Theodore Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States from 1901 to 1909. He was a progressive reformer who established a number of important policies around conservation and antitrust laws. His successor, William Howard Taft, pursued antitrust policy aggressively but was more conservative than Roosevelt. Woodrow Wilson defeated Taft in the 1912 election and pushed progressive policies as president from 1913 to 1921, including establishing the Federal Reserve system and passing antitrust and labor laws.

1. Theodore Roosevelt
William Howard Taft
Woodrow Wilson

2.  After McKinley’s
assassination
◦ “Now look, that
damned cowboy is
president.”—Mark
Hanna
 Inaugurated at age
42, youngest
president ever

3.  NYC Police Commissioner, 1895-1897
◦ Friend of Jacob Riis
 Assistant Secretary of the Navy, 1897-1898
 Spanish-American War, 1898
◦ Roosevelt’s Rough Riders
 Governor of New York, 1899-1900
◦ Too progressive for many Republicans
 Vice President, 1901
 26th President, 1901-1909

4. Attended Harvard
Dakota Rancher (1884-1887)
NYC Police
Commissioner
(1895-1897

6. The Teddy Bear

7.  Regarded the president as “the steward of
public welfare”
 He moved aggressively to set a progressive
political agenda
◦ Delivered a 20K word address to Congress asking it
to curb the power of big corporations
◦ One month into office he invited Booker T.
Washington to dinner at the White House
 1st time an African American had been invited to the
WH for a meal
 Outraged some white southerners

9.  Phrase used as early as 1902; became slogan
for re-election in 1904
 Domestic program, 3 basic ideas:
◦ 1. Conservation of natural resources
◦ 2. Control of corporations
◦ 3. Consumer protection
*The Three C’s*

11.  Under Roosevelt conservation became a
concerted federal policy
 He worked closely w/ the head of the Forestry
Service, Gifford Pinchot
 Set aside 200+ millions of acres:
◦ 5 national parks
◦ 18 monuments
 Devil’s Tower (1906) & Grand Canyon (1908)
◦ 4 game preserves,
◦ 51 bird preserves
◦ 150 national forests

12. Devil’s Tower, Wyoming

13. The Grand Canyon

14. Roosevelt w/ John Muir at Glacier
Point in Yosemite Valley
President Roosevelt, John
Muir, & others at the base of
a giant sequoia in California

15.  “In the Grand Canyon, Arizona has a natural
wonder…Keep this great wonder of nature as it
is. You can not improve it. The ages have been at
work on it and man can only mar it.”—1903
 “All the great natural resources which are vital to
the welfare of the whole people should be kept
either in the hands or under the control of the
whole people.”—1912
 “There can be no greater issue than that of
conservation in this country.”--1912

16.  TR distinguished between “good” & “bad”
corporations
◦ He considered bad corporations to be run by greedy
financiers interested only in profit
 He shocked the corporate world by prosecuting the
Northern Securities Co. under the Sherman Antitrust
Act
◦ NSC was created by JP Morgan
◦ The holding company owned the stock & directed the affairs
of 3 western RRs
 It had a monopoly on transportation between the Great Lakes &
the Pacific
◦ By 1904 it was dissolved
 One newspaper: “Wall Street is paralyzed at the thought that a
President of the United States should sink to enforce the law.”
◦ Major victory of the antitrust movement

19.  Strike paralyzed
coalfields of PA & WV in
1902 (140K miners)
◦ Threatened to shut down
winter fuel supply to all
major cities
◦ TR invited union &
management leaders to
the White House & settled
the dispute
 Workers received 10% wage
increase & 9 hour workday
(down from 10)

20.  Strengthened the ICC
 Now could examine RRs’ business records &
set reasonable rates
 Congress, w/ urging from TR, created the
Dept. of Commerce & Labor in 1903
 Monitored corporations, ensured they had fair
business practices
 Later split into two depts.

