ROOSEVELT 1912 BULLY Very Good Well Done Excellent

ROOSEVELT 1912

“BULLY” Very Good! Well Done! Excellent!

A MAN OF ACTION @ HOME ABROAD SQUARE DEAL THE BIG STICK COAL MINERS’ STRIKE PANAMA CANAL RAILROAD REGULATION (Elkins and Hepburn Acts) NOBEL PEACE PRIZE CLEAN FOOD TRUST-BUSTING THE ENVIRONMENT GREAT WHITE FLEET

TR and The Progressive Party PRESENT A NEW NATIONALISM

• direct primaries for all state and national offices • direct election of senators • ballot initiative, referendum, and recall • an easier method for amending the Constitution • women’s suffrage • limits on individual campaign contributions • registration of lobbyists • opening congressional committee hearings to the public • permitting Supreme Court decisions to be reversed by national referendum • a ban on labor injunctions • national occupational safety standards • prohibition of child labor • a minimum wage for women

• a six-day workweek and an 8 -hour day • workmen’s compensation insurance • a social security system • improved educational standards • creation of a national health service • strengthening the ICC • currency reform • maintenance of the protective tariff only to the extent that it benefits labor • graduated inheritance and income taxes • greater assimilation of the immigrant population away from the central cities • federal securities commission to supervise public offerings of stocks and bonds

TAFT 1912

A MORE CONSERVATIVE APPROACH? CORPORATE REGULATION POLITICAL INFIGHTING Mann-Elkins Act (1910) (Strengthens ICC power over RR, Telephone, Telegraph) Insurgents vs. Old Guard TRUST BUSTING x 90 (Standard Oil, American Tobacco, U. S. Steel) TARIFF (Payne-Aldrich Act) “Uncle Joe” Cannon Ballinger-Pinchot Affair A Divided Party and Congress Shadow of TR

GIVE TAFT A SECOND CHANCE! • I’m NOT Theodore Roosevelt – the “mad messiah. ” • No meddling in the legislative process (respect of checks and balances). • Legalistic approach to the presidency with a judicial temperament (no bending the rules). • Thorough and painstaking decision making (thoughtful use of presidential powers). • Experience in world affairs (Governor of the Philippines). • Arbitration of international disputes and “dollars for bullets. ” • A non-aggressive approach to conservation. • Hopefully, a less politically divided Washington, D. C.

WILSON 1912

Woodrow Wilson and The Democratic Party PRESENT THE NEW FREEDOM • A temporary expansion of the power of the federal government. • Restore competition rather than regulate monopolies. • Eliminate ALL trusts, lower tariffs, and break up concentrated financial power on Wall Street. • Turn over most social programs to the states and cities. • Once completed, government reverts to Jeffersonian vision (SMALL GOV’T = stay out of people’s lives).

What I Will Do… FOR THE ECONOMY… • Lower the tariff and include an income tax. Underwood-Simmons Tariff (1916) • Create a new banking system that will improve our currency with “banker’s banks. ” * Federal Reserve Act (1913) • Create a Federal Trade Commission to define unfair trade practices and issue “cease and desist” orders. Federal Trade Commission (1914) • Strengthen anti-trust laws. Clayton Antitrust Act (1914) • Support low-interest loans for farmers and internal improvements at federal expense. Federal Farm Loan Act, Warehouse Act, and the Federal Highways Act (1916)

What I Will Do… FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE… • Endorse state action for women’s suffrage. No national amendment. • Support state action on child labor. No national legislation at first. • Support an 8 -hour workday for railroad employees. Only with the Election of 1916 looming. • Eliminate “possible friction” in the workplace by racially segregating federal employees. Opposition to black voting rights (dumb whites, too). • Appoint Louis D. Brandeis to the Supreme Court. Champion of social justice and 1 st Jewish member.

DEBS 1912

Eugene V. Debs WANTS SOCIALISM • An assault on capitalism (Overthrow? ). Legal seizure of political power by the working class. • Change the present social order. • Progressivism is simply an apology for the crimes of capitalism. * By far, Debs was the most RADICAL candidate in the Election of 1912!