The American Pageant Chapter 29: Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad COVER SLIDE

BULL MOOSE CAMPAIGN OF 1912  Democrats nominate (Thomas) Woodrow Wilson – Progressive Idealist  New Jersey governor  Past president of Princeton  Born in the South  Believed the President should play a dynamic role  Republicans nominate William H. Taft (again) a mild Progressive  Theodore Roosevelt bolts the Republican Party & joins with the Progressive Party The Bull Moose Party

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1912 ELECTION  Wilson wins the election with fewer votes than Bryan in any of his 3 attempts  435 EV, 6 million Pop.  Republican Party is split but combine for 7 Million popular votes  Roosevelt & Taft had been friends – now bitter enemies  Bull Moose Party = Roosevelt will win 88 EV most successful 3Party ever. rd

WILSON THE IDEALIST  Born in Virginia and raised in Georgia – first Southern president in 64 years  Believed south should have had the right to secede – promotes self-determination  Son of Presbyterian minister – against evil  Somewhat cold in public – he was self-assured and superior especially toward politicians and journalists  He found compromise difficult

TRIPLE WALL OF PRIVILEGE  Tariff  Banks  Trusts  All hurting the public in some way or another and therefore Wilson’s program was to solve them

WILSON AND THE TARIFF  Calls Congress into special session – he delivered his presidential message to a joint session of Congress in person (had not been done since Adams)  Underwood Tariff Bill down to 27%  16 th Amendment = Income tax (over $3,000)

WILSON AND THE BANKS  Still using the Civil War National Banking Act  a temporary measure at the time  shortcoming – inelasticity of currency  1908 (Senate) Aldrich investigation – recommendation: huge bank with many branches  HoR Rep Arsene Pujo: $$ traced to hidden vaults of US banks & businesses  Louis D. Brandies’ Other People’s Money and How the Bankers Use It  1914 book showing that the wealthy were consolidating funds and establishing a monopoly  He will testify for Pujo

These illustrations came from Harper’s Weekly’s Other People’s Money articles by Brandeis.

WILSON AND THE BANKS Federal Reserve Act 1913  Most important economic legislation between Civil War and New Deal  Establishes a Federal Reserve System  Restricted private control of money and banks  12 regional reserve districts and a central bank  Banks are for bankers  Issue Federal Reserve Notes

LOUIS D. BRANDEIS  Muller v Oregon, 1908:  Brandeis convinced the Supreme Court to use sociological & statistical evidence upholding an Oregon law that regulated the working conditions of women (10 hour day)  Significance: first such evidence acknowledged by law in the US  1916 is appointed to the Supreme Court  Wilson nomination  First person of Jewish faith to serve on Supreme Court

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WILSON AND THE TRUSTS  Federal Trade Commission of 1914  Crush monopolies by eliminating 1. Unfair trade practices 2. Unlawful competition 3. False advertising 4. Bribery 5. Has investigative powers

WILSON AND THE TRUSTS Clayton Anti-Trust Act 1914  Attacks price discrimination and interlocking directorates (same individuals were on the boards of competing firms)  Labor and agriculture both exempted from anti-trust action  Allowed strikes and peaceful picketing  Samuel Gompers called it the ―Magna Carta of labor

DANBURY HATTER’S CASE 1908  Example of why Clayton Anti-Trust Act needed to exempt labor as a monopoly:  Strike has lasted several months and the hat company lost $250,000  US Supreme Court assessed the workers 3x the amount of damages  The S.C. invoked the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890 saying that ―conspiracy is restraint of trade  Fined workers – lost savings and homes

WILSON PROGRESSIVISM AT HIGH TIDE  Federal Farm Loan Act, 1916  Credit to farmers at low % rates  Warehouse Act 1916  Loans available (to farmers) based on security of staple (cash) crops  Highway construction & help to agricultural state colleges  La Follette Seamen’s Act, 1915  Required decent treatment  A living wage  unexpected result — crippled US Merchant Marine with higher freight costs  Workingmen’s Compensation Act, 1916  Assistance given to disabled federal employees

WILSON PROGRESSIVISM AT HIGH TIDE  Keating-Owen, 1916  Child labor Act is passed but ruled unconstitutional in 1918 byHammer v. Dagenhart  Adamson Act, 1916  8 hour work day for RR workers and overtime pay (interstate commerce)  Wilson Progressivism stopped short of better treatment for blacks  Likely due to his southern roots & prejudices  When a delegation of blacks visited him he froze them out of his office

