William Howard Taft

Born: 1857-1930 State from: Ohio William HowardTaft Political Party: Republican (remember Roosevelt told Americans to vote for him) 1909-1913 VP: James Sherman

I. DOMESTIC Political and economic issues

1. Presidential Election of 1908 a. William H. Taft i. Republican ii. Theodore Roosevelt’s handpicked successor iii. Progressive ideas

b. William Jennings Bryan i. Democrat ii. Remember, he ran for president in 1896 and gained the populists’ support. c. Eugene V. Debs i. Socialist ii. Remember, he was the head of the American Railway Union(Pullman Strike).

d. Taft wins- i. Taft was not one who enjoyed the spotlight like his predecessor Roosevelt. ii. Concerned about the expansion of federal powers, he will have a much more moderate view of the presidency than Roosevelt did.

Worst loss yet for Bryan!Electoral college: 321 – 182

Taft: Roosevelt’s hand-picked successor!

2. Taft as a Trustbuster a. Filed 90 antitrust suits i. Most significant victory was the dismantling of both the American Tobacco Company and the Standard Oil Company in 1911. ii. How does this compare to TR?

(9) Passed the Mann-Elkins Act in 1910. i. reinforced power of Interstate Commerce Commission to set a maximum haul rate for RRs. ii. banned practice of charging more for short hauls than for long hauls. iii. placed the telephone & telegraph industries under the regulation of the ICC.

3. Taft regulates Labor a. Taft created a Department of Labor to enforce labor laws b. Passed mine-safety laws and established the 8-hour workday for all federal employees. Some of the children who worked in mines

4. Taft on Tariffs • Taft worked with Congress to reduce tariffs and still protect US business interests (reversed the Dingley Tariff passed in 1897) (5) The Payne-Aldrich Tariff i. Taft favored low tariffs, like the progressives did. However, he was not strong enough to oppose the Senators who produced a very high tariff bill known as the Payne-Aldrich Tariff.

ii. The Payne-Aldrich Tariff was supposed to reduce the US tariff rate to 37% . Taft had requested more reduction. When this request was ignored, Taft reluctantly signed the bill anyway. iii. Created high tariffs on iron ore, coal, and fur/ leather

iv. This tariff split the Republican Partyinto the Progressives and the Old Guard v. This helped fuel the break between Taft and his predecessor and mentor- Theodore Roosevelt.

16th Amendment - 1909 • Provided for a federal income tax • Remember: this had been a topic on the agenda of Populists in the 1896 election and pushed through by progressives • Proposed in 1909; not ratified by the states until 1913 (Under W. Wilson)

Schedule X — Single

B. SOCIAL ISSUES

1. Review of progressivism: a political and social movement in the early 20th century to improve conditions in both U.S. government and society. *Some of the key areas progressives focused on: Women’s suffrageWorking Conditions ProhibitionChild Labor Living Conditions

(8) Ballinger-Pinchot affair: The head of the U.S. Forest Service accused Taft’s Sec. of the Interior of favoring private business over conservation. *caused a further break b/w TR and Taft Taft supports conservation – he promoted environmental conservation by adding to the nation’s forest reserves – but not as strongly as Roosevelt did.

b. Triangle Shirtwaist Fire: March 25, 1911 – fire broke out in a garment factory. With locked stairwells, the young, female immigrant workers could not escape. Over 140 died.

(2) Muller vs Oregon i. 1908 Supreme Court Case that challenged a law limiting women to a 10-hour work day. It kept the law. ii. Lawyer Louis Brandeis defended the law, arguing that long hours caused women to have poor health. iii. The court ruled in favor of keeping the limit, and this case served as an example for similar progressive cases to follow.

(3) Henry Ford’s Motor Company • Henry Ford made his car reasonably priced, reliable, and efficient with the introduction of the Model T in 1908 With the assembly line. • This vehicle initiated a new era in personal transportation. It was easy to operate, maintain, and handle on rough roads, immediately becoming a huge success. • The Model T made its debut in 1908 with a purchase price of $825.00. Over ten thousand were sold in its first year, establishing a new record. Four years later the price dropped to $575.00 and sales soared. By 1914, Ford could claim a 48% share of the automobile market. • The assembly line reversed the process of automobile manufacture. Instead of workers going to the car, the car came to the worker who performed the same task of assembly over and over again. With the introduction and perfection of the process, Ford was able to reduce the assembly time of a Model T from twelve and 1/2 hours to less than six hours.

(4) The NAACP is formed by WEB DuBois in 1908 The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) has been instrumental in improving the legal, educational, and economic lives of African Americans. Combining the white philanthropic support that characterized Booker T. Washington's accommodationist organizations with the call for racial justice delivered by W. E. B. Du Bois's militant Niagara Movement, the NAACP forged a middle road of interracial cooperation.

(6) Dawes Act of 1909 • Under the Dawes Act, 700,000 acres of former tribal land is opened to white settlers in Washington, Idaho and Montana. The steady erosion of tribal integrity represented by the Dawes Act will continue until its repeal in 1934.

(10) Standard Oil vs the US • a 1911 case in which the Supreme Court of the United States found Standard Oil guilty of monopolizing the petroleum industry through a series of abusive and anticompetitive actions. The court's remedy was to divide Standard Oil into several competing firms.

II. FOREIGN

(7) Dollar Diplomacy • U.S. should use economic influence instead of military force. • Taft expanded US influence in Latin America using the motto “Substituting dollars for bullets.” • Taft wanted to substitute European loans to Latin America with American loans. • He believed that increasing US economic power would lessen the chances of European intervention.

MAP OF LATIN AMERICA

3. Dollar diplomacy promoted American business interests abroad, specifically in the Caribbean, which had been hit with several revolutions. a. Honduras b. Haiti (In both of these countries, we poured U.S. money in so as to keep out other countries’ money!)

c. Nicaragua- June 1911, the US government agreed to helpNicaragua obtain private loans from American banks. In return, the Nicaraguan leaders gave the US the right to send troops into their country when US leaders thought it necessary to protect American investments.

Roosevelt became so angry with Taft’s break from Teddy- politics that he will re-enter politics, hoping to gain the Repub nomination for president in the 1912 election. While the two duke it out, they will open the door for the undivided party… the Democrats with Woodrow Wilson. more later…

William Howard Taft