Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) served as the president of the United States (1901–1909). He also served as the vice president of the United States (1901) and governor of New York (1899–1900). He was defeated in the 1912 United States presidential election. By 1907 he was denouncing "Malefactors of Great Wealth" (big business) and attacking the courts as too beholden to business. He split with his chosen presidential successor William Howard Taft and in 1912 tried and failed to stop more conservative Republicans from renominating Taft and taking control of the party. Instead he created a new party with a platform that presaged the liberalism of the New Deal Democrats of the 1930s.James MacGregor Burns and Susan Dunn, The Three Roosevelts: Patrician Leaders Who Transformed America (2001) pp. 112-141. In terms of foreign policy, however, Roosevelt appealed to conservatives by promoting nationalism, imperialism (as in the Philippines), using force to obtain control of the Panama Canal, and building a powerful world-class navy.Howard K. Beale, Theodore Roosevelt and the Rise of America to World Power (1956) pp.23, 38, 461.
In domestic policy Roosevelt called for a "square deal" for the American people, with four major themes issuing from much more powerful national government.H.W. Brands, T.R.: The Last Romantic (1997) pp.541-552. In connection with conservation, Roosevelt removed 194 million acres of land from commercial use turning them into national forests and parks. With corporate regulation, his aggressive efforts to limit the power of giant corporations and trusts earned Roosevelt the nickname "The Trust-Buster". As far as consumer protection was concerned, The Square Deal led to the passage of major new forms of regulation such as the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Federal Meat Inspection Act in 1906, which aimed to improve food safety and protect consumers. With labor rights, Roosevelt supported workers' rights to form unions and receive compensation for work-related injuries in federal workplaces.Lewis L Gould, The presidency of Theodore Roosevelt (1991) pp. 246-250, 274-281. When President Taft was too conservative Roosevelt broke with him and the Republican Party, allowing the Democrat Woodrow Wilson to win in 1912, Wilson, a champion of liberalism, won reelection in 1916 by winning over many of the Square Deal Roosevelt supporters.Michael Kazin, What It Took to Win: A History of the Democratic Party (2022) p. 137.George W. Ruiz, "The Ideological Convergence of Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson." Presidential Studies Quarterly (1989): 159-177.André Da Silveira Branco Pereira, "The Liberal Legacy of Theodore Roosevelt" Hippo Reads (2024) online In March 1918, in one of his last speeches, Roosevelt arguably foreshadowed the New Deal "by advocating aid to farmers, multipurpose river valley developments, public housing projects, reductions in the hours of labor, and sundry social security measures including old age, sickness, and unemployment insurance."William Henry Harbaugh, Power and Responsibility: The Life and Times of Theodore Roosevelt (1961) p.510.
Notable Achievements and Recommendations
The book Theodore Roosevelt's Confession of Faith Before the Progressive National ConventionSsee online lists the following 33 past achievements and 8 recommendations for the future from Roosevelt himself:
1 Extension of Forest Reserve 2 National Irrigation Act 3 Improvement of waterways and reservation of water power 4 Hepburn Rate Act 5 Employers Liability Act 6 Safety Appliance Act 7 Regulation of railroad employees hours of labor 8 Establishment of Department of Commerce and Labor 9 Pure Food and Drugs Act 10 Federal meat inspection 11 Inspection of packing houses 12 Navy nearly doubled in tonnage and greatly increased in efficiency 13 Battle ship fleet sent around the world 14 State militia brought into co ordination with army 15 Canal Zone acquired and work of excavation pushed with increased energy 16 Development of civil self government in insular possessions 17 Second intervention in Cuba Cuba restored to the Cubans 18 Finances of Santo Domingo straightened out 19 Alaska boundary dispute settled with Great Britain and Canada 20 Reorganization of the Consular Service 21 Settlement of the coal strike of 1902 22 The Government upheld in Northern Securities decision 23 Conviction of post office grafters and public land thieves 24 Directed investigation of the Sugar Trust custom frauds and the resultant prosecutions 25 Directed prosecution of railroads and other corporations for violation of Sherman Anti Trust Law (the Harriman, Tobacco, and Standard Oil suits) 26 Keeping the door of China open to American commerce 27 Bringing about the settlement of the Russo Japanese war by the Treaty of Portsmouth 28 Called a conference on the welfare of dependent children 29 Negotiating twenty four treaties of general arbitration 30 Reduction of interest bearing debt by more than $90,000,000 31 Avoiding the question of tariff revision 32 Inauguration of movement for conservation of natural resources 33 Inauguration of movement for improvement of conditions of country life 1 Reform of the financial system 2 Inheritance tax 3 Calling for an Income tax 4 Passage of a new employers liability act to meet objections raised by the Supreme Court 5 Parcels post 6 Revision of the Sherman Anti Trust Act 7 Legislation to prevent over capitalization stock watering etc of common carriers 8 Legislation compelling incorporation under Federal laws of corporations engaged in interstate commerce
