ROOSEVELT

1912

“BULLY”Very Good!

Well Done!

Excellent!

A MAN OF ACTION

@ HOMESQUARE DEAL

COAL MINERS’ STRIKE

RAILROAD REGULATION(Elkins and Hepburn Acts)

CLEAN FOOD

TRUST-BUSTING

THE ENVIRONMENT

ABROADTHE BIG STICK

PANAMA CANAL

NOBEL PEACE PRIZE

GREAT WHITE FLEET

ANEW

NATIONALISM

TR and The Progressive Party PRESENT

• direct primaries for all state and national offices

• direct election of senators

• ballot initiative, referendum, and recall

• an easier method for amending the Constitution

• women’s suffrage

• limits on individual campaign contributions

• registration of lobbyists

• opening congressional committee hearings to the public

• permitting Supreme Court decisions to be reversed by national referendum

• a ban on labor injunctions

• national occupational safety standards

• prohibition of child labor

• a minimum wage for women

• a six-day workweek and an 8-hour day

• workmen’s compensation insurance

• a social security system

• improved educational standards

• creation of a national health service

• strengthening the ICC

• currency reform

• maintenance of the protective tariff only to the extent that it benefits labor

• graduated inheritance and income taxes

• greater assimilation of the immigrant population away from the central cities

• federal securities commission to supervise public offerings of stocks and bonds

TAFT 1912

A MORE CONSERVATIVE APPROACH?

CORPORATE REGULATIONMann-Elkins Act (1910)(Strengthens ICC power over RR, Telephone, Telegraph)

TRUST BUSTING x90(Standard Oil, American Tobacco, U.S. Steel)

POLITICAL IN-FIGHTINGInsurgents vs. Old Guard

TARIFF(Payne-Aldrich Act)

“Uncle Joe” Cannon

Ballinger-Pinchot Affair

A Divided Party and Congress

Shadow of TR

• I’m NOT Theodore Roosevelt – the “mad messiah.”

• No meddling in the legislative process (respect of checks and balances).

• Legalistic approach to the presidency with a judicial temperament (no bending the rules).

• Thorough and painstaking decision making (thoughtful use of presidential powers).

• Experience in world affairs (Governor of the Philippines).

• Arbitration of international disputes and “dollars for bullets.”

• A non-aggressive approach to conservation.

• Hopefully, a less politically divided Washington, D.C.

GIVE TAFT A SECOND CHANCE!

WILSON 1912

THENEW FREEDOM

Woodrow Wilson and The Democratic Party PRESENT

• A temporary expansion of the power of the federal government.

• Restore competition rather than regulate monopolies.

• Eliminate ALL trusts, lower tariffs, and break up concentrated financial power on Wall Street.

• Turn over most social programs to the states and cities.

• Once completed, government reverts to Jeffersonian vision (SMALL GOV’T = stay out of people’s lives).

What I Will Do…FOR THE ECONOMY…• Lower the tariff and include an income tax.

Underwood-Simmons Tariff (1916)

• Create a new banking system that will improve our currency with “banker’s banks.” *Federal Reserve Act (1913)

• Create a Federal Trade Commission to define unfair trade practices and issue “cease and desist” orders.Federal Trade Commission (1914)

• Strengthen anti-trust laws.Clayton Antitrust Act (1914)

• Support low-interest loans for farmers and internal improvements at federal expense.Federal Farm Loan Act, Warehouse Act, and the Federal Highways Act (1916)

What I Will Do…

FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE…• Endorse state action for women’s suffrage.

No national amendment.

• Support state action on child labor.No national legislation at first.

• Support an 8-hour workday for railroad employees.Only with the Election of 1916 looming.

• Eliminate “possible friction” in the workplace by racially segregating federal employees.Opposition to black voting rights (dumb whites, too).

• Appoint Louis D. Brandeis to the Supreme Court.Champion of social justice and 1st Jewish member.

DEBS 1912

SOCIALISM

Eugene V. DebsWANTS

• An assault on capitalism (Overthrow?).Legal seizure of political power by the working class.

• Change the present social order.

• Progressivism is simply an apology for the crimes of capitalism.

* By far, Debs was the most RADICAL candidate in the Election of 1912!