CHILD LABOR IN WEST VIRGINIA COAL MINE

WILSON AND FOREIGN POLICY  He hated imperialism and Dollar Diplomacy  Government no longer offer special support to American investors in Latin America and China  Repealed the Panama Tolls Act 1912 (no tolls on US coast-wide shipping)  Philippines gains territorial status – promised self-rule  Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan persuades the California legislature to renege on a law that would not allow Japanese to own land – eases relations with Japan

WILSON AND FOREIGN POLICY  Haiti  Revolution ( )  Forces Wilson to send in troops  Marines – to protect US lives and property  Stay 19 years  Dominican Republic (1916)  Similar to Haiti — debt problems  Marines stay 8 years  Virgin Islands (1917)  Purchased from Denmarkfor $25 Million to stop Germany

WILSON AND MEXICO  US investments =$1 Billion  Revolutions  1913 Porfirio Diaz overthrown  General Victoriano Huerta in power  Wilson sent arms to rivals Venustiano Carranza and Francisco Pancho Villa  William Randolph Hearst  Has a Rhode Island sized ranch in Mexico  Begs for US intervention but Wilson promotes human rights over property rights Pancho Villa

WILSON AND MEXICO  Tampico, April 1914 –  US sailors arrested  Mexico releases them and apologizes but Wilson demands a 21-gun salute  When Mexico will not grant this Wilson orders the Navy to take Vera Cruz  Mexican leaders, Huerta & Carranza protest  ABC Powers intervene for the US (Argentina, Brazil, Chile)  Harms US-Mexican relations, and then…  General John "Blackjack" Pershing  Sent into Mexico  Pursue ― Pancho Villa who has killed 16 US engineers in Mexico, and 19 in Columbus, New Mexico  No success: US had conflicts with Mexican troops & finally withdrew as conflict in Europe threatens The Brancho-Buster: President Wilson: “I wonder what I do next?”

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THE GREAT WAR  Assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand, in Sarajevo  Austria-Hungary allied with Germany, in essence, demands that Serbia become a possession of Austria-Hungary  Russia- the protector of the Slavic Nations, mobilizes to protect Serbia  Europe at war within weeks  Wilson’s states that the US position is neutral – trade with the Allies will pull the US out of a Recession and  Wilson is still hoping to keep the US out of war

THE GREAT WAR  Central Powers = Germany, Austria-Hungary, later, Turkey & Bulgaria  Allied Powers = France, England, Russia, later, Italy & Japan  German U-boat warfare threatens US neutrality (we really were supporting the Allied Powers economically)

US NEUTRALITY  Slowly become more pro- Allies  Wilson is privately pro-British – as are most Americans also pro-French  Dislike for German attack on neutral Belgium – Hoover fed Belgium with US support  Germans sinister and strange – evil Heinous and militaristic – Kaiser Wilhelm

US NEUTRALITY  Most Americans thought Germany caused the war  Propaganda-British controlled the information – transatlantic cable  US sold weapons to the Allies – commitment  German Sabotage – agent left briefcase with info about munitions plants on NY Subway – 1916 New Jersey munitions plant explodes – Germans suspected

LUSITANIA  US wants to be neutral but continues to ship to Allied Powers because England has control of the seas and a tight blockade around Germany  Germany then declares a submarine War Zone around Britain Feb  Wilson protests saying that Germany will be held to strict accountability for any attacks on US vessels or citizens  On May 7, 1915 the British passenger linger Lusitania is sunk, by a U-boat killing 1,198 (128 Americans)  This nearly leads to war

SUSSEX PLEDGE  Arabic sunk killing 2 Americans; French Ship the Sussex is sunk  Wilson threatened to break diplomatic relations with Germany- a prelude to war  Germany offers the Sussex Pledge – will not sink passenger and merchant vessels without giving warning IF the US will try to break the British Blockade

ELECTION OF 1916  Democrats :  Wilson  “ He kept us out of war"  In the election, he sweeps the Midwest and west  Wins 277 to 254 EV  Republicans:  Charles Evans Hughes NY – Supreme Court Justice  Attacks Wilson for not standing up to the Kaiser, in isolationist areas takes a softer line – flip-flops  Will win the Eastern States