How did Theodore Roosevelt advance the progressive agenda?

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Figure false: Theodore Roosevelt
Figure false: Aptly described by a contemporary observer as “a steam engine in trousers,” Theodore Roosevelt, at forty-two, was the youngest president ever to occupy the White House. He brought to the office energy, intellect, and activism in equal measure. Roosevelt boasted that he used the presidency as a “bully pulpit” — a forum from which he advocated reforms ranging from trust-busting to conservation. Library of Congress.

ON SEPTEMBER 6, 1901, President William McKinley was shot by Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist, while attending the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. Eight days later, McKinley died, and Theodore Roosevelt became president. Roosevelt immediately reassured the shocked nation that he intended “to continue absolutely unbroken” the policies of McKinley. But Roosevelt was quite different from McKinley. An activist and a moralist, imbued with the progressive spirit, Roosevelt would turn the White House into a “bully pulpit,” advocating conservation and antitrust reforms and championing the nation’s emergence as a world power. In the process, Roosevelt would work to shift the nation’s center of power from Wall Street to Washington.

After serving nearly two full terms as president, Roosevelt left office at the height of his powers. Any man would have found it difficult to follow in his footsteps, but his handpicked successor, William Howard Taft, proved hopelessly ill suited to the task. Taft’s presidency was marked by a progressive stalemate, a bitter break with Roosevelt, and a schism in the Republican Party.

CHRONOLOGY

1901

  • William McKinley is assassinated; Theodore Roosevelt becomes president.

1902

  • Antitrust lawsuit is filed against Northern Securities Company.
  • Roosevelt mediates anthracite coal strike.

1903

  • Panama Canal construction begins.

1904

  • Roosevelt Corollary to Monroe Doctrine.

1906

  • Pure Food and Drug Act and Meat Inspection Act.
  • Hepburn Act.

1907

  • Panic on Wall Street.
  • “Gentlemen’s Agreement” with Japan.

1908

  • William Howard Taft is elected president.

CHAPTER OVERVIEW

How did grassroots progressives attack the problems of industrial America?

What were the key tenets of progressive theory?

How did Theodore Roosevelt advance the progressive agenda?

How did progressivism evolve during Woodrow Wilson’s first term?

What were the limits of progressive reform?

Conclusion: How did the liberal state transform during the Progressive Era?

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