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{{Infobox_President | name=Theodore Roosevelt
he wanted to kill us all.
| image=TRSargent.jpg
| order=26th [[President of the United States]]
| term_start=September 14, 1901
| term_end=April 3, 1909
| vicepresident=''none'' (1901-1905),<ref>Until the ratification of the [[Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution]] in 1967, there was no provision for filling a mid-term vacancy in the office of Vice President. [http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment25/ Find Law for Legal Professionals - U.S. Constitution: Twenty-Fifth Amendment - Annotations]</ref><br/>[[Charles W. Fairbanks]] (1905-1909)
| predecessor=[[William McKinley]]
| successor=[[William Howard Taft]]
| order2=25th [[Vice President of the United States]]
| term_start2=March 4, 1901
| term_end2=September 14, 1901
| president2=[[William McKinley]]
| predecessor2=[[Garret Hobart]] (until 1899)
| successor2=[[Charles W. Fairbanks]] (from 1905)
| order3=36th [[Governor of New York]]
| term_start3=January 1, 1899
| term_end3=January 1, 1901
| lieutenant3=[[Timothy L. Woodruff]]
| predecessor3=[[Frank S. Black]]
| successor3=[[Benjamin Barker Odell, Jr.|Benjamin B. Odell, Jr.]]
| birth_date=October 27, 1858
| birth_place= [[New York]], [[New York]]
| death_date={{death date and age|1919|1|6|1858|10|27}}
| death_place= [[Oyster Bay (hamlet), New York|Oyster Bay]], [[New York]]
| spouse=(1) [[Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt|Alice Hathaway Lee]] (married 1880, died 1884)<br/>(2) [[Edith Roosevelt|Edith Kermit Carow]] (married 1886)
| occupation=[[Polymath]], [[Civil servant]]
| party=[[History of United States Republican Party|Republican]]
| religion=[[Dutch Reformed]]
| signature=Theodore Roosevelt signature.gif
|}}
'''[[Theodore Roosevelt]]''' was the 26th (1901&ndash;1909) [[President of the United States]]. He had been the 25th [[Vice President of the United States|Vice President]] before becoming President upon the assassination of President [[William McKinley]]. Owing to his charismatic personality and reformist policies, which he called the "[[Square Deal]]", Roosevelt is considered one of the ablest presidents and an icon of the [[Progressive Era]].<ref>H. W. Brands, ''T.R.: The Last Romantic'' (1997) p. 477.</ref>

==Overview==
[[Image:TR Inaugurationsketch.jpg|thumb|left|Roosevelt's Inauguration]]McKinley was shot by an anarchist in [[Buffalo, New York]] on September 6, 1901, and died on September 14, putting Roosevelt into the presidency. A few weeks short of his 43rd birthday, he is the youngest person to hold the office. Roosevelt continued McKinley's cabinet and promised to continue McKinley's policies. One of his first notable acts as President was to deliver a 20,000-word address to Congress on December 3, 1901,<ref>[http://www.theodore-roosevelt.com/sotu1.html]</ref> asking it to curb the power of large [[corporation]]s (called "trusts") "within reasonable limits." For his aggressive attacks on trusts over his two terms he was called a "trust-buster."
Roosevelt relished the Presidency and seemed to be everywhere at once.<ref>Brands, ''TR'' (1997) ch 16</ref> He took [[United States Cabinet|Cabinet]] members and friends on long, fast-paced hikes, boxed in the state rooms of the White House, romped with his children, and read voraciously. He was permanently blinded in one eye during one of his boxing bouts.

In [[U.S. presidential election, 1904|1904]], Roosevelt ran for President in his own right and won in a landslide victory.

Building on McKinley's effective use of the press, Roosevelt made the [[White House]] the center of news every day, providing interviews and photo opportunities. He accomplished this after noticing the White House reporters huddled outside in the rain one day; he gave them their own room inside, effectively inventing the presidential press briefing.<ref name="american chronicle">{{cite news
|url=http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/6883
|publisher=''American Chronicle''
|date=March 15, 2006
|title=Happy Anniversary to the first scheduled presidential press conference - 93 years young! |first=Robert |last=Rouse}}</ref> The grateful press, with unprecedented access to the White House, rewarded Roosevelt with ample coverage.<ref name="american chronicle"/> This was helped by Roosevelt's practice of screening out reporters he didn't like.<ref name="american chronicle"/>

==Domestic policy==
===Progressivism===
Determined to create what he called a "[[Square Deal]]" between business and labor, Roosevelt pushed several pieces of progressive legislation through [[United States Congress|Congress]].

[[Progressivism in the United States]] was the most powerful political force of the day, and in the first dozen years of the century Roosevelt was its most articulate spokesman. Progressivism meant expertise, and the use of science, engineering, technology and the new social sciences to identify the nation's problems, and identify ways to eliminate waste and inefficiency and to promote modernization.<ref>see George Mowry, ''The Era of Theodore Roosevelt and the Birth of Modern America, 1900-1912'' (1954), ch. 1</ref> Roosevelt, trained as a biologist, identified himself and his programs with the mystique of science. The other side of Progressivism was a burning hatred of corruption and a fear of powerful and dangerous forces, such as political machines, the corrupt segment of labor unions and especially the new large corporations &mdash; called "trusts" &mdash; which seemed to have emerged overnight. Roosevelt, the former deputy sheriff on the Dakota frontier, and police commissioner of New York City, knew evil when he saw it and was dedicated to destroying it. Roosevelt's moralistic determination set the tone of national politics.<ref>see Lewis L. Gould, ''The Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt.'' (1991), ch 1</ref>

===Anthracite Coal Strike of 1902===
{{Main|Coal Strike of 1902}}
A national emergency was averted in 1902 when Roosevelt found a compromise to the Anthracite coal strike that threatened the heating supplies of most homes. Roosevelt forced an end to the strike when he threatened to use the United States Army to mine the coal and seize the mines. The labor union and the owners both reached an agreement after this episode where the labor union agreed to not be the official bargainer for the workers and the workers got better pay and fewer hours.<ref>Brands, ''TR'' (1997) pp 434-62</ref>

[[Image:Coal.JPG|thumb|350px|left|TR teaches the childish coal barons a lesson; 1902 editorial cartoon]]

===Trust busting===
[[Image:Roosevelt Wilcox house.jpg|thumb|Room in the Wilcox Mansion, where Roosevelt was sworn into the Presidency]]

Trusts were increasingly the central issue in politics, with public opinion fearing that large corporations could impose monopolistic prices to cheat the consumer and squash small independent companies. By 1904, 318 trusts controlled about two-fifths of the nation's manufacturing output, not to mention powerful trusts in non-manufacturing sectors such as railroads, local transit, and banking. Roosevelt decided to do something about it. A few historians credit McKinley with starting the [[trust-busting]] era, but most credit Roosevelt, the "[[Trust Buster]]." Once President, Roosevelt worked to increase the regulatory power of the federal government. Regulation of railroads was strengthened by the [[Elkins Act]] (1903) and especially the [[Hepburn Act]] of 1906, which had the effect of favoring merchants over the railroads. Under his leadership, the Attorney General brought forty-four suits against businesses that were claimed to be monopolies, most notably [[J.P. Morgan]]'s [[Northern Securities Company]], a huge [[railroad]] combination, and [[John D. Rockefeller|J. D. Rockefeller]]'s [[Standard Oil Company]]. Both were successful, with Standard Oil broken into over 30 smaller companies that eventually competed with one another. To raise the visibility of labor and management issues, he established a new federal [[United States Department of Commerce and Labor|Department of Commerce and Labor]].<ref>Gould (1991)</ref>

===Pure Food and Drugs===
[[File:Theodore Roosevelt by John Singer Sargent, 1903.jpg|thumb|During his tenure as President, Roosevelt became known for his role as the leader of Progressivism, for trust-busting and for his enthusiastic conservationist policies.]]

