Theodore Roosevelt and Progressivism
Despite the criticism of their reform efforts, Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson's commitment to and success in achieving national reform made them successful progressive presidents. There hasn't yet been a presidency that didn't receive criticism, with or without justification. Roosevelt in particular, received a lot of praise and criticism for his successes and failures. Overall, however, both Roosevelt and Wilson acknowledged and were committed to bringing about changes during their presidencies. They were both good presidents for the Progressive Era.
President Roosevelt was deeply criticized during his presidency. Robert La Follette, the Republican leader of Progressivism before Roosevelt, was one of Roosevelt's biggest critics. In his Autobiography: A personal narrative of political experiences, he talks about Roosevelt's reform policies, particularly his position on the Anti-Trust Law and his trust strategy in general, and how he didn't solve the problems, but only increased the growth of monopolies and the power of business (Doc E). There were also many political cartoons published which criticized Roosevelt's policies. One in particular pictures Roosevelt singing loudly his Progressive fallacies, with La Follette sulking in the background (Doc G). There was justification to criticize Roosevelt. Although he was infamous for his "square deal," taking on trusts, he busted only about half as many trusts in twice as much time as President Taft later did. The cases he did take on were high profile, and he was noisy about them. Also, he may have only fought trusts because he thought it would be riskier to ignore them.
Woodrow Wilson also had policies that were controversial, and the extent of his progressivism can be questioned. Wilson's progressive attitude didn't extent to many areas. For example, he didn't reform the way government corruption occurred. He would even encourage this by giving his friends rewards and punishing his enemies. He operated on a minimal spoils system. He was also quite racist. His reform policies didn't extend to African-Americans. He appointed many Southern racists to his cabinet and was strongly opposed to black suffrage. He considered enfranchisement an evil. Wilson also didn't want to reform social injustices. Offering no support for the ratification a suffrage movement, Wilson preferred state action for women's suffrage. Child labor was another issue he considered a state matter. Reform was something Wilson only considered on certain issues.
Despite questions of motive and success, Roosevelt can be considered a successful progressive president and reformer.
But if there is one thing to say about both men, that they equally accomplished even though both did it different ways and by different means, is that they worked with Congress flawlessly. Both had the undivided support of their Congress in their actions. Whether it be leading Conservatives supporting Reagan and his foreign policy or Roosevelt when it came down to making changes in policies to better the public, they had the full support of those behind them. Both men seemed to be extremely charismatic when it came to this. It was almost as if that instead of choosing their Cabinets, they had managed to pick their Congress.
In what ways were Roosevelt 's and Taft 's stances on progressivism similar, and different? Their stance on the trusts, for example, started out similar but soon deviated from each other. At first Roosevelt believed that the trusts needed to topple. Through out his presidency, though, he came to the conclusion that trust were inevitable.
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 Roosevelt believed more in the philosophy of “Speak softly and carry a big stick”, Wilson hoped “to cultivate the friendship and deserve the confidence of the Latin American states” (millercenter.org, n.d.). Given these similarities and differences between these two Progressive presidents, it is easy to see how the idea of “Progress” and Progressivism can mean so many different things, while still encompassing the same general set of ideas and principles. Both men aimed to improve the American economy in a time when corporate monopolization was rampant, however, they both set out to achieve the heavier regulation of corporate monopolies in different ways. Two progressive thinkers, two completely different ways of achieving progress.
Presidents create the leadership position that has a say in all of the decisions for a country. In this era, many judgments of situations needed to be decided, and it made it blatantly obvious as to who made the wrong or right decisions. In the political cartoon published by Washington Post in 1907, Roosevelt wanted to convey that it was necessary to determine what trusts were good or bad. Trusts were made to shut down businesses and he felt he had the power to run these options and opinions. After some violated the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, Teddy really took a step forward in proving his trust-busting techniques. In a speech that Roosevelt made in February of 1912, he expressed his belief on the importance of the people participating in direct election of Senators through his speech. This importance that he felt was necessary eventually led on to the 17th Amendment, which was passed the year after. In Herbert Croly’s New Republic, Wilson received quite a bit of loathing from Croly as he expressed his opinions. The supporters of Wilson definitely disagreed with an article like this, and it was unacceptable to some. Whether liked or disliked, the presidents during this period made an impact on our nation, and the people wanted to be heard for the rights they wanted.
