Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad1912 - 1916

AP U.S. History Ch. 29 – The American Pageant

Introduction

“American enterprise is not free; the man with only a little capital is finding it harder and harder to get into the field, more and more impossible to compete with the big fellow. Why? Because the laws of this country do not prevent the strong from crushing the weak.”

Woodrow Wilson, The New Freedom, 1913Woodrow Wilson, The New Freedom, 1913

The split in the Republican party in 1912 gave Democrats a chance to return to the White House for the first time since 1896

The Democrats needed a reform minded leader in these days of progressivism

A relative political novice, Dr. Woodrow Wilson, appeared to fill the bill

Wilson was originally a mild conservative, but had become a militant progressive. How and why did this change occur?

1902 – President of Princeton University

1910 – Elected NJ Governor

1912 – Widely mentioned as a potential presidential candidate

Now watch the video: Woodrow Wilson, Reluctant Warrior

The “Bull Moose” Campaign of 1912 Democrats nominated Woodrow Wilson on the

46th ballot with the support of Bryan

Taft was nominated by the Republicans, as stated in the previous presentation

TR ran on the third party Progressive Republican ticket

“We stand at Armageddon, and we battle for the Lord”

Wide support from women and the social justice movement

Campaign took on the air of a revival meeting

“I want to be a Bull Moose,And with the Bull Moose standWith Antlers on my foreheadAnd a Big Stick in my hand.”

The new party formed to support the TR presidential run in 1912 was nicknamed the “Bull Moose” Party because at the convention TR proclaimed that he felt as strong as a bull moose”.

TR and Taft Toss the Mud Around TR and Taft slit each other’s political throats

by dividing the Republican vote, virtually assuring a Democratic victory

The campaign was ugly with each candidate slinging mud at the other

Taft – “Roosevelt is a dangerous egotist” and a “demagogue”.

TR – Taft is “a fathead with the brain of a guinea pig”.

Putting aside the ad hominem arguments, the overriding question of the 1912 campaign was which of two varieties of progressivism would prevail

TR’s “New Nationalism”, or Wilson’s “New Freedom”

The Voters Get to Make a Real Choice Both TR and Wilson favored a more active government role

in economic and social affairs, but they disagreed sharply over specific strategies

TR’s “New Nationalism” advocated the theories advanced by progressive thinker Herbert Croly in his book The Promise of American Life (1910)

Continued consolidation trusts and labor unions Growth of powerful Washington regulatory agencies Woman suffrage Broad social welfare programs

Minimum wage laws Social insurance (branded “socialistic” by

many) This program was a forerunner of the activist welfare

state programs of the FDR “New Deal”

Wilson’s “New Freedom” favored, by contrast

Small enterprise and entrepreneurship (“the man on the make”)

Unregulated and unmonopolized markets Economic faith in competition Fragmentation of the big industrial combines

by vigorous enforcement of the antitrust laws

“Any man seeking a third term ought to be shot” October 14, 1912 – While about to deliver a campaign

speech in Milwaukee, WI, TR is shot by a would-be assassin

After having dinner at the Hotel Gilpatrick, TR headed off to give his speech scheduled for that evening

Walking through the crowd, TR is shot in the chest point-blank by anarchist, John Schrank, who states that, “Any man seeking a third term ought to be shot”.

TR barely reacted to the shooting, proceeding to his car, and insisting that he wasn’t hurt

With blood seeping through his shirt, TR delivers his speech

TR pulled the manuscript of the speech from his breast pocket, and notices the bullet hole in the sheaf of papers

Literally, TR is spared by his speech

Woodrow Wilson: Minority PresidentThe Presidential Vote, 1912

Candidate Party Electoral Vote

Popular Vote Approx. %

Wilson Democrat 435 6,296,547 41%

Roosevelt Progressive 88 4,118,571 27%

Taft Republican 8 3,486,720 23%

Debs Socialist --- 900,672 6%

Chafin Prohibition --- 206,275 1%

Reimer Socialist-Labor --- 28,750 0.2%

Minority President, con’t With 41% of the vote, Wilson was clearly a minority president

Democrats, though, won a majority of the seats in Congress Wilson’s popular vote total was less than Bryan had won in any of this three presidential bids Together, Taft and Roosevelt polled over 1.25 million votes more than Wilson

Progressivism, not Wilson, was the winner

The combined progressive vote for Wilson and Roosevelt far exceeded the tally for the more conservative Taft

The Progressive Party, though, had no future in the U.S. It elected few candidates to state and local offices In contrast, the Socialists elected over 1,000 state and local officials Is there another practical political reason for the demise of the Progressives?

