• Handpicked by Roosevelt to be the next Republican nominee

• Easily defeated Democratic nominee Williams Bryan

• Pledged to carry on TR’s progressive programs – Pursued more than 90 antitrust cases– Supported numerous other reforms

• Gave into Republican “old guard” which resisted many progressive programs– His failure to reduce tariffs caused

progressives in his party to turn away from him. • Eventually aligning with the Bull Moose Party

• Taft seen as compromising on another important progressive cause

• Taft's Secretary of the Interior, Richard Ballinger sold several million rich coal deposit Alaskan acres to a private group

• When Gifford Pinchot, head of Forest Services, claimed Ballinger had shown special preference to the buying group……… Taft had him fired

• This upset the progressive faction within the Republican Party– They joined forces with Democrats to investigate

Ballinger• Although never found guilty Ballinger eventually

resigned– They also went after the “old Republican guard”

changing the way committees are formed in the House

Caused a party crisis in 1910

• Following Taft’s election Roosevelt left for hunting trip to Africa

Only to return to wildly cheering crowds and strong protests against Taft

• This battle between Taft and the Progressives was to hard for Roosevelt to resist

• Roosevelt soon began speaking on behalf of the Progressive candidates in the Midterm election

• He called for more federal regulation of– Businesses– Welfare legislation– Stronger workplace protections (especially

women & children)– Income & inheritance taxes– Direct primaries– And other Progressive reforms

• He called this program the New Nationalism

• Roosevelt & Taft both vied for the Republican nomination– Taft won it easily

• Republican progressives cried fraud marching out, vowing to form their own party

• This led to them forming the Progressive Party• They immediately nominated TR who readily

accepted it – After nominated TR quipped “ I am as fit as a bull

moose” – The nickname stuck hence The Bull Moose Party

• During his terms Woodrow Wilson lowered many tariffs and instituted financial reforms

• In 1913 he helped establish the Federal Reserve System – The system created 8 to 12 regional federal reserve

banks to which its purpose was to:• Help influence monetary and credit (economy)• Be a stabilizing force among financial institutions• Created a new national currency (Federal Reserve note)

– Which allowed to the Federal Reserve to expand or contract the amount of money in circulation

• 1914 Congress passed the Clayton Antitrust Act– It spelled out specific activities that big business could

not do• They could not use contracts to prevent buyers from

purchasing goods from their competitors– It also lent support to unions• Strikes, peaceful picketing, and boycotts are now legal• This prevented courts form issuing injunctions unless union

activity led to “ irreparable injury to property”– With this act the government was now fully committed

to regulating business• In 1914 Wilson & Congress created the Federal Trade

Commission (FTC) to which its purpose was to:– Set up fair trade laws – Enforce antitrust laws

• He was less active in the social justice legislation– He allowed his Cabinet officers to extend the Jim Crow practice of

separating the races in federal offices– He was opposed to a constitutional amendment on women’s suffrage

• Based this on his party’s platform of not endorsing it • Though he changed his support later based on World War I when women took

factory jobs in support of the war effort• In a speech on September 18, 1918, he said

“We have made partners of the women in this war. Shall we admit them only to a partnership of suffering and sacrifice and toil and not to a partnership of right?”

Key Terms to Know

• Conservationists• New Nationalism• New Freedom• Bull Moose Party• Clayton Antitrust Act• Federal Reserve System

•Read section 4 pages 557 – 560