Progressive Presidents Theodore Roosevelt William Taft Woodrow Wilson

Progressive Presidents Theodore Roosevelt William Taft Woodrow Wilson

Theodore Roosevelt • Influential NY family • Grew up sickly • Changed in teens, and loved outdoors and sports • Had a ranch in ND Badlands– Now a National Park • Graduated from Harvard

th 26 President • NY political machine nominates him for VP, why? • Mc. Kinley is assassinated • Youngest President (42)

View of Presidency * Saw the presidency as a position where he had power to get things done for the betterment of America * bully pulpit

Square Deal • Slogan for election Focused on: 1. Limiting the power of trusts, 2. Promoting public health and safety, 3. Improving working conditions.

Presidency • Trust Buster – -Bureau of Corporations – -Northern Securities Company, Standard Oil, American Tobacco, Du. Pont – * NOT anti-business • Railroad regulation – Elkins Act- (1903) prohibited RR from accepting rebates – Hepburn Act- (1906) Interstate Commerce Commission power to set maximum railroad rates. environment

• Environment – not a preservationist, but a conservationist – Public Lands Commission – Newland reclamation Act (irrigation) • Protecting Consumers – Meat Inspection Act: Required federal inspection if neat shipped across state lines – Pure Food and Drug Act: forbid the manufacture sale, or transportation of food and patent medicine containing harmful ingredients.

William Taft • Hand picked by Roosevelt but was more conservative than Roosevelt • Taft Troubles – tariff issues – Pinchot & Ballinger affair

Taft-Roosevelt Split • Teddy back from safari • Taft’s admin attacked US Steel Corp & Teddy took it as a personal attack • New Nationalism & Bull Moose Party – human welfare vs. property rights – attacked the courts

Woodrow Wilson • 28 th • Won due to split • Marks the transition from old America into a world leader.

New Freedom • Tariff reductions • Banking Reform • Stronger Anti-trust laws

Underwood Tariff Act • Reduced tariffs to lowest level in 50 yrs • Set up graduated income tax – More you makemore you pay

Federal Reserve Act • 1913 • Created a centralized banking system where banks can get loans in time of panic • Controls amount of money in circulation • 12 districts

Clayton Anti-Trust Act • Prohibited competing companies from buying stock in each other in order to form a monopoly • Supported worker boycotts, strikes, and picketing legal for the 1 st time

• Created the Federal Trade Commission – Enforced anti-trust laws – Deceptive advertising made illegal.