Transcript Progressivism & the Republican Roosevelt 1901-1912

Progressivism & the Republican
Roosevelt
1901-1912
Progressive Roots
• New century saw greatest reform movement
since 1840: progressivism.
• Progressives fought against monopoly,
corruption, inefficiency & social injustice.
• Goal: use gov’t as agency of human
welfare.
Progressive Roots (2)
• Movement traced roots to antiestablishment Greenback Labor Party
(1870s) & Populists (1890s).
• Progressives were tired of gov’t laissezfaire policies toward very complex
social/economic problems.
Progressive Roots (3)
• Attacks on trusts not new, e.g. Bryan,
Altgeld, Populists.
• 1894: Lloyd published Wealth Against
Commonwealth targeting Standard Oil.
• 1899: Veblen’s The Theory of the Leisure
Class attacked “predatory wealth.”
Progressive Roots (4)
• 1890: Jacob A. Riis shocked with How the
Other Half Lives: expose of life in NYC
slums.
• Theodore Dreiser hit profiteers in The
Financier (1912) & The Titan (1914).
• Desire for reform, immigration boosted
Socialists.
Progressive Roots (5)
• Social gospel led Christian progressives to
fight for better conditions for poor.
• Addams, Wald inspired feminists to fight
for social justice, working conditions, safe
food, & honest government.
Raking Muck
• 1902: Magazines like McClure’s, Cosmo,
Collier’s flourished publishing stories
exposing evil, dirt.
• 1906: TR, annoyed by zeal, labeled authors
“muckrakers.”
• Most scandalous stories published as books.
Raking Muck (2)
• 1902: Steffens’ “The Shame of the Cities”
exposed alliance between business & city
gov’t.
• Ida M. Tarbell followed with exposé of
Standard Oil.
• Muckrakers targeted insurance, lobbyists,
beef trusts, “money trust,” railroads.
Raking Muck (3)
• TR impressed by Phillips’ “The Treason of
the Senate,” which charged that 75 of 90
senators represented trusts.
• Muckrakers effective against social evils:
slums, “white slave” traffic, plight of blacks
(Baker), child labor (Spargo).
Raking Muck (4)
• Attacks in Collier’s by Dr. Wiley &
“Poison Squad” exposed patent medicines.
• Muckrakers exposed problems, but
generally did not offer solutions: relied on
aroused social conscience & democracy for
solutions.
Political Progressivism
• Middle-class progressives had two goals:
use state power to curb trusts, & stem
socialism by bettering living conditions.
• Progressives came from both parties,
different religions.
• Political goal: free government from
dominance by “interests.”
Political Progressivism (2)
• Favored Direct Primary, Initiative,
Referendum, and Recall to give political
power to people, not party bosses.
• Progressives attacked graft by limiting
campaign spending & contributions.
• Secret ballot (“Australian Ballot”) reduced
bribery.
Political Progressivism (3)
• Progressives argued for direct election of
U.S. senators to limit power of wealthy.
• Many states established primary elections
which gave people a voice in selection of
U.S. Senators: led to passage of 17th
Amendment.
Political Progressivism (4)
• Prohibitionists & political reformers fought
for women’s suffrage, claimed “Taxation
without Representation.”
• More liberal western states gave women
voting rights.
Progressivism in Cities/States
• City manager system began in Galveston,
TX (1901) to gain efficiency, limit
corruption.
• City manager system valued efficiency over
democracy.
• Urban reformers attacked slumlords,
juvenile delinquency, prostitution,
corruption.
Progressivism in Cities/States (2)
• Wisconsin governor Robert La Follette was
militant progressive: led reforms against
lumber, railroad interests & regulated
utilities.
• Other states, including Oregon, California
followed with regulation of railroads &
trusts through public utilities commissions.
Progressivism in Cities/States (3)
• CA Gov. Hiram Johnson (R) was elected in
1910, freed CA politics from So. Pacific
RR.
• NY Gov. Hughes (R) earned reputation as
investigator of gas, insurance, & coal
companies/trusts.
Battling Social Ills
• Progressives attacked social problems with
remarkable energy, e.g. industrial safety
codes, child labor, workmen’s
compensation laws, max. hour & minimum
wage laws.
• 1911: Sweatshop issue came to forefront
due to Triangle fire.
Battling Social Ills (2)
• Public outcry led NY to regulate
sweatshops.
• 1908: In Muller v. Oregon, Brandeis led
Sup. Ct. to accept laws regulating female
labor due to their weaker bodies: regarded
as triumph over employers’ complete
control.
Battling Social Ills (3)
• 1905: Progressive setback came in Lochner
v. New York – struck down 10-hour day.
• But Court upheld 10-hour day for factory
workers in 1917.
• Idea that employer had responsibility to
society was growing.