In response to public clamor, Roosevelt pushed Congress to pass the [[Pure Food and Drug Act]] of 1906, as well as the [[Meat Inspection Act]] of 1906. These laws provided for labeling of foods and drugs, inspection of livestock and mandated sanitary conditions at meatpacking plants. Congress replaced Roosevelt's proposals with a version supported by the major meatpackers who worried about the overseas markets, and did not want small unsanitary plants undercutting their domestic market.<ref>Blum (1954) pp 43-44</ref>

===Railroad regulation===
Roosevelt firmly believed that "The Government must in increasing degree supervise and regulate the workings of the railways engaged in interstate commerce." Inaction was a danger, he argued, "Such increased supervision is the only alternative to an increase of the present evils on the one hand or a still more radical policy on the other." (Annual Message Dec 1904) The [[Elkins Act]] of 1903 was the Administration's first effort at the regulation of railroad rates; it proved ineffective in practice. Roosevelt agreed with the shipping interests who wanted lower rates and a stronger [[Interstate Commerce Commission]] to enforce them. As Roosevelt told Congress, "Above all else, we must strive to keep the highways of commerce open to all on equal terms; and to do this it is necessary to put a complete stop to all rebates." Politically this was action on behalf of shippers; it was assumed that the railroads would always be powerful and no amount of regulation would seriously weaken them. (No one dreamed of a vast highway system carrying millions of trucks and automobiles.)
Roosevelt encountered opposition in his party, led in the Senate by [[Nelson Aldrich]] of Rhode Island, the party leader; [[Joseph B. Foraker]] of Ohio; [[Chauncey Depew]] of New York (the president of the [[New York Central]] Railroad),
[[Stephen Elkins]] of West Virginia, [[Philander Knox]] of Pennsylvania (formerly Roosevelt's Attorney General), and one of his closest personal friends [[Henry Cabot Lodge]] of Massachusetts. Roosevelt therefore planned to rely on a group of Midwestern Republicans, especially [[William Allison]] of Iowa. He wanted to avoid having to collaborate with [[Ben Tillman]] of South Carolina, whom he considered "one of the foulest and rottenest demagogues in the whole country." In the end Roosevelt convinced the conservatives that the courts would protect the railroads' interests, and he carried the bill without Tillman.<ref>Brands, 545-8; Harbaugh ch 14; Blum (1954)</ref>

The [[Hepburn Act]] of 1906 gave the [[Interstate Commerce Commission]] (ICC) the power to set maximum railroad rates and stopped free passes given to friends of the railroad. In addition, the ICC could view the railroads' financial records, a task simplified by standardized booking systems. For any railroad that resisted, the ICC's conditions would be in effect until the outcome of litigation said otherwise. By the Hepburn Act, the ICC's authority was extended to cover bridges, terminals, ferries, sleeping cars, express companies and oil pipelines. Along with the Elkins Act of 1903, the Hepburn Act accomplished one of Roosevelt's major goals, railroad regulation. The main beneficiaries were the merchants who received lower shipping rates.<ref>The regulation in the long run seriously damaged the competitive position of the railroads with respect to trucking, according to Albro Martin, ''Enterprise Denied: Origins of the Decline of American Railroads, 1897-1917''(1978)</ref>

===Conservation===
Roosevelt was a prominent [[conservationist]], putting the issue high on the national agenda. He worked with all the major figures of the movement, especially his chief advisor on the matter, [[Gifford Pinchot]]. Roosevelt was deeply committed to conserving natural resources, and is considered to be the nation's first [[conservation biology|conservation]] President. He encouraged the [[Newlands Reclamation Act]] of 1902 to promote federal construction of dams to irrigate small farms and placed 230 million acres (360,000&nbsp;mi² or 930,000&nbsp;km²) under federal protection. Roosevelt set aside more Federal land for [[national park]]s and [[nature preserve]]s than all of his predecessors combined.<ref>W. Todd Benson, ''President Theodore Roosevelt's Conservations Legacy'' (2003)</ref>
[[Image:TR-Enviro.JPG|Thumb|325px|left|TR's conservation policies]]

Roosevelt established the [[United States Forest Service]], signed into law the creation of five [[National parks (United States)|National Parks]], and signed the 1906 [[Antiquities Act]], under which he proclaimed 18 new [[U.S. National Monument]]s. He also established the first 51 [[Bird Reserve]]s, four [[Game Preserve]]s, and 150 [[United States National Forest|National Forests]], including [[Shoshone National Forest]], the nation's first. The area of the United States that he placed under public protection totals approximately 230,000,000 acres.

[[Gifford Pinchot]] had been appointed by McKinley as chief of Division of Forestry in the Department of Agriculture. In 1905, his department gained control of the national forest reserves. Pinchot promoted private use (for a fee) under federal supervision. In 1907, Roosevelt designated 16 million acres (65,000&nbsp;km²) of new national forests just minutes before a deadline.

In May 1908, Roosevelt sponsored the [[Conference of Governors]] held in the White House, with a focus on natural resources and their most efficient use. Roosevelt delivered the opening address: "Conservation as a National Duty.".

In 1903 Roosevelt toured the Yosemite Valley with [[John Muir]], who had a very different view of conservation, and tried to minimize commercial use of water resources and forests. Working through the [[Sierra Club]] he founded, Muir succeeded in 1905 in having Congress transfer the [[Mariposa Grove]] and Yosemite Valley to the [[National Park Service]]. While Muir wanted nature preserved for the sake of pure beauty, Roosevelt subscribed to Pinchot's formulation, "to make the forest produce the largest amount of whatever crop or service will be most useful, and keep on producing it for generation after generation of men and trees." <ref>Gifford Pinchot, ''Breaking New Ground,'' (1947) p. 32.</ref>

===Civil Rights===
Although Roosevelt did some work improving [[race relations]], he, like most leaders of the [[Progressive Era]], lacked initiative on most racial issues. [[Booker T. Washington]], the most important black leader of the day, was the first [[African American]] to be invited to dinner, on October 16, 1901, at the White House, where he discussed politics and [[racism]] with Roosevelt. News of the dinner reached the press two days later. The white public outcry following the dinner was so strong, especially from the Southern states, that Roosevelt never repeated the experiment.<ref>Brands, ''TR'' (1999) pp 421-26</ref> Roosevelt was reluctant to use federal authority to enforce the [[Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|15th Amendment]] to the [[U.S. Constitution]] guaranteeing voting rights to [[African Americans]]. Roosevelt did not sponsor or support laws to prohibit the lynching of [[African Americans]].
[[Image:BookerTWashington-Cheynes.LOC.jpg|thumb|right|[[Booker T. Washington]]<p>An [[African American]], born into slavery, Washington was a [[civil rights]] advocate during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.]]
Publicly, Roosevelt spoke out against racism and [[discrimination]], and appointed many blacks to lower-level Federal offices, and wrote fondly of the "[[Buffalo Soldiers]]," who had fought beside his [[Rough Riders]] at the [[Battle of San Juan Hill]] in Cuba in July 1898. However, soon after returning from San Juan Hill, Roosevelt changed his story concerning African American Soldiers and their conduct in battle saying "Under the strain the colored infantrymen (who had none of their white officers) began to get a little uneasy and drift to the rear… This I could not allow." <ref>Spanish-American War Buffalo Soldiers, [http://www.wheelerplantation.org/the.htm]</ref> Roosevelt opposed school [[Racial segregation|segregation]], having ended the practice in New York State during his governorship. Roosevelt rejected [[anti-Semitism]]&mdash;he was the first to appoint a Jew, [[Oscar S. Straus]], to the cabinet.

Like most intellectuals of the era, Roosevelt believed in evolution; as an authority on biology he paid special attention to the issue. He saw the different races as having reached different levels of civilization, with whites thus far having reached a higher level than blacks. Every race, and every individual, was capable of unlimited improvement, Roosevelt felt. Furthermore, a new "race" (in the cultural sense, not biological) had emerged on the American frontier, the "American race," and it was quite distinct from other ethnic groups, such as the Anglo-Saxons. Roosevelt identified himself as Dutch, not Anglo-Saxon.<ref>Thomas G. Dyer, ''Theodore Roosevelt and the Idea of Race'' (1992)</ref> After criticism of Washington's invitation to the White House, Roosevelt seemed to wilt publicly on the cause of racial equality. In 1906, he approved the dishonorable discharges of three companies of black soldiers who all refused his direct order to testify regarding their actions during a violent episode in [[Brownsville, Texas]], known as the [[Brownsville Raid]].

