Chapter 22: The Battle for National Reform
THEODORE ROOSEVELT AND THE MODERN PRESIDENCY
--Roosevelt was the first “modern” president
The Accidental President
--Roosevelt became president when McKinley died in September 1901, the victim of
an assassination
--He had previously been a member of the New York legislature, a rancher in the
Dakota Badlands, an NYC police commissioner, assistant secretary of the navy, and
leader of the Rough Riders
--was a champion of cautious, moderate change
Government, Capital, and Labor
--Roosevelt saw the government as a mediator of public good, with the president at
the center
--Wanted to regulate but not destroy trusts
--Roosevelt wanted the Department of Commerce and Labor’s Bureau of
Corporations to investigate corporations and publicize results for the public to see
--In 1902, he ordered the Justice Department to invoke the Sherman Antitrust Act
against the Northern Securities Company monopoly, and in 1904 the Supreme Court
determined that the company must be dissolved. However, Roosevelt was not a
trustbuster at heart, even though he gave over forty more such cases to the Supreme
Court
--When the 1902 United Mine Workers strike lasted long enough to inhibit
production, Roosevelt called for union leaders and management to meet and work out
the strike, but when that failed, he threatened to send federal troops to seize the mines
and resume production. As a result, the mining company gave workers a 10% wage
increase and a 9-hour work day
“The Square Deal”
--Roosevelt was easily re-elected in 1904
--In his 1904 campaign, he said that he had worked in the coal mine strike to provide
everyone with a “square deal”
--He began to develop this concept
--He convinced Congress to pass the Hepburn Railroad Regulation Act in 1906,
giving the government increased power to regulate railroads. However, the act was
too conservative to satisfy most progressives.
--He also got Congress to pass the Pure Food and Drug Act
--In 1907, he began to call for and 8-hour work day, broader workers’ compensation,
graduated income and inheritance taxes, and regulation of the stock market
--Furthered himself from his party’s conservatives
Roosevelt and Conservation
--Roosevelt protected millions of acres of land by adding it to the national forest
system
--Roosevelt and the director of the National Forest Service, Gifford Pinchot,
established the government as a manager of wilderness development
--The National Reclamation Act provided funds for irrigation projects in the west
Roosevelt and Preservation
--Roosevelt agreed with naturalists such as John Muir that nature’s beauty should be
protected and preserved
--He added a significant number of national parks to the national parks system and
helped add land to existing ones
The Hetch Hetchy Controversy
--The people of San Francisco wanted to dam Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite
National Park for a water reserve
--Naturalists, such as the aforementioned John Muir and his Sierra Club, wanted the
keep the valley untouched with the rest of Yosemite
--A devastating earthquake and fire in 1906 in San Francisco led to popular support
for the dam’s construction, and Gifford Pinchot favored rational use of resources over
preservation,
so he approved the dam
--Muir tried to place the issue as a referendum question on the next general election
ballot, but this failed. However, this controversy led to the mobilization of a new
group of naturalists who were committed to preservation and opposed to “rational
use” of resources
The Panic of 1907
--Although Roosevelt had by now issued a lot of reforms, the government still had
little control over the economy
--Bad credit, failed banks, downplays of the severity of the crisis, and irresponsible
speculation and financial mismanagement all were factors that contributed to the
depression
--Conservative Republicans, who Roosevelt had begun to denounce, claimed that the
panic was the result of Roosevelt’s “mad” economic policies
--J.P. Morgan, the financial and business tycoon, helped to create a pool of assets of
New York banks to prop up shaky financial institutions. He said that if the U.S. Steel
company would buy up all shares of stock from Tennessee Coal and Iron Company
from a threatened NY bank, the panic would subside
--Roosevelt approved this action and soon the panic was over
--Roosevelt loved being president and had become extremely popular, but due to his
“radicalism” and the Panic of 1907, he agreed not to run for president in 1908
THE TROUBLED SUCCESSION
Taft and the Progressives
--William Howard Taft was elected to the presidency in 1908 as Roosevelt’s handpicked successor and with the support of conservatives and progressives
--One of Taft’s first actions was to call Congress into a special session to reduce
tariffs. The congressional Old Guard said that this action was unconstitutional,
violating the separation of powers clause. This resulted in the feeble Payne-Aldrich
Tariff.