Without elected officials, there is no patronage to distribute.

Following his defeat, Taft taught law at Yale for eight years before becoming Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in 1921 – the only ex-president to sit on the nation’s highest court.

Wilson: The Idealist in Politics Son of a Presbyterian minister, Wilson was reared in

an atmosphere of fervent piety.

“He was born halfway between the Bible and the dictionary and never strayed far from either.”

A profound student of government

Believed that the chief executive must provide leadership, otherwise Congress could not function properly

Wilson suffers from serious defects of personality

Cold and standoffish in public Lacked the common touch – loved humanity in the mass

rather than the individual in person Intolerant of “stupid senators whose bungalow minds

make me sick”.

Wilson’s burning idealism was infused with a sense of moral righteousness which made compromise difficult for him

Woodrow Wilson, Class of 1879 and thirteenth president of Princeton University, and Andrew Carnegie lead a graduation procession, circa 1906.

Wilson Tackles the Tariff Wilson called for an all-out assault on “the triple wall

of privilege”:

The tariff The banks The trusts

Wilson summoned Congress into special session in early 1913, shattering precedent in the process by delivering the address himself

The House passed the Underwood Tariff Bill, which provided for a substantial reduction in tariff rates

Lobbyists descended on the Senate to block the bill Using the “bully pulpit” Wilson marshaled public

opinion in favor of the bill, securing passage in late 1913

The Underwood Tariff

Substantially reduced import fees Under authority of the sixteenth amendment, the first

graduated income tax is imposed on incomes over $3,000 By 1917 revenue from the income tax surpassed receipts

from the tariff for the first time

Wilson Battles the Bankers In 1913 the banking and currency system was

still governed by the Civil War era National Banking Act

This system was outgrown by the nation’s economic expansion

The most serious deficiency was the inelasticity of the currency, as exposed by the “Roosevelt Recession” of 1907

Banking reserves were heavily concentrated in New York and other large cities

Reserves could not be mobilized in times of financial stress into areas that were badly pinched

In 1908, Republican Senator Aldrich and his Special Committee on Banking, recommended the creation of a Third Bank of the United States – a huge private bank with fifteen branches.

Reading the Currency Message to the Money Trust: This cartoon appeared in a New York newspaper soon after Woodrow Wilson called for dramatic reform of the banking system before both houses of Congress. With the “money trust” of bankers and businessmen cowed, Wilson was able to win popular and congressional support for the Federal Reserve Act of 1913.

The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 Democratic banking reformers chose to follow the

recommendations of the House Special Committee on Banking Reform chaired by Congressman Arsene Pujo

The House committee was advised by progressive attorney, Louis D. Brandeis

Brandeis’ ideas were chronicled in his book Other People’s Money and How the Bankers Use It (1914)

June 1913, Wilson returns to Capitol Hill to address a joint session for the second time

He proposes a decentralized bank in government hands Again, using the “bully pulpit” he mobilizes public opinion

in support of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, which creates

A Federal Reserve Board appointed by the President

A system of twelve regional reserve districts, each with its own central bank

The central banks are owned by the member banks (making them bankers’ banks), but under final authority of the Federal Reserve Board

The Board is authorized to issue “Federal Reserve Notes’ – paper money

The Federal Reserve Act is one of the most notable achievements of the Wilson administration

The President Tames the Trusts Early 1914, Wilson appears before Congress for a third time - now to attack the

trusts

Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914

Established a presidentially appointed commission to investigate industries engaged in interstate commerce

Crush monopoly by attacking unfair trade practices such as

Unlawful competition False advertising Mislabeling Adulteration Bribery

Clayton Anti-Trust Act of 1914

Added practices to the list of those deemed objectionable in the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890, including

Price discrimination Interlocking directorates

Benefited organized labor by

Exempting labor and agricultural organizations from antitrust prosecution

Explicitly legalized strikes and peaceful picketing Samuel Gompers described the Clayton Act as “the Magna Carta

of labor”

Wilsonian Progressivism at High Tide In the first eighteen months of his presidency, Wilson

delivered on his campaign promises – he continued to deliver during his first term:

Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916 – made credit available to farmers at low rates

Warehouse Act of 1916 – authorized loans on the security of staple crops

Other laws provided for highway construction and established agricultural extension services in state colleges

LaFollette Seamen’s Act of 1915 – required decent living conditions and a living wage on American merchant ships Unintentionally crippled the American merchant

marine due to spiraling freight rates

Workingmen’s Compensation Act of 1916 – provided assistance to federal civil-service employees during times of disability