In 1905, Roosevelt wanted the city of San Francisco to allow 93 Japanese students to attend public schools with whites; they were assigned to the public school for Chinese students, which Japan had protested. Roosevelt threatened a lawsuit. Finally a compromise was reached where the School Board would allow the Japanese students to attend public school with whites and Roosevelt would ask Japan to stop issuing passports to laborers By the "Gentleman's Agreement," Japan did stop issuing passports to unskilled workers.<ref>David Brudnoy, "Race and The San Francisco School Board Incident: Contemporary Evaluations," ''California Historical Quarterly,'' 1971, Vol. 50 Issue 3, pp 295-312</ref>

===Radical shift, 1907-1908===
By 1907-08, his last two years in office, Roosevelt was increasingly distrustful of big business, despite its close ties to the Republican party in every large state. Public opinion had been shifting to the left after a series of scandals, and big business was in bad odor. Abandoning his earlier caution and conservatism, Roosevelt freely lambasted his conservative critics and called on Congress to enact a series of radical new laws &mdash; the Square Deal &mdash; that would regulate the economy<ref>Brands, ''TR'' (1997) ch 21</ref>. He wanted a national incorporation law (all corporations had state charters, which varied greatly state by state), a federal income tax and inheritance tax (both targeted on the rich), limits on the use of court injunctions against labor unions during strikes (injunctions were a powerful weapon that mostly helped business), an employee liability law for industrial injuries (preempting state laws), an eight-hour law for federal employees, a postal savings system (to provide competition for local banks), and, finally, campaign reform laws.
[[Image:TR-Farewell.JPG|thumb|350px|right|TR Farewell speeches sought Progressive goals but did not pass Congress]]

None of his agenda was enacted, and Roosevelt carried over the ideas into the 1912 campaign.<ref>Brands, ''TR'' (1997) ch 27</ref> Roosevelt's increasingly radical stance proved popular in the Midwest and Pacific Coast, and among farmers, teachers, clergymen, clerical workers and some proprietors, but appeared as divisive and unnecessary to eastern Republicans, corporate executives, lawyers, party workers, and Congressmen.<ref name="Mowry 1954">Mowry (1954)</ref>

Roosevelt's move left allowed Senator [[Nelson Aldrich]] to tighten his control of Congress.<ref name="Mowry 1954"/> In 1908, Aldrich introduced the [[Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|constitutional amendment to establish an income tax]]. The same year he wrote the [[Aldrich-Vreeland Act]] which created the [[National Monetary Commission]], which he directed. It made an in-depth study of central banking in Europe—which was far more effective than America in that regard. Aldrich's dramatic proposals for comprehensive reform became the [[Federal Reserve]] in 1913.

==Foreign policy==
[[Image:BigStick.jpg|thumb|left|200px|A political cartoonists' commentary on Roosevelt's "big stick" policy]]
Roosevelt had traveled widely and was well informed on international affairs, as well as military and naval affairs around the world. He was determined to make America a great world power while avoiding war.<ref>Warren Zimmermann, ''First Great Triumph: How Five Americans Made Their Country a World Power'' (2004)</ref>

===Army===
The U.S. Army, with 39,000 men in 1890 was the smallest and least powerful army of any major power in the late 19th century. By contrast, France had 542,000.<ref>Paul Kennedy, ''The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers'' (1987) p. 154, 203</ref> The [[Spanish-American War]] of 1898 was fought mostly by temporary volunteers and state national guard units. It demonstrated that more effective control over the department and bureaus was necessary.<ref> Graham A. Cosmas, ''An Army for Empire: The United States Army and the Spanish–American War'' (1971)</ref>

Roosevelt gave strong support to the reforms proposed by his War Secretary [[Elihu Root]] (1899-1904), who wanted a uniformed chief of staff as general manager and a European-type general staff for planning. Root was stymied by General [[Nelson A. Miles]] but did succeed in enlarging [[United States Military Academy|West Point]] and establishing the [[U.S. Army War College]] as well as the [[Staff (military)|General Staff]]. Root changed the procedures for promotions and organized schools for the special branches of the service. He also devised the principle of rotating officers from staff to line. Root was concerned about the new territories acquired after the [[Spanish-American War]] and worked out the procedures for turning Cuba over to the Cubans, wrote the charter of government for the Philippines, and eliminated tariffs on goods imported to the United States from Puerto Rico.<ref> James E. Hewes, Jr. ''From Root to McNamara: Army Organization and Administration, 1900-1963'' (1975)</ref>

===Navy===
Roosevelt urged the United States to build a strong navy. He believed in an imperial mission for the United States, and that the U.S. could eventually be pulled into war in the [[Pacific Ocean]] with Japan. Roosevelt ordered what came to be called the [[Great White Fleet]] (due to its gleaming white paint) on an around-the-world cruise, including a prominent stop in Japan. Roosevelt hoped to ease Japanese-American tensions and to show the Japanese leadership, as well as the rest of the world, the global reach of the United States' military might. The Great White Fleet returned to the U.S. in 1909, and Roosevelt had the pleasure of reviewing the Fleet just before leaving office. Roosevelt helped to expand the Navy greatly. By 1904, the United States had the fifth largest Navy in the world; by 1907, it had the third largest.<ref>Gordon Carpenter O'Gara, ''Theodore Roosevelt and the Rise of the Modern Navy'' (1970)</ref>

As a tribute to him, several Navy warships have been named after Roosevelt over the years, including a [[Nimitz class]] [[supercarrier]].
===Roosevelt Corollary===
[[Image:Panama Canal under construction, 1907.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Roosevelt regarded the [[Panama Canal]] as one of his greatest achievements]]
In late 1904 Roosevelt announced his [[Roosevelt Corollary]] to the [[Monroe Doctrine]]. It stated that the U.S. would intervene in the finances of unstable Caribbean and Central American countries if they defaulted on their debts to European creditors and, in effect, guarantee their debts, making it unnecessary for European powers to intervene to collect unpaid debts. In the case of [[Venezuela]]'s default, [[Germany]] had threatened to seize the customs houses in her ports. Thus, Roosevelt's pronouncement was especially meant as a warning to Germany, and had the result of promoting peace in the region, as the Germans decided to not intervene directly in Venezuela and in other countries.<ref>Frederick W. Marks III, ''Velvet on Iron: The Diplomacy of Theodore Roosevelt (1979), p. 140</ref>

===Ending the Russo-Japanese War===
In the summer of 1905, Roosevelt persuaded the parties in the [[Russo-Japanese War]] to meet in a peace conference in [[Portsmouth, New Hampshire]], starting on August 5. His persistent and effective mediation led to the signing of the [[Treaty of Portsmouth]] on September 5, ending the war. For his efforts, Roosevelt was awarded the 1906 [[Nobel Peace Prize]].<ref>Greg Russell, "Theodore Roosevelt's Diplomacy and the Quest for Great Power Equilibrium in Asia," ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'' 2008 38(3): 433-455</ref>
===Korea===
Roosevelt saw Japan as the rising power in Asia, in terms of military strength and economic modernization. He viewed Korea as an backward nation and did not object to Japanese moves to control the strategic Korean peninsula. With the withdrawal of the American legation from Seoul and the refusal of the Secretary of State to receive a Korean protest mission, the Americans signaled they would not intervene militarily to stop Japan's planned takeover of Korea.<ref>Howard K. Beale, ''Theodore Roosevelt and the Rise of America to World Power'' (1956)</ref> (There is a myth regarding a so-called [[Taft-Katsura agreement]] of 1905; it was a conversation that did not produce an agreement.<ref> In 1924 Tyler Dennett uncovered notes of a secret meeting between Secretary of War William H. Taft and the Japanese prime minister in Tokyo in 1905. Dennett misinterpeted it to involve giving a free hand in Korea in return for Japan promising to stay out of the Philippines. However, the documents in the U.S. Department of State archives and Roosevelt's papers show that Taft, Roosevelt and Premier [[Taro Katsura]] privately denied the existence of any "bargain." Rather there was a discussion that did not produce any agreement. See Raymond A. Esthus, "The Taft-Katsura Agreement - Reality or Myth?" ''Journal of Modern History'' 1959 31(1): 46-51 [http://www.jstor.org/stable/1871772 in JSTOR]. One popularizer, [[James Bradley]] in 2009 claimed a terrible bargain did exist and that TR's support for it caused World War II and the Korean War; Bradley, ''The Imperial Cruise: A Secret History of Empire and War'' (2009). Historians have rejected Bradley's claims.</ref>

===Panama Canal===
In 1903, Roosevelt encouraged the local political class in [[Panama]] to form a nation independent from [[Colombia]], after that nation refused the American terms for the building of a canal across the isthmus. Roosevelt dispatched navy vessels to the area to apply political pressure on the Colombian government, allowing the Panamanian rebels to secede without much opposition. The new nation of Panama sold a [[Panama Canal Zone|canal zone]] to the United States for $10 million and a steadily increasing yearly sum. Roosevelt felt that a passage through the [[Isthmus of Panama]] was vital to protect American interests and to create a strong and cohesive [[United States Navy]]. The resulting [[Panama Canal]] was completed in 1914 and revolutionized world travel and commerce.

