RooseveltTheodore Roosevelt’s “New Nationalism” and Woodrow Wilson’s “New Freedom” were revolutionary thoughts in the early part of the 20th century. Well ahead of its time were the economic intervention policies introduced by these Presidents to transform America into a strong and fair country. The main concern of these “progressives” was the abuse of power by government and businesses. Even though Wilson’s plan and Roosevelt’s plan would differ in several ways, the nationalistic tone was quite similar. They both believed in government intervention into businesses that were abusing the countries inability to control monopolies, exploitation of minorities, women and children etc. Roosevelt could have been labeled the “Father of Progressive Reform”. Where as Wilson may have been called the ”Grandson of Progressive reform” as he was carrying on the domestic policies that Roosevelt had initiated. Obviously they two separate men with distinguishable views but how much different were they? Did they want opposite things for the United States? What exactly did Roosevelt mean when he said, “reform is conservative”? Since the U.S. was not at war at the time when Roosevelt fell into the presidency after McKinley’s assassination, he needed to sink his feet into domestic policy and get something done. Roosevelt knew that this was a sure-fire way to gain public support. Roosevelt sought to create what he refered to as the “Square Deal”. Essentially it was that Americans were not to be given special treatment because they had wealthy or because they were indigent. In this way I believe that that Wilson and Roosevelt were suggesting the same notion of equality. Wilson said he wanted to provide “an equal opportunity for all in a capitalistic society”(mini-lecture #45 Koudelka). When coal workers in Pennsylvania wanted increas...
