🎀Progressive Era Presidents Study Notes

Bully Pulpit: Roosevelt expanded executive influence through energetic public speeches, using his personality to shape national policy.
Square Deal (Three C's): Roosevelt's domestic framework focused on three primary goals:
- Control of corporations
- Conservation of nature
- Consumer protection
Trust Busting: Dismantled the Northern Securities company in 1902 (a J.P. Morgan transportation monopoly), established the Bureau of Corporations, and filed lawsuits against 44 trusts.
Elections: Took office when President McKinley was assassinated in 1900; won his own term in 1904 against Allen v. Parker by 336 to 140 electoral votes.

Hepburn Act of 1906: Strengthened the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), created under Cleveland, to enforce fair railroad freight pricing.
Consumer Safety: Prompted by muckraker Upton Sinclair's book The Jungle, Roosevelt passed the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act.
Environmental Conservation: Preserved over 243,000,000 acres of public land for national parks and natural preservation.
Civil Rights Flaws: Failed to address southern Jim Crow laws, lynching, or disenfranchisement, supporting Booker T. Washington's focus on vocational training and gradual civil rights.
Washington Standard: Refused to run for a third consecutive term in 1908, adhering to George Washington's two-term precedent.

1908 Election: Handpicked by Roosevelt, Republican William Howard Taft defeated Democratic populist William Jennings Bryan.
Dollar Diplomacy: Shifted foreign policy away from military intervention toward economic investment in foreign nations.
Trust Busting and Labor: Successfully dismantled John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company in 1911 (influenced by muckraker Ida Tarbell) and created the Children's Bureau (influenced by Florence Kelly).
Leadership Challenges: Lacked Roosevelt's charisma and skill with the bully pulpit, preferring legal work over political conflict.

Republican Split: Taft allowed the sale of 3,000,000 acres of Roosevelt's preserved land, leading Roosevelt to return and form the third-party Progressive Party.
Democratic Victory: The electoral split between Taft's conservative Republicans and Roosevelt's Progressive Party enabled Democrat Woodrow Wilson to win the presidency.
Woodrow Wilson: Former Princeton University president and governor who advanced progressive policy but was known for a quiet, rigid, and sanctimonious personality.