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Chapter 29: Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

Democrats, being out of office since 1897, needed an outstanding reformist leader
to take advantage of the Republican split, and Dr. Woodrow Wilson emerged as this
leader. As the governor of New Jersey, Wilson waged a passionate reform
campaign, in which he attacked predatory trusts and promised to return state
government, making New Jersey one of the more liberal states. Now, he was widely
mentioned for presidency.

I) The “Bull Moose” Campaign of 1912

• With William Jennings Bryan’s switch to his side, Wilson was given a strong
progressive platform under the “New Freedom” program
⇒ Called for stronger antitrust legislation, banking reform, and tariff reductions
• Roosevelt set the stage for being a third-party Progressive Republican
⇒ A Pro-Roosevelt Progressive convention assembled in Chicago during August
1912
⇒ Symbolizing the rising status of women as well as the Progressive support for
the cause of social justice, settlement-house pioneer Jane Addams placed
Roosevelt’s name in the nomination for presidency
⇒ Roosevelt and the Progressives are fired up and strong, but the split of the
Republican votes between Roosevelt and Taft would lead to an virtually
guaranteed Democrat victory
• New nationalism vs. New Freedom
⇒ Both favored more government intervention in economics and social affairs in
a broad term, but disagreed over specific strategies
⇒ New Nationalism
(a) TR extoled the theories in The Promise of American Life (1910) written by
progressive thinker Herbert Croly, which favored consolidation of trusts
and labor unions with the growth of powerful federal-created regulatory
agencies
(b) Women’s suffrage
(c) Wage laws
(d) “socialistic” social insurance
(e) These goals were ultimately made reality under FDR’s New Deal
⇒ New Freedom
(a) Favored small enterprise and business
(b) Unregulated and unmonopolized markets
(c) Shunned social-welfare proposals such as social insurance
(d) Had economic faith on competition
(e) Fragmentation of trusts and monopolies by vigorous enforcement of
antitrust laws
• The uniqueness of the Election of 1912 is that it offered voters a choice of not
merely policies but political and economic philosophies

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• The heat of the campaign for Roosevelt cooled down when he was shot in the
chest by a frantic in Milwaukee. Active campaigning was suspended for more
than 2 weeks after delivering his scheduled speech

II) Woodrow Wilson: A Minority President

• For the electoral and popular votes, Wilson came first, TR came second, and Taft
came last
• Wilson was a minority president; the real winner of the election was
Progressivism
• The Progressive Party had no political future since it was a one-man show. The
Socialists had more state and local candidates than the Progressive Party
⇒ After Wilson is in officer, the progressives help to enact a lot of reforms of the
Wilsonian Democrats
• Republicans had a minority in Congress for the next 6 years; Taft became the
chief justice of the Supreme Court
III) Wilson: The Idealist in Politics
• Wilson was the second Democrat president since 1861; 1st southern-born
president from Virginia since Zachary Taylor, 64 years ago
• His ideals for self-determination partly came from supporting the seceding
Confederacy during the Civil War times
• Shared Democratic ideals with Jefferson: had faith in the well-informed masses
• Wilson was known for his reliance on sincerity and moral appeal. Being a
moving orator, Wilson was also known for his moral righteousness and
eloquence
• Wilson believed in the power of the chief executive. He thought that Congress
could not function properly without the leadership of the president
• Wilson enjoyed dramatic success in appealing over the heads of legislators to
the sovereign people
• Despite his great intellectual equipment, he did not have the personality of TR.
He is known to be most comfortable around scholars
• So strong was Wilson’s moral righteousness that he was stubborn and often
unwilling to compromise
IV) Wilson Tackles the Tariff
• Wilson established “the triple wall of privilege”, which were the tariff, the banks,
and the trusts, and he reform on all of them
• Wilson did the unprecedented when he delivered his presidential address to
Congress in person early in 1913
• The Underwood Tariff Bill provided a substantial reduction of rates
⇒ The final approval of the bill late in 1913 was secured by Wilson arousing the
public opinion
• The recently ratified 16th Amendment enacted a graduated income tax
⇒ Began with a modest tax on incomes over $3000, which was the above-
average family income

