Chapter 28 – Progressivism and
the Republican Roosevelt (19011912)
At turn of the century, a group of reformers
known as the progressives attempted to
reform society and redress the abuses and
societal decay of the Gilded Age.
Progressive Roots
 The progressive reforms waged a war on monopoly,
corruption, social injustice, etc.
 Roots of Gilded Age populism, labor activity

further back = 2nd Gr8 Awakening
 Jeffersonian laissez-faire withering…social and econ.
imperatives
 Progressives attack the trusts

Calls for productive industry over wasteful business
 Jacob Riis’ photos of the slums moves TRoosevelt
 Socialists, Christians, economists, feminists urge changes
The Muckrakers
 Muckrakers: reporters who exposed Gilded Age
abuses

Railroads, trusts, gov’t, labor conditions, social evils, race, etc.
 Lincoln Steffens’: corrupt alliance of biz and gov’t
 Ida M. Tarbell’s: Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Co.
 Ray Stannard Baker: plight of Southern blacks
 John Spargo: child labor
 Dr. Harvey W. Wiley: patent medicines
 The muckrakers focused on expose, rather than
political change
Political Progressivism
 Two goals of progressives
 Use gov’t to stop monopolies
 Improve citizens’ lives and labor
 Political changes
 Initiatives, referendums, recalls, Australian ballot
 17th Amendment > direct election of US Senators
 Progressives back suffrage
 Urban progressivism
 Attack machine politics, slumlords, prostitution, youth crime
 Governors LaFollette (WI), Johnson (CA), Hughes (NY) push
for publics utilities
This political cartoon shows La Follette
holding a big club with the words “For
Any Old Trust.” La Follette rallied against
big business and trusts by bringing his
message to the people. The message he
delivered was the need to restore
democracy and allow the average citizen
an active say in the government’s actions.
It depicts La Follette as a short, stout man
with a large head; the club he wields is
larger than he is. This implied that La
Follette’s strength of mind and his power
to manipulate all tools available to
encourage reform and put trusts in their
proper place were far greater than his
body’s physical strength.
A verse is written below the cartoon and
refers to the period when he first became
a senator. The verse is entitled "From the
Railroads to La Follette" and reads--From
the Badger wilds comes an "ornery cuss"
With a lot of noise and a lot of fuss To
make in the senate an awful muss And
mix up a horrible dose for us. He will not
be fixed and he spurns our bait Nor
would he be governor of his state He's
whetted his knife for the special rate And
swears that he'll slaughter our dear
rebate.
La Follette
Of 534 current members of
Congress, at least 268 had
an average net worth of $1
million or more. Members
of Congress have long been
far wealthier than the
typical American, but the
fact that now a majority of
members — albeit just a hair
over 50 percent — are
millionaires represents a
watershed moment at a time
when lawmakers are
debating issues like
unemployment benefits,
food stamps and the
minimum wage, which
affect people with far fewer
resources, as well as
considering an overhaul of
the tax code. The richest
member of Congress is Rep.
Darrell Issa (R-Calif.)
chairman of the House
Oversight Committee. Issa,
who made his fortune in the
car alarm business, has an
average net worth of $464
million in 2012.
The Millionaire’s Club
http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2015/0
5/07/darrell-issa-incomeinequality.cnnmoney/
Progressive Women

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Women leaders in the progressive activist movement
Settlement house movement entry to public life
Literary clubs discuss social and current events
Activities an extension of maternal role
Factory reformers attack labor conditions for women and children


Florence Kelley’s National Consumer League
Muller v. Oregon (1908): Louis D. Brandeis persuades S Court to protect women
workers
 Response to Triangle Shirtwaist Company tragedy
 Regulations of hours and conditions in sweatshops
 Workers’ compensation laws
 Temperance movement led by women
 Woman’s Christian Temperance Union
 Dry laws
One hundred years ago on March
25, fire spread through the
cramped Triangle Waist Company
garment factory on the 8th, 9th
and 10th floors of the Asch
Building in lower Manhattan.
Workers in the factory, many of
whom were young women recently
arrived from Europe, had little
time or opportunity to escape. The
rapidly spreading fire killed 146
workers. The building had only
one fire escape, which collapsed
during the rescue effort. Long
tables and bulky machines trapped
many of the victims. Panicked
workers were crushed as they
struggled with doors that were
locked by managers to prevent
theft, or doors that opened the
wrong way. Only a few buckets of
water were on hand to douse the
flames. Outside, firefighters'
ladders were too short to reach the
top floors and ineffective safety
nets ripped like paper.
The Triangle Shirtwaist tragedy
https://vimeo.com/69541895
TR’s “Square Deal”
 TR wants a square deal for capital, labor, public
 Control of corporations
 Consumer protection
 Conservation of natural resources
 Backs coal miners in labor dispute with the threat of force…reversal
of Gilded Age trend to back Biz
 Creates Department of Commerce and Labor