===Algeciras Conference===
In 1906, at the secret request of [[Kaiser Wilhelm II]] of Germany, Roosevelt requested a meeting between Great Britain, France and Germany over the future of [[Morocco]] and the degree of influence of the three European powers over the Country.

In the previous centuries, [[North Africa]] had been divided into outright colonies and various [[spheres of influence]] by France and Great Britain. Germany, in the guise of its Emperor, had felt increasingly threatened with encirclement and encroachment by the growing Anglo-French alliance in the West and Russian aggression in the East. When Britain had signed the a treaty that came to be known as the [[Entente Cordiale]] in 1904, Britain had agreed to support of French special interests in Morocco. France’s attempt to implement the agreement by presenting the Moroccan sultan, [[Yusef of Morocco|Sultan Yusef ben Hassan]] with so-called reforms, the much offended and outraged German Emperor, came to [[Tangier]] in March 1905. The Germans immediately challenged the French by supporting the sovereignty of the [[Sultan]] and demanding the retention of what they called an “open door” for trade. Germany felt it had no choice but to assert its influence to stop the Anglo-French combination from effectively locking Germany out of another African country and continuing to block German interests.

Because the Kaiser greatly admired Roosevelt, and saw him as a truly neutral party, secretly requesting Roosevelt to help bring about the 1906 conference in Algeciras that effectively resolved the dispute. Signed on April 7, 1906, the agreement reduced French influence by reaffirming the independence of the Sultan and the economic independence and freedom of operations of all European powers. Although the agreement only delayed the eventual clash of power that led to [[World War I]], Roosevelt had used his influence as accepted neutral party to resolve one more international conflict.

===Philippines===
After the official end of [[Philippine–American War|Aguinaldo's insurrection]] in 1902, the insurgents accepted American rule and peace prevailed, except in some remote islands under Muslim control. Roosevelt continued the McKinley policies of removing the Catholic friars (with compensation to the Pope), upgrading the infrastructure, introducing public health programs, and launching a program of economic and social modernization. The enthusiasm shown in 1898-99 for colonies cooled off, and Roosevelt saw the islands as "our heel of Achilles." He told Taft in 1907, "I should be glad to see the islands made
independent, with perhaps some kind of international guarantee for the preservation of order, or with some warning on our part that if they did not keep order we would have to interfere again." By then the President and his foreign policy advisers turned away from Asian issues to concentrate on Latin America.<ref> H. W. Brands, ''Bound to Empire: The United States and the Philippines.. (1992) p. 84.</ref>

==Administration and Cabinet==
{{col-start}}
{{col-2}}
{| cellpadding="1" cellspacing="4" style="margin:3px; border:3px solid #000000;" align="left"
!bgcolor="#000000" colspan="3"|
|-
|align="left"|'''OFFICE'''||align="left"|'''NAME'''||align="left"|'''TERM'''
|-
!bgcolor="#000000" colspan="3"|
|-
|align="left"|[[President of the United States|President]]||align="left" |'''[[Theodore Roosevelt]]'''||align="left"|1901&ndash;1909
|-
|align="left"|[[Vice President of the United States|Vice President]]||align="left"|'''[[Charles Fairbanks]]'''||align="left"|1905&ndash;1909
|-
!bgcolor="#000000" colspan="3"|
|-
|align="left"|[[United States Secretary of State|Secretary of State]]||align="left"|'''[[John Hay]]'''||align="left"|1901&ndash;1905
|-
|align="left"|&nbsp;||align="left"|'''[[Elihu Root]]'''||align="left"|1905&ndash;1909
|-
|align="left"|&nbsp;||align="left"|'''[[Robert Bacon]]'''||align="left"|1909
|-
|align="left"|[[United States Secretary of the Treasury|Secretary of the Treasury]]||align="left"|'''[[Lyman J. Gage]]'''||align="left"|1901&ndash;1902
|-
|align="left"|&nbsp;||align="left"|'''[[Leslie M. Shaw]]'''||align="left"|1902&ndash;1907
|-
|align="left"|&nbsp;||align="left"|'''[[George B. Cortelyou]]'''||align="left"|1907&ndash;1909
|-
|align="left"|[[United States Secretary of War|Secretary of War]]||align="left"|'''[[Elihu Root]]'''||align="left"|1901&ndash;1904
|-
|align="left"|&nbsp;||align="left"|'''[[William Howard Taft]]'''||align="left"|1904&ndash;1908
|-
|align="left"|&nbsp;||align="left"|'''[[Luke E. Wright]]'''||align="left"|1908&ndash;1909
|-
|align="left"|[[Attorney General of the United States|Attorney General]]||align="left"|'''[[Philander C. Knox]]'''||align="left"|1901&ndash;1904
|-
|align="left"|&nbsp;||align="left"|'''[[William H. Moody]]'''||align="left"|1904&ndash;1906
|-
|align="left"|&nbsp;||align="left"|'''[[Charles J. Bonaparte]]'''||align="left"|1906&ndash;1909
|-
|align="left"|[[Postmaster General of the United States|Postmaster General]]||align="left"|'''[[Charles Emory Smith|Charles E. Smith]]'''||align="left"|1901&ndash;1902
|-
|align="left"|&nbsp;||align="left"|'''[[Henry C. Payne]]'''||align="left"|1902&ndash;1904
|-
|align="left"|&nbsp;||align="left"|'''[[Robert J. Wynne]]'''||align="left"|1904&ndash;1905
|-
|align="left"|&nbsp;||align="left"|'''[[George B. Cortelyou]]'''||align="left"|1905&ndash;1907
|-
|align="left"|&nbsp;||align="left"|'''[[George von L. Meyer]]'''||align="left"|1907&ndash;1909
|-
|align="left"|[[United States Secretary of the Navy|Secretary of the Navy]]||align="left"|'''[[John D. Long]]'''||align="left"|1901&ndash;1902
|-
|align="left"|&nbsp;||align="left"|'''[[William H. Moody]]'''||align="left"|1902&ndash;1904
|-
|align="left"|&nbsp;||align="left"|'''[[Paul Morton]]'''||align="left"|1904&ndash;1905
|-
|align="left"|&nbsp;||align="left"|'''[[Charles J. Bonaparte]]'''||align="left"|1905&ndash;1906
|-
|align="left"|&nbsp;||align="left"|'''[[Victor H. Metcalf]]'''||align="left"|1906&ndash;1908
|-
|align="left"|&nbsp;||align="left"|'''[[Truman H. Newberry]]'''||align="left"|1908&ndash;1909
|-
|align="left"|[[United States Secretary of the Interior|Secretary of the Interior]]||align="left"|'''[[Ethan A. Hitchcock]]'''||align="left"|1901&ndash;1907
|-
|align="left"|&nbsp;||align="left"|'''[[James Rudolph Garfield]]'''||align="left"|1907&ndash;1909
|-
|align="left"|[[United States Secretary of Agriculture|Secretary of Agriculture]]||align="left"|'''[[James Wilson (US politician)|James Wilson]]'''||align="left"|1901&ndash;1909
|-
|align="left"|[[United States Secretary of Commerce and Labor|Secretary of Commerce and Labor]]||align="left"|'''[[George B. Cortelyou]]'''||align="left"|1903&ndash;1904
|-
|align="left"|&nbsp;||align="left"|'''[[Victor H. Metcalf]]'''||align="left"|1904&ndash;1906
|-
|align="left"|&nbsp;||align="left"|'''[[Oscar Straus (politician)|Oscar S. Straus]]'''||align="left"|1906&ndash;1909
|}
<br clear="all">
{{col-2}}
===Supreme Court appointments===