--Taft created the Children’s Bureau to protect child welfare and life in all social
classes
--In 1909, Taft replaced Roosevelt’s secretary of the interior with the conservative
Richard A. Ballinger. Suspicion of Ballinger grew when he tried to invalidate Taft’s
removal of a million acres of public land for preservation
The Department of the Interior investigator Louis Glavis launched an investigation on
Ballinger and claimed that he had once tried to turn over valuable coal areas in
Alaska to a private company for private profit. Glavis brought this claim to Pinchot,
who took the accusation to Taft. Taft dismissed the charges and fired Glavis. Pinchot
leaked the story to the press and asked for a congressional committee to investigate.
Taft discharged Pinchot, but the congressional committee exonerated Ballinger.
The Return of Roosevelt
--During this time, Roosevelt was on a long hunting trip in Africa and an extended
tour of Europe. When he returned in 1910, he said he would not participate in politics
anymore. However, he soon went on a speaking tour o throughout the country after he
believed Taft to have “betrayed” him. On the tour, he presented his idea of “New
Nationalism”. He believed that only he could effectively lead the Republican Party.
--His “New Nationalism” stated that only strong federal power could issue reforms
that would be successful. His idea showed that he was far away from his early
conservative years of reform. New Nationalism called for graduated income and
inheritance taxes, workers’ compensation, regulation of woman and child labor, tariff
revision, and stronger regulation of corporations.
Spreading Insurgency
--In the 1910 congressional elections, conservative Republicans were defeated time
and time again throughout many states. Almost all progressive incumbents were
reelected, and the Democrats won control of the House for the first time in 16 years
and gained strength in the senate
--At this time, Roosevelt denied any hopes to become president in 1912 and later in
the future.
--However, two events changed his mind. The U.S. Steel company announced that its
purchase of the Tennessee Coal and Iron Company’s stocks was illegal, implying that
Roosevelt had done wrong in approving this action. This claim infuriated him. Also
Roosevelt had not planned to campaign because Robert LaFollette was running. But
when LaFollette suffered a nervous breakdown in 1912, Roosevelt reluctantly
decided to run again.
Roosevelt versus Taft
-- The progressives favored Roosevelt, and the conservatives favored Taft. The party
leaders, who were in control of the nomination process, supported Taft. Despite
Roosevelt’s huge victories in all 13 primaries, Taft was nominated quietly at the
Chicago Republican Convention with almost all of the votes.
--In Chicago in August, Roosevelt announced the formation of the Progressive Party
(also known as the “Bull Moose” Party) and nominated himself as its presidential
candidate.
--This party came to support a wide range of progressive issues. It supported
additional regulation of industries and trusts, large reforms in many areas of
government, workers’ compensation provide by the federal government, pensions for
the elderly and widows and children, and woman suffrage (something no other party
had decided to do) as well.
WOODROW WILSON AND THE NEW FREEDOM
Woodrow Wilson
--At the Democratic Convention in Baltimore in June, Woodrow Wilson, the
governor of New Jersey and the only real progressive Democrat, won the nomination
on the 46th ballot.
--Wilson had been the president of Princeton and governor of New Jersey. In these
two fields, he had instituted progressive reform.
--In 1912, Wilson declared his progressive plan known as the “New Freedom”. It
differed from Roosevelt’s New Nationalism by planning to destroy instead of regulate
“bigness” and monopolies.
--In the 1912 election, Taft barely campaigned at all, Roosevelt energetically
campaigned until he was wounded in an assassination attempt, and Wilson had the
support of most Democrats. Wilson won with 435 of 531 electoral votes, but only
42% of the popular vote.