Bureau of Corporations used to break monopolies
 Elkins Act and Hepburn Act attacked railroad rebates and free
passes
 ICC finally given teeth to enforce laws
 TR trust-busting…regulating, not destroying (Taft went
further)…good vs. bad trusts
 Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle exposed the unsanitary Chicago meat
industry

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Meat Inspection Act enables federal inspections
Pure Food and Drug Act: labeling of foods and drugs
The Environment
 Conservation movement in the face of decades of industrialization
 A public reaction to the closing of the frontier
 TR the great outdoorsman invigorates the movement begun by
Gifford Pinchot (Division of Forestry)
 Newlands Act, Roosevelt Dam
 Federal reserves of 125 million acres of forest, coal deposits, water
resources

Symbolically banned Christmas trees in the White House
 Culture and conservation
 Jack London’s Call of the Wild
 Boy Scouts
 Nature preserves
 Sierra Club
 Conservation (proper use of nature) vs. Preservation (protection)
 TR and Pinchot vs. Sierra Clubbers
 TR’s multiple-use resource management
Passing of the Baton
 TR promises not to run for a third term; successor?
 TR chooses William Howard Taft (Sec of War)
 Taft wins easily against a now thrice-defeated Bryan
 Socialist Eugene Debs gains 400k votes
 TR leaves for his African safari
 TR’s radical label overstated?
 TR’s legacy
 Conservation
 Executive power
 Progressivism
 Foreign policy
 Big stick
It's true that weight was an issue for
Taft, who weighed in at 340 pounds
on a 5'11.5" frame. In preparation
for Taft’s trip to inspect construction
of the Panama Canal in 1909, the
captain of the USS North Carolina
requested an oversized bathtub to
accommodate the new presidentelect.
Details on the incident–if it actually
happened–can be slippery. Some
legends say it took multiple men to
pull him out of the jam. Others
claim butter was used to slide him
out. President Taft had an extralarge tub in the White House to
accommodate his size.
Without conclusive evidence, how
did the apparent urban legend about
Taft start? Was Tubgate just another
example of dirty politics?
Roosevelt’s supporters made fun of
Taft’s weight in the bitter 1912
election. The story could have grown
from there.
With a presidential campaign in
2016 possibly featuring a heavy-set
candidate, the power of an urban
legend shouldn’t be underestimated.
Tubby Taft
Dollar Diplomacy
 Taft’s presidency hurt by political liabilities, moderate
progressivism
 Taft encourages US investments abroad to support political
interests (coined dollar diplomacy by his critics)
 China: attempt by Taft for US biz to take over Manchurian
railroad control from Japan and Russia…epic fail broseph
 Caribbean

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Urges Wall St. to inject $ into struggling areas to prop up Monroe Doctrine
American forces brought into countries to protect US investments
 This is basically the essence of the Roosevelt Corollary…TR
provided the cover for interventions (order, democracy,
civilization, uplift, etc.)…Taft was more blatant about the true
reasons > $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Taft and the Republican split
 Taft brought more anti-trust suits than TR
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90 in 4 years; 44 in 7 years for TR
Standard Oil broken up in 1911 by Supreme Court
The Court’s “rule of reason” ruling hurts gov’t anti-trust power
Taft’s U.S. Steel suit enrages TR
 Progressive Repubs demand lower tariffs; Taft does little
to dissuade Congress from passing a moderate,
compromise bill (Payne-Aldrich Bill)
 Repubs now split between Progressives and Old Guards;
lose 1910 congressional election
 An angry TR attempts and fails to win Repub nomination
for president…aims for a third party run