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⇒ By 1917, federal revenue from the income tax exceeded the ones from the
tariff, and this gap has since been vastly widened
V) Wilson Battles the Bankers
• The country’s financial structure still under the Civil War National Banking Act
revealed significant defects
• The most serious shortcoming, as exposed by the panic of 1907, was the
inelasticity of the currency
⇒ Banking reserves were heavily concentrated in a handful of large cities and
could not be mobilized in time of depression
• Republican senator Aldrich was authorized to do a banking investigation for
Congress and his special commission recommended a gigantic bank with
numerous branches, like the third Bank of the U.S
• Democratic banking reformers investigating group was headed by Congressman
Arsene Pujo
• Wilson’s progressive-minded attorney Louis D. Brandeis boosted reform efforts
with his book Other People’s Money and How the Bankers Use It (1914)
• Wilson again personally appeared in both houses of the Congress in June 1913,
addressing his proposals for a decentralized bank
• Appealing again to the sovereign people, Wilson signed the Federal Reserve act
in 1913, the most important piece of economic legislation between the Civil War
and the New Deal
⇒ The Federal Reserve Board, appointed by the president, administrates a
national system of twelve regional reserve banks, each with its own central
bank
⇒ The regional banks are private owned, but under the authority of the Federal
Reserve Board
⇒ The Board was empowered to issue paper money, the Federal Reserve Notes,
backed up by commercial paper. Therefore, the amount of money in
circulation could be manipulated and increased if needed
⇒ This act carried the economic progress of the nation and the financial crises
of the First World War
VI) The President Tames the Trusts
• Early in 1914, The president again went to Congress in person for an address
• 9 month later, Congress responded with the Federal Trade Commission Act of
1914
⇒ Empowered a commission appointed by the president to regulate interstate
commerce, and the commission were to crush monopoly and unlawful
competition
• The Clayton Anti-Trust Act of 1914 defined more business practices that is
considered objectionable under the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, including price
discrimination and interlocking directorates; the Clayton Act also specifically
legalized strikes, unions, and peaceful picketing
⇒ This act lifted out labor as “a commodity or article of commerce”, and Union
leader Samuel Gompers hailed the act as the Magna Carta of labor, although

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conservative judges in years later continues to clip the wings of union

movement
VII)Wilsonian Progressivism at High Tide
• With tariff, banking, and business reform in the same year, Wilson demonstrated
vigorous presidential leadership and progress
• Wilson made laws that were long demanded by the Populists
⇒ The Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916 made credit available to farmers at low
rates of interest
⇒ The Warehouse act of 1916 authorized loans on the security of stable crops
⇒ Other laws benefited rural America by providing for highway construction and
the establishment of agricultural extension work in the state colleges
• La Follette Seamen’s Act of 1915 required decent treatment and a living wage
on American merchant ships; this also drove the rates of transportation up
• The workingmen’s Compensation Act of 1916 granted assistance to federal civil-
service employees during periods of disability
• In the same year, Wilson approved an act restricting child labor on products of
interstate commerce, but the Supreme Court soon invalidated the law
• The Adamson Act of 1916 established an 8-hour workday for all employees of
trains in interstate commerce with extra pay for overtime
• Wilson nominated for the Supreme court in 1916 Louis D. Brandeis, the 1st Jew to
be called to the high bench
• Wilson’s progressive limits were shown when he accelerated segregation in the
federal bureaucracy
⇒ When a delegation of black leaders protested, they were shunned out of his
office
• Wilson knew that to be reelected in 1916, he need to appeal himself as the
candidate of progressivism; he appealed to the business people by making
conservative appointments to the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Trade
commission, but he devoted most of his efforts toward progressivism
VIII)New Directions in Foreign Policy
• Wilson is against imperialism, the big stick, and dollar diplomacy
⇒ Wilson disabled special support to American foreign investors
⇒ Persuaded Congress to repeal the Panama Canal Tolls Act of 1912, which
waived Panama canal tolls for American coastwise shipping, causing
hostilities with Britain
• Wilson signed the Jones Act in 1916, which gave Philippines territorial status and
promised its independence as long as a stable government could be established,
which turned out to be 30 years later
• Wilson defused hostilities with Japan by sending Secretary of State William
Jennings Bryan to plead with the California legislature to loosen up its law
prohibiting Japanese settlers from owning land
• Political turmoil in Haiti forced Wilson to betray his own ideals

