Progressive Presidents
Attitudes toward Progressivism differed greatly between President Wilson and President Roosevelt during the elections of 1912. It has been said that the Presidential election of 1912 was the most progressive in the United States history. The election was held on November 5, 1912 of which Democrat Woodrow Wilson defeated Bull Moose as well as candidate and former Republican President Theodore Roosevelt. We ask ourselves what or who were Progressives? “This country belongs to the people who inhabit it. Its resources, its business, its institutions and its laws should be utilized, maintained or altered in whatever manner will best promote the general interest, it is time to set the public welfare in the first place” (Bull Moose Party, 1912, Aug. 7). The Progressive Platform firmly believed they could change society for the better and become a state of perfection (Bowles, 2011).
President Theodore Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States, was also a republican, in office from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt had a personality that had a wide variety of interests and achievements. Roosevelt was the leader of the Republican Party and founder of the first incarnation of the short-lived Progressive Party of 1912. Roosevelt made attempts to turn the Republican Party towards Progressivism. He coined the phrase “Square Deal” which included conservation, environmentalism, and business reform for the railroads and food and drug industry.
Roosevelt also passed the Hepburn act in 1906, “Which gave the ICC the ability to inspect the financial records of any railroad company it chose; the act also set a maximum rate the railroads could charge” (Bowles, 2011, 2.2).Roosevelt, during his reign as aggressor, acquired the Panama Canal rights, added the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, and won the Nobel Peace Prize. President Roosevelt did well by the people, he cared about how they lived and changed things that had a negative effect on the...