Presidential
Progressivism
The legacy of Theodore Roosevelt, 1858-1919
By Jeremy Lewis, PhD,
for Dean Fedler’s Colloquy,
Huntingdon College, 15 Feb. 2010
What shaped the young “Teedy”?


Childhood asthma, young man with heart
problems
Studied natural history at home


But unbalanced home curriculum
Civil war?

Father supported Lincoln



Mother Southern belle, GA plantation


Switched from Democrat to Republican
Young TR observed Lincoln’s funeral
2 of TR’s uncles in Confederate navy
Happy childhood in close family
Reasons to see TR as
hypermasculine model?


Harvard: rower, boxer, DKE, Porcellians, magazine
Adult sports, risk taking:




Dakota cowboy, rough rider, deputy sheriff, captured 3 thieves alone
Expeditions in Africa, Latin America










boxing, tennis, hiking, rowing, polo, horseback riding, singlestick and judo
Shot big game, including elephants
Explored Rio Roosevelt, almost at cost of life
“Bully!”
Left Columbia law school to run for NY assembly
Completed 90 minute speech after being shot in chest
Took up judo after he lost retina to boxing
Wrote 18 books, mostly on war and outdoorsman skills
Honored for support of Boy Scouts
Skinny dipped in Potomac, regularly
Argued frontier had created a new “race” of assimilated Americans
But praised ‘both masculine and feminine’ qualities in Thee


TR wrote many tender letters
TR read 4 books a day, in multiple languages
How was “Teddy”
shaped by loss?

Close to Thee, father, who consoled and
strengthened him


Alice, first wife, re-nicknamed him




Deeply bereaved
Alice died of kidney failure in childbirth
TR, grieving, never mentioned her again
Dropped from Episcopalian Sunday school for
rewarding a fighting boy
Lost herd in SD, came 3rd for Mayor of NYC

Remarried Ethel, summitted Mont Blanc, had 5 kids
How did “Teddy”
develop his early career?




1880 Graduated from Harvard U, PBK
1882 book, The Naval War of 1812
1882-4 NY Assemblyman, energetic reformer
1884 R national convention, Mugwumps v.
Stalwarts




TR neither for Blaine (R) nor Cleveland (D)
1884-87 deputy sheriff in Badlands, till lost stock
1887 Oyster Bay, NY, but ‘cowboy’ only 3rd for
Mayor
Climbed Mont Blanc, fellow of Royal Society
Roosevelt’s national career

1888-1895 Civil Service Commissioner,
vigorously pro-merit





1895-97 NY police commissioner (anti-corrupt’n)
1897-98 Asst Sec US Navy, but resigned for …
1898 Spanish war, Rough Riders cavalry
Kettle & San Juan Hill assault, despite malaria


Appointed by Harrison (R) and then Cleveland (D)
Medal of Honor disapproved (till 2001)
1899-1900 Gov. of NY, then campaigned VP
What provoked the progressive
movement?

Reaction to large organizations:



1883 Pendleton Act, merit-based service
Muck-raking journalism exposed:



monopolies, labor unions, boss-machine system
Child labor, meat packing, plundering public lands,
newly rich and powerful, corrupt police, brothels
Indignation of new, professional, middle class
1896, conflictual, sectional election:

McKinley N+E, Bryan S+W
(Burns, 1978, 198)
How did TR ascend to the
Presidency?


Boss Platt foisted TR on Mark Hanna, as VP
1900 landslide re-election of McKinley over
Bryan




Gold std & prosperity, victory v . Free silver
TR defended Philippine colony
March-Sep 1901, VPUS , for McKinley (R)
Sep 1901 Assassination of McKinley



VP TR became youngest POTUS, at 42
Continued cabinet and policies
(Cowboy quote, consultant Mark Hanna)
TR’s first term, 1901-05

1902, UMW PA coal strike settled





Newlands conservation Act (taxes to regulate land developm’t)
E.O.s for parks & forests
1903 Dept of Commerce & Labor
1904 Court upheld Sherman Act v. Northern Securities
Foreign Policy





