position of Collector,
but failed to receive senate nomination due to Conkling’s ire (Miller
76-8). Theodore
Roosevelt, Junior, “inspired by his father’s humiliation at the hands of
the
politicians…was determined to become part of…the governing class”
(Miller 110). This
inspiration was coupled in Roosevelt with a strong desire for power.
Unlike many men who
had gotten into the political game, Roosevelt boldly admitted that he
desired power, and
his desire served him well, allowing him to become a genuine career
politician (Miller
111). The political game had not changed so much since Theodore, Senior
had tried to run
it, and Theodore, Junior had an uphill battle. He had to fight from the
beginning, but
fortunately was adequate in that respect. At first plagued by strict-line
party voting,
Roosevelt managed to finally secure political office, but it was there
that his true
troubles would begin. An important and revealing part of TR’s early
political career occurs
during his stint as a civil service commissioner in Washington. One
memorable incident
occurred in 1889 when Roosevelt faced some difficult political
maneuvering. In Milwaukee,
Postmaster George Paul was accused of making appointments to friends and
altering records
to hide it. Hamilton Shidy, a Post Office superintendent, provided most of
the damaging
evidence. The commission was to recommend Paul’s firing, when Paul
announced his term of
office was up regardless. The commission returned to Washington, where
they learned Paul
had lied about his length of service. Roosevelt immediately drafted a call
for Paul’s
removal to the White House and the Associated Press. This publicity irked
numerous
republicans who were no strangers to corruption themselves. Postmaster
General Wanamaker,
who was not particularly fond of Roosevelt to begin with, was quite angry.
He allowed Paul,
who had not been removed, to dismiss Shidy, who had been promised
protection by Roosevelt,
for insubordination. Now Roosevelt was stuck between a rock and a hard
place. He was bound
both to Shidy as a protector and to uphold his post, which would warrant
Shidy’s removal.
Wanamaker was trying to force Roosevelt to resign. Luckily, president
Harrison intervened
and agreed to find a place for Shidy, but the battle was not over. As he
waited for Paul’s
removal orders from the White House, which were not forthcoming, Frank
Hatton, the editor
of the Washington Post decided to launch an attack, lying blatantly about
Roosevelt’s
misappropriation of funds or other egregious acts. The Post fired back
with more attacks,
causing Roosevelt to angrily point to Wanamaker’s misdeeds. Rather than
continue the
battle, Harrison managed to have Paul resign, and Roosevelt accepted half
of a victory. He
had successfully stopped the wheels of the political machine once. It was
not to be the
last time (Morris 403-8). Roosevelt spent several years as a commissioner
of police in New
York City, eventually rising to become president of the board of
commissioners. In these
years, the true signs of the presidency that was to come shone through.
Two of Roosevelt’s
closest acquaintances were Lincoln Steffens, and Jacob Riis (Morris 482),
both reporters of
New York newspapers. It was through them that Roosevelt communicated to
the people, and he
found it good practice to have the relayers of his messages be his
friends. Through Riis’
book How The Other Half Lives, Roosevelt had learned of the plight of the
poor. Roosevelt
saw the awful living conditions present in police lodging houses, and had
them done away
with (Cashman 123). He battled police corruption, trying hundreds of
officers and finding
corruption and graft in every corner of the department (Morris 491). When
McKinley’s first
vice-president, Hobart, died, Roosevelt found himself in the capacity of
Governor of New
York. He had already fought in a war and been Assistant Secretary of the
Navy, where he
helped to orchestrate the United States’ roles in Cuba and Panama.
Roosevelt’s expansionist
views were here seen. As governor, he continued to defy the old political
tactics,
including bossism. Platt, the political boss of New York, had gotten
Roosevelt elected
governor, yet constantly ran up against Roosevelt, who would not follow
any of his orders.
Roosevelt spent a good time of his governorship attempting to outmaneuver
Platt and his
agents who were heavily present in the state legislature (Morris 708).
Hobart’s death, in
1899, forced the search for a new vice-presidential candidate, especially
due to the
upcoming election. Roosevelt emerged as the leading candidate, to the
dismay of the
Republican National Party’s boss, Senator Mark Hanna. Hanna considered
Roosevelt quite
dangerous; in the previous term Hanna had done a great deal of controlling
the president,
and he feared what would happen if Roosevelt became vice-president.