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⇒ When an uprising of people revolted against the Haitian president, the Wilson
administration dispatched marines to protect American lives and properties in
1915 and remained there for 19 years
⇒ Troops were also sent to the Dominican Republic to quell riots, and they were
left there for the next 8 years
⇒ Wilson purchased the Virgin Islands in the West Indies from Denmark in 1917
to tighten up the grips of the Caribbean
IX) Moralistic Diplomacy in Mexico
• Mexico were highly invested by American investors
• The Mexican people revolted against their government
⇒ The revolution took an ugly turn in 1913 as the new revolutionary president
was murdered and General Victoriano Huerta, an Indian, was placed for
president
(a) Caused massive immigration to the U.S; often segregated into Spanish-
speaking societies, and formed a unique borderland culture
⇒ The revolution urged American jingoes to chant for intervention
(a) Yellow journalist William Randolph Hearst, having his ownership of a
Mexican Ranch, were among those chanting for war
• Wilson thought it was not justified to intervene with material interests
• Wilson also refused to recognize Huerta as president; he provided weapons to
Huerta’s rival, Venustiano Carranza and Francisco (“Pancho”) Villa
• When a small party of American sailors was arrested at the Atlantic seaport of
Tampico in April 1914, Wilson ordered the navy to seize the Mexican port of Vera
Cruz before asking Congress for the authority to use force against Mexico, after
the Mexicans failed to conform American admiral’s demand for a salute of 21
guns
• Huerta collapsed in July 1914 and Venustiano Carranza succeeded him
⇒ Pancho Villa turned on Carranza, whom Wilson now supported. After Villa’s
men brutally hunt down Americans to kill, General John J. Pershing’s forces
chased down Villa but failed to capture Villa himself
X) Thunder Across the Sea
• Followed by the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, the heir to the throne of
Austria-Hungary, by a Serbian patriot in Sarajevo, an explosive chain reaction
was caused by the strong alliance system
⇒ Russia, the protectorate of Serbia menaced Germany on the east while
France confronted Germany on the west
⇒ Central Powers: Germany, Austria-Hungary, and later Turkey and Bulgaria
⇒ Allies: France Britain Russia, and later Japan and Italy
• America is not going to stay out of the war for long
XI) A Precarious Neutrality
• Wilson’s grief at the war in Europe was compounded by the death of his wife
• While the British fed America with their side of the war story, there were large
numbers of Germans and Austro-Hungarians in the U.S who had natural
sympathy for their country

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• Most Americans were anti-German because of their hatred of Kaiser Wilhelm’s

autocracy and their ruthless strike against Belgium
⇒ The image of the Central Powers was worsened when German and Austrian
agents committed violence in American factories and ports, and when plans
for industrial sabotage were discovered and publicized
• Despite the one-sided opinion of American people, the majority of Americans
wanted to stay out of war
XII)America Earns Blood Money
• British and French war orders pulled the American economy from recession to
prosperity
⇒ J.P Morgan was among the noted bankers that financed this boom
• Central Powers protested against the immense trade between U.S and the Allies,
but this did not violate any laws of neutrality
⇒ Germans could not trade with the U.S mainly because of the British blockade
on Germany
• In February 1915 Berlin announced a submarine warfare area around the British
Isles
• Sinking of the British passenger liner Lusitania on May 7, 1915, including the loss
of 128 American lives, changed the nature of the submarine issue
⇒ Although the Lusitania was carrying 4,200 cases of small-arms ammunition,
America was swept by a wave of shock and anger
⇒ Wilson attempt to talk to the German warlords, and afraid of going to war,
Secretary of State Bryan resigned
• After the sinking of another British liner, the Arabic, in August 1915, with the loss
of 2 American lives. Berlin agreed not to sink unarmed and unresisting
passenger ships without warning
• Germans violated their own pledge when they sank a French passenger steamer,
the Sussex, in March 1916
⇒ Wilson threatened to break diplomatic relations with Germany, usually a
prelude to war
⇒ Germany agreed with Wilson not to sink passenger ships without warning
again, under the terms that the U.S having to persuade the Allies to break off
what the Germans called an illegal blockade of Britain. Wilson accepted
these terms without any action of persuasion
XIII)Wilson Wins Reelection
• Roosevelt quit the nomination, giving end to the Progressive party
• Republicans nominated Supreme Court justice Charles Evans Hughes, and
condemned the Democrats of their tariff reduction and assaults on trusts. They
also criticized Wilson’s actions on Mexico and Germany
• Wilson was reelected under the slogan “he kept us out of war”
⇒ Hughes swept the east while Wilson had the rest of the country
⇒ Received strong support from the working class
⇒ Many voters voted Wilson to keep the nation out of war, but their
expectations were soon shattered

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