1902 Cuban Republic recognized w/ sugar imports
Venezuelan debts settled (with Europeans)
Got Panama Canal zone; settled Alaska boundary
Immigration Act banned anarchists
1904 TR corollary to Monroe doctrine
TR’s second term, 1905-09

1904 Landslide re-election, 7.5 M – 5 M votes







Foreign policy:





1906 Meat Inspection Act; Pure Food and Drug Act
1906 Hepburn Act, strengthened ICC;
“Square Deal” – but negotiated with JP Morgan in 1907 panic
1909 first narcotic prohibition
West wing; WH press room and press conferences
Appointed record 75 federal judges, including 3 SCt
TR’s corollary to Monroe Doctrine, US to "exercise international
policy power" to help small Latin countries
Russo-Japanese peace treaty & Nobel peace prize
1907 Gentleman’s Agreement with Japan (immigration)
Sent Great White Fleet around world, without Congress
1909 retired, supporting Taft over VP Fairbanks
TR’s Post-presidency, 1909-11

African safari




(Modern) Kenya, Congo, Sudan
11,397 animals, 591 big game
Social as well as scientific
Taft’s moderation split R party




Less trust-busting rhetoric, but legislation
Compromised on lowering tariffs
Preferred judicial solutions
LaFollette formed Progressive R League
TR rides again: 1912







Taft had rolled up R support during 1911
LaFollette suffered nervous breakdown
TR picked up progressives’ support
TR campaigned against judiciary
TR won public + some of new primaries
Taft won most caucus and convention
votes
TR exited, to create Progressive party
What did TR’s Progressive Party
stand for?


“Healthy as a Bull Moose” [personal faction]
Democratization and purification of party (Burns)


Against regional monopolies of party (Burns)








Onward Christian Soldiers & TR’s Confession of Faith (Link, 16)
More democracy
Direct primary election
Initiative, recall, referendum
Removal of straight ticket box
Non-partisan ballot
Personal factions or responsible parties?
Urge to rise above self-interest for societal good (Hof.)
Divided between anti-organization and building counterorganizations (Hofstadter)
How can we judge
success of reform?

Reform leaders always torn between


Transformational ideas [TR, WW, Obama?]
and
Transactional process [FDR, LBJ, WJC]
(Burns, 1978, 200)
Expression of ideas versus achievements
 Preparation, achievement, consolidation


Achievements compared to political support
(Hargrove and Nelson, 1984)
What were TR’s achievements in
office, 1901-1909?








Trust-busting (first address to Congress)
Increased regulation of businesses
"Square Deal" domestic agenda for average
citizen
Promoted the conservation movement
"Speak softly and carry a big stick”
Completed Panama Canal
Sent ‘Great White Fleet’
Negotiated end to Russo-Japanese War

won the Nobel Peace Prize
Was TR really a reformer?
“TR was keeping one foot in the ranks of the
old guard, the other in the reform
movement. He was impartial at least in his
hatreds: hardly a day passed that he did
not rail at the mossbacks among the old
guard or at the fools and idiots among the
reformers, and he played each off against
the other.”
(Burns, JM, 1978, 195)
Was TR really a reformer? (2)
“Although by [1910] Roosevelt had committed
himself to the progressive cause, he tried hard
to maintain an air of impartiality, and he labored
sincerely during the fall of 1910 to bring the
warring factions together…. But [in NY] Taft had
… aligned himself with the reactionary bosses in
the state. Rebuffed and resentful, Roosevelt …
amid wildly cheering crowds [in the West]
enunciated the … New Nationalism.”
(Link, 1954, 6)
TR & Taft agreed on reform, but
differed on role of President


What to do when powers of Constitution do not
give clear answer?
Federal land purposes case, Sec. of Interior