McKinley did not show
any special preference. Hanna chose his own candidate, John D. Long, but
was convinced
through some slightly shady political maneuvering to vote for Roosevelt
against his own
better judgment (Morris 727). Hanna’s personal dislike of Roosevelt did
not diminish in the
slightest, however. Shortly after the 1900 elections, Hanna sent McKinley
a note saying
“Your duty to the Country is to live for four years from next March
(Miller 342). McKinley
was re-nominated unanimously, receiving all 926 votes. Roosevelt received
925, the single
vote against him cast by himself (Morris 729). Roosevelt served four days
as Vice President
before Congress adjourned until December. And when the news of McKinley’s
sudden death on
September 14 came to him he said, in a very un-Roosevelt-like manner, that
he would
“continue, absolutely unbroken, the policy of President McKinley for the
peace, the
prosperity, and the honor of our beloved country” (Barck 45). This was
tradition for
replacement presidents, although it certainly seemed odd coming from such
a strong-willed
man as Roosevelt. Roosevelt had already made himself extremely well known
in the public
eye, so his transition to president was not as awkward as it might have
been. Roosevelt
campaigned furiously during 1900, traveling a total of 21,209 miles and
making 673 speeches
in 567 towns in 24 states (Morris 730). Only Bryan had campaigned more in
the 19th century.
For this reason, Roosevelt was able to manipulate, to a certain degree,
the popular press.
Although he disliked those “Muckrakers,” as he called them, who looked for
wrongdoing
everywhere and served mostly to stir sensationalistic ideas, Roosevelt had
a certain
penchant for those like Steffens and Riis, who wrote copiously on the need
for social
reform. To do his part, Roosevelt attempted reforms that would benefit the
working class.
Unlike previous presidents, Roosevelt refused to use national force to
break strikes. He
also instituted the Interstate Commerce Act, which, with the Hepburn Act,
allowed
government regulation of transportation systems, preventing the railroad
monopolies from
instituting unfairly high prices (Barck 52). Taking a cue from Upton
Sinclair’s The Jungle,
which detailed in vivid description the atrocious handling of meat at
sausage factories,
Roosevelt had the Pure Foods and Drugs Act and the Meat Inspection Act
passed, preventing
the manufacture of harmful foods and requiring inspection of meat
facilities. A unique
aspect of Roosevelt’s presidency was his foreign policy. Although McKinley
had been
involved in Cuba and the Philippines, he had never expressed a wish to
dominate as a world
power. Roosevelt had, indeed, operated a large part of the United States’
aggressive role
towards Cuba, and in his presidency went even further to secure the United
States as a
dominating power. In 1904 he declared what would become the Roosevelt
Corollary to the
Monroe Doctrine in a letter to Secretary of War Elihu Root (Miller 394).
Roosevelt argued
that it was a civilized nation’s right to intervene if its neighbors are
engaged in
wrongdoing. To that end, Roosevelt began to use force to preserve peace
and order in the
Western Hemisphere. The Dominican Republic needed Roosevelt’s help first,
as it was being
harassed by Italy and France, to whom it owed large sums of money. To
alleviate the
problem, a loan was set up from the United States. Although the Dominicans
eventually
settled on the loan, anti-imperialists felt the United States was
preparing to annex the
Dominican Republic. It has been said that “The Roosevelt
Corollary['s]…promulgation was
proof that the United States realized its position as a world power”
(Barck 100). Of
course, this was all contingent on Roosevelt’s enforcement of his
doctrine. Roosevelt
confirmed the role of the U. S. further by providing a strong military
presence to wrest
the boundary line of Alaska from Canada in 1902 and most importantly, by
determination and
perhaps a little impropriety in the annexation of the Panama Canal zone.
Colombia had been
a friendly country to the U. S., and when Panama revolted it seemed
suspect that the United
States should allow such an operation. But, as tends to be the case,
Roosevelt wanted
Panama free for other means. In his words, he wanted to “take Panama,” for
a canal and he
did, demanding independence from a contract with England and grumbling
when the deal ended
up to be a 100 year lease of the canal zone, rather than an outright
purchase. The Panama
canal was, in Roosevelt’s mind, to be as great a feat as the Louisiana
purchase or Texas
annexation. It was a controversial measure, and showed Roosevelt’s beliefs
in the
superiority and rights of civilization (Miller 399). In 1907 Roosevelt
finally decided he
had had enough and, rather than run for a third term, which he could have
easily done,
virtually appointed William Howard Taft as his successor and went off to
enjoy retirement.
Taft was a good friend of Roosevelt and shared many of his views. Under
Taft, Congress
expanded the Conservation Laws, keeping alive TR’s national parks service.
