Roosevelt returned to the United States in the summer of 1910 and began a speechmaking tour across the nation. He touted a new wide-ranging program of progressive reform called The New Nationalism. This broad plan called for reform in every area of American life, with the notable exception of race relations. The ideas behind The New Nationalism required involvement by the national government in many areas of American life. This was a total rejection of laissez-faire government. Roosevelt argued that the nation needed change and that it was going to take the federal government to get it done. Show The Progressive PartyAs Roosevelt gave speeches around the country, Taft naturally felt attacked and threatened. He suspected Roosevelt would try to take over again, which was true. In early 1912, Roosevelt announced his intention to seek the Republican nomination. In doing so, he reneged on a 1908 promise not to run again. President Taft controlled much of the party machinery and won the nomination under questionable circumstances. Saying he was robbed of the nomination, Roosevelt and his supporters walked out of the convention, forming the Progressive Party.  Child laborers in a West Virginia coalmine The Progressive Party held a nominating convention in Chicago in August. The party nominee Theodore Roosevelt declared that he felt “as strong as a bull moose,” lending the group nickname “the Bull Moose Party.” The party platform molded the ideas of New Nationalism into a tangible set of goals, including:
In 1912, while running as the Progressive Party candidate for President, Theodore Roosevelt was the victim of an assassination attempt. At a campaign stop in Wisconsin, a gunman shot Roosevelt once with a revolver. His speech papers, folded in his breast pocket, slowed the bullet. Roosevelt insisted on giving his speech anyway, declaring “it takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose.” Happily taking advantage of the split within the Republican Party, the Democrats found a new leader to nominate for. Woodrow Wilson was a southerner who had served as president of Princeton University. He had earned an impressive record as a progressive leader in his two years as governor of New Jersey. Wilson ran on a platform he called the New Freedom, which was strongly influenced by lawyer (and future Supreme Court Justice) Louis D. Brandeis. This plan advocated three reforms:
Woodrow Wilson Wilson contended that if these three reforms passed, control by monopolies would end and freedom would be restored. The New Freedom plan offered no provisions for social justice reforms. Wilson asserted that people did not want the government to take care of them; they simply wanted competition restored so the free enterprise system could work and citizens thrive. Compare Roosevelt’s New Nationalism and Wilson’s New Freedom in the following drag-and-drop. Wilson’s Presidency both overlapped with and was in many ways definitive of the politics of the Progressive Era (approx. 1890-1920).The term “Progressive” was broadly defined, encompassing a wide array of policies and ideologies – often in contradiction with one another – which sought to mitigate social and economic inequalities at the turn-of-the-20th century. The era witnessed the rapid expansion and overcrowding of cities, inadequate housing, unregulated labor, poor public health, farmer indebtedness and sharecropping – especially for southern Blacks, child labor, and the emergence of a wealth gap in which 1% of Americans owned nearly 90% of the nation’s wealth. While their solutions differed and often conflicted, Progressives shared the view that a proactive, expanded government was necessary to fix society’s ills. Progressives in both the Republican and Democratic Parties (including, but not limited to, socialists, populists, and anarchists) sought solutions in the form of child labor laws, women’s suffrage, unionization, public health services, Black civil rights, and economic regulation and taxes AS WELL AS immigration restriction, segregation, and the prohibition of alcohol. All of these ideologies could fall within the “Progressive” umbrella. Woodrow Wilson claimed his place within the Progressive movement with his economic reform package, "the New Freedom." This agenda, which passed congress at the end of 1913, included tariff, banking, and labor reforms and introduced the income tax. Wilson also expanded the executive branch with the creation of the Federal Reserve, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Internal Revenue Service. His emphasis on efficiency and bureaucracy fit him squarely within the Progressive movement. During Wilson’s terms, Congress passed two constitutional amendments: prohibition (18th); and women's suffrage (19th)—both Progressive agendas. Another amendment was ratified while Wilson was President: direct election of Senators (17th) on April 8th 1913. (The 16th amendment, which concerns income tax, was ratified in February 1913, after Wilson was elected but before he took office. The ratification was proclaimed by Taft’s Secretary of State, Philander Knox). Wilson’s Progressive legacy was also solidified through the appointment of his close friend Justice Louis Brandies to the Supreme Court as the first Jewish American to sit on the nation’s highest court. Justice Brandeis was a staunch proponent of the right to free speech and the right to privacy while he supported the regulation of business and anti-monopoly legislation championed by Wilson’s economic plan. Wilson also embraced and encouraged new technology. He opened the Panama Canal, started airmail service, endorsed the creation of an interstate highway system, appeared in one of the first filmed campaign advertisements, used a microphone for the amplification of his voice, and witnessed the birth of radio. These accomplishments, however, were all too often achieved at the expense of African Americans, women, immigrants, and Native Americans. Legal scholars have revealed the ways in which the income tax codes and banking policies often disadvantaged African American families. What is more, Wilson couched his embrace of segregation as part of his Progressive commitment to efficiency, arguing (insincerely) that segregation reduced friction among federal workers and increased productivity. And though Wilson vetoed the 1917 Immigration Law which established the Asiatic Barred Zone and a Literacy Test for entry, along with other restrictive measures, he nonetheless voices support for much of the law and his veto was ultimately overridden. What did Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt have in common?'' Yet, despite appearances, they had much in common, not only in their lives but in their political ideas. Both struggled as boys to overcome hobbling handicaps; Roosevelt was afflicted with asthma and Wilson with dyslexia. Both lost their first wives to premature death.
What are the similarities between Roosevelt Taft and Wilson?Similarities. -Both believed in the presence of corruption in the practice of monopolies that could be potentially hurtful to the American market as well as the general public. -Both passed acts (Sherman Anti-Trust and Clayton Anti-Trust) to give the government power to break up trusts.
How did Wilson's policies compared to Roosevelt's policies?Even though the two presidents shared a progressive mindset, they differed in their foreign policy intentions. Roosevelt was known as an imperialist president while Wilson believed to push for democracy and popular sovereignty to foreign nations.
How did Theodore Roosevelt's Progressive approaches differ from Woodrow Wilson's?Roosevelt believed that big business houses brought efficiency and increased productivity though he was against the abuse of power by large businesses. Wilson, on the other hand, believed in fair competition and did not like monopoly by big businesses.
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