Roosevelt appointed three Justices to the [[Supreme Court of the United States]]:
*[[Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.]] - 1902
*[[William Rufus Day]] - 1903
*[[William Henry Moody]] - 1906

===States admitted to the Union===
* [[Oklahoma]] - 1907
{{col-end}}

==Further reading==
*Brands, H.W. ed. ''The Selected Letters of Theodore Roosevelt.'' (2001)
*Harbaugh, William ed. ''The Writings Of Theodore Roosevelt'' (1967). A one-volume selection of Roosevelt's speeches and essays.
*Hart, Albert Bushnell and Herbert Ronald Ferleger, eds. ''Theodore Roosevelt Cyclopedia'' (1941), Roosevelt's opinions on many issues. online at [http://www.theodoreroosevelt.org/TR%20Web%20Book/TR_CD_to_HTML01.html]
*Morison, Elting E., John Morton Blum, and [[Alfred D. Chandler, Jr.]], eds., ''The Letters of Theodore Roosevelt'', 8 vols. (1951–1954). Very large, annotated edition of letters from TR.
*Roosevelt, Theodore (1999). ''[http://www.bartleby.com/55/ Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography]''. online at Bartleby.com.
*Roosevelt, Theodore. ''The Works of Theodore Roosevelt'' (National edition, 20 vol. 1926); 18,000 pages containing most of TR's speeches, books and essays, but not his letters; a CD-ROM edition is available; some of TR's books are available online through [http://www.bartleby.com/people/RsvltT.html Project Bartleby]
*H. W. Brands, T.R.: The Last Romantic

===Domestic policy===
*Blum, John Morton ''The Republican Roosevelt.'' (1954). essays that examine how TR did politics
*Brands, H.W. ''Theodore Roosevelt'' (2001) [http://www.questia.com/read/98669157?title=T.R.%3a%20The%20Last%20Romantic online edition]
*[[Cooper, John Milton]] ''The Warrior and the Priest: Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt.'' (1983) a dual biography
*Gould, Lewis L. ''The Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt.'' (1991), the major scholarly study
*Harbaugh, William Henry. ''The Life and Times of Theodore Roosevelt.'' (1963)
* Harrison, Robert. ''Congress, Progressive Reform, and the New American State'' (2004)
*Keller, Morton, ed., ''Theodore Roosevelt: A Profile'' (1967) excerpts from TR and from historians.
*[[Edmund Morris (writer)|Morris, Edmund]] ''Theodore Rex''. (2001), unusually well-written biography covers 1901-1909
*Mowry, George. ''The Era of Theodore Roosevelt and the Birth of Modern America, 1900-1912.'' (1954)
*Pringle, Henry F. ''Theodore Roosevelt'' (1932; 2nd ed. 1956) [http://www.questia.com/read/270595?title=Theodore%20Roosevelt%3a%20A%20Biography online edition]
* Rhodes, James Ford. ''History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850 to the Roosevelt-Taft Administration'' (1920), 8 vol. highly detailed narrative from 1850 to 1909 [http://books.google.com/books?id=4E8TAAAAYAAJ&dq=intitle:The+intitle:McKinley+intitle:and+intitle:Roosevelt+intitle:Administrations+intitle:1897-1909&lr=&as_drrb_is=q&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=&as_brr=1 online edition]
* Sanders, Elizabeth. ''Roots of Reform: Farmers, Workers and the American State, 1877-1917'' (1999)
*Wiebe, Robert H. ''Businessmen and Reform: A Study of the Progressive Movement'' (1968)

===Foreign policy===
* [[Howard K. Beale|Beale Howard K.]] ''Theodore Roosevelt and the Rise of America to World Power.'' (1956). standard history of his foreign policy
* Holmes, James R. ''Theodore Roosevelt and World Order: Police Power in International Relations.'' 2006. 328 pp.
* Marks III, Frederick W. ''Velvet on Iron: The Diplomacy of Theodore Roosevelt'' (1979)
* David McCullough. ''The Path between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914'' (1977).
* Ricard, Serge. "The Roosevelt Corollary." ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'' 2006 36(1): 17-26. Issn: 0360-4918 Fulltext: in Swetswise and Ingenta

===Yearbooks===
*''Appleton's Annual Cyclopedia...1901'' (1902); highly detailed compilation of facts and primary documents [http://books.google.com/books?id=iqsYAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=intitle:cyclopaedia+intitle:annual&lr=&as_drrb_is=b&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=1890&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=1906&as_brr=1&cd=3#v=onepage&q&f=false online edition]
* ''The Annual Cyclopedia ...1902'' (1903) [http://books.google.com/books?id=yI8EAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=intitle:cyclopaedia+intitle:annual&lr=&as_drrb_is=b&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=1890&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=1906&as_brr=1&cd=2#v=onepage&q&f=false online edition]

==See also==
*[[First inauguration of Theodore Roosevelt]]
*[[Second inauguration of Theodore Roosevelt]]
*[[Roosevelt Corollary]]
*[[Theodore Roosevelt]]
*[[Perdicaris incident]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.millercenter.virginia.edu/index.php/academic/americanpresident/roosevelt Extensive essay on Theodore Roosevelt and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs]

{{USPresidencies}}
{{T Roosevelt cabinet}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Presidency Of Theodore Roosevelt}}
[[Category:Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt|*]]
[[Category:Presidencies of the United States|Roosevelt, Theodore]]
[[Category:Progressivism in the United States]]
[[Category:History of the United States (1865–1918)]]

Revision as of 14:06, 2 June 2010

Theodore Roosevelt
26th President of the United States
In office
September 14, 1901 – April 3, 1909
Vice Presidentnone (1901-1905),[1]
Charles W. Fairbanks (1905-1909)
Preceded byWilliam McKinley
Succeeded byWilliam Howard Taft
25th Vice President of the United States
In office
March 4, 1901 – September 14, 1901
PresidentWilliam McKinley
Preceded byGarret Hobart (until 1899)
Succeeded byCharles W. Fairbanks (from 1905)
36th Governor of New York
In office
January 1, 1899 – January 1, 1901
LieutenantTimothy L. Woodruff
Preceded byFrank S. Black
Succeeded byBenjamin B. Odell, Jr.
Personal details
BornOctober 27, 1858
New York, New York
DiedJanuary 6, 1919(1919-01-06) (aged 60)
Oyster Bay, New York
Political partyRepublican
Spouse(s)(1) Alice Hathaway Lee (married 1880, died 1884)
(2) Edith Kermit Carow (married 1886)
OccupationPolymath, Civil servant
Signature

Theodore Roosevelt was the 26th (1901–1909) President of the United States. He had been the 25th Vice President before becoming President upon the assassination of President William McKinley. Owing to his charismatic personality and reformist policies, which he called the "Square Deal", Roosevelt is considered one of the ablest presidents and an icon of the Progressive Era.[2]

Overview

Roosevelt's Inauguration

McKinley was shot by an anarchist in Buffalo, New York on September 6, 1901, and died on September 14, putting Roosevelt into the presidency. A few weeks short of his 43rd birthday, he is the youngest person to hold the office. Roosevelt continued McKinley's cabinet and promised to continue McKinley's policies. One of his first notable acts as President was to deliver a 20,000-word address to Congress on December 3, 1901,[3] asking it to curb the power of large corporations (called "trusts") "within reasonable limits." For his aggressive attacks on trusts over his two terms he was called a "trust-buster."

Roosevelt relished the Presidency and seemed to be everywhere at once.[4] He took Cabinet members and friends on long, fast-paced hikes, boxed in the state rooms of the White House, romped with his children, and read voraciously. He was permanently blinded in one eye during one of his boxing bouts.

In 1904, Roosevelt ran for President in his own right and won in a landslide victory.

Building on McKinley's effective use of the press, Roosevelt made the White House the center of news every day, providing interviews and photo opportunities. He accomplished this after noticing the White House reporters huddled outside in the rain one day; he gave them their own room inside, effectively inventing the presidential press briefing.[5] The grateful press, with unprecedented access to the White House, rewarded Roosevelt with ample coverage.[5] This was helped by Roosevelt's practice of screening out reporters he didn't like.[5]

Domestic policy

Progressivism

Determined to create what he called a "Square Deal" between business and labor, Roosevelt pushed several pieces of progressive legislation through Congress.