In addition, 80
suits were initiated by Taft’s attorney general on companies violating the
Sherman
Anti-Trust act. Unfortunately, Taft’s presidency was not nearly as
successful as
Roosevelt’s, for while the country became more and more progressive, Taft
stood pat,
remaining mostly conservative (Barck 68). In response to Taft’s
conservative stance,
progressives united to form the National Progressive League. Meanwhile,
Roosevelt returned
to politics. Bored with the quiet life, he desired the presidency once
again, and naturally
went for the Republican ticket. However, Taft decided to give Roosevelt a
little taste of
his own medicine, and refused to accede to Roosevelt, who was now playing
the political
boss. The friendship that had existed between these two was splintered,
and Roosevelt, in a
rage, formed the Progressive party and ran as a third candidate. Although
he feared he
would be defeated if the Democrats nominated a progressive candidate
(which they found in
Wilson), Roosevelt ran with his soul, as he did everything in life. At the
Progressive
party convention, Roosevelt read aloud his “Confession of Faith,” a
sweeping charter for
reform that outlined the agenda for the twentieth century (Miller 528).
The confession
advocated direct senate elections, preferential primaries, women’s
suffrage, corruption
laws, referendum and recall, a federal securities commission, trust
regulation, reduced
tariffs, unemployment insurance, old-age pensions, anti-child-labor laws,
and food purity
laws (Miller 528). Roosevelt lost the 1912 election, but he certainly did
not lose power.
Over the next century, he would have every single part of his agenda made
national law. The
turn towards progressivism was only beginning, and continued with Wilson.
Although a
democrat, his views were remarkably progressive. They were also remarkably
Rooseveltian.
Like Roosevelt, Wilson had a strong will and did not take kindly to
dissent, as can be seen
by his appointment of Louis Brandeis to the supreme court over the
objections of at least
six former presidents of the American Bar Association (Barck 110). Wilson
also formally
reinvented the role of a strong executive demonstrated so heartily by
Roosevelt by
delivering speeches directly before Congress, rather than having them read
by a clerk.
Wilson kept alive Roosevelt’s ideals with tariff reductions, the Federal
Reserve System.
Wilson even advocated the democratization of the Philippines, even though
he was strongly
anti-imperialist (Barck 121). Until the war in Europe distracted America
long enough to
lead it eventually back into a post-war depression, Wilson carried on the
traditions of his
political opponent, in the redefined presidency of the newly powerful
United States.
Although the United States was moving ever forward in its effort to
“policing the world” it
was not as progressive as all that in 1914. Even TR himself did not
advocate joining in on
World War I, seeing no reason to take part in an affair that did not
concern the United
States in the slightest. However, once German U-boats began sinking ships
carrying American
passengers, Roosevelt changed his tune, along with a percentage of the
American people.
Eventually, enough popular sentiment urged Congress to declare war, and it
was done. It
seems here as if Wilson was dragging his feet, but in another generation,
the mere
consideration of war in Europe would have been ludicrous. Having gotten
its feet wet, the
United States became a first-class country with first-class
responsibilities. The United
States advocated by TR continued after the war and beyond. After a brief
interlude in which
everything seemed to revert back to the old ways and Americans looked
again toward the
individual, another Roosevelt, Franklin Delano, used the ideas of his
cousin to
reinvigorate the economy and rebuild the nation. Today, the reforms
advocated by TR exist
and are in full use, while other more progressive reforms, like national
health care, are
being considered. Although our civilization may not end abruptly in 1999,
as predicted by
numerous psychics and fortune-tellers, it is probable that some large
revolutionary act
will change the way our country works in four years or so, just as it has
before. While our
Roosevelt may not have the immense popularity or wonderful charm as the
original, it is not
doubtful that whoever it is will have to have will, strength, brains, and
fortitude equal
to or above that of the original.
Barack, Oscar Theodore Jr., and Nelson Manfred Blake. Since 1900: A History
of the United
States in Our Times. New York: MacMillan, 1974.
Cashman, Sean Dennis. America In the Gilded Age: From the Death of Lincoln
to the Rise of
Theodore Roosevelt. New York: New York University Press, 1984.
Hagedorn, Hermann. The Boys’ Life of Theodore Roosevelt. New York: Harper
and Brothers,
1918.
Knoll, Erwin. Review of Theodore Roosevelt: A Life, by Nathan Miller. New
York Times Book
Review, February 28, 1993. p.14. CD-ROM: Resource One.
Miller, Nathan. Theodore Roosevelt: A Life. New Yor: William Morrow, & Co.,
1992.
Morris, Edward. The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt. New York: Goward, McCann,
& Geoghegan,
1979.
Nash, Gary, et. al. The American People: Creating a Nation and a Society.
New York: Harper
Collins, 1990.
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