The Second Term Curse: Theodore Roosevelt's Second Term
Theodore Roosevelt was only elected to one term as President, but he completed most of the second term of William McKinley as well as the full term he was elected to in 1904. The presidency of Theodore Roosevelt began on September 14, 1901, following the assassination and death of President William McKinley. He ran for and won a full four-year term as president in 1904, easily defeating Democratic nominee Alton B. Parker.
Roosevelt became President at age 42. He remains the youngest person to become President of the United States. In his first term Roosevelt established his reputation as a "trust buster" in February of 1902 when, just a few months after taking office, he authorized the prosecution of the Northern Securities Trust Company for anti-competitive practices. Later, in October, Roosevelt intervened in the Anthracite Coal strike, setting a precedent for federal mediation in conflicts between labor and capital. Previously all government interventions in labor disputes had been to help crush strikes. In foreign policy, he focused on Central America, where he worked to bring about construction of the Panama Canal. Roosevelt convinced Congress to support his vision of a canal through Panama, but the treaty Congress approved was rejected by the Colombian government. When the Panamanians learned of this, a rebellion followed, was supported by Roosevelt, and succeeded. A treaty with the new Panama government for construction of the canal was then reached in 1903.
Roosevelt was able to secure the Republican Party's nomination for President in 1904, staving off the possibility of a challenge to Roosevelt for the 1904 Republican nomination by Senator Mark Hanna of Ohio. Roosevelt and Ohio's other Senator, Joseph B. Foraker, forced Hanna's hand by calling for Ohio's state Republican convention to endorse Roosevelt for the 1904 nomination. Hanna was forced to publicly endorse Roosevelt. Hanna died in early 1904, and Roosevelt faced little effective opposition for the 1904 nomination. Roosevelt followed the tradition of incumbents not actively campaigning on the stump. The Democratic Party's nominee in 1904 was Alton Brooks Parker. Democratic newspapers charged that Republicans were extorting large campaign contributions from corporations. Roosevelt denied the charges and at the same time he ordered the return of a $100,000 campaign contribution from Standard Oil. The issue had little impact on the election. Roosevelt won 56% of the popular vote, and Parker received 38%. Roosevelt also won the Electoral College vote, 336 to 140. Before his inauguration ceremony, Roosevelt declared that he would not serve another term, a pledge he would later come to regret.
As his second term progressed, Roosevelt broke with the conservative wing of the Republican Party when he proposed a series of reforms, most of which failed to pass Congress. Roosevelt's influence waned as he approached the end of his second term, as his promise to forego a third term made him a lame duck. He pushed for a national incorporation law (at a time when all corporations had state charters), called for a federal income tax and an inheritance tax. In the area of labor legislation, Roosevelt called for limits on the use of court injunctions against labor unions during strikes. He wanted an employee liability law for industrial injuries and an eight-hour work day for federal employees.
A Congressional investigation in 1905 disclosed that corporate executives donated tens of thousands of dollars in 1904 to the Republican National Committee. In 1908, Democratic Governor Charles N. Haskell of Oklahoma levelled the accusation that Senators in the pocket of Standard Oil lobbied Roosevelt, in the summer of 1904, to authorize the leasing of Indian oil lands by Standard Oil subsidiaries. He said Roosevelt overruled his Secretary of Interior Ethan A. Hitchcock and granted a pipeline franchise to run through the Osage lands to the Prairie Oil and Gas Company. The New York Sun made a similar accusation and said that Standard Oil, a refinery who financially benefited from the pipeline, had contributed $150,000 to the Republicans in 1904 after Roosevelt's alleged reversal allowing the pipeline franchise. Roosevelt branded Haskell's allegation as "a lie, pure and simple" and obtained a denial from Treasury Secretary Shaw that Roosevelt had neither coerced Shaw nor overruled him.
In 1907, Roosevelt faced the greatest domestic economic crisis since the Panic of 1893. The U.S. stock market went into a slump in early 1907. Many in the financial sector blamed Roosevelt's regulatory policies for the decline in stock prices. The nation still lacked Lacking a strong central central banking system, the government was unable to provide a coordinated response to the poor economic conditions. Many private banks were in poor financial condition. The slump reached the stage of a full-blown panic in October, when two investors failed to take over United Copper. Working with the Secretary of the Treasury, financier J.P. Morgan organized a group of businessmen to avert a crash by pledging their own money. Roosevelt helped Morgan by allowing U.S. Steel to acquire the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company, despite anti-trust concerns. He authorized the Secretary of the Treasury to raise bonds and commit federal funds to the banks.
After the panic, most congressional leaders agreed on the need to reform the nation's financial system. With the support of Roosevelt, Senator Nelson Aldrich introduced a bill to allow National Banks to issue emergency currency. The proposal was defeated by Democrats and progressive Republicans who believed the bill to be was overly favorable to Wall Street. Instead, Congress passed the Aldrich–Vreeland Act. The bill created the National Monetary Commission to study the nation's banking system. The commission's recommendations would eventually lead to the creation of the Federal Reserve System.