The Scholar as President
--Wilson used his party leadership to influence Democratic majorities in the House
and the Senate to lower the protective tariff with the Underwood-Simmons Tariff, a
long-held goal of the Democrats and progressives
--To make up for lost revenue, Congress passed a graduated income tax, now possible
under the 16th amendment
--Wilson also had Congress pass the Federal Reserve Act, which created 12 regional
banks owned and operated by their constituent banks. These banks would hold some
revenue from their constituent banks as reserve and use that to loan out to private
banks at a discount. The act also established the currency of the Federal Reserve Note
(essentially what we have today). The regional banks would be able to shift funds to
struggling banks as well.
--A Federal Reserve Board regulated the system
--In 1914, Wilson proposed 2 measures to deal with monopoly: creation of a federal
agency that would allow business to regulate itself and proposals to increase the
government' power to break up trusts
--The two measures took shape in the Federal Trade Commission Act, which created
a regulatory agency to help investigate businesses and assure that they acted legally,
and the Clayton Antitrust Act
--The strong legal pursuit of monopoly failed to happen, and Wilson decided that only
government supervision could be effective
Retreat and Advance
--Wilson refused to support woman suffrage and condoned re-imposing segregation
into federal government agencies
--When congressional progressives asked for his support of new reform legislation, he
dismissed their proposals as unconstitutional or unnecessary
--In the 1914 congressional elections, the Democrats suffered heavy losses and voters
who had supported the Progressive Party returned to supporting the Republicans
--In order to assure support, Wilson nominated Louis Brandeis to the Supreme Court
and began to support a measure that made it easier for farmers to get credit and a new
system of workers' compensation for federal employees
--Wilson also supported the Keating-Owen Act, which was the first federal law to
regulate child labor. It prohibited the shipment of goods made by underage children
across state borders. For this reason, the Supreme Court ruled that it interfered with
Congress’s power to regulate interstate trade and struck it down.
--The Smith-Lever Act of 1914, which offered grants to states that agreed to support
agricultural extension education, showed how the federal government could influence
local behavior.
THE “BIG STICK”: AMERICA AND THE WORLD, 1901-1917
Roosevelt and Civilization
--The public was largely uninterested in foreign affairs, giving Roosevelt the power to
act without worrying about public opinion.
--He believed in the value of using American power in the world, but he had two
different standards for using this power
--Roosevelt believed in strong distinctions between "civilized" (generally white) and
"uncivilized" (generally non-white) nations. Economic development was also part of
determining the distinction. Civilized nations produced industrial goods and
uncivilized nations supplied raw materials and markets.
--Roosevelt said that this justified the act of a civilized nation going in and helping
uncivilized nations for the benefit of all nations involved
--This belief was an important reason for the development of American sea power
Protecting the "Open Door" in Asia
--In 1904 the Japanese attacked the Russian fleet at Port Arthur in southern
Manchuria
Roosevelt hoped to prevent either nation from becoming dominant there, so he agree
to a Japanese request to help end the conflict. Russia was having trouble in the war,
so it had to agree.
--Roosevelt got Russia to agree to recognizing Japan's territorial gains, ending the
war, and not expanding any further. He also negotiated a secret treaty with the
Japanese to ensure that the U.S. could continue to trade freely in the region.
--Roosevelt won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906 for ending the conflict.
--U.S. relations with Japan soon deteriorated. Japan became the dominant Pacific
naval power and began to exclude the U.S. from trading. Roosevelt sent the "Great
White Fleet" to remind the Japanese of American sea power
The Iron-Fisted Neighbor
--Roosevelt took a special interest in Latin America and established a pattern of
American intervention there
--In 1902, Venezuela reneged on debts to European countries and Germany began to
attack the country as other countries blockaded the coast. There were rumors that
Germany would try to establish a permanent base there, so Roosevelt used the threat
of American sea power to convince them to leave
--Roosevelt now saw that problems could arise in Latin America from irresponsibility
or instability within nation there rather than just from European powers trying to take
control. He issued the Roosevelt Corollary, saying that the U.S. could become
involved in neighboring countries’ affairs
--He used this rationale to assume control of the Dominican Republic to help it pay
off debts and to give Cuba its independence (only after agreeing to the Platt
Amendment, keeping other countries from intervening in Cuba's affairs)
The Panama Canal
--Roosevelt and many others had favored a route through Nicaragua at first, but there
was a canal already started by a French company in Panama that would be shorter
than in Nicaragua.