TR: Stewardship theory



“protecting the public domain”
Forestry, irrigation, water power or other …
act for people, unless Constitution forbids
Match for his vigorous character
Taft: Restricted theory


judiciary limits the presidency
Match for his agreeable character
TR’s Stewardship Theory
“I did not usurp power, but I did greatly
broaden the use of executive power. In
other words, I acted for the public
welfare, I acted for the common wellbeing of all our people, … unless
prevented by direct constitutional or
legislative prohibition….”
[Rationalized as Jackson-Lincoln view]
(Autobiography of TR, p. 197)
Taft’s restricted theory:
“[T]he president can exercise no power
which cannot be reasonably and fairly
traced to some specific grant of power or
justly implied and included … as proper
and necessary to its exercise.”
[Rationalized as Madison or Buchanan view]
(Taft, 1913, 138.)
Taft sided with reactionaries
over insurgents


1909 TR installs Taft as successor, leaves on Safari
1909-10 Taft upheld R old guard over insurgent reformers








To keep House Speaker Cannon (R)
In Senate, against HR’s lower tariff bill
Summer: Taft booed by R across MidWest
1909-10 upheld Sec. Interior Ballinger over Pinchot & conservationists
in irrigation of federal land
Spring 1910, Taft sends money and orators to midWest primaries to
defeat R Progressives -- unsuccessfully
reformers captured R in CA, WA & NH
Taft’s machine defeated TR in NY convention
1910 elections, Dem landslide in Congress and Governors
(Link, 1954, 6)
TR forms Progressive party

TR returned from Africa, outraged by
Taft’s devolution (Link), called for social
reforms
1912 election: reform v. reform

Wilson (D, 6 M), New Freedom (strongest in South)



TR (R , 4 M), New Nationalism, radical and explicit






States rights; Jeffersonian; federal power only to sweep away special
privileges – not for paternalism, but 2nd emancipation
Influenced by Brandeis to preserve economic freedom
Min. wage for women; child labor law; workmen’s compensation; labor
dispute intervention; health and conservation plans; tariff protection for
industrial workers (strongest in West & midWest)
Influenced by Herbert Croly’s The Promise; Hamiltonian
Taft (R, 3 M), aligned with Old Guard machines (N)
Eugene Debs, Socialism (<1 M votes)
William Allen White, TR & WW as Tweedledum & -dee
Wilson (42%) won electoral college in a landslide, 435
(Link, 1954, 18-24)
What are the elements of TR’s
legacy?


First attempted activist, modern presidency
First press conferences, WH press corps









1912, among first recorded speeches
character as campaign issue
trust-busting and regulation
conservationism
interventionism and imperialism
Renovated but split Republican party
Created personal faction – but not a true Progressive party
Race relations: dinners with BTW, manservant – but TX troops
Personal



Teddy bear
TR jr’s Medal of Honor, D-Day
Inspiration to Franklin
Themes of TR’s legacy that
cascade on recent presidencies?






Populist campaign against Trusts
Environmental awareness
New forms of party and faction
At ease with race relations (BTW)
Vigor and optimism, active-positive
‘both masculine and feminine’ qualities?

Sporting and family man?
How do political historians
rank TR?

1948, 1962 and subsequent polls:





Best: George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Close: Thomas Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt
Also Top 10: James Madison, Andrew Jackson, James
K. Polk, Woodrow Wilson, and Harry S. Truman.
Worst: Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, James
Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, and Warren G. Harding.
Are political historians biased by ideology?


Polls show few differences (except over W. Bush)
(See tables of historians and public polls compiled in Diclerico (1995) or
at WKP)
How does the public rank TR?

Public ranks TR slightly higher



(some in top 5)
Public opinion polls since 1960s
than do political historians


(between 5 and 10)
Since Schlesingers, 1948 and 1962
How could political historians
begin to categorize presidents?

Satan, Savior, Samson or Seraph?





Schlesinger’s biographies of Jackson, FDR &
Kennedy (portrayed as saviors?)
after LBJ & RMN: Schlesinger, “imperial
presidency”
Cronin, paradoxes of presidency
Hodgson, expectations excessive
Then Reagan exceeded expectations …
How does the public
approve presidential performance?