Square Deal
The term "square deal" was in common use by the 1890s and Roosevelt occasionally used it.John Misachi. "What Was The Square Deal?" WorldAtlas (2019) online However in 1910, opposing Taft, he called his platform the "Square Deal". — Practical equality of opportunity for all citizens, when we achieve it, will have two great results. First, every man will have a fair chance to make of himself all that in him lies; to reach the highest point to which his capacities, unassisted by special privilege of his own and unhampered by the special privilege of others, can carry him, and to get for himself and his family substantially what he has earned. Second, equality of opportunity means that the commonwealth will get from every citizen the highest service of which he is capable. No man who carries the burden of the special privileges of another can give to the commonwealth that service to which it is fairly entitled. — I stand for the square deal. But when I say that I am for the square deal, I mean not merely that I stand for fair play under the present rules of the game, but that I stand for having those rules changed so as to work for a more substantial equality of opportunity and of reward for equally good service ... When I say I want a square deal for the poor man, I do not mean that I want a square deal for the man who remains poor because he has not got the energy to work for himself. If a man who has had a chance will not make good, then he has got to quit ... Now, this means that our government, National and State, must be freed from the sinister influence or control of special interests. Exactly as the special interests of cotton and slavery threatened our political integrity before the Civil War, so now the great special business interests too often control and corrupt the men and methods of government for their own profit. We must drive the special interests out of politics ... For every special interest is entitled to justice, but not one is entitled to a vote in Congress, to a voice on the bench, or to representation in any public office. The Constitution guarantees protection to property, and we must make that promise good. But it does not give the right of suffrage to any corporation. The true friend of property, the true conservative, is he who insists that property shall be the servant and not the master of the commonwealth; who insists that the creature of man's making shall be the servant and not the master of the man who made it. The citizens of the United States must effectively control the mighty commercial forces which they have themselves called into being.
New Nationalism and judicial review
In 1910, Roosevelt embodied his strong belief in social justice in his proposals for a "New Nationalism." He believed that human welfare was more important than property rights. He insisted that only a powerful federal government could regulate the economy and guarantee justice, and that a president can succeed in making his economic agenda successful only if he makes the protection of human welfare his highest priority. In terms of politics, his ideas were eagerly endorsed by progressives in the West, and denounced by conservative Republicans in the East. This was frustrating to Roosevelt who realized the Republican Party must unite in order to win the presidency.The best coverage is George Mowry, Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive Movement (1946) pp 157-182 online.
On August 31, 1910 at Osawatomie, Kansas, Roosevelt announced his "New Nationalism" policies in a dramatic move to the left. Recalling the Civil War he said America faced a new war, "between the men who possess more than they have earned and the men who have earned more than they possess." He said working class deserved much more than they were getting from business. "The great special business interests too often control and corrupt the men and methods of government for their own profit. We must drive the special interests out of politics."Brands, T.R. pp. 676-677.Harbaugh, Power and Responsibility pp. 391-398.Robert S. La Forte, "Theodore Roosevelt's Osawatomie Speech." Kansas History 33#2 (1966). pp.187-200 onlineFor the text see "From the Archives: President Teddy Roosevelt's New Nationalism Speech" online
In terms of policy, Roosevelt's platform included a broad range of social and political reforms advocated by progressives. According to Nathan Miller, in his Osawatomie speech: Foreshadowing the modern welfare state, he advocated positive action by the national government to advance equality of opportunity, justice, and security for all. Graduated income and inheritance taxes, a revamped financial system, a comprehensive workmen's compensation law, a commission of experts to regulate the tariff, limitations on the political activities of corporations, the tariff, limitations on the political activities of corporations, stringent new conservation laws, and regulation of child labor were all parts of his grab a bag of reforms.Nathan Miller, Theodore Roosevelt a life (1992) p,515.
Professor Richard HeffnerA Documentary History of the United States of Rutgers University noted about Roosevelt that his New Nationalism "sought Social Justice by extending the powers of the central government", which Roosevelt believed to be the steward of the public welfare.