Sometimes politics can turn the greatest of friends into bitter enemies. This was the fate for two of the four presidential candidates of 1912. Those two candidates were Theodore Roosevelt and William Taft. Roosevelt and Taft were the 26th and 27th presidents of the United States. Both presidents were republicans and both were very close friends at one time. In fact, William Taft was a handpicked successor of Roosevelt. Soon after though, there was a rift between the two with both calling each other names and belittling each other in the public eye. Despite the fact that they both followed the same Republican policies, there were differences between them. Why did these two presidents who were once very close friends turn on each other? …show more content…
He was also known as Theodore Roosevelts handpicked successor. Taft supported Theodore Roosevelts “Square Deal” policy which attempted to strike a balance between employers and employees as well as Conservatives and Progressives. It soon proved impossible to please everyone as Taft did not have Roosevelt’s charisma. Eventually he wound up satisfying Conservatives more than Progressives. Taft’s administration however, had pursued more antitrust suits than Roosevelt had. During his speech at Elkton, Maryland in 1912, President Taft stated that what he attempted to do during his presidency was to carry out Roosevelt’s policies. Taft also states that one of those policies was thought to be the prosecution of the trusts under the anti-trust law. Taft includes that because of this he gave orders to his attorney general to prosecute any and every trust that violated that law. During his speech Taft states “the only difference between me and Mr. Roosevelt is that I prosecuted the Steel Trust and the Harvester Trust, and he did not”. Unlike Roosevelt who was known for his fiery personality, President Taft was calm and quiet. He preferred to work behind closed doors in private. President Taft, being a former judge, would refuse to make hasty decisions while depending on facts to make decisions and not emotions. President Taft, unlike Roosevelt, believed that the presidency was a job and an administrative post as opposed to a “bully pulpit”. Taft however, finished the job that Roosevelt had started in dealing with big businesses and prosecuted twice as many as Roosevelt had. Despite Roosevelt’s reputation as being a reformer and trust buster, Taft had actually reformed more business practices in the United States by initiating more lawsuits to bring the trusts down than Roosevelt. Taft believed in many of the same things as Roosevelt but he wanted those same goals through legal means.
One of his accomplishments was when he went down in of the United States’ first submarines to show officers and men who were enlisted that he was not going to ask them to try something that he was not willing to try himself. Other successes for President T. Roosevelt was his involvement in the Alaskan-Canadian border dispute and his involvement in the Algeciras Conference – which avoided a war. Roosevelt’s main accomplishments during his second term were the Hepburn Bill, the Pure Food and Drug Act, The Panic of 1907, and creating the first wildlife refuge. Toward the end of his second term, Teddy started thinking about who would be the best fit for the next president. He had it between William Howard Taft and Elihu Root, but in the end thought that Taft would be the best bet and America agreed with him when Taft was up against William Jennings Bryan in the
Theodore Roosevelt stepped into head of office on September 19, 1901 when President William McKinley was assassinated. He was the youngest man to become president. His motto was “speak softly but carry a big stick.” President Roosevelt would come into power offering America the square deal. He would take the power away from the industrialists as he controlled big business from the White House. He would soon become known as a TrustBuster. Roosevelt used American power for American interests and was quoted as saying, “I am an American first and last. “ Although some historians argue that Roosevelt acted like a six-year-old throughout his presidency and that he didn’t think things through, ie “he thought with his hips”, one can admire the tremendous leadership qualities that Teddy Roosevelt had. First, he was a very bold man who graduated magna cum laude from Harvard. The average citizen was aware of what a “positive, warm and tough, authoritative and funny” president that they had leading them. His leadership qualities stemmed from his time as a New York state Assembly man, a deputy sheriff, a ...
They genuinely wanted what was best for the United States. Few would consider running for President in this country, with its checks and balances, if they did not care about the best things for the nation as a whole. Jefferson, for example, was the author of the Declaration of Independence and had been in George Washington’s cabinet. Jefferson did this before he was ever President and it is hard to imagine a man would dedicate that much time and energy in something he did not care whole heartedly about. Harry S. Truman did not have a complicated history in politics, as a former senator, and was thrust into the presidency after Franklin Delano Roosevelt died. He never went looking to be the President of the United States. It just fell on him suddenly as did an entire throng of issues that were currently going on especially with World War Two. He too genuinely cared for the country and the outcome of these events going on in the world around them. Neither of these men were in office purely to have power, they were in office because they cared about the world around them. Both Jefferson and Truman expanded the United States albeit in very different areas. Jefferson physically grew the United States with the Louisiana Purchase, which nearly doubled the land of the nation. Truman on the other hand expanded the defense of the nation as well as the international dealings in
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.
Teddy, with a prominent military background and a strong love of big game hunting, than Wilson with a strong intellect background, a very organized and “to the books” personality. Some similarities between the two presidents are that they both decreased the exposure of big businesses. Roosevelt with his famous policy that broke up major railroad, oil, and steel conglomerates, later leading to the Federal Trade Commission. Now with Wilson, The Wilson Administration banned child labors and instituted maximum hours legislation for railroad workers.Teddy was always a hands on president, very active and boisterous. Wilson was more of a reclusive and composed president. Many people debate which president was better, but nothing can deny that both presidents left a legacy on the United
In 1901 Vice President Theodore Roosevelt took over as President after William McKinley was assassinated. The country had many opportunities ahead but was in need of some changes that the American people were all too ready for. Roosevelt was brought up in a well to do family and had was Harvard educated. But he was known to be a down to earth man that understood the needs of the people. His first priority as president was to give the people a “square deal” which encompassed his plan for the era. He wanted to reduce control the big businesses had over the U.S. economy and the workers, create more protection for the consumer, and create a plan to conserve our natural resources.