A split the the Republican Party developed from the conflict between the interests of corporate America and the working class. The media was fuelling popular outrage over corporate scandals. Journalists like Lincoln Steffens and Ida Tarbell wrote exposes of corporate scandals and abuses. The Republican Party divided between conservatives like Aldrich and progressives like Albert B. Cummins and Robert M. La Follette. Roosevelt leaned toward the left wing of his party, known as the Progressives. In his last two years in office, Roosevelt became increasingly distrustful of big business, despite its close ties to the Republican Party. Roosevelt called on Congress to enact a series of radical new laws. He pursued a new economic model which included a larger regulatory role for the federal government. He argued that 20th-century capitalists risked little but reaped huge profits on the backs of the laboring class. Without a redistribution of wealth away from the upper class, Roosevelt feared that the country would turn to radicals or fall to revolution.
In January 1908, Roosevelt sent a special message to Congress, calling for the restoration of an employer's liability law, which had recently been struck down by the Supreme Court. He also called for a limits on the use of court injunctions against labor unions during strikes, an eight-hour work day for federal employees, a postal savings system to provide competition for local banks, and legislation barring corporations from contributing to political campaigns.
Roosevelt's progressive policies proved popular in the Midwest and Pacific Coast. He gained support among farmers, teachers, clergymen, clerical workers and some proprietors. He encountered opposition from eastern Republicans, corporate executives, lawyers, the party establishment and Congressmen. Populist Democrats such as William Jennings Bryan expressed admiration for Roosevelt's message, and one Southern newspaper called for Roosevelt to run as a Democrat in 1908, with Bryan as his running mate. Roosevelt never seriously considered leaving the Republican Party during his presidency. Conservative Republicans such as Senator Nelson Aldrich and Speaker Joseph Cannon remained in control of Congress. These Republican leaders blocked the more ambitious aspects of Roosevelt's agenda, although Roosevelt was able to win passage of a new Federal Employers Liability Act and a restriction of child labor in Washington, D.C.
One other controversy arose near the end of Roosevelt's presidency, when accusations arose over whether a French company engineer influenced Roosevelt in choosing the Panama route for the canal over the Nicaragua route. Roosevelt denied charges of corruption concerning the canal in a January 8, 1906 message to Congress. In January 1909, Roosevelt brought criminal libel charges against the New York World and the Indianapolis News known as the "Roosevelt-Panama Libel Cases". Both cases were dismissed by U.S. District Courts, and after his Presidency, on January 3, 1911, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the lower courts' rulings.
Roosevelt left office still quite popular. He remained a major world figure until his death in 1919 and was quite active in his "retirement". (The story of his post-presidential years is retold in David Pietrusza's 2018 book TR's Last War, reviewed here in this community.) A 2018 poll of the American Political Science Association ranked Roosevelt as the fourth greatest president in history, after George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Roosevelt became President at age 42. He remains the youngest person to become President of the United States. In his first term Roosevelt established his reputation as a "trust buster" in February of 1902 when, just a few months after taking office, he authorized the prosecution of the Northern Securities Trust Company for anti-competitive practices. Later, in October, Roosevelt intervened in the Anthracite Coal strike, setting a precedent for federal mediation in conflicts between labor and capital. Previously all government interventions in labor disputes had been to help crush strikes. In foreign policy, he focused on Central America, where he worked to bring about construction of the Panama Canal. Roosevelt convinced Congress to support his vision of a canal through Panama, but the treaty Congress approved was rejected by the Colombian government. When the Panamanians learned of this, a rebellion followed, was supported by Roosevelt, and succeeded. A treaty with the new Panama government for construction of the canal was then reached in 1903.
Roosevelt was able to secure the Republican Party's nomination for President in 1904, staving off the possibility of a challenge to Roosevelt for the 1904 Republican nomination by Senator Mark Hanna of Ohio. Roosevelt and Ohio's other Senator, Joseph B. Foraker, forced Hanna's hand by calling for Ohio's state Republican convention to endorse Roosevelt for the 1904 nomination. Hanna was forced to publicly endorse Roosevelt. Hanna died in early 1904, and Roosevelt faced little effective opposition for the 1904 nomination. Roosevelt followed the tradition of incumbents not actively campaigning on the stump. The Democratic Party's nominee in 1904 was Alton Brooks Parker. Democratic newspapers charged that Republicans were extorting large campaign contributions from corporations. Roosevelt denied the charges and at the same time he ordered the return of a $100,000 campaign contribution from Standard Oil. The issue had little impact on the election. Roosevelt won 56% of the popular vote, and Parker received 38%. Roosevelt also won the Electoral College vote, 336 to 140. Before his inauguration ceremony, Roosevelt declared that he would not serve another term, a pledge he would later come to regret.
As his second term progressed, Roosevelt broke with the conservative wing of the Republican Party when he proposed a series of reforms, most of which failed to pass Congress. Roosevelt's influence waned as he approached the end of his second term, as his promise to forego a third term made him a lame duck. He pushed for a national incorporation law (at a time when all corporations had state charters), called for a federal income tax and an inheritance tax. In the area of labor legislation, Roosevelt called for limits on the use of court injunctions against labor unions during strikes. He wanted an employee liability law for industrial injuries and an eight-hour work day for federal employees.