Battling Social Ills (4)
• Saloons, associated with prostitution,
drunken voters, city bosses, became another
target.
• Willard’s WCTU became largest women’s
org in world.
• Many states & counties went “dry,” but
cities, with large immigrant vote, remained
“wet.”
Square Deal for Labor
• Influence of progressive movement,
concern for public interest led to TR’s
“Square Deal” for capital, labor & public.
• TR’s program embraced 3 Cs: Control of
corporations, Consumer protection, &
Conservation of natural resources.
Square Deal for Labor (2)
• Anthracite coal mines strike (PA) put Deal
to test: 140,000 workers demanded 20% pay
increase, 9 hour day.
• Baer & other owners refused to negotiate,
believed that God had entrusted workers to
their care.
Square Deal for Labor (3)
• Lack of coal inhibited factories, schools,
hospitals.
• TR intervened: annoyed by attitude of mine
owners, he threatened to seize mines,
operate with federal troops.
• Owners agreed to arbitration, gave 10%
raise, 9-hour day.
Square Deal for Labor (4)
• 1903: TR urged creation of Dept. of
Commerce & Labor to manage capital/labor
conflicts (dept. split 10 years later).
• Part of new dept. was Bureau of
Corporations, which was used to break
interstate trusts.
TR Corrals the Corps.
• Interstate Commerce Commission was too
weak to regulate railroads, TR encouraged
more effective laws.
• 1903: Congress passed Elkins Act to
provide heavy fines for RR rebates.
TR Corrals the Corps. (2)
• 1906: Hepburn Act restricted free passes,
strengthened ICC.
• TR knew efficient trusts were here to stay,
but distinguished between “good” trusts
with public consciences, and greedy “bad”
trusts.
TR Corrals the Corps. (3)
• 1902: TR’s 1st attack on trusts came against
the Morgan/Hill Northern Securities RR
trust.
• 1904: Sup. Ct. upheld TR’s antitrust suit,
dissolved Northern Sec., shocked Wall
Street.
• TR initiated over 40 suits vs. beef, sugar,
fertilizer, etc.
TR Corrals the Corps. (4)
• TR knew trustbusting was popular, but
unsound economically: real purpose was to
prove that government, not business, ruled
the country.
• Threat of dissolution would make
corporations more agreeable to regulation.
TR Corrals the Corps. (5)
• Actually TR was not a heavy trustbuster –
many trusts were healthier, though more
“tame,” after his presidency.
• William H. Taft actually busted more trusts,
including TR-blessed U.S. Steel in 1911.
Caring for the Consumer
• Occasionally tainted U.S. meat was being
shut out in some European markets.
• For safety, Americans also wanted canned
meat products.
• 1906: Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle tried to
focus on condition of workers in meat
plants.
Caring for the Consumer (2)
• But public reacted in disgust not to workers’
conditions, but to contamination of meat.
• Report of presidential commission
confirmed Sinclair’s report: found that rats,
ropes, debris were dumped into canned
ham, etc.
Caring for the Consumer (3)
• 1906: TR led passage of Meat Inspection
Act – applied to meat shipped interstate.
• Large packers used government seal of
approval to drive smaller companies out of
business.
• 1906: Food & Drug Act required safe,
labeled foods, drugs.
Earth Control
• Many assumed natural resources were
inexhaustible: pollution and waste
widespread.
• 1877: 1st attempt at conservation, Desert
Land Act required land buyers to irrigate.
• 1891 Forest Reserve Act: president could
set aside national parks.
Earth Control (2)
• 1894 Carey Act: Fed. land given to states if
irrigated, settled.
• Naturalist TR took lead to conserve
resources.
• 1902: TR led Congress to pass Newlands
Act – $ from land sales used to develop
irrigation projects, repaid by settlers.
Earth Control (3)
• Newlands Act resulted in Roosevelt Dam
(Arizona) in 1911.
• 1900: only 1/4 of original U.S. timber
remained so TR set aside 125 million acres
in reserves, almost 3 times as much as
predecessors.
Earth Control (4)
• TR’s conservation & closing of frontier led
city dwellers to question if too much urban
life was good for national soul.
• 1903: London’s Call of the Wild, nature
books popular.
• Boy Scouts/Sierra Club rose in prominence.
Earth Control (5)
• 1913 battle over dam in Hetch Hetchy
valley showed division among
conservationists.
• Sierra Club, Muir: it was a “temple” of
nature, should not be touched.
• TR, Pinchot: “wilderness is waste” – land
should be used.
Earth Control (6)
• Under TR, foresters developed “multipleuse” policy: combine recreation, sustainedyield logging, watershed protection, &
summer stock grazing on same fed. land.
• Required large scale planning & working
with biggest users.