Progressivism in the United States was the most powerful political force of the day, and in the first dozen years of the century Roosevelt was its most articulate spokesman. Progressivism meant expertise, and the use of science, engineering, technology and the new social sciences to identify the nation's problems, and identify ways to eliminate waste and inefficiency and to promote modernization.[6] Roosevelt, trained as a biologist, identified himself and his programs with the mystique of science. The other side of Progressivism was a burning hatred of corruption and a fear of powerful and dangerous forces, such as political machines, the corrupt segment of labor unions and especially the new large corporations — called "trusts" — which seemed to have emerged overnight. Roosevelt, the former deputy sheriff on the Dakota frontier, and police commissioner of New York City, knew evil when he saw it and was dedicated to destroying it. Roosevelt's moralistic determination set the tone of national politics.[7]

Anthracite Coal Strike of 1902

A national emergency was averted in 1902 when Roosevelt found a compromise to the Anthracite coal strike that threatened the heating supplies of most homes. Roosevelt forced an end to the strike when he threatened to use the United States Army to mine the coal and seize the mines. The labor union and the owners both reached an agreement after this episode where the labor union agreed to not be the official bargainer for the workers and the workers got better pay and fewer hours.[8]

File:Coal.JPG
TR teaches the childish coal barons a lesson; 1902 editorial cartoon

Trust busting

Room in the Wilcox Mansion, where Roosevelt was sworn into the Presidency

Trusts were increasingly the central issue in politics, with public opinion fearing that large corporations could impose monopolistic prices to cheat the consumer and squash small independent companies. By 1904, 318 trusts controlled about two-fifths of the nation's manufacturing output, not to mention powerful trusts in non-manufacturing sectors such as railroads, local transit, and banking. Roosevelt decided to do something about it. A few historians credit McKinley with starting the trust-busting era, but most credit Roosevelt, the "Trust Buster." Once President, Roosevelt worked to increase the regulatory power of the federal government. Regulation of railroads was strengthened by the Elkins Act (1903) and especially the Hepburn Act of 1906, which had the effect of favoring merchants over the railroads. Under his leadership, the Attorney General brought forty-four suits against businesses that were claimed to be monopolies, most notably J.P. Morgan's Northern Securities Company, a huge railroad combination, and J. D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company. Both were successful, with Standard Oil broken into over 30 smaller companies that eventually competed with one another. To raise the visibility of labor and management issues, he established a new federal Department of Commerce and Labor.[9]

Pure Food and Drugs

During his tenure as President, Roosevelt became known for his role as the leader of Progressivism, for trust-busting and for his enthusiastic conservationist policies.

In response to public clamor, Roosevelt pushed Congress to pass the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, as well as the Meat Inspection Act of 1906. These laws provided for labeling of foods and drugs, inspection of livestock and mandated sanitary conditions at meatpacking plants. Congress replaced Roosevelt's proposals with a version supported by the major meatpackers who worried about the overseas markets, and did not want small unsanitary plants undercutting their domestic market.[10]

Railroad regulation

Roosevelt firmly believed that "The Government must in increasing degree supervise and regulate the workings of the railways engaged in interstate commerce." Inaction was a danger, he argued, "Such increased supervision is the only alternative to an increase of the present evils on the one hand or a still more radical policy on the other." (Annual Message Dec 1904) The Elkins Act of 1903 was the Administration's first effort at the regulation of railroad rates; it proved ineffective in practice. Roosevelt agreed with the shipping interests who wanted lower rates and a stronger Interstate Commerce Commission to enforce them. As Roosevelt told Congress, "Above all else, we must strive to keep the highways of commerce open to all on equal terms; and to do this it is necessary to put a complete stop to all rebates." Politically this was action on behalf of shippers; it was assumed that the railroads would always be powerful and no amount of regulation would seriously weaken them. (No one dreamed of a vast highway system carrying millions of trucks and automobiles.) Roosevelt encountered opposition in his party, led in the Senate by Nelson Aldrich of Rhode Island, the party leader; Joseph B. Foraker of Ohio; Chauncey Depew of New York (the president of the New York Central Railroad), Stephen Elkins of West Virginia, Philander Knox of Pennsylvania (formerly Roosevelt's Attorney General), and one of his closest personal friends Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts. Roosevelt therefore planned to rely on a group of Midwestern Republicans, especially William Allison of Iowa. He wanted to avoid having to collaborate with Ben Tillman of South Carolina, whom he considered "one of the foulest and rottenest demagogues in the whole country." In the end Roosevelt convinced the conservatives that the courts would protect the railroads' interests, and he carried the bill without Tillman.[11]

The Hepburn Act of 1906 gave the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) the power to set maximum railroad rates and stopped free passes given to friends of the railroad. In addition, the ICC could view the railroads' financial records, a task simplified by standardized booking systems. For any railroad that resisted, the ICC's conditions would be in effect until the outcome of litigation said otherwise. By the Hepburn Act, the ICC's authority was extended to cover bridges, terminals, ferries, sleeping cars, express companies and oil pipelines. Along with the Elkins Act of 1903, the Hepburn Act accomplished one of Roosevelt's major goals, railroad regulation. The main beneficiaries were the merchants who received lower shipping rates.[12]

Conservation

Roosevelt was a prominent conservationist, putting the issue high on the national agenda. He worked with all the major figures of the movement, especially his chief advisor on the matter, Gifford Pinchot. Roosevelt was deeply committed to conserving natural resources, and is considered to be the nation's first conservation President. He encouraged the Newlands Reclamation Act of 1902 to promote federal construction of dams to irrigate small farms and placed 230 million acres (360,000 mi² or 930,000 km²) under federal protection. Roosevelt set aside more Federal land for national parks and nature preserves than all of his predecessors combined.[13]

TR's conservation policies
TR's conservation policies

Roosevelt established the United States Forest Service, signed into law the creation of five National Parks, and signed the 1906 Antiquities Act, under which he proclaimed 18 new U.S. National Monuments. He also established the first 51 Bird Reserves, four Game Preserves, and 150 National Forests, including Shoshone National Forest, the nation's first. The area of the United States that he placed under public protection totals approximately 230,000,000 acres.

Gifford Pinchot had been appointed by McKinley as chief of Division of Forestry in the Department of Agriculture. In 1905, his department gained control of the national forest reserves. Pinchot promoted private use (for a fee) under federal supervision. In 1907, Roosevelt designated 16 million acres (65,000 km²) of new national forests just minutes before a deadline.

In May 1908, Roosevelt sponsored the Conference of Governors held in the White House, with a focus on natural resources and their most efficient use. Roosevelt delivered the opening address: "Conservation as a National Duty.".

In 1903 Roosevelt toured the Yosemite Valley with John Muir, who had a very different view of conservation, and tried to minimize commercial use of water resources and forests. Working through the Sierra Club he founded, Muir succeeded in 1905 in having Congress transfer the Mariposa Grove and Yosemite Valley to the National Park Service. While Muir wanted nature preserved for the sake of pure beauty, Roosevelt subscribed to Pinchot's formulation, "to make the forest produce the largest amount of whatever crop or service will be most useful, and keep on producing it for generation after generation of men and trees." [14]

Civil Rights

Although Roosevelt did some work improving race relations, he, like most leaders of the Progressive Era, lacked initiative on most racial issues. Booker T. Washington, the most important black leader of the day, was the first African American to be invited to dinner, on October 16, 1901, at the White House, where he discussed politics and racism with Roosevelt. News of the dinner reached the press two days later. The white public outcry following the dinner was so strong, especially from the Southern states, that Roosevelt never repeated the experiment.[15] Roosevelt was reluctant to use federal authority to enforce the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guaranteeing voting rights to African Americans. Roosevelt did not sponsor or support laws to prohibit the lynching of African Americans.

Booker T. Washington

An African American, born into slavery, Washington was a civil rights advocate during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Publicly, Roosevelt spoke out against racism and discrimination, and appointed many blacks to lower-level Federal offices, and wrote fondly of the "Buffalo Soldiers," who had fought beside his Rough Riders at the Battle of San Juan Hill in Cuba in July 1898. However, soon after returning from San Juan Hill, Roosevelt changed his story concerning African American Soldiers and their conduct in battle saying "Under the strain the colored infantrymen (who had none of their white officers) began to get a little uneasy and drift to the rear… This I could not allow." [16] Roosevelt opposed school segregation, having ended the practice in New York State during his governorship. Roosevelt rejected anti-Semitism—he was the first to appoint a Jew, Oscar S. Straus, to the cabinet.