A Congressional investigation in 1905 disclosed that corporate executives donated tens of thousands of dollars in 1904 to the Republican National Committee. In 1908, Democratic Governor Charles N. Haskell of Oklahoma levelled the accusation that Senators in the pocket of Standard Oil lobbied Roosevelt, in the summer of 1904, to authorize the leasing of Indian oil lands by Standard Oil subsidiaries. He said Roosevelt overruled his Secretary of Interior Ethan A. Hitchcock and granted a pipeline franchise to run through the Osage lands to the Prairie Oil and Gas Company. The New York Sun made a similar accusation and said that Standard Oil, a refinery who financially benefited from the pipeline, had contributed $150,000 to the Republicans in 1904 after Roosevelt's alleged reversal allowing the pipeline franchise. Roosevelt branded Haskell's allegation as "a lie, pure and simple" and obtained a denial from Treasury Secretary Shaw that Roosevelt had neither coerced Shaw nor overruled him.
In 1907, Roosevelt faced the greatest domestic economic crisis since the Panic of 1893. The U.S. stock market went into a slump in early 1907. Many in the financial sector blamed Roosevelt's regulatory policies for the decline in stock prices. The nation still lacked Lacking a strong central central banking system, the government was unable to provide a coordinated response to the poor economic conditions. Many private banks were in poor financial condition. The slump reached the stage of a full-blown panic in October, when two investors failed to take over United Copper. Working with the Secretary of the Treasury, financier J.P. Morgan organized a group of businessmen to avert a crash by pledging their own money. Roosevelt helped Morgan by allowing U.S. Steel to acquire the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company, despite anti-trust concerns. He authorized the Secretary of the Treasury to raise bonds and commit federal funds to the banks.
After the panic, most congressional leaders agreed on the need to reform the nation's financial system. With the support of Roosevelt, Senator Nelson Aldrich introduced a bill to allow National Banks to issue emergency currency. The proposal was defeated by Democrats and progressive Republicans who believed the bill to be was overly favorable to Wall Street. Instead, Congress passed the Aldrich–Vreeland Act. The bill created the National Monetary Commission to study the nation's banking system. The commission's recommendations would eventually lead to the creation of the Federal Reserve System.
A split the the Republican Party developed from the conflict between the interests of corporate America and the working class. The media was fuelling popular outrage over corporate scandals. Journalists like Lincoln Steffens and Ida Tarbell wrote exposes of corporate scandals and abuses. The Republican Party divided between conservatives like Aldrich and progressives like Albert B. Cummins and Robert M. La Follette. Roosevelt leaned toward the left wing of his party, known as the Progressives. In his last two years in office, Roosevelt became increasingly distrustful of big business, despite its close ties to the Republican Party. Roosevelt called on Congress to enact a series of radical new laws. He pursued a new economic model which included a larger regulatory role for the federal government. He argued that 20th-century capitalists risked little but reaped huge profits on the backs of the laboring class. Without a redistribution of wealth away from the upper class, Roosevelt feared that the country would turn to radicals or fall to revolution.
In January 1908, Roosevelt sent a special message to Congress, calling for the restoration of an employer's liability law, which had recently been struck down by the Supreme Court. He also called for a limits on the use of court injunctions against labor unions during strikes, an eight-hour work day for federal employees, a postal savings system to provide competition for local banks, and legislation barring corporations from contributing to political campaigns.
Roosevelt's progressive policies proved popular in the Midwest and Pacific Coast. He gained support among farmers, teachers, clergymen, clerical workers and some proprietors. He encountered opposition from eastern Republicans, corporate executives, lawyers, the party establishment and Congressmen. Populist Democrats such as William Jennings Bryan expressed admiration for Roosevelt's message, and one Southern newspaper called for Roosevelt to run as a Democrat in 1908, with Bryan as his running mate. Roosevelt never seriously considered leaving the Republican Party during his presidency. Conservative Republicans such as Senator Nelson Aldrich and Speaker Joseph Cannon remained in control of Congress. These Republican leaders blocked the more ambitious aspects of Roosevelt's agenda, although Roosevelt was able to win passage of a new Federal Employers Liability Act and a restriction of child labor in Washington, D.C.
One other controversy arose near the end of Roosevelt's presidency, when accusations arose over whether a French company engineer influenced Roosevelt in choosing the Panama route for the canal over the Nicaragua route. Roosevelt denied charges of corruption concerning the canal in a January 8, 1906 message to Congress. In January 1909, Roosevelt brought criminal libel charges against the New York World and the Indianapolis News known as the "Roosevelt-Panama Libel Cases". Both cases were dismissed by U.S. District Courts, and after his Presidency, on January 3, 1911, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the lower courts' rulings.
Roosevelt left office still quite popular. He remained a major world figure until his death in 1919 and was quite active in his "retirement". (The story of his post-presidential years is retold in David Pietrusza's 2018 book TR's Last War, reviewed here in this community.) A 2018 poll of the American Political Science Association ranked Roosevelt as the fourth greatest president in history, after George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin D. Roosevelt.