Theodore Roosevelt New Nationalism

On August 31, 1910, former President Theodore Roosevelt visited Osawatomie, Kansas to give a speech and participate in a memorial dedication. (Hennessy, 1910). Roosevelt had declined to run for re-election to the presidency in 1908, deciding to exit politics and go on a yearlong African safari (Ellis, 2001, p. 284). Frustrated with President Taft’s actions, Roosevelt reentered political life in 1910 (Mowry, 1939). In the Osawatomie address, Roosevelt introduced his idea for a New Nationalism. Many of the speech’s components became the bedrock of the Bull Moose campaign used by the Progressive Party in the 1912 election (Spring, 1970). In the address, Roosevelt compares the struggle for economic equality to the one for abolition of slavery fought in the Civil War. He presents a plea for government and citizens to put nation before self to address economic injustice.

New Nationalism focused on eradicating economic inequality. In 2007, the top 1 percent of Americans owned 23.5 percent of the nation’s wealth (Pear, 2011). This problem has increased, not gone away, since Roosevelt addressed it in 1910. Unfairness in the tax code has become a prominent topic of political discussion. President Obama called for alterations to the U.S. tax system, which allows millionaires to pay lower rates than middle-class workers like teachers and firefighters, in his 2012 State of the Union address (“Remarks of President Barack Obama – As prepared for delivery State of the Union Address,” 2012.). In December, the president traveled to Osawatomie to speak. He echoed Roosevelt’s New Nationalism, saying he believes “this country succeeds when everyone gets a fair shot, when everyone does their fair share” (Fox, 2011). Although he spoke in Os...

... middle of paper ...

...4. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org

Pear, Robert. (2011, October 25). Top earners doubled share of nation’s income, study

finds. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com

Robinson, E. E. (2003). Taft-Roosevelt split. In S. I. Kutler (Ed.), Dictionary of American

History (p. 43). Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com.libproxy.temple.edu/Ps

/i.do?id=GALE|CX3401804117&v=2.1&u=temple_main&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=wSpring, Joel. (1970). Education and progressivism. History of Education Quarterly,

101(1), 53-71. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org

Wagman, B. (1995). Occupation, power and the origins of labor segmentation in the

U.S., 1870-1910. Review of Radical Political Economics, 27(1), 1-24.

Doi:10.1177/048661349502700102

Wolford, J.B. (2005). The John Brown Memorial Park. The Public Historian, 27(4),

91-95. doi: 10.1525/tph.2005.27.4.91