Like most intellectuals of the era, Roosevelt believed in evolution; as an authority on biology he paid special attention to the issue. He saw the different races as having reached different levels of civilization, with whites thus far having reached a higher level than blacks. Every race, and every individual, was capable of unlimited improvement, Roosevelt felt. Furthermore, a new "race" (in the cultural sense, not biological) had emerged on the American frontier, the "American race," and it was quite distinct from other ethnic groups, such as the Anglo-Saxons. Roosevelt identified himself as Dutch, not Anglo-Saxon.[17] After criticism of Washington's invitation to the White House, Roosevelt seemed to wilt publicly on the cause of racial equality. In 1906, he approved the dishonorable discharges of three companies of black soldiers who all refused his direct order to testify regarding their actions during a violent episode in Brownsville, Texas, known as the Brownsville Raid.

In 1905, Roosevelt wanted the city of San Francisco to allow 93 Japanese students to attend public schools with whites; they were assigned to the public school for Chinese students, which Japan had protested. Roosevelt threatened a lawsuit. Finally a compromise was reached where the School Board would allow the Japanese students to attend public school with whites and Roosevelt would ask Japan to stop issuing passports to laborers By the "Gentleman's Agreement," Japan did stop issuing passports to unskilled workers.[18]

Radical shift, 1907-1908

By 1907-08, his last two years in office, Roosevelt was increasingly distrustful of big business, despite its close ties to the Republican party in every large state. Public opinion had been shifting to the left after a series of scandals, and big business was in bad odor. Abandoning his earlier caution and conservatism, Roosevelt freely lambasted his conservative critics and called on Congress to enact a series of radical new laws — the Square Deal — that would regulate the economy[19]. He wanted a national incorporation law (all corporations had state charters, which varied greatly state by state), a federal income tax and inheritance tax (both targeted on the rich), limits on the use of court injunctions against labor unions during strikes (injunctions were a powerful weapon that mostly helped business), an employee liability law for industrial injuries (preempting state laws), an eight-hour law for federal employees, a postal savings system (to provide competition for local banks), and, finally, campaign reform laws.

TR Farewell speeches sought Progressive goals but did not pass Congress

None of his agenda was enacted, and Roosevelt carried over the ideas into the 1912 campaign.[20] Roosevelt's increasingly radical stance proved popular in the Midwest and Pacific Coast, and among farmers, teachers, clergymen, clerical workers and some proprietors, but appeared as divisive and unnecessary to eastern Republicans, corporate executives, lawyers, party workers, and Congressmen.[21]

Roosevelt's move left allowed Senator Nelson Aldrich to tighten his control of Congress.[21] In 1908, Aldrich introduced the constitutional amendment to establish an income tax. The same year he wrote the Aldrich-Vreeland Act which created the National Monetary Commission, which he directed. It made an in-depth study of central banking in Europe—which was far more effective than America in that regard. Aldrich's dramatic proposals for comprehensive reform became the Federal Reserve in 1913.

Foreign policy

A political cartoonists' commentary on Roosevelt's "big stick" policy

Roosevelt had traveled widely and was well informed on international affairs, as well as military and naval affairs around the world. He was determined to make America a great world power while avoiding war.[22]

Army

The U.S. Army, with 39,000 men in 1890 was the smallest and least powerful army of any major power in the late 19th century. By contrast, France had 542,000.[23] The Spanish-American War of 1898 was fought mostly by temporary volunteers and state national guard units. It demonstrated that more effective control over the department and bureaus was necessary.[24]

Roosevelt gave strong support to the reforms proposed by his War Secretary Elihu Root (1899-1904), who wanted a uniformed chief of staff as general manager and a European-type general staff for planning. Root was stymied by General Nelson A. Miles but did succeed in enlarging West Point and establishing the U.S. Army War College as well as the General Staff. Root changed the procedures for promotions and organized schools for the special branches of the service. He also devised the principle of rotating officers from staff to line. Root was concerned about the new territories acquired after the Spanish-American War and worked out the procedures for turning Cuba over to the Cubans, wrote the charter of government for the Philippines, and eliminated tariffs on goods imported to the United States from Puerto Rico.[25]

Roosevelt urged the United States to build a strong navy. He believed in an imperial mission for the United States, and that the U.S. could eventually be pulled into war in the Pacific Ocean with Japan. Roosevelt ordered what came to be called the Great White Fleet (due to its gleaming white paint) on an around-the-world cruise, including a prominent stop in Japan. Roosevelt hoped to ease Japanese-American tensions and to show the Japanese leadership, as well as the rest of the world, the global reach of the United States' military might. The Great White Fleet returned to the U.S. in 1909, and Roosevelt had the pleasure of reviewing the Fleet just before leaving office. Roosevelt helped to expand the Navy greatly. By 1904, the United States had the fifth largest Navy in the world; by 1907, it had the third largest.[26]

As a tribute to him, several Navy warships have been named after Roosevelt over the years, including a Nimitz class supercarrier.

Roosevelt Corollary

Roosevelt regarded the Panama Canal as one of his greatest achievements

In late 1904 Roosevelt announced his Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine. It stated that the U.S. would intervene in the finances of unstable Caribbean and Central American countries if they defaulted on their debts to European creditors and, in effect, guarantee their debts, making it unnecessary for European powers to intervene to collect unpaid debts. In the case of Venezuela's default, Germany had threatened to seize the customs houses in her ports. Thus, Roosevelt's pronouncement was especially meant as a warning to Germany, and had the result of promoting peace in the region, as the Germans decided to not intervene directly in Venezuela and in other countries.[27]

Ending the Russo-Japanese War

In the summer of 1905, Roosevelt persuaded the parties in the Russo-Japanese War to meet in a peace conference in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, starting on August 5. His persistent and effective mediation led to the signing of the Treaty of Portsmouth on September 5, ending the war. For his efforts, Roosevelt was awarded the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize.[28]

Korea

Roosevelt saw Japan as the rising power in Asia, in terms of military strength and economic modernization. He viewed Korea as an backward nation and did not object to Japanese moves to control the strategic Korean peninsula. With the withdrawal of the American legation from Seoul and the refusal of the Secretary of State to receive a Korean protest mission, the Americans signaled they would not intervene militarily to stop Japan's planned takeover of Korea.[29] (There is a myth regarding a so-called Taft-Katsura agreement of 1905; it was a conversation that did not produce an agreement.[30]

Panama Canal

In 1903, Roosevelt encouraged the local political class in Panama to form a nation independent from Colombia, after that nation refused the American terms for the building of a canal across the isthmus. Roosevelt dispatched navy vessels to the area to apply political pressure on the Colombian government, allowing the Panamanian rebels to secede without much opposition. The new nation of Panama sold a canal zone to the United States for $10 million and a steadily increasing yearly sum. Roosevelt felt that a passage through the Isthmus of Panama was vital to protect American interests and to create a strong and cohesive United States Navy. The resulting Panama Canal was completed in 1914 and revolutionized world travel and commerce.

Algeciras Conference

In 1906, at the secret request of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, Roosevelt requested a meeting between Great Britain, France and Germany over the future of Morocco and the degree of influence of the three European powers over the Country.

In the previous centuries, North Africa had been divided into outright colonies and various spheres of influence by France and Great Britain. Germany, in the guise of its Emperor, had felt increasingly threatened with encirclement and encroachment by the growing Anglo-French alliance in the West and Russian aggression in the East. When Britain had signed the a treaty that came to be known as the Entente Cordiale in 1904, Britain had agreed to support of French special interests in Morocco. France’s attempt to implement the agreement by presenting the Moroccan sultan, Sultan Yusef ben Hassan with so-called reforms, the much offended and outraged German Emperor, came to Tangier in March 1905. The Germans immediately challenged the French by supporting the sovereignty of the Sultan and demanding the retention of what they called an “open door” for trade. Germany felt it had no choice but to assert its influence to stop the Anglo-French combination from effectively locking Germany out of another African country and continuing to block German interests.

