Theodore Roosevelt

During the early 1900’s the president of the United States of America was a man called Theodore Roosevelt. Although he began his term as president with the death of President McKinley, his period in the White House turned out to be one of the most progressive periods in American history. His progressive policies influenced the direction that the country would take in the twentieth century. In the following paper I will explain several of Theodore Roosevelt’s progressive polices. Specifically I will deal with his labor policies and his new nationalism policy. My thesis will be that these policies had a genuinely positive effect on America as a whole nation.

Theodore Roosevelt was born on October 27, 1858 in New York City, New York. He was the second of four children and showed at an early age an aptitude for leadership. When Roosevelt was 18 he entered Harvard University and graduated there in 1880 at the age of 22. He married Alice Hathaway Lee in 1880 and they had one child named Alice. Sadly though Alice died giving birth to their daughter. By 1881 Roosevelt was winning appointments to the New York State assembly. Roosevelt remarried in 1886 to Edith Kermit Carow and had five children with her. In 1895 Roosevelt was made Assistant Secretary of the Navy. When the Spanish-American broke out Roosevelt quickly resigned his post and formed a cavalry regiment he named the roughriders. During the war the roughriders lead a charge that captured vital San Juan Hill. After the war he became Governor of New York and later the vice-president under William McKinley. When McKinley was assassinated on September 6th, 1901 Roosevelt was sworn in as President.

During his first term as President, Roosevelt put one of his most progressive policies into effect. This policy dealt with labor and anti-trusts. During the early part of the twentieth century the large businesses of the day would combine to form powerful monopolies that kept a strangle hold on all the competition. These trusts, Roosevelt believed, “…have on a whole done great good to our people … but combination and concentration should be, not prohibited, but supervised and, within reasonable limits, controlled.” (World Book, Vol. 16, Pg. 468) In 1902 the United States government, under the influence of President Roosev...

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...gressive the party’s policies were. They called for more democratic reforms along the same basis as the “New Nationalism” policy of the past.

Sadly though neither Taft nor Roosevelt would win the election. The split in the party’s vote allowed the Democratic Nominee, Governor Woodrow Wilson of New Jersey, to win by a landslide.

After the election Roosevelt began to have health problems and rapidly his health began to completely fail him. This combined with a rare jungle fever, caught on an expedition to the Amazon, left Roosevelt dying and prematurely aged. On January 6, 1919 Theodore Roosevelt died of a sudden blood clot in the heart. With the passing of Theodore Roosevelt so to passed the progressive Republican party.

In conclusion the progressive policies of Theodore Roosevelt had a great positive effect on America as a whole. His labor policies helped poor Americans gain the repect that they deserved and his “New Nationalism” united the classes like never before in our history. His foreign policies helped to keep World War I from breaking out earlier then it did and helped to keep peace in Asia. Truly his policies were one of the high points in presidential history.