1907 “Roosevelt Panic”
• TR easily reelected in 1904, had enormous
personal popularity, e.g. “teddy bear.”
• But TR alienated conservative
Representatives during 2nd term by
increased calls for business regulation,
income tax, protection of workers.
1907 “Roosevelt Panic” (2)
• 1904: TR also became lame duck by
renouncing 3rd term.
• 1907: Wall St. panic included runs on
banks, suicides, criminal indictments.
• Conservative financial world said TR had
unsettled industry, named “Roosevelt
Panic.”
1907 “Roosevelt Panic” (3)
• TR responded: rich had deliberately created
panic to curb his assault on trusts.
• Panic resulted in reforms: 1908 AldrichVreeland Act allowed national banks to
issue emergency currency - led to Federal
Reserve Act in 1913.
TR Thunders Out
• 1908: TR could have won reelection, but
felt obligated by pledge not to run again.
• Selected successor: Taft would carry out
TR’s policies, TR ensured his nomination.
• Democrats nominated Bryan, complained
TR stole his policies.
TR Thunders Out (2)
• Taft won easily 321-162, but surprise was
420,793 votes for Socialist Debs.
• TR’s reputation as radical undeserved: was
largely friend of industry, tamed capitalism
to ensure its long life.
TR Thunders Out (3)
• TR served as lightning rod to protect
capitalists against socialism: fought for
middle ground.
• Centrist conservation crusade was most
typical and lasting achievement.
TR Thunders Out (4)
• Other TR contributions:
• 1. Enhanced power of president.
• 2. Shaped progressive & later liberal
reform movements (Square Deal to New
Deal).
• 3. Showed Americans their responsibilities
as a world power.
Taft: Round Peg
• Taft initially inspired confidence, had solid
reputation as lawyer, judge.
• But Taft lacked force of TR’s personality,
withdrew from conflict, Congress.
• Preferred status quo: no reformers in
cabinet.
Dollar as Diplomat
• Normally passive Taft was active in
encouraging U.S. investment abroad in
strategic places (Far East, Canal zone) so
that U.S. political influence could follow.
• Policy denounced as “dollar diplomacy.”
Dollar as Diplomat (2)
• Dollar diplomacy failed in Manchuria:
Japan/Russia rejected offer by U.S.
financiers to buy RR - Taft ridiculed.
• Taft admin. urged U.S. bankers to invest in
Honduras & Haiti to keep out foreign
money, support Monroe Doctrine.
Dollar as Diplomat (3)
• Then disorder in Cuba, Honduras &
Dominican Republic required U.S. military
intervention to protect U.S. investment.
• 1912: intervention in Nicaragua near canal
zone resulted in 13 yr. U.S. troop presence.
Taft the Trustbuster
• 1-term Taft brought twice the anti-trust suits
as 2-term TR.
• 1911: Taft won breakup of Standard Oil
Co., but Supreme Court initiated “rule of
reason” – only combinations which
“unreasonably” restrained trade are illegal.
Taft the Trustbuster (2)
• “Rule of reason” hurt government anti-trust
actions.
• 1911: Taft pressed antitrust suit against U.S.
Steel – angered TR who was involved in
one of the mergers which prompted suit.
Taft Splits Republicans
• Progressive Reps wanted lower tariff, for
which Taft called Congress into special
session in March, 1909.
• House reduced rates, but Senate, led by
Aldrich, added hundreds of increases to
Payne-Aldrich bill.
Taft Splits Republicans (2)
• Taft betrayed progressives by signing bill,
then proclaiming it “best bill Reps ever
passed.”
• Taft tarnished his outstanding conservation
record with Ballinger-Pinchot quarrel.
• TR ally Pinchot dismissed, further split Taft
& TR.
Taft Splits Republicans (3)
• Through tariff & support for Ballinger, Taft
alienated reform wing of Rep party.
• Taft placed firmly with Old Guard wing of
party through support of Speaker “Uncle
Joe” Cannon during progressive attack.
Taft Splits Republicans (4)
• 1910: Taft mistakes completely split party,
TR hit stump to proclaim “New
Nationalism” - more government power to
remedy social/ economic abuses.
• Split weakened party, Democrats grabbed
228-161 House majority in 1910 election.
Taft-Roosevelt Rupture
• 1911: National Progressive Republican
League formed, with Sen. La Follette (WI)
as leading candidate for presidential
nomination, assuming TR would not accept.
• Feb, 1912: Annoyed by Taft, TR said he
would accept nomination.
Taft-Roosevelt Rupture (2)
• TR argued that non-consecutive 3rd-term is
acceptable.
• TR pushed La Follette aside, ran as
progressive in primary.
• June, 1912: Taft supporters held power at
convention, Taft awarded nomination.
• TR ready for 3rd-party effort.