The Early Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt, Essay Example

On September 5, 1901, President William McKinley while visiting the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, was shot by an assassin. At first, his wounds were not seen as being fatal and he lingered in bed until September 13 when he died from his injuries. This event opened the door for the Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt, McKinley’s Vice President, who was viewed by conservatives as lacking the proper respect for the industrial and corporate giants of America. But when Roosevelt took the oath of office as President of the United States, he “asked the members of McKinley’s cabinet to remain in office and assured them that he would faithfully carry out the policies” of the late Mr. McKinley. ¹

At this time, Roosevelt was only forty-three years old, making him the youngest man to ever become President of the United States. He had been active in American politics for more than twenty years and was an “energetic and outspoken man who always seemed to attract the maximum amount of publicity” ² in the newspapers of America. His military experience was also of prime importance, for he was viewed by many Americans as a hero, due to being the commander of the Rough Riders during the war with Spain in the very late 1890’s in which he received recognition for his bravery and dedication. Roosevelt was also the fifth American President to succeed the office upon the death of the President.

In December of 1901, Roosevelt gave his first message to Congress as President in which he attempted to decrease the fears of the conservatives related to altering the course of the late McKinley’s plans for the nation. In this speech, Roosevelt applauded the prosperity that Americans were experiencing, attacked domestic anarchists who wished to overthrow the U.S. government, “expressed approval for current tariff laws, defended the accumulation of great fortunes, and praised the hard-working men” ³ who had helped to build the transcontinental railroad system and the great industrial corporations. However, Roosevelt also noted in this speech that certain wrongs had been committed by those responsible for American industrial expansion and that the “federal government must be given the authority to regulate corporations,” even if this meant a constitutional amendment. ⁴

Roosevelt also openly advocated for the conservation of America’s natural resources which led some years later to the creation of the National Parks System in the United States with Yellowstone National Park being the first to become an official government protected wilderness area. He also noted that one of the most important projects had to be finished, being the Panama Canal which when fully operational would connect the Atlantic to the Pacific and allow ships to transport good and products at a much faster rate.

Then in February of 1902, Roosevelt announced that his administration was going to file a suit under the Antitrust Act against the Northern Securities Company, originally created by multi-millionaires J.P. Morgan and John D. Rockefeller. Roosevelt felt that this organization had “monopolized rail transportation between Chicago and the Pacific Northwest and had virtually made it impossible for competitors to function as rail transporters in the United States.” ⁵ As might be suspected, this act made Roosevelt an enemy of the great industrialists who were strictly against any kind of federal control over their activities. But for the American people, Roosevelt became a symbol of non-conformity, due to seeing him as “unafraid to attack the giant trusts.” ⁶ However, despite the displeasure of the great industrialists, a federal court ruled that the Northern Securities Company was indeed guilty of creating a monopoly; the U.S. Supreme Court agreed with this decision in March of 1904. ⁷

Perhaps the most famous quote from Roosevelt during his early years as President of the United States was “Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.” Living up to this attitude, Roosevelt employed his “big stick” policy during the long strike in the coal fields of Pennsylvania that began in May of 1902 and continued into the autumn months. The union leaders were willing to sit down for arbitration, but the coal mine operators “refused to deal with the strikers and demanded that Roosevelt follow the precedent” set up by President Grover Cleveland in 1894 by invoking the Sherman Act and sending federal troops into the coal fields. When Roosevelt did act upon this situation, he surprised everyone involved, especially the coal field owners, by using the army to help operate the mines, rather than attack the strikers whom he felt were in the right to strike against the huge coal conglomerates. ⁸

Obviously, President Roosevelt’s actions regarding the coal strike in Pennsylvania has pleased the American people, for in 1904, he was reelected to a second term as President of the United States. In his second speech to the U.S. Congress as President, Roosevelt insisted that big business must be regulated to prevent monopolies, and that the American people deserved better and more efficient domestic programs related to social reform and particularly the control of food products. Overall, the early Presidency of

Theodore Roosevelt served as a symbol for non-conformity and certainly helped to change the face of the American political system for the better. It also served as an indication to big business that monopolizing America’s industries would not be tolerated, something which still echoes in today’s American industrial system.

Endnotes

1. Harold Whitman Bradley, History of the United States From 1865 (NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1973), 162.
2. Ibid, 163.
3. Ibid, 163.
4. Ibid, 164.
5. Edmund Morris, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt (NY: Random House, 2002), 67.
6. Bradley, 165.
7. Morris, 68.
8. Ibid, 72.

Bibliography

Bradley, Harold Whitman. History of the United States From 1865. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1975.

Morris, Edmund. The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt. New York: Random House, 2002.