Restrictions on child labor on products flowing into interstate commerce – found unconstitutional by the Supreme Court

Wilsonian Progressivism, con’t Adamson Act of 1916 – established an eight hour

work day for all employees on trains in interstate commerce, with extra pay for overtime

Louis D. Brandeis is nominated for the Supreme Court

Noted progressive scholar and attorney Do you remember the name of the influential book

that he wrote in 1914? Other People’s Money and How the Banker

s Use It First Jew to serve on the Supreme Court

Wilson’s progressivism stopped short of providing for better treatment of blacks

In fact, accelerated segregation occurred in the federal bureaucracy during Wilson’s presidency

To appease businesspeople who opposed the progressive changes in federal policy, Wilson appointed conservatives to the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Trade Commission

Nonetheless, Wilson knew that to be reelected in 1916 he would have to court the progressive Bull Moose voters who supported TR in 1912

New Directions in Foreign Policy In contrast to TR and Taft, Wilson opposed an aggressive foreign policy

He was repelled by “Big Stickism” He distrusted “Dollar Diplomacy”

In reaction to Wilson’s rejection of “Dollar Diplomacy” American bankers pulled out of the Taft engineered six-nation loan to China

As an anti-imperialist in the Bryan tradition, Wilson convinced Congress to:

Repeal the Panama Canal Toll Act of 1912, which exempted American coastwise shipping from tolls Pass the Jones Act of 1916 – which granted the Philippines territorial status, and promised independence as soon as a

“stable government” could be established (July 4, 1946) Confirm William Jennings Bryan as Secretary of State

Relations with Japan deteriorated in 1913 when the California legislature prohibited Japanese settlers from owning land

Tokyo lodged vehement protests, and threatened war The U.S. military was put on high alert at Fortress Corregidor in the Philippines Bryan convinced the California lawmakers to soften their position, and violence was avoided

Wilson Changes His Foreign Policy Tune Haiti 1915 – Civil disorders force Wilson to reconsider his anti-

imperialist policies in the Caribbean.

July 27, 1915 – General Vilbrun Guillaume Sam, unpopular President of Haiti, executes 167 of his political opponents

Popular outrage led to uncontrolled mob violence in Port-au-Prince, resulting in the capture of Guillaume Sam in the French embassy and he being torn to pieces by the mob

The parading through the streets of the dismembered corpse of Guillaume Sam convinces Wilson to dispatch the marines to protect American lives and property

November 1915 – Wilson concludes a treaty with the Haitian government providing for U.S. supervision of finances and the police, a condition that lasts until 1934

Do the provisions of this treaty remind you of past events in the Caribbean?

TR’s intervention in the Dominican Republic in 1905

The Roosevelt Corollary of the Monroe Doctrine

1916 – Wilson orders the marines into the Dominican Republic to quell riots there, and the marines remain there for eight years

1917 – Wilson purchases the Virgin Islands from Denmark, securing U.S. dominance in the Caribbean, and recognizing it as a vital approach to the Panama Canal

U.S. Marines in Haiti, 1915U.S. Marines in Haiti, 1915

Moralistic Diplomacy in Mexico For decades American investors had exploited

Mexican resources, so that by 1913 American capitalists had approximately $ 1 Billion invested in Mexico

The Mexican poor revolted and installed a popular new revolutionary president, Francisco Madero

Madero was president for less than two years when a group of Northern Mexicans led by Victoriano Huerta deposed him

With Mexico in rebellion, a huge influx of Mexican refugees poured into the Southwest U.S. (TX, AZ, NM, CA)

Cries for intervention came from U.S. jingoes, led by William Randolph Hearst, who owned a Mexican ranch larger than the state of R.I.

Francisco MaderoFrancisco Madero Victoriano HuertaVictoriano Huerta

Wilson Stands Firm – For a Short Time Wilson stood firm against the demands of the jingoes –

“It is perilous to determine foreign policy in the terms of material interest”.

Yet, Wilson refused to have the U.S. recognize the Huerta government

“I am going to teach the South American republics to elect good men”.

