Theodore Roosevelt (President: 1901-1909)
New Yorker in background.
Influenced by A.T. Mahan about the United States being a major
international power.
Becomes president after the assassination of William McKinley.
First president to harness the power of media. Took issues to the
general public, bypassing resistance in Congress and the courts.
The Square Deal…the Problem
“Under modern industrial conditions
absence of governmental regulation and
control means such swollen development
of a few personalities that all other
personalities are dwarfed, are stunted and
fettered, and their power of initiative,
their power of self-help, largely
atrophied.”
The Square Deal…the Solution
Collective action and individual action,
public law and private character, are both
necessary. It is only by a slow and patient
inward transformation such as these laws
ad in brining about that men are really
helped upward in their struggle for a
higher and fuller life.”
TR: Domestic Policy
Mediated coal strike: 1902
Antiquities Act: 1906
Food and Drug Act: 1906
Hepburn Act: 1906. Empowered ICC to
set maximum rates for railroads.
Statehood for Oklahoma: 1907
Created several national monuments and
parks
TR: Foreign Policy
Encouraged Panamanian independence from
Colombia to facilitate construction of Panama
Canal.
Formulated “Roosevelt Corollary” to the
Monroe Doctrine: U.S. had a right to intervene
in affairs of other countries in the Americas to
prevent European powers from getting involved.
Brokered peace between Russia and Japan in
1905
Sent “Great White Fleet” on a grand tour to
show U.S. naval strength.
Progressivism vs. the Establishment in the U.S.:
William Howard Taft (President: 1909-1913)
Lawyer in background
Moderate trying to balance Progressive and conservative
wings of the Republican Party.
T Roosevelt did not think was Progressive enough. TR
decided to try to run for a third term, resulting in…..
The U.S. Election of 1912
Taft as Republican candidate
Woodrow Wilson as Democratic candidate
Theodore Roosevelt as Progressive Party candidate once
Republicans reject him as candidate for third term.
Eugene Debs as Socialist Party Candidate
Woodrow Wilson (President:
1913-1921)
Virginian in background.
Academic in profession (was President of Princeton)
Known for his ideological/academic approach to things.
Was a Progressive with a sympathetic Congress.
Woodrow Wilson: Domestic
Policy
Federal Reserve Act: 1913. Created a system of 12 reserve banks to
provide some oversight over the activities the member banks
(required for national banks, optional for state banks).
Income tax (16th Amendment): 1913.
Direct election of senators (17th Amendment): 1913.
Keating Owen: 1914. Restricting child labor. Supreme Court later
struck down.
Established Federal Trade Commission: 1914. To regulate business.
Have power to prosecute “unfair trade practices.” Had power to
investigate corporate behavior.
National Park System created 1916.
National Prohibition (18th Amendment): 1918
Women’s suffrage (19th Amendment): 1919
Meanwhile, in Mexico…..
Growing numbers of strikes such as the copper
miners of Sonora.
Meanwhile, a popular movement under
Emiliano Zapata emerged against the haciendas
in the central part of the country.
A new Liberal party emerged but was crushed in
the early 1900s. Leaders, especially Flores
Magon, fled to U.S. and argued for the
overthrow of Diaz. Included a modest idealist
named Francisco Madero.
End of the Porfiriato
In 1910, Porfirio Diaz was elected to his eighth consecutive term as
President.
Growing outrage at the indifference and corruption of the
Porfiriato grew into a support for Madero, who many felt was the
legitimate winner of the 1910 election.
Diaz resigns in 1911 and went into exile in France.
Huerta and Wilson
Wilson was outraged by Huerta’s power politics.
Huerta tried to get support from Germany.
In 1914, when a group of American Marines
tried to stop a German ship with arms from
docking in Tampico, Huerta’s govt. had them
arrested.
U.S. demanded a response. When Huerta
refused to go along, U.S. forces invade and
occupy Vera Cruz.
Huerta’s government collapses soon afterward.
Power struggle
A power struggle breaks out between Obregon,
Carranza, and Villa, among others. Carranza ends up
holding Mexico City and U.S. gives nominal support.
In response, in March 1916, Pancho Villa attacks
Columbus, N.M. U.S. sends in troops under General
Pershing but fail to capture Villa.
In 1917, word emerges of a telegram from German
officials to get the Carranza govt. to support Germany in
the ongoing Great War. Helps spark U.S. entry into
what became known as World War I.