Theodore Roosevelt's Role In The Progressive Era

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President William McKinley was in New York shaking hands with the well-wishers at an exposition on September 7, 1901. All of a sudden Leon Czolgosz, an American anarchist, started shooting in the crowd with a pistol. Unfortunately McKinley was shot and he died a week later. This is how and why Theodore Roosevelt became the first president to take office during the progressive era. Progressivism was fueled by many decisions by voters and political leaders. One basic question that many Americans wanted to know the answer to was: Should government play a larger role in the lives of Americans? The people wanted to feel safe and all times and felt that the government could assist them in some way. The Progressive Era has been called the …show more content…
The Progressive Party which was actually started in 1912 was a political party created by a split in the Republican Party in the presidential election of 1912. The party was created or put together by Theodore Roosevelt when he lost the Republican nomination to William Howard Taft. Despite the criticism of their reform efforts, Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson’s commitment in achieving national changes made them successful progressive presidents. Roosevelt addressed the problems that needed reforming at the beginning of his term and he made it clear that he was willing to fight for them. His square deal sought to create a moral approach to many social problems. Woodrow Wilson was also a successful progressive president. He discussed all the reforms that he was focusing on at the beginning of his term. His main topics were reforming tariffs and to reorganize banking. He proposed a bill to reduce tariffs, which passed through the House immediately. Wilson also created the Federal Trade Commission, which regulated big business which is still in operation today. Many of

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