Approval in office starts well above vote %
First year: eroded to 60% (Bushes)



Lose 6 points per year in approval
Bump 10-20% in foreign /military crisis





50s% others – but 49% Obama
H. Bush 84%, W. Bush 90%, a record
Drop 10-20 % in scandal, or slowly in weakness
Lows during economic stagnation (JEC 19%)
Re-election boost
But always 6 points above the wretched
Congress (low 13%)
How do journalists
evaluate presidents?

Study 1948-78 of Time & NY Times:



CBS news: 6x favorable stories
Nixon claimed bias against



34x favorable stories on presidents
But he also had hugely favorable balance
Cycles of honeymoon, adversarial &
disengagement phases (Grossman & Kumar)
Post Watergate: distrust of authority,
institutions and presidents
How is TR treated by modern
political science?

Michael Nelson’s cyclical theory of the
Presidency:



Stephen Skowronek, The Politics
Presidents Make, Part Two


Preparation, Achievement, Consolidation
Stalemate, TR II (like most 2nd terms)
Reconstruction, Articulation, Disjunction
James David Barber, The Presidential
Character: active-positive type
Hargrove and Nelson, Cycles:
Cycle Preparation Achievement Consolidation Stasis /Stalemate
2-yr legislative burst,
Lays groundwork for w/ mandate, truncated
reform but lacks
by criticism of
reform rationalized, not
majority or mandate authority**
rejected
Drift /deadlock
1 T Roosevelt
2 (systemic crisis)
3 Kennedy
Harding*
Coolidge,
Wilson*
Hoover
FD Roosevelt* Eisenhower
Johnson*
Nixon
T Roosevelt II, Taft
Nixon II, Ford?
* Had large margin of election and large gains of party in Congress.
** 2-yr legislative burst, w/ mandate of liberty, equality and pop. Sov., truncated by criticism of authority, and by admin've difficulties
James David Barber’s
Active-Positive character type (1)





“much activity and the enjoyment of it,
indicating a high self-esteem and relative
success in relating to the [political]
environment.”
“productiveness as a value”
“ability to use his styles flexibly, adaptively,
suiting the dance to the music.”
“Sees himself … well defined personal goals”
“emphasis on rational mastery, using the brain
to move the feet.”
James David Barber’s
Active-Positive character type (2)

But “he may fail to take account of the
irrational in politics.”
James David Barber’s
other character types (ch.1)



Active-Negative: intense effort with low
emotional reward. Compulsive, ambitious,
aggressive, struggling, hampered by criticism
Passive-Positive: receptive, compliant, searching
for affection by being agreeable and
cooperative. Low self-esteem with superficial
optimism.
Passive-Negative: low self-esteem doing useless
service, but called by duty & civic virtue
Barber’s types among
the first four Presidents (ch.1)





Washington: aloof, dignified, fits passivenegative
John Adams: irascible, partisan, fits activenegative
Jefferson: Reasoned, adaptable, fits activepositive
Madison: irresolute, compromiser, compliant, fits
passive-positive
President is “a man with a memory in a system
with a history”
Limits of psychological analysis
“For a mentally unbalanced person, Wilson
had a remarkable career. Somehow he
managed to make distinguished
contributions to four separate fields of
scholarship, higher education, domestic
politics and diplomacy.”
-- Arthur Link [sarcastically]
Quoted by Barber, ch.2
Selected Sources












Abrams, Richard. 1984. “Theodore Roosevelt” in Henry Graff (ed)
The Presidents, pp. 385-411.
Barber, James David. 1985. The Presidential Character.
Bailey, Harry (ed). 1980. Classics of the American Presidency.
Bose, Meena (ed). 2009. The NY Times on the Presidency, 1853-
2008.
Burns, James McGregor. 1978. Leadership.
Diclerico, Robert. 1995. The American President.
Hargrove, Erwin and Michael Nelson. 1984. Presidents, Politics and
Policy.
Link, Arthur. 1954. Woodrow Wilson and the Progressive Era.
Mowry, George. 1958. The Era of Theodore Roosevelt.
Nelson, Michael (ed). 1984. The Presidency and the Political System.
Skowronek, Stephen. 1997. The Politics Presidents Make.
(This presentation did not use the Edmund Morris biography of TR.)