--Roosevelt dispatched secretary of state John Hay to Washington to negotiate with
Colombian diplomats. The Colombian chargé d'affaires, Tomas Herrén, signed an
agreement for the U.S. to have a six-mile wide "canal zone" across the Isthmus of
Panama in exchange for $10 million and $250,000 annually. The Colombian senate
was outraged and refused to approve the canal and they sent a new request for $20
million with some payment to the French
--Roosevelt was now furious. He teamed up with Philippe Bunau-Varilla of the
French canal project and together they supported a successful revolution in Panama.
Roosevelt announced that Panama was now an independent nation and the new
Panamanian government quickly approved construction of the canal
Taft and "Dollar Diplomacy"
--Taft wanted to continue Roosevelt's involvement on foreign countries. However, he
did this, through his secretary of state Philander C. Knox, by extending American
investments into less-developed regions. Critics called this "dollar diplomacy"
--This was very visible in American policy in the Caribbean. In 1909, a revolution
broke out in Nicaragua. The U.S. quickly sided with the insurgents and sent in troops
to seize custom houses. As soon as peace was restored, Knox encouraged U.S. banks
to offer substantial loans to the new government, greatly increasing Washington's
control over Nicaragua. Taft sent troops again into Nicaragua in a later revolution to
protect the existing leaders. the troops stayed there for more than a decade.
Diplomacy and Morality
--In 1915, Wilson sent the marines into Haiti to quell a vicious rebellion and
American officers drafted a new constitution for the country. U.S. forces remained
until 1934
--In 1916, the U.S. established a military government in the Dominican Republic
when it had refused to approve a treaty to make itself an American protectorate.
Troops stayed there for 8 years
-- Wilson bought the Danish West Indies from Denmark and renamed them the
Virgin Islands
--He also forged a treaty with Nicaragua to let America intervene in Nicaragua's
internal affairs to protect American interests
--So far his views were like that of Roosevelt and Taft
--Wilson's views of America's place in the world were different though
--Mexican dictator Porfirio Diaz had allowed American businesses to establish a large
prominence in Mexico, but when he was overthrown, the new leader, Francisco
Madero, did not like American business in Mexico. In the last few weeks of the Taft
administration, the U.S. convinced Mexican General Huerta to get rid of Madero and
then it would recognize Huerta's leadership. However, it was time for Wilson to
become president and he refused to recognize Huerta's "government of butchers"
--Wilson hoped that now the issue would die out, but it did not. Huerta established a
full military dictatorship in 1913. A minor naval incident gave Wilson an excuse to
seize the Mexican port of Veracruz.
--Wilson hoped to end the conflict bloodlessly, but in Veracruz, 126 Mexicans died
and there were 19 American casualties. The Carranza faction was mobilized by this
show of American force and forced Huerta to flee the country. The new Carranza
government refused to accept American guidelines for governance, so Wilson went to
lieutenant Pancho Villa for help. Villa's military position deteriorated, so Wilson
recognized the Carranza government.
--Villa was angry at Wilson for what he considered to be "betrayal," so he took his
army and kidnapped 16 American mining engineers and shot them and later crossed
the border into New Mexico, where they killed 17 more Americans.
--Wilson got permission from the Carranza government to send in an American
expedition to find Villa. They never found him, but they did fight twice with
Carranza's army. Mexico and the U.S. were once again standing on the brink of war,
but Wilson quietly backed down