President Franklin D. Roosevelt began his political career as assistant secretary of the Navy under Woodrow Wilson; backed Governor Wilson in the 1912 presidential nomination; and ran for vice president in 1920 on a program of support for Wilson’s League of Nations.1 Wilson and Roosevelt are both well known for their political agendas and achievements and both presidents took a strong stance on the function of the US in the world arena. Roosevelt used Wilson’s policies as a guidepost for his presidency, but did not strictly adhere to the Wilsonianism throughout his own tenure in the White House.
Roosevelt may have entered office as a Wilsonian Democrat, but he made clear during his campaign that he would not uphold the internationalists ideas of the Wilson administration. During Roosevelt’s campaign he told those gathered for his speech to the New York Grange “that while he had favored American entry into the League of Nations as it was envisaged in 1920, the League had changed, and he was opposed to entering it now;”2 and his managers “had been forced to pledge to William Randolph Hearst that in an FDR administration, there would be no international entanglements”3 to secure the 1932 presidential nomination. Once he entered office, one of Roosevelt’s first acts on the world stage was to “torpedo” the London Economic Conference4 by rejecting the agreement and opening denouncing the stabilization of currency. At the early juncture it seemed that Roosevelt was making a statement that he did was not interested in internationalism.
Roosevelt was influenced by Wilson, even if it is only to the point suggested by David Fromkin that Roosevelt felt “Wilsonianism was a catalog of disastrous errors to be avoided.”5 This is evident...
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Roosevelt, Franklin D. “Address before the Woodrow Wilson Foundation.” Speech, 28 December 1933. The American Presidency Project. Accessed 13 February 2014. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=14593.
Walker, Stephen G., and Mark Schafer. "Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson as Cultural Icons of U.S. Foreign Policy." Political Psychology 28, no. 6 (December 2007): 747-776. Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost. Accessed 13 February 2014. http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.umuc.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=2889194b-db5c-4801-b7d8-930c2a44b7ce%40sessionmgr115&vid=3&hid=107.
Wilson, Woodrow. “Fourteen Points.” Speech, Washington, DC, 8 January 1918. American Rhetoric. Accessed 13 February 2014. http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/wilsonfourteenpoints.htm.
...nvestment there (Hewitt, 635). Though Woodrow Wilson tried to be a diplomatic imperialist, with so many abroad American business interests at stake, many times he couldn't venture from Theodore Roosevelt's imperialism agenda of using military might.
Wilson, T. W. (n.d.). "This is War" American Rhetoric: The Power of Oratory in the United States. Retrieved April 14, 2011, from http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/wilsonwarmessage.htm
Roosevelt and Wilson were both strong believers in Progressivism. The Progressive movement was time of eliminating corruption and reform. Roosevelt wanted a stronger central government to help the people. He used his position as president as a “bully pulpit”, in that he would influence public opinion through his popularity. Roosevelt often took a more aggressive approach to domestic policy in that he would go against the Old Guard Republicans, whereas Wilson was one to speak directly in front of congress in order to gain their support. Roosevelt became president towards the beginning of the progressive movement, and so he had a harder time trying make reforms than Wilson did. Also, by telling the public that he was only going to run one term, his chances of running for a second term was greatly diminished, which is one of the reasons why Wilson came ahead in the election of 1912. Roosevelt promoted New Nationalism, while Wilson promoted New Freedom. They were very popular presidents in the eyes of the American people. Especially Roosevelt, who liked to vocalize his opinions and open up his private life to them. Throughout the early 1900s, Roosevelt and Wilson both were leaders in the progressive movement, with their own spin on how it should be done. The two presidents altered labor and large businesses, civil rights, and ultimately the role of the federal government.
Between 1895 and 1920, the years in which William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, William Taft, and Woodrow Wilson reigned in the presidents, the United States struggled for not only justice at home but abroad as well. During this period policies such as Roosevelt’s Big Stick diplomacy, William Taft’s Dollar diplomacy, and Woodrow Wilson’s Moral diplomacy were all used in foreign affairs in hopes of benefit for all involved. However, it would be appropriate to say that self-interest was the most important driving factor for American policy and can be exemplified through economic, social, and political relations.
Roosevelt shaped the legacy of expansionism that he inherited from McKinley into a new imperialism. Roosevelt's reinterpretation was dedicated to the idea of order in world affairs, rather than occupation or colonization, eventual independence for undeveloped or developing nations once they had conformed to the American model of government, and a world in which international disputes would be settled by negotiation instead of war. The new world order that Roosevelt envisioned was broad in that it would open foreign markets to American values and products.
But Wilson's legacy was not confined to foreign policy. His progressive domestic programs helped stabilize and humanize a huge industrial system, and his success in making the presidency the intellectual and political leader of the American government enabled the United States to deal effectively with the challenges and threats of the modern world. But don't forget the credit of Roosevelt's "New Imperialism. " It became the hallmark of American foreign policy in the new century, positioning America as the leader of the Western alliance.