1914 – Wilson allowed American arms to flow to Huerta’s principal rivals – Venustiano Carranza and Pancho Villa

April 1914 – The Mexicans arrest a small party of American sailors in Tampico

The Mexican officials promptly released the sailors and apologized

Using this illegal arrest as a pretext, Wilson asks Congress for permission to use force against Mexico Wilson is stubbornly determined to eliminate Huerta Before Congress could act, Wilson orders the navy to

seize the Mexican port of Vera Cruz Huerta, and Carranza, protest this move by Wilson

Pancho VillaPancho Villa

Venustiano CarranzaVenustiano Carranza

Intervention in Mexico The U.S. and Mexico were on the verge of a shooting

war when the ABC Powers – Argentina, Brazil, and Chile – volunteered to act as mediators

Huerta’s support collapsed in July 1914 Carranza becomes Mexico’s President, but he is still

resentful of Wilson’s military action in Vera Cruz Pancho Villa, formerly an ally of Carranza against

Huerta, now emerges as Carranza’s rival

To challenge Carranza’s authority, to punish the “gringos” for meddling in Mexican affairs, and to provoke a war between Carranza and Wilson, Villa

Murders sixteen American workers in January 1916 Crosses the border into Columbus, NM and kills nineteen

Americans in February 1916

To retaliate for the killing of Americans, Wilson sends “Black Jack” Pershing and his troops to pursue Villa into Mexico

They fight the Villistas and maul them – but fail to capture Villa

They also clash with Carranza’s forces January 1917 – Wilson withdraws Pershing as threats

from Germany take precedenceGeneral John J. (“Black Jack”) PershingGeneral John J. (“Black Jack”) Pershing

Thunder Across the Sea June 28, 1914 – Archduke Franz Ferdinand is

assassinated by Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina. For details of this fascinating event, go to the Assassination at Sarajevo site.

As a consequence of a tangled web of defensive alliance treaties, Europe goes to war:

The Central Powers: Germany, Austria – Hungary, Turkey, and Bulgaria

The Allied Powers: France, Britain, Russia, Japan, and Italy

America, being an ocean away from the conflict, felt strong, snug, smug, and secure – but not for long.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Heir to the throne of Heir to the throne of

Austria-HungaryAustria-Hungary

A Precarious Neutrality At the outbreak of World War I, Wilson urged Americans to “be neutral in thought as well as

deed”.

Both sides wooed the United States:

Allies advantages Close cultural, linguistic, and economic ties The British controlled most of the transatlantic cables, enabling them to censor out stories harmful to the

Allies, and allowing stories of German atrocities Anti-German feelings prevailed in the U.S. because of the perceived autocratic arrogance of Kaiser Wilhelm

II German spies in the U.S. were caught with plans to sabotage U.S. factories

German and Austro-Hungarian advantages 11 million German and Austro-Hungarian immigrants lived in the U.S. in 1914

The great majority of Americans hoped to stay out of the war in 1914

Principal Foreign Elements in the United StatesPrincipal Foreign Elements in the United States (census of 1910; total U.S. population: 91,972,266

Country of Origin Foreign-Born Natives with Two Foreign Born Parents

Natives with One Foreign Born Parent

Total

Germany 2,501,181 3,911,847 1,896,590 8,282,618

Austria-Hungary 1,670,524 900,129 131,133 2,701,786

Great Britain 1,219,968 852,610 1,158,474 3,231,052

(Ireland)* 1,352,155 2,141,577 1,010,628 4,504,360

Russia 1,732,421 949,316 70,938 2,752,675

Italy 1,343,070 695,187 60,103 2,098,360

Total (for all foreign countries, including

those not listed

13,345,545 12,916,311 5,981,526 32,243,282

Percentage of total U.S. population

14.5 14.0 6.5 35.0

* Ireland was not yet independent

America Earns Blood Money The U.S. was bogged down in a business recession in 1914 at the time war started in Europe

British and French war orders pulled the U.S. out of the poor economic cycle in a wartime boom Part of the boom was financed by American Bankers – most notably J.P. Morgan and Company,

which eventually advanced $2.3 billion during the period of American neutrality

The Central Powers protested about the increased trade between the U.S. and the Allies

The U.S. responded that Germany was free to trade with the U.S. No U.S. policy prevented, or even hinted at diminishing trade with any of the Central Powers

In fact, it was the British navy that hindered trade with Germany

The British blockaded the North Sea, gateway to Germany, with warships and mines The British forced American vessels destined to Germany into their ports

U.S. Exports to Belligerents, 1914 - 1916U.S. Exports to Belligerents, 1914 - 1916Belligerent 1914 1915 1916 1916 Figure as a

Percentage of 1914 Figure

Britain $594,271,863 $911,794,954 $1,526,685,102 257%

France 159,818,924 369,397,170 628,851,988 393%

Italy* 74,235,012 184,819,688 269,246,105 363%

Germany 344,794,276 28,863,354 288,899 0.08%

* Italy joined the Allies in April 1915

The Fatherland, the chief German-American propaganda newspaper

in the United States cried,

“We [Americans] prattle about humanitywhile we manufacture poisoned shrapneland picric acid for profit. Ten thousandGerman widows, ten thousand orphans,

ten thousand graves bear the legend‘Made in America’.”

