Republicans were the progressives of the early 20th Century

Some relevant history you don't likely remember from high school in Civics for Adults' first guest post.

Until this year with the incessant news on tariffs, I would guess that one of our least-thought-about U.S. presidents was No. 25, William McKinley.

If his name ever came up, it was not because of what the Republican from Ohio did, but because of how he died.

A leading proponent of protective tariffs in the late 1800s, McKinley captured the presidency in 1896. When he ran for reelection, McKinley needed a new running mate because his trusted VP, Garret Hobart, died in 1899, and back then vice presidents were not replaced before the next election. That’s when things got interesting.

Photo by Dennis Guten on Unsplash

The old guard political bosses in New York state had grown tired of their young rabble-rousing Republican governor, Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt, the charismatic Spanish American War hero, had become a leader of the progressive movement which had been picking up steam in its efforts to enact social and political reforms to benefit working people and limit the influence of political machines and big business.

And the bosses had an idea about how to remove Roosevelt from the front row of political reform in their state.

They convinced McKinley to put him on the 1900 ticket – which would rid them of the meddlesome young governor. Part of their plan worked as McKinley easily won reelection. But fate spoiled the rest of their clever scheme; just a few months after his second inauguration in 1901, McKinley was assassinated in Buffalo.

Thus, the newly minted vice president Theodore Roosevelt – labeled “that damn cowboy” by an old guard GOP senator – took up residence in the White House. And the Progressive Era, a relatively short but influential period in American history, moved its standard bearer into the oval office.

20th Century progressives

Yep, the president who led much of the country through the progressive initiatives of the early 20^th Century was a very rich Republican from the aristocracy of Hyde Park, N.Y., who commanded the bully pulpit and carried a big stick.

But he wasn’t the only member of the Grand Old Party leading the charge. Perhaps best known after Roosevelt was Robert “Fighting Bob” La Follette, a governor and senator from Wisconsin. There was also Sen. George Norris of Nebraska, California Gov. Hiram Johnson, and New York Gov. (and future chief justice) Charles Evans Hughes.

Working with like-minded Democratic leaders, progressive Republicans enacted reforms to problems brought to light by social activists and journalists who exposed dangerous working conditions, unsafe meat-packing processing, government corruption, and all sorts of social abuse.

At the forefront was Roosevelt, who some consider the first modern president. For example, he gave a name to his domestic program -- The Square Deal, which was noted for its three C’s: conservation of natural resources; corporate law reform; and consumer protection.

During Roosevelt’s presidency, the progressives took on big business and political machines.

Congress passed the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906, which created the Food and Drug Administration. And the U.S. Forest Service was established in 1905 under noted naturalist Gifford Pinchot.

After winning his own term in 1904, Roosevelt did not run for reelection in 1908. But the Progressive Movement was established enough to keep going through the next decade, with a wide range of legislation that regulated businesses to protect workers, consumers and the environment, and even to enact reforms to the political system.

In the Constitution

In fact, three Constitutional amendments were ratified during that time that became part of our daily lives.

• The 16th Amendment established the federal income tax. In effect, this amendment made income taxes the primary source of federal revenue in place of the late President McKinley’s beloved tariffs, which were determined to be regressive in their burden on all Americans.

• The 17th Amendment called for the direct election of senators by the people in the voting booth. Until then, senators were elected by politicians, specifically members of each state’s legislature.

• And the 19th Amendment established women's suffrage.

By the 1920s, however, the Progressive Era had run its course. America’s involvement in World War I and the post-war impact on the country took priority over the Progressive agenda.

The traditional business-backed conservatives within the GOP reasserted their control over the party as evidenced by the three Republican presidents who followed Wilson – Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover. Under that trio, as Coolidge famously said, the business of government was business.

And we know how that turned out.

It would be a stretch to call the Progressive Era some sort of Camelot period in American history. But tucked in between post-Civil War reconstruction and World War I and its aftermath, there was a brief time when America demanded and built a more transparent and accountable government.

And in doing so, the era left a legacy that was picked up later in the 20^th Century – by the Democrats.

Thank you to Jim Schlueter for being the first new contributor to Civics for Adults. He is retired corporate communicator by trade, journalist by heart, and history geek by nature. Devoted to encouraging future journalists through volunteer work at the Illini Media Company. Also devoted to the Fighting Illini and the St. Louis Cardinals.

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