While both of these men considered themselves to be part of the progressives and shared some similar opinions, they also differed from each other greatly and were apparent in their views during this time. These two candidates believed strongly that rising power should come with the presidency, economic improvement, opposition of monopolistic businesses, and they both advocated steering away from the isolationism that the country once upheld. The campaigns of the two men spoke of New Nationalism and New Freedom, and the two campaigns had some commonality between the two of them. Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson both expressed their concerns about the wrongs of corruption and what roles could be served by increased government control and regulation over businesses.
His policies were successful in that they led to the end of the war with Germany and Japan. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was relatively unknown to politics until his campaign for presidency in 1932. Another way FDR helped establish the modern presidency and his place in it was by establishing the military and taking steps toward future world alliances. In 1938, FDR'set out to align the United States with the Western democracies, embarking on a sustained effort to educate his nation to his views and build up its military capacity' (Greenstein 20). This creation of the United States as a world power helped boost the need for a more modernized presidency.
Link’s book was published in 1979 and was written based upon privet manuscript collections, government archives from the U.S, Brittan, France and Germany, as well as newspapers. Link also reaches from monographs, biographies, and articles from numerous colleagues. (Link.pg 129) Each of these sources are solid and reliable sources, and were well used to put together a book packed with information on Woodrow Wilson’s life. Link uses many firsthand accounts from Wilson himself, but seems almost suspicious of accounts that were not presented first hand. Though Link is extremely selective in what he chose to present, the book clearly presents these facts, but has a very bias opinion of Wilson as discussed earlier. Link’s evidence, though selective, fits nicely in the monograph and makes the aspects of Wilson that he does cover clear and easy to read
Roosevelt tended to become more involved with foreign events. On the other hand, Wilson favored remaining impartial in foreign affairs. Wilson didn’t want to become entangled in World War 1 until the United States was directly stricken. During the progressive era, both Roosevelt and Wilson put in great effort to defend smaller businesses. Theodore Roosevelt’s policy of prosecuting monopolies, or “trusts,” that violated federal antitrust laws was known as “Trust-Busting.”
The 1930’s, it was an arduous time for an innumerable amount of Americans, where in the the year before in 1929, the stock market collapsed. This led to strenuous period of American history that would test the strength and will power of democracy and vigor of the nation. In a time where it seemed bleak and dreary, a shift in ideals in which to raise a country, that seemed radical and irrational during such a time in which being “conservative” was almost habitual. The Depression was something not only something felt in America alone, as a tariff war sprung, building paper walls and barriers to allied countries.The man, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who would go on to make history, took office in 1933 after Herbert Hoover, the harbinger of the depression,
Something had to be done about the banking system disintegration, and the most conservative business leaders were as ready for government intervention as the most advanced radicals (Garraty 765). It was unquestionably Franklin D. Roosevelt who provided the spark that reenergized the American people (Garraty 765). “His inaugural address, delivered in a raw mist beneath dark March skies, reassured the country and at the same time stirred it to action” (Garraty 765). Accepting the 1932 Democratic presidential nomination, Roosevelt said, “I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people” (Stevenson 125). “The New Deal included federal action of unprecedented scope to stimulate industrial recovery, assist victims of the Depression, guarantee minimum living standards, and prevent future economic crises” (Stevenson 125). At first, the New Deal was concerned mainly with relief, but the later years-beginning in 1935 and often called the second New Deal-emphasized reform (Stevenson 127).
All in all these two presidents had similar goals. They just achieved them in different ways. Wilson and Roosevelt were idealists who wanted the U.S. to be more active in world affairs. Both were willing to take drastic action to protect the United States. Roosevelt relocated Japanese Americans and enforced trade embargos on European and Asian nations. Wilson cracked down on Germany’s actions during WWI and the breaking of that agreement lead to Wilson declaring war on Germany. These actions have changed our history forever and the worlds. If it weren’t for US entering either war, Germany may have won and the world we know today would be way different.
...ir racial characteristics. He also knew the value of the ethnic vote. Wilson on the other hand was a racist who brought his Virginia attitude with him to the White House. Perhaps the most ironic thing about these two men is the fact that Theodore Roosevelt won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1904 for helping resolve the Russian-Japanese fighting, and TR never was in office during the Great Wars while Wilson was. However, we did end up getting the United Nations from Woodrow Wilson’s presidency.
Even though they were both progressives, the two presidents had different paths in mind for the future of the United States. Their different perspective and priorities were evident in their speeches: New Nationalism by Roosevelt and New Freedom by Wilson. Wilson's New Freedom looked to the destruction of all trusts to promote economic competition and permit small businesses once again to flourish. While the federal government was to use its power on a one-time basis to bust all trusts, the federal government was to have no role in regulating business. Any regulation would have to be done by state governments. This contrasted markedly with Roosevelt's New Nationalism,...