US History Chapter 30 Notes  Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad (1912-1916) o Democrats were happy about the split in the Republican Party, and ran Woodrow Wilson. . WW was strongly progressive, fighting against trusts while governor of NJ.  He made numerous reforms to help the people, and was quite popular.  The Bull Moose Campaign of 1912 o So WW was the Democratic candidate, running on the New Freedom progressive program. . It wanted antitrust legislation, lower tariffs, and reform of the bank. o TR ran as the candidate for third-party Progressive Republicans. . Many people were very enthusiastic about this, including women like Jane Addams. . TR claimed to be “as strong as a bull moose”, so that became the token animal. o TR and WT, now on opposing sides of a once united party, fought incessantly. o Whether WW or TR won, there would be progressivism with a strong gov’t. . But TR supported Herbert Croly’s ideas of trust consolidation with regulation, as well as female suffrage, minimum wage laws, and social insurance. . WW wanted small business, less regulation but no monopolies. He didn’t want social welfare, but instead more competition- he wanted to break up large industries. o TR’s campaign was interrupted for a few weeks after he was shot by a fanatic.  Woodrow Wilson: A Minority President o WW won by a lot, with TR second and WT only winning a few electoral votes. . Wilson had about 41% of the vote, but the Democrats got a majority in Congress. . The vote was overwhelming in favor of progressivism, with Socialists even getting votes. o The Progressivists couldn’t survive because they hadn’t been elected to local/state positions. o Republicans were the minority for a while, though WT did become chief of the SC.  Wilson: The Idealist in Politics o WW was well-educated, a teacher, and from the south. . He supported the Confederate attempt to secede, and favored self-determination. o He thought the wants of the (informed) people should be heeded. o He was excellent at making speeches and very intelligent. o He thought that the president should be powerful and lead Congress. o However, WW could also seem cold, and he didn’t know how to interact with the common people. . He didn’t have much tolerance for senators and journalists, who he thought weren’t smart. o He was an idealist and had trouble compromising. A lot of trouble.  Wilson Tackles the Tariff o WW didn’t like the current tariffs, banks, or trusts. He planned to change them all. o 1913- He showed up in front of Congress and persuaded them to pass a bill for him. . They made the Underwood Tariff Bill, which lowered rates greatly. . Lobbyists got mad and tried to make them stop, but WW told the common people to force Congress to stick to the bill. This was successful. o The Underwood Tariff lowered import fees, and it made a graduated income tax to get revenue.  Wilson Battles the Bankers o The last bill really dealing with the back was the National Banking Act from the Civil War. . It had problems- there wasn’t enough currency (Panic of 1907). . Also, the reserves of money were in NYC and other cities, so rural areas couldn’t get money. o 1908- Congress made a team led by Senator Aldrich to investigate the issue. . Aldrich suggested (3 years later) to make the third Bank of the United States.  This would have many branches and be very powerful. o Congressman Arsene Pujo and his committee found that the problems were coming from banking and business and their underhanded practices. The Democrats agreed. o June 1913- WW showed up at Congress again and told them to reform the banking system. . Instead of what the Republicans wanted (a private bank with many branches), he wanted a government owned bank that was decentralized. . The people liked this, so in 1913 the Federal Reserve Act was made. This was a big deal. . The president appointed a Federal Reserve Board to look over 12 regions that each had a central bank of their own. Those smaller banks were privately owned, but the gov’t had power through the board. . The board could make paper money. o The FRA saved the country from collapse during the Great War.  Wilson Tames the Trusts o 1914- WW showed up at Congress again and asked for antitrust laws. o A while later Congress made the Federal Trade Commission Act. . The president would appoint a commission that could investigate interstate industries. . The commission could fight corruption, false advertising, monopolies, etc. o 1914- Clayton Anti-Trust Act declared price discrimination and interlocking directorates illegal. . It also excluded labor organizations from this, to fight against the SC and other courts ruling against labor unions under the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.  Of course, that didn’t stop courts from still punishing labor.  Wilsonian Progressivism at High Tide o WW still wasn’t satisfied, and wanted more reforms. o 1916- Federal Farm Loan Act gave credit to farmers with low interest rates. o 1916- Warehouse Act allowed for loans on the security of crops. These were populist ideas. o WW also built highways and put agricultural studies into colleges. o 1915- La Follette Seamen’s Act called for reasonable treatment and wages on US merchant ships. . Unfortunately, this led to high shipping rates too. o 1916- Workingmen’s Compensation Act gave disability assistance to civil-service workers. o WW also restricted child labor, but later the SC declared it unconstitutional. o 1916- Adamson Act made 8-hour work day for interstate commerce train employees. o 1916- WW nominated progressive Louis D. Brandeis to the SC. Wall Street wasn’t happy. o But…WW wasn’t nice to African Americans. He made segregation worse. o In order to win the 1916 election, WW put conservatives on the Federal Reserve Board and the FTC to please businessmen. However, he tried harder to be seen as very progressive.  