Roosevelt’s Square Deal

1. Roosevelt’s Square Deal 17.4

2. Objectives • Discuss Theodore Roosevelt’s ideas on the role of government. • Analyze how Roosevelt changed the government’s role in the economy. • Explain the impact of Roosevelt’s actions on natural resources. • Compare and contrast Taft’s policies with Roosevelt’s

3. Key Parts • Roosevelt Shapes the Modern Presidency • Trust busting and Regulating Industry • The Government Manages the Environment • Roosevelt and Taft Differ

4. Introduction • Read section 17.4 • Answer critical thinking questions 4&5.

5. Roosevelt Shapes the Modern Presidency • In the late 1800s the United States had several weak and ineffective Presidents. • Theodore Roosevelt came into the presidency with energy, enthusiasm, and vision. He was the youngest President to date at the age of 43. • Theodore came from a Rich family that supplied his every need in rising to the upper echelons of the United States.

6. Cont. • Roosevelt graduated from Harvard University with honors in 1880. • Soon after his mother and wife died, he had been working in the New York Assembly and once the deaths occurred he retired to a ranch in the West. There he developed his desire for the wilderness. • Roosevelt could not stay out of politics for long. In 1889 he became the President of New York City’s Board of Police Commissioners.

7. Cont.. • He gained respect there fighting off corruption in the city and was named Assistant Secretary of the Navy. • Then the Spanish American War broke out in 1898, and Roosevelt resigned his position and formed the Rough Riders, a volunteer cavalry unit that became famous during the war. • At the end of the war the new war hero became governor of New York, where he pushed progressive reforms.

8. Cont… • Roosevelt then became McKinley’s running mate for President. • After McKinley was assassinated Roosevelt took the presidency and dominated the public attention. • Roosevelt greatly expanded the power of the President, he used this to push through his reform proposals.

9. Cont…. • He called his program the Square Deal. Meaning; in a card game some are dealt bad cards and some are dealt good hands, all is fair as long as there was no crooked dealing. • Roosevelt’s goal was to keep the wealthy and powerful form taking advantage of small business owners and the poor. • However, he said the government was not there to help the lazy either. You have to work to get the benefits.

10. Trust Busting and Regulating Industry • Roosevelt was the first President to step in to help over worked laborers and get their pay increased. • He threatened mine owners that he would run the mines with federal workers and control how much the miners would work and be paid. • The mine owners shortened the work day to nine hours and raised their pay.

11. Cont. • Railroads had been an issue since the 1870s with charging inflated cargo prices. • The ICC helped with this and the passage of the Elkins Act in 1903 by Roosevelt. • This imposed fines on railroads that gave special rates to favored shippers. • Then Congress passed the Hepburn Act which gave the ICC strong enforcement powers.

12. Cont.. • Roosevelt worked to improve the conditions of food processing companies. • The passed the Meat inspection act in 1906, which brought in federal inspectors to ensure the quality of the meat leaving the factories. • The Pure Food and Drug Act did the same thing, just on other foods and medicines.

13. The Government Manages the Environment • Roosevelt had a fascination with nature and the sport of hunting animals. • He set aside 100 million acres to protect the wilderness. • Roosevelt also understood the need to use natural resources. So he would draw on the “rational use” ideas of Gifford Pinchot. • Also a major issue was mining during this time and who would control the water; farmers or miners. Roosevelt passed the National Reclamation Act giving the gov. the power over the distribution of water.

14. Roosevelt and Taft Differ • Roosevelt left the Presidency after two terms saying he wanted to enjoy a private life. • He helped William Howard Taft take over as President because he felt he would continue on Roosevelt’s policies. • However, this wasn’t the case, Taft began dropping things that Roosevelt had set into motion. Such as there was no longer distinction between good trusts and bad trusts.

15. Cont. • This infuriated Roosevelt, so he began a program called New Nationalism- a program to restore the government’s trust busting power. • Roosevelt claims to run for president again and this leads to a bitter presidential election between Roosevelt and Taft.