Because the Kaiser greatly admired Roosevelt, and saw him as a truly neutral party, secretly requesting Roosevelt to help bring about the 1906 conference in Algeciras that effectively resolved the dispute. Signed on April 7, 1906, the agreement reduced French influence by reaffirming the independence of the Sultan and the economic independence and freedom of operations of all European powers. Although the agreement only delayed the eventual clash of power that led to World War I, Roosevelt had used his influence as accepted neutral party to resolve one more international conflict.

Philippines

After the official end of Aguinaldo's insurrection in 1902, the insurgents accepted American rule and peace prevailed, except in some remote islands under Muslim control. Roosevelt continued the McKinley policies of removing the Catholic friars (with compensation to the Pope), upgrading the infrastructure, introducing public health programs, and launching a program of economic and social modernization. The enthusiasm shown in 1898-99 for colonies cooled off, and Roosevelt saw the islands as "our heel of Achilles." He told Taft in 1907, "I should be glad to see the islands made independent, with perhaps some kind of international guarantee for the preservation of order, or with some warning on our part that if they did not keep order we would have to interfere again." By then the President and his foreign policy advisers turned away from Asian issues to concentrate on Latin America.[31]

Administration and Cabinet

Further reading

  • Brands, H.W. ed. The Selected Letters of Theodore Roosevelt. (2001)
  • Harbaugh, William ed. The Writings Of Theodore Roosevelt (1967). A one-volume selection of Roosevelt's speeches and essays.
  • Hart, Albert Bushnell and Herbert Ronald Ferleger, eds. Theodore Roosevelt Cyclopedia (1941), Roosevelt's opinions on many issues. online at [3]
  • Morison, Elting E., John Morton Blum, and Alfred D. Chandler, Jr., eds., The Letters of Theodore Roosevelt, 8 vols. (1951–1954). Very large, annotated edition of letters from TR.
  • Roosevelt, Theodore (1999). Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography. online at Bartleby.com.
  • Roosevelt, Theodore. The Works of Theodore Roosevelt (National edition, 20 vol. 1926); 18,000 pages containing most of TR's speeches, books and essays, but not his letters; a CD-ROM edition is available; some of TR's books are available online through Project Bartleby
  • H. W. Brands, T.R.: The Last Romantic

Domestic policy

  • Blum, John Morton The Republican Roosevelt. (1954). essays that examine how TR did politics
  • Brands, H.W. Theodore Roosevelt (2001) online edition
  • Cooper, John Milton The Warrior and the Priest: Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt. (1983) a dual biography
  • Gould, Lewis L. The Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt. (1991), the major scholarly study
  • Harbaugh, William Henry. The Life and Times of Theodore Roosevelt. (1963)
  • Harrison, Robert. Congress, Progressive Reform, and the New American State (2004)
  • Keller, Morton, ed., Theodore Roosevelt: A Profile (1967) excerpts from TR and from historians.
  • Morris, Edmund Theodore Rex. (2001), unusually well-written biography covers 1901-1909
  • Mowry, George. The Era of Theodore Roosevelt and the Birth of Modern America, 1900-1912. (1954)
  • Pringle, Henry F. Theodore Roosevelt (1932; 2nd ed. 1956) online edition
  • Rhodes, James Ford. History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850 to the Roosevelt-Taft Administration (1920), 8 vol. highly detailed narrative from 1850 to 1909 online edition
  • Sanders, Elizabeth. Roots of Reform: Farmers, Workers and the American State, 1877-1917 (1999)
  • Wiebe, Robert H. Businessmen and Reform: A Study of the Progressive Movement (1968)

Foreign policy

  • Beale Howard K. Theodore Roosevelt and the Rise of America to World Power. (1956). standard history of his foreign policy
  • Holmes, James R. Theodore Roosevelt and World Order: Police Power in International Relations. 2006. 328 pp.
  • Marks III, Frederick W. Velvet on Iron: The Diplomacy of Theodore Roosevelt (1979)
  • David McCullough. The Path between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914 (1977).
  • Ricard, Serge. "The Roosevelt Corollary." Presidential Studies Quarterly 2006 36(1): 17-26. Issn: 0360-4918 Fulltext: in Swetswise and Ingenta

Yearbooks

  • Appleton's Annual Cyclopedia...1901 (1902); highly detailed compilation of facts and primary documents online edition
  • The Annual Cyclopedia ...1902 (1903) online edition

See also

References

  1. ^ Until the ratification of the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1967, there was no provision for filling a mid-term vacancy in the office of Vice President. Find Law for Legal Professionals - U.S. Constitution: Twenty-Fifth Amendment - Annotations
  2. ^ H. W. Brands, T.R.: The Last Romantic (1997) p. 477.
  3. ^ [1]
  4. ^ Brands, TR (1997) ch 16
  5. ^ a b c Rouse, Robert (March 15, 2006). "Happy Anniversary to the first scheduled presidential press conference - 93 years young!". American Chronicle. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  6. ^ see George Mowry, The Era of Theodore Roosevelt and the Birth of Modern America, 1900-1912 (1954), ch. 1
  7. ^ see Lewis L. Gould, The Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt. (1991), ch 1
  8. ^ Brands, TR (1997) pp 434-62
  9. ^ Gould (1991)
  10. ^ Blum (1954) pp 43-44
  11. ^ Brands, 545-8; Harbaugh ch 14; Blum (1954)
  12. ^ The regulation in the long run seriously damaged the competitive position of the railroads with respect to trucking, according to Albro Martin, Enterprise Denied: Origins of the Decline of American Railroads, 1897-1917(1978)
  13. ^ W. Todd Benson, President Theodore Roosevelt's Conservations Legacy (2003)
  14. ^ Gifford Pinchot, Breaking New Ground, (1947) p. 32.
  15. ^ Brands, TR (1999) pp 421-26
  16. ^ Spanish-American War Buffalo Soldiers, [2]
  17. ^ Thomas G. Dyer, Theodore Roosevelt and the Idea of Race (1992)
  18. ^ David Brudnoy, "Race and The San Francisco School Board Incident: Contemporary Evaluations," California Historical Quarterly, 1971, Vol. 50 Issue 3, pp 295-312
  19. ^ Brands, TR (1997) ch 21
  20. ^ Brands, TR (1997) ch 27
  21. ^ a b Mowry (1954)
  22. ^ Warren Zimmermann, First Great Triumph: How Five Americans Made Their Country a World Power (2004)
  23. ^ Paul Kennedy, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers (1987) p. 154, 203
  24. ^ Graham A. Cosmas, An Army for Empire: The United States Army and the Spanish–American War (1971)
  25. ^ James E. Hewes, Jr. From Root to McNamara: Army Organization and Administration, 1900-1963 (1975)
  26. ^ Gordon Carpenter O'Gara, Theodore Roosevelt and the Rise of the Modern Navy (1970)
  27. ^ Frederick W. Marks III, Velvet on Iron: The Diplomacy of Theodore Roosevelt (1979), p. 140
  28. ^ Greg Russell, "Theodore Roosevelt's Diplomacy and the Quest for Great Power Equilibrium in Asia," Presidential Studies Quarterly 2008 38(3): 433-455
  29. ^ Howard K. Beale, Theodore Roosevelt and the Rise of America to World Power (1956)
  30. ^ In 1924 Tyler Dennett uncovered notes of a secret meeting between Secretary of War William H. Taft and the Japanese prime minister in Tokyo in 1905. Dennett misinterpeted it to involve giving a free hand in Korea in return for Japan promising to stay out of the Philippines. However, the documents in the U.S. Department of State archives and Roosevelt's papers show that Taft, Roosevelt and Premier Taro Katsura privately denied the existence of any "bargain." Rather there was a discussion that did not produce any agreement. See Raymond A. Esthus, "The Taft-Katsura Agreement - Reality or Myth?" Journal of Modern History 1959 31(1): 46-51 in JSTOR. One popularizer, James Bradley in 2009 claimed a terrible bargain did exist and that TR's support for it caused World War II and the Korean War; Bradley, The Imperial Cruise: A Secret History of Empire and War (2009). Historians have rejected Bradley's claims.
  31. ^ H. W. Brands, Bound to Empire: The United States and the Philippines.. (1992) p. 84.