New Directions in Foreign Policy o WW, unlike TR, didn’t make a powerful foreign policy. He didn’t like imperialism. o He really didn’t like dollar diplomacy. So he stopped supporting US investors in Latin American and China, which led to the investors leaving. o 1914- WW got Congress to get rid of the Panama Canal Tolls Act (1912), which Britain hadn’t liked. . The act had made no tolls for US ships sailing through. o 1916- Jones Act gave Philippines territorial status. . WW said they could go free once a stable gov’t had been made. o 1913- CA banned Japanese immigrants from owning land, making Japan made. . WW sent in Bryan to convince CA to not be so harsh. This helped a bit. o 1914-1915- The people of Haiti killed the awful president, so WW sent in marines to protect Americans. . 1916- WW used Monroe Doctrine and TR’s addition to make a treaty saying the US would supervise the police and finances of Haiti. o Later, WW sent military to the Dominican Republic. o 1917- WW bought the Virgin Islands from Denmark. Kind of imperialistic, really.  Moralistic Diplomacy in Mexico o Mexico was being misused by foreign investors, including the US. . So there were disputes at the border. o Even though there was a lot of investment in the government, most people in Mexico were poor. . 1913- They revolted and put General Victoriano Huerta in charge. . This led to a lot of immigration to the United States southwest. o The revolt also damaged US property interests and Americans that were there. . William Randolph Hearst (the newspaper guy) wanted to go to war. . But WW definitely didn’t want to. But he also wouldn’t acknowledge Huerta as leader. o So WW gave US weapons to opponents of Huerta- Venustiano Carranza and Pancho Villa. o April 1914- US sailors were arrested at Tampico. The sailors were released, but the Mexican gov’t wouldn’t salute them as the sailors had wanted. . So WW asked Congress if he could use force against Mexico. o Before Congress even said anything, WW had the navy take over Mexican port Vera Cruz. . Mexico wasn’t happy about this. Conflict was imminent. o But then! Argentina, Brazil, and Chile offered to mediate, stopping fighting. o July 1914- Huerta’s gov’t fell apart and Carranza took over. He was also mad at WW. o WW now supported Carranza. Pancho Villa was against him. . Pancho Villa killed some US mining engineers in Mexico. Then, he and followers went into New Mexico and killed more Americans, trying to start a war. o General John Pershing went to stop the attack. They succeeded, but didn’t get Villa. . 1917- The invaders left, afraid of war with Germany.  Thunder Across the Sea o And now it’s time for…The Great War! Yay! (Not.) . Europe had been having trouble for a long time, and then a Serbian killed Franz Ferdinand, who was going to be the ruler of Austria-Hungary. . Austria-Hungary was furious and made an ultimatum to Serbia, which Serbia didn’t comply with, and then Russia and France were threatening Germany, and Germany tried to attack France through Belgium, and Britain got involved, and everyone went to war. o The war was the Central Powers: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey, and Bulgaria, versus the Allied Powers: France, Britain, Russia, Japan, and Italy. o The US was happy it was far away and uninvolved.  A Precarious Neutrality o WW was upset about the Great War and the death of his wife. He made a neutrality proclamation (just as usual), telling Americans to be neutral. o Of course, neutrality proclamations never work very well. Both sides wanted the US. . Britain kept in contact, telling them how terrible the Central Powers were. . The CPs tried to appeal to the German-Americans and other immigrants from there.  But most immigrants didn’t really want to deal with the war. o Most were against Germany, as the leader of Germany (Wilhelm II) seemed like a dictator. . 1915- A German spy’s plans to sabotage factories were found. This was bad for Germany. . But still, the US didn’t want to go to war.  America Earns Blood Money o 1914- The US was in a recession. But then, Britain and France were ordering lots of weaponry and such, so the economy became very strong. . The CPs were not happy about so much trade with the APs, even though the US was still neutral and no laws were violated. . Germany couldn’t trade with the US because they were blocked off by Britain. o 1915- Germany, mad about the blockade, started fighting with submarines around Britain. . This was new, so there weren’t laws governing appropriate submarine use. . The US was highly concerned about this, even though Germany promised not to sink neutral shipping, though they said they would make errors. o So WW continued being neutral, but hoped that he would get to fight Germany if mistakes were made. o May 1915- British Lusitania was sunk, killing some Americans too. . The Americans were furious, and the east wanted war. But the rest said no. . WW didn’t want to declare war if only part of the country wanted it. o So instead, WW just kept sending notes to Germany to make them stop. . SOS Bryan worried this would cause war, and resigned. o August 1915- The Germans sunk the Arabic, another British boat, killing a few Americans. . After that, Germany agreed not to sink unarmed ships without warning (yeah, that helps…) o March 1916- Germans attacked a French ship. . WW told Germans to stop, or he would end diplomatic relations with them. o So the Germans said they would stop, but the US would have to convince the APs to change their blockade. . WW couldn’t do that. So he just ignored that part. This was risky.  Wilson Wins Reelection in 1916 o The Progressives picked TR again, but he refused to run, since he didn’t want the Republicans to lose. So the Progressive Party disappeared. o The Republicans picked Charles Evans Hughes, who was on the SC. . They disliked the new tariff, the anti-trust legislation, and the weak policy against Mexico and Germany. . Hughes wasn’t very good at campaigning- he kept changing his views. . Also, TR didn’t like Hughes much, which damaged his chances. o WW ignored Hughes. Slogan “He Kept Us Out of War”. o The Democrats said that Hughes would get the US into war. o Hughes won the east, and everyone thought he would win the election. But then Wilson got the Midwest and west, and won (barely). . The working class and some Bull Moose followers supported him. . They thought he would keep them out of war. They were wrong.