During the early 1900s the president of the United States of America was a man called Theodore Roosevelt. Although he began his term as president with the death of President McKinley, his period in the White House turned out to be one of the most progressive periods in American history. His progressive policies influenced the direction that the country would take in the twentieth century. In the following paper I will explain several of Theodore Roosevelts progressive polices. Specifically I will deal with his labor policies and his new nationalism policy.
My thesis will be that these policies had a genuinely positive effect on America as a whole nation. Theodore Roosevelt was born on October 27, 1858 in New York City, New York. He was the second of four children and showed at an early age an aptitude for leadership. When Roosevelt was 18 he entered Harvard University and graduated there in 1880 at the age of 22. He married Alice Hathaway Lee in 1880 and they had one child named Alice. Sadly though Alice died giving birth to their daughter. By 1881 Roosevelt was winning appointments to the New York State assembly.
Roosevelt remarried in 1886 to Edith Kermit Carow and had five children with her. In 1895 Roosevelt was made Assistant Secretary of the Navy. When the Spanish-American broke out Roosevelt quickly resigned his post and formed a cavalry regiment he named the roughriders. During the war the roughriders lead a charge that captured vital San Juan Hill. After the war he became Governor of New York and later the vice-president under William McKinley. When McKinley was assassinated on September 6th, 1901 Roosevelt was sworn in as President. During his first term as President, Roosevelt put one of his most progressive policies into effect.
This policy dealt with labor and anti-trusts. During the early part of the twentieth century the large businesses of the day would combine to form powerful monopolies that kept a strangle hold on all the competition. These trusts, Roosevelt believed, have on a whole done great good to our people but combination and concentration should be, not prohibited, but supervised and, within reasonable limits, controlled. (World Book, Vol. 16, Pg. 468) In 1902 the United States government, under the influence of President Roosevelt, sued the Northern Securities company on charges of stifling all competition.
The founder of Northern Securities, J. P Morgan, would not settle and the case went to court. Roosevelt said he didnt want to use the government to ruin private firms, but rather to strengthen the economy of the nation. In 1904 the Supreme Court upheld the governments case and dissolved the Northern Securities company. During the rest of Roosevelts Presidency the government would file suits against 43 other corporations. Roosevelt not only wanted the government to help small businesses, but also to be a helping hand to the labor class.
In May 1902, about 140,000 coal workers in Pennsylvania went on strike. The workers were striking for better wages and healthier working conditions. As talks between owners and workers dragged on coal supplies throughout the country began to dwindle. Finally Roosevelt stepped in and suggested the owners and the workers settle their differences through a government-monitored arbitration. The miners agreed, but the owners refused and Roosevelt threatened to use the army if necessary to settle the strike. With the threat of military involvement the owners agreed to talk but not to Roosevelt.
J. P. Morgan agreed to arbitrate the talks and an agreement was finally reached in favor of the miners. As a result of this crisis the government set up the department of commerce and labor. Roosevelt also gave the nation its first national dilemma settled by government involved arbitration. He was very proud of the decision because he felt it gave the workers a Square Deal (Grantham, pg. 58) In 1904 Roosevelt again ran for the Presidency. The Democrats ran Judge Alton B. Parker against him. The Campaign was highlighted by Roosevelts preaching about his square deal and Parkers ranting about controlling presidential power.
Roosevelt won by more that 2 and a half million votes, more that any other president in history up to that point. After winning the election Roosevelt set about hammering home one of his new pet projects, A policy that was set up to instill a new nationalism in all Americans. The new nationalism called for more equality between the classes. I stand for fair play under the present rules of the game, but that I stand for having those rules changed so as to work for a more substantial equality of opportunity and of reward for equally good service (Grantham, Pg. 79) said Roosevelt in one of his square deal speeches.
The new nationalism was a very progressive policy because no other president would look to bridge the gap between rich and poor for another 25 years. The new nationalism was also progressive because it was a policy that helped all of Americas citizens not just a select few and helped to create a middle class in America. As Roosevelts second term went on he increased his drive to implement as many new policies as possible. He implemented many progressive policies such as a new pure food act. The Pure Food act was implemented because of the utterly vile conditions of Americas meat plants revealed in Upton Sinclairs book The Jungle.
After the book was published Americans were shocked and demanded new reforms for the food industry. Thats when Roosevelt stepped in and addressed congress directly on the matter and forced the new Pure Food Act all the way through the house and the senate. Roosevelt also had several foreign progressive policies that he enacted while in office. Some of these were the negotiating of terms under which the Japanese government would give up its claim to Manchuria and the split of Morocco between Germany and France.
The Japanese and Russians had been fighting a small war in the early part of the twentieth century over an area of northern China called Manchuria. The Japanese claimed that they did not have to return Manchuria because it was an acquisition of war and compensation for their winning the war. Russia on the other hand disagreed and threatened to open hostilities again. Roosevelt brought the two sides together and had them sign the Treaty of Portsmouth. Roosevelt won the Nobel Peace Prize for the treaty. He was the first president and American to win a Nobel Prize in history.
The other foreign policy the Roosevelt acted towards was that of the border dispute between French and German Morocco. Germany demanded a share of Morocco for itself and its alliance came dangerously close to war with France and Britain. President Roosevelt convinced the two sides to meet at an international conference in Spain in 1906. During the conference the United Stated sided with France and Germany backed down on its demands, thus avoiding war. After his second term ended in 1909 Roosevelt stepped down and made way for his successor William Howard Taft. During 1909 Roosevelt went big hunting and fishing in Africa.
In all he brought down over 250 animals. When Roosevelt returned to the states in 1910 he was again the center of attention. Progressive republicans felt that Taft had betrayed them and begged Roosevelt to run for another term of office. He finally agreed and began to campaign once more for the oval office this time as a third party candidate under the Progressive Party ticket. This party came to be known as the Bull-Moose Party when a reporter asked the aging ex-president how he felt and Roosevelt replied As strong as a bull-moose. (World Book, Volume 16, Pg. 472.
Though his running for president was not progressive the partys policies were. They called for more democratic reforms along the same basis as the New Nationalism policy of the past. Sadly though neither Taft nor Roosevelt would win the election. The split in the partys vote allowed the Democratic Nominee, Governor Woodrow Wilson of New Jersey, to win by a landslide. After the election Roosevelt began to have health problems and rapidly his health began to completely fail him. This combined with a rare jungle fever, caught on an expedition to the Amazon, left Roosevelt dying and prematurely aged.
On January 6, 1919 Theodore Roosevelt died of a sudden blood clot in the heart. With the passing of Theodore Roosevelt so to passed the progressive Republican party. In conclusion the progressive policies of Theodore Roosevelt had a great positive effect on America as a whole. His labor policies helped poor Americans gain the repect that they deserved and his New Nationalism united the classes like never before in our history. His foreign policies helped to keep World War I from breaking out earlier then it did and helped to keep peace in Asia. Truly his policies were one of the high points in presidential history.