Presidency of Teddy Roosevelt

By Martha Brozyna

  • Teddy Roosevelt Become President After McKinley Assassinated

    Pres. William McKinley was shaking hands at the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo, NY when a man shot him twice in the chest. At the age of 42, Teddy Roosevelt became the youngest President in US history.

  • Roosevelt Files Suit Against the Northern Securities Company

    This trust organized by J.P. Morgan controlled the railroad network of the Northwest. Roosevelt asserted that the Company violated the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. In 1904, the Supreme Court ordered the dissolution of the Company. Roosevelt brought 44 antitrust suits against business combination during his Presidency, but except for a few like Standard Oil, he avoided the giant firms.

  • Congress Passes National Reclamation Act

    This act established what became the Bureau of Reclamation. Its engineers were to construct dams, reservoirs and irrigation canals. The government would sell the irrigated in tracts no larger than 160 acres. With massive dams and networks of irrigation canals, it reclaimed fertile valleys from the desert.

  • Roosevelt Intervenes in United Mine Workers Union Strike

    Coal workers sought higher wages, 8 hour workday and recognition of their union. Mine owners closed the mines and waited for the union to collapse. Roosevelt invited both the owners and the union leaders to D.C. and declared this was a national issue. The arbitration resulted in the miners getting a 10% wage increase, 9 hour workday, but no union recognition. Owners were permitted to raise coal prices by 10% Roosevelt proclaimed that everyone received a "square deal"

  • Department of Commerce and Labor Created

    Roosevelt asked Congress to create this department, along with a Bureau of Corporations. The Bureau would be empowered to investigate corporations engaged in interstate commerce. Congress refused. Roosevelt called in reporters and charged the John D. Rockefeller had organized opposition. The press spread the word, and within a few weeks, the Department and Bureau were created

  • Division of Forestry renamed the Forest Service

    Gifford Pinchot had been appointed as head of the Division of Forestry in 1898 and worked closely with Roosevelt to bring rational management and regulation to resource development. With Pinchot's advice, Roosevelt tripled the size of the forest reserves to 150 million acres, set aside another 80 million acres valuable for mineral and petroleum and established dozens of wildlife refuges.

  • Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" Published

    Muckraking articles frequently reported on the filthy conditions found in meatpacking houses. Sinclair had set out to write a novel about the plight of the packinghouse workers, but readers ignored the story about the workers and instead focused on the graphic descriptions of things that went into their meat, including workers who fell into vats.

  • Hepburn Act Passed

    The act strengthened the rate-making power of the Interstate Commerce Commission. It increased membership on the ICCC from 5 to 7, empowered it to fix reasonable maximum railroad rates, and broadened its jurisdiction to include oil pipeline, express and sleeping car companies

  • Meat Inspection Act Passed

    After the publication of "The Jungle", Roosevelt ordered an investigation into meatpacking industry. The report was bad. Meat sales plummeted in the US and Europe. Demand for reform grew. The Meat inspection Act set rules for sanitary meatpacking and government inspection of meat products.

  • Pure Food and Drug Act Passed

    A muckraker exposed the dangers of patent medicines in several articles pointing out that they contained mostly alcohol and drugs. The chief chemist at the Department of Agriculture tested all sorts of medications and pushed for reform. Roosevelt joined the fight and ensured that the act was passed which required manufacturers to list certain ingredients on the label.

  • Roosevelt Ends His Second Term

    Roosevelt sailed for Africa to hunt big game with his son. Between the two of them, they slew 512 beasts including 17 lion, 11 elephant and 20 rhinoceros. The remaining animals were no doubt happy to see T.R. leave the plain. Many specimens were then donated to the Natural History Museum and the Smithsonian.

  • Roosevelt Announces His New Nationalism Philosophy

    It demanded a national approach to the country's affairs and a strong President to deal with them. It called for efficiency in government and society. It urged social-justice reforms to protect women, workers, children. It accepted "good" trusts. It encouraged large concentrations of labor and capital, serving the nation's interests under a strong federal executive. This will be the philosophical platform that he will use when he runs as the Progressive candidate in the 1912 election

  • Assassination Attempt on Teddy Roosevelt

    A saloonkeeper named John N. Schrank tried to assassinate Roosevelt. Schrank shot Roosevelt just before he made a speech in Milwaukee. A glasses case in Roosevelt's pocket deflected the bullet and probably saved his life. Even with the bullet in his chest, Roosevelt insisted on making the speech.

  • Woodrow Wilson Wins 1912 Election

    The following candidates ran:
    Woodrow Wilson (Democrat)
    William Taft (Republican)
    Teddy Roosevelt (Progressive)
    Eugene V. Debs (Socialist)