Germany Retaliates February 1915 – Germany retaliates for the British blockade by

announcing a submarine war against the British Isles

Berlin declared that they would try not to sink neutral ships – but they warned that mistakes were inevitable

Wilson warned Germany that they would be held to “strict accountability” for any attacks on American vessels or citizens

In the first months of 1915, German U-boats (Unterseeboot, or “undersea boat”), sank 90 ships in the war zone

May 7, 1915 – the British passenger liner Lusitania is sunk off the coast of Ireland

1,198 dead, including 128 Americans

4,200 cases of small arms are on the ship’s manifest

Americans accuse the Germans of “mass murder” and “piracy”

The Eastern U.S. urges Wilson to fight, but the rest of the country does not want to go to war

Wilson, the student of history, remembers the mistake made in 1812 by fellow Princetonian, James Madison, who led a disunited country into war.

Secretary of State Bryan resigns when Wilson sends a series of strongly worded notes of protest to Germany

Wilson declares, “There is such a thing as a man too proud to fight”.

Wilson’s Attempts at Diplomacy August 1915 – The Germans sink the British

liner, the Arabic, resulting in the deaths of two Americans

Wilson protests vehemently, resulting in the Germans agreeing not to sink unarmed and unresisting passenger ships without warning

The Germans appeared to violate the so-called Arabic agreement when in March 1916 the French passenger steamer, the Sussex is sent to the bottom

Wilson threatens to break diplomatic relations with Germany – a sure sign that war is imminent – the Sussex ultimatum

Germany responds with the Sussex Pledge – they will not sink passenger ships without warning if the U.S. persuades the Allies to modify the blockade

The 1916 Presidential Campaign Both the Bull Moose Progressives and the Republicans had their nominating conventions in

Chicago

The Progressives renominated TR - he refused to run because he did not want to split the Republicans again.

The Republicans also attempted to draft Teddy, but the conservative wing of the party did not forgive him for 1912, resulting in the nomination of Charles Evans Hughes, Supreme Court Justice and former liberal governor of NY.

The Republican Platform attacked the Democrats’ tariff reform, assault on trusts, and Wilson’s wishy-washiness in dealing with Mexico and Germany

In anti-German areas of the country Hughes chastised Wilson for not standing up to the Kaiser, while taking a softer line in pro-German areas – earning him the nickname “Charles Evasive Hughes”

TR attacked both Wilson and Hughes, referring to Wilson as “that damned Presbyterian hypocrite, and Hughes as the “whiskered Wilson – the only difference between the two is a shave”

Wilson Wins Reelection in 1916 Wilson is nominated by acclamation at the Democrats’

convention in St. Louis

The campaign slogan – “He Kept Us Out of War”

Wilson appealed to the American working people:

You are working;Not Fighting!Alive and Happy;Not Cannon Fodder!Wilson and Peace with Honor?OrHughes with Roosevelt and War?

Hughes swept the East, but midwestern and western voters voted for Wilson

California decided the election – Wilson carried the state by 3,800 votes out of about 1 million cast

Electoral College: Wilson 277 – Hughes 254

Popular Vote: Wilson 9,127,695 – Hughes 8,533,507

Chronology1912 – Wilson defeats Taft and Roosevelt for

presidency

1913 – Underwood Tariff ActSixteenth Amendment (Income Tax) passedFederal Reserve ActHuerta takes power in MexicoSeventeenth Amendment (direct election of senators)

passed

1914 – Clayton Anti-Trust ActFederal Trade Commission establishedU.S. occupation of Vera Cruz, MexicoWorld War I begins in Europe

1915 – LaFollette Seamen’s ActLusitania torpedoed and sunk by German U-boat

1915 – U.S. Marines sent to Haiti

1916 – Sussex ultimatum and pledgeWorkingmen’s Compensation ActFederal Farm Loan ActWarehouse ActAdamson ActPancho Villa raids New MexicoBrandeis appointed to Supreme CourtJones ActU.S. Marines sent to Dominican RepublicWilson defeats Hughes for presidency

1917 – United States buys Virgin Islands from Denmark