Kyle and Jacob, October 12

Trust Buster"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvZP93XqyTw

"Taft"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pENWP8r1-7M

We also would like people to have read these brief excerpts from Ida Tarbell's writings
to get a better idea of the Progressive Movement.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/rockefellers/sfeature/sf_7.html

ñ

ñ As frustration mounted with a lack of workers' rights and exploitative banking practices in the agrarian west, the populist Progressive movement gained momentum.

ñ Populist Progressive Ideology – Break up big trusts, increased rights for workers, silver money, inflationary policy

The Candidates

ñ Teddy Roosevelt

◦ President after the death of William McKinley, reelected once. 1901 – 1908

◦ Progressive Republican – Trust Buster, Mediator for Russo-Japanese War, Nobel Peace Prize Winner, 1^st president to bring in troops to support strikers

ñ William Taft

◦ Indisputably weak man, unable to control party or refuse his wife

◦ Served as Secretary of War under TR, hand picked to take presidency despite desire for Supreme Court Justice

◦ While more conservative than TR, busted many a trust in his own day

ñ Eugene Debs

◦ Leader of the Socialist Party, had popular appeal among workers and farmers that failed to translate into votes

◦ Ran for president 5 times

ñ Woodrow Wilson

◦ Background in Academic administration. President of Princeton before moving on to Governor of New Jersey.

◦ Progressive politics, anti-bossism, racist

Topics to Discuss: Relationships between Candidates, Candidates' Personalities, Third Party Politics, TR's decision to run, Republican Convention fiasco