...essives, they still recognized the utility of local government. In that sense, the Wilsonian system was the most integrated. The political parties were broad organizations, spanning from local to national politics and hopefully fostering some sort of interconnectivity. Wilson acknowledged the danger and rigidity of a two-party system, but also realized that parties would balance a government's tendency to accumulate excessive amounts of power. The individual was able to engage himself in politics, but the functionality of the Federal Government was never impeded upon. Somehow, Wilson had nearly resolved the differences that had been plaguing American politics for the preceding century. He was the first president to recognize that he possessed two responsibilities as a party leader and policy-maker and that is why his system was so admirable, enduring and emulated.
Along with reforms by citizens the presidents of the Progressive era also fought to make things right. President Roosevelt was a war hero, and a great leader of the United States. During his role as...
...luded his attitude towards blacks. He appointed whites to offices reserved for blacks, segregated the navy, and threw African American leaders out of his office. Of course, textbooks omit these facts about Wilson because his behavior was disgraceful and offensive. If these facts were known, Loewen feels “No black person could ever consider Woodrow Wilson a hero” (Loewen 20). I personally have not studied Wilson in-depth, but did realize he fell into the category of a racist. I also believe that “Americans need to learn from the Wilson era, that there is a connection between racist presidential leadership and like-minded public response” (Loewen 21). I think this an important factor when considering who to vote for at the polls.
Zora Hurston was an African American proto-feminist author who lived during a time when both African Americans and women were not treated equally. Hurston channeled her thirst for women’s dependence from men into her book Their Eyes Were Watching God. One of the many underlying themes in her book is feminism. Zora Hurston, the author of the book, uses Janie to represent aspects of feminism in her book as well as each relationship Janie had to represent her moving closer towards her independence.
The Nation of Islam, which Malcolm X was an important member of, is not a religious organization as the name suggests but rather an organization whose goal was to make the lives of African Americans better instead of actually teaching the proper ethics of Islam. One of the main objectives of this organization was Black Nationalism, through which Black leaders can control the areas where there is a majority of African Americans. This cause was greatl...
Roosevelt immediately gained the public's favor with his liberal ideas. In the first 100 days, Roosevelt stabilized banks with the Federal Bank Holiday. In the New Deal he fought poverty with the TVA, NRA, AAA, CCC, PWA, and CWA. These policies were definitely liberal in the 1930's and because of the new programs, Roosevelt received false credit for ending the Depression. Ironically Roosevelt succeeded only a little more than Hoover in ending the Depression. Despite tripling expenditures during Roosevelt's administration, (Document F) the American economy did not recover from the Depression until World War II.
The Progressive Era lasted from the 1890s until the 1920s during World War 1. However, its legacy continued subsequently, spreading the philosophy and the policies of Franklin D. Roosevelt. FDR was elected president during a major economic depression known as the Great Depression. He issued the New Deal, which was a series of domestic reforms to battle the depression by enacting numerous social insurance measures and use the government spending to stimulate the economy. While, the Progressive Era was a reform movement seeking to return control of the government to people, to restore economic opportunities and amend the injustices in American life.
...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.
Through her use of southern black language Zora Neale Hurston illustrates how to live and learn from life’s experiences. Janie, the main character in Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, is a woman who defies what people expect of her and lives her life searching to become a better person. Not easily satisfied with material gain, Janie quickly jumps into a search to find true happiness and love in life. She finally achieves what she has searched for with her third marriage.
President Roosevelt brought the executive branch of the government into power like never before. He is hated to this day by many people. But for the majority of the country during one of our toughest times, he was what we needed. Without consulting history acknowledging that, it’s impossible to judge what he did very negatively. The old ways weren’t working, and while President Hoover tried to do something, it wasn’t enough. President Roosevelt was more successful with the actions he took for relief during the Great Depression.