Roosevelt’s mail goal was to uphold and maintain the framer’s government of the people, by the people, and for the people. (Bull Moose Party, 1912) He saw the benefit of increased efficiency brought on by Big Business but stressed the need to legislate against its abuse of power while, in his "New Nationalism", emphasized the need for enhanced regulation and legislation to combat the evils of Big Business and at the same time maintain an acceptable tone. (Roosevelt,1910) In his "Square Deal" policy, he outlined a plan for enforcing equality for all members of society, including both the small-time laborer and the big-time business executives. He made notice of that fact that special interests groups were using their power to manipulate politics into misrepresenting the common will of mankind. (Bowles, 2011) He stressed the importance of ridding politics of this manipulation through measures such as prohibiting political contributions from corporations and implementation of the Australian ballot. Roosevelt also pointed out that the power of Big Business could be and was being misused to exploit the Little Man and stifle his advancement through society. He suggested that corporations and the people who run them be responsible for maintaining fully legal behavior and disclosing economic status to the public in order to prevent corruption. He also stressed that government should maintain complete control over industry ...
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of The United States Of America. He was a writer, a naturalist and a soldier. He stretched the forces of the administration and of the national government in backing of the general population enthusiasm toward clashes between huge business and work and guided the country to a dynamic part in world governmental issues. Theodore Roosevelt certainly helped the country in the right direction. He paved the way for reform, especially trust regulation. His nickname as the trustbuster was truly earned as he made many constant efforts in those areas, as well as others. His Square Deal plan targeted trust regulation, labor relations, and public health and conservation, the three
...he government to the ordinary people as explained in July 5, 1892 by the Omaha Morning World –Herald (Doc F). Lastly, the laws for the regulation of businesses was enforces until President Theodore Roosevelt had also contributed by suing companies that violated the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.
Theodore Roosevelt’s legacy as a great president, lives on today through his policies. The Panama Canal now saves ships thousands of miles, and National Parks inspire people to conserve the resources of this earth. His social justice policies keep businesses honest and force them to be fair. But like all humans he had flaws. One of his major weaknesses was he thought anyone who did not agree with him was un-American, and during World War One was suspicious of German Americans. While on state Legislature, he tried to fire a judge based on corruption because he reached a verdict Roosevelt did not agree with. But Roosevelt’s great intelligence, strength, and curiosity outweighed his flaws, and it is not surprise he is considered as one of America’s greatest presidents.
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.
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.” This forced industrialists and monopolistic corporations to consider public opinion when making business decisions, which benefited the consumer and helped grow the economy. One way that Wilson and Roosevelt tried protecting these smaller businesses was by removing trusts that were much bigger than they were. Under Wilson’s authority in 1814, the Clayton Anti- Trust Act was passed, which abolished interlocking directorates. This law was passed as an amendment to clarify and supplement the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890. When Roosevelt became president in 1901, he demanded a “Square Deal” that would address his principal concerns for the era- the three C’s: control of corporations, consum...
One way they tried to better the economy was eliminating monopolies. Monopolies were companies that took control over small businesses which would decrease competition and that would harm consumers because they did not have a variety of companies and usually the prices would be very high. Some famous monopolies were Rockefeller's oil company, J.P. Morgan’s railroad company, and Carnegie’s steel company. These monopolies would limit competition meaning consumers were stuck on purchasing goods from them. Usually these individuals would lower prices to attract customers but once they had a lot of customers they would raise prices. Theodore Roosevelt was against bad trusts because he believed that they would harm the economy by raising prices for consumers but he favored the good trusts because he was able to regulate them and allowed them to have low prices (Doc A). The Sherman Antitrust Act was created to try and eliminate monopolies however, these monopolies did not respect the Sherman Antitrust Act because the supreme court said that the act only applied to commerce not manufacturing. When president Woodrow Wilson was in office, the Sherman Antitrust Act was later more clarified by the Clayton Antitrust Act. The Clayton Antitrust Act made it “unlawful for any person engaged in commerce, in the course of such commerce, either directly or indirectly to discriminate in price between different purchasers of
In Theodore Roosevelt's opinion, trusts are inevitable. As said in his 1910 "New Nationalism" speech, "There can be no effective control of corporation while their political activity remains. To put an end it will be neither a short nor an easy task, but it can be done". Woodrow Wilson had a somewhat different view on how trusts react in our society. He believes that trusts are natural but not inevitable. Wilson states in his speech in 1912 that trusts are manmade and believes they're intolerable. "I am not willing to be under the patronage of the trusts, no matter how providential a government presides over the process of their control of my life", Wilson exclaims during a campaign speech. He didn't care how much governmental control they were under and he would like to do anything in his power to stop them completely from taking over the industries.
With the dawning of the 20th century came an emergence of social awareness as muckrakers, investigative journalists who were reform minded and generally wrote for popular magazines and newspapers that exposed the ills of society and corruption in the government, opened the blind eye of ignorant Americans to these issues. One of the first to strike was Lincoln Steffens as he exposed how city officials worked in league with big business to maintain power while corrupting the public treasury. It became clear to the government that reforms were desperately needed, and Theodore Roosevelt provided the nation with just that as he sought broad reforms and regulations at the national level during his presidency. Roosevelt utilized his domestic program, the “Square Deal”, to take action against bad trusts, or large monopolies like the Northern Securities Act as well as restrain the good trusts. He distinguished between these trusts, describing “good trusts” as good services that provide...