21.  Meat Inspection Act
& Pure Food and
Drug Act
◦ Both were inspired by
Upton Sinclair’s The
Jungle

22.  Prior
experience/background:
◦ From Cincinnati, OH
◦ Graduate of Yale
◦ Lawyer & Judge
◦ Governor of the Philippines
◦ Roosevelt’s Secretary of War
◦ Defeated WJ Bryan in
election of 1908
 WJB, of Nebraska, had now lost
3X (1896, 1900, 1908)

23.  Hand-picked successor to TR
◦ Seemingly would follow in his footsteps
 In the end, he was more conservative than TR
 From his inaugural address:
◦ “The scope of a modern government has been
widened far beyond the principles laid down by the
old ‘laissez-fair’ school of political writers.”

24.  Taft pursued anti-trust policy more
aggressively than Roosevelt
◦ In 1911 he persuaded the Supreme Court to declare
Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Co. in violation of the
Sherman Antitrust Act
 Had to be broken up into separate marketing,
producing, & refining companies

25.  Taft supported this Amendment
 It authorized Congress to enact a graduated
income tax
◦ It was ratified shortly before he left office
◦ It provided a new source of revenue for a
government whose powers, responsibilities, &
expenditures were growing rapidly

26.  Passive personality
◦ More easily pushed around by Congress
 Some thought he lacked the physical &
mental stamina necessary to be president
◦ He weighed 350+ pounds
 Payne-Aldrich Tariff:
◦ Reduced tariff rates, but nearly as much as
reformers had hoped
 Taft called it the “best bill the Republican Party ever
passed”

28.  Taft was a conservationist, however…
 Gifford Pinchot, head of Forestry service, &
close friend to TR attacked Sec. of Interior,
Richard Ballinger
◦ Ballinger had opened up federal lands in WY, MT, &
AK for private use
 This angered many Progressives, including Pinchot
◦ To stop the negativity, Taft fired Pinchot for
insubordination
 This infuriated the public & also TR

29.  Split the GOP:
◦ “Old Guard” Republicans who supported Taft
◦ Progressive Republicans who backed TR
 Division allowed Democrats to regain control of the
House of Reps in mid-term elections of 1910

30. TR goes for the GOP nomination but loses
to Taft
Was hindered by a late start
TR forms the Progressive Party “Bull
Moose”
Woodrow Wilson wins the Democratic
nomination on the 46th ballot VP - WJB
- President of Princeton
- Governor of New Jersey

31. 
Voter Results
Popular Vote Electoral Vote
Wilson - 41.9% 435
Roosevelt - 27.4% 88
Taft - 23.2% 8
*Wilson was the only elected president for the
Democratic Party between 1892 & 1932*
*Wilson was 2nd Democratic president since
1861*

32.  Took advantage of
split in Republican
party
 Promised New
Freedom:
◦ Lower tariffs
◦ Banking reform
◦ Stronger antitrust
legislation
◦ Protection of right of
workers to unionize

33.  Underwood Tariff Act
◦ Cut rates from 40% to 27%
 Lost income would be replaced by income tax (16th
Amendment)
 Urged Congress to pass the Federal Reserve Act
◦ Created a Federal Reserve Board & 12 reserve districts
 Each district had its own central bank
◦ New system issued Federal Reserve Notes, now
commonly known as the U.S. dollar
◦ System is still in use today
 Regulates amount of $$$ in circulation
 Aids bank in danger of failing
 Influences interest rates

35. ◦ Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914:
 Exempted unions from antitrust laws
 Barred courts from issuing injunctions that curtailed
the right to strike
◦ Keating-Owen Act:
 Outlawed child labor in the manufacture of goods sold
in interstate commerce
◦ Adamson Act:
◦ Est. an 8-hour workday for railroaders
◦ Created the Federal Trade Commission (FTC):
 Investigates & prohibits “unfair” business activities like
price-fixing

36.  17th—1913
◦ Direct election of U.S.
Senators
 18th Amendment—
1920
◦ Prohibition of
alcoholic beverages
 Not supported by
Wilson
 19th Amendment—
1920
◦ Women’s suffrage
 Wilson did not publicly
support until 1918

37.  Ultimately, Wilson’s
Presidency was
defined by WWI