes chastised Wilson for not standing up to the Kaiser, while taking
a softer line in pro-German areas – earning him the nickname “Charles Evasive Hughes”
TR attacked both Wilson and Hughes, referring to Wilson as “that damned Presbyterian
hypocrite, and Hughes as the “whiskered Wilson – the only difference between the two is a
shave”
Wilson Wins Reelection in 1916

Wilson is nominated by acclamation at the Democrats’
convention in St. Louis

The campaign slogan – “He Kept Us Out of War”

Wilson appealed to the American working people:
You are working;
Not Fighting!
Alive and Happy;
Not Cannon Fodder!
Wilson and Peace with Honor?
Or
Hughes with Roosevelt and War?

Hughes swept the East, but midwestern and western
voters voted for Wilson

California decided the election – Wilson carried the
state by 3,800 votes out of about 1 million cast

Electoral College: Wilson 277 – Hughes 254

Popular Vote: Wilson 9,127,695 – Hughes 8,533,507
Chronology
1912 – Wilson defeats Taft and Roosevelt for
presidency
1915 – U.S. Marines sent to Haiti
1916 – Sussex ultimatum and pledge
1913 – Underwood Tariff Act
Sixteenth Amendment (Income Tax) passed
Federal Reserve Act
Huerta takes power in Mexico
Seventeenth Amendment (direct election of senators)
passed
1914 – Clayton Anti-Trust Act
Federal Trade Commission established
U.S. occupation of Vera Cruz, Mexico
World War I begins in Europe
1915 – LaFollette Seamen’s Act
Lusitania torpedoed and sunk by German U-boat
Workingmen’s Compensation Act
Federal Farm Loan Act
Warehouse Act
Adamson Act
Pancho Villa raids New Mexico
Brandeis appointed to Supreme Court
Jones Act
U.S. Marines sent to Dominican Republic
Wilson defeats Hughes for presidency
1917 – United States buys Virgin Islands from
Denmark