How was the bull moose party platform a vision for a modern welfare state?

The Bull Moose Party was the unofficial name of President Teddy Roosevelt's Progressive Party of 1912. The nickname is said to have arisen from a quote by Theodore Roosevelt. When asked whether he was fit to be president, he responded that he was as fit as a "bull moose."

Table of Contents Show

Stage 1 Priorities: Fix the System. Save the Planet—
Election Reform
Wall Street and Corporate Reform
Smaller, More Responsive Government
Environmental Reform
Stage 2 Priorities: Implement the Progressive Agenda—
Women’s Rights
Immigration Reform
Student Loan Reform
Health Care
Law Enforcement

Theodore Roosevelt's terms as president of the United States ran from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt was originally elected vice president on the same ticket as William McKinley in 1900, but in September of 1901, McKinley was assassinated and Roosevelt finished out McKinley's term. He then ran and won the presidency in 1904.

By 1908, Roosevelt had decided not to run again, and he urged his personal friend and ally William Howard Taft to run in his place. Taft was chosen and then won the presidency for the Republican Party. Roosevelt became unhappy with Taft, primarily because he wasn't following what Roosevelt considered progressive policies.

In 1912, Roosevelt put his name forward to become the Republican Party's nominee again, but the Taft machine pressured Roosevelt's supporters to vote for Taft or lose their jobs, and the party chose to stick with Taft. This angered Roosevelt, who walked out of the convention and then formed his own party, the Progressive Party, in protest. Hiram Johnson of California was chosen as his running mate.

The Progressive Party was built on the strength of Roosevelt's ideas. Roosevelt portrayed himself as an advocate for the average citizen, whom he said should play a larger role in government. His running mate Johnson was a progressive governor of his state, who had a record of successfully implementing social reforms.

True to Roosevelt's progressive beliefs, the platform of the party called for major reforms including women's suffrage, social welfare assistance for women and children, farm relief, revisions in banking, health insurance in industries, and worker's compensation. The party also wanted an easier method to amend the constitution.

Many prominent social reformers were drawn to the Progressives, including Jane Addams of Hull House, Survey magazine editor Paul Kellogg, Florence Kelley of Henry Street Settlement, Owen Lovejoy of the National Child Labor Committee, and Margaret Dreier Robins of the National Women's Trade Union.

In 1912, voters chose between Taft, Roosevelt, and Woodrow Wilson, the Democratic candidate.

Roosevelt shared many of the progressive policies of Wilson, yet his core support came from ex-Republicans who defected from the party. Taft was defeated, getting 3.5 million votes compared to Roosevelt's 4.1 million. Together, Taft and Roosevelt earned a combined 50% of the popular vote to Wilson's 43%. The two former allies split the vote, however, opening the door for Wilson's victory.

While the Bull Moose Party lost at the national level in 1912, it was energized by the force of support. Continuing to be bolstered by Roosevelt's Rough Rider persona, the party named candidates on the ballot at several state and local elections. They were convinced that the Republican Party would be swept away, leaving U.S. politics to the Progressives and Democrats.

However, after the 1912 campaign, Roosevelt went on a geographic and natural history expedition to the Amazon River in Brazil. The expedition, which began in 1913, was a disaster and Roosevelt returned in 1914, sick, lethargic, and frail. Even though he publicly renewed his pledge to fight for his Progressive Party to the end, he was no longer a robust figure.

Without the energetic support of Roosevelt, the 1914 election results were disappointing for the Bull Moose Party as many voters returned to the Republican Party.

By 1916, the Bull Moose Party had changed: A prominent leader, Perkins, was convinced that the best route was to unite with Republicans against the Democrats. While the Republicans were interested in uniting with the Progressives, they were not interested in Roosevelt.

In any case, Roosevelt refused the nomination after the Bull Moose Party chose him to be its standard-bearer in the presidential election. The party tried next to give the nomination to Charles Evan Hughes, a sitting justice on the Supreme Court. Hughes also refused. The Progressives held their last executive committee meeting in New York on May 24, 1916, two weeks before the Republican National Convention. But they were unable to come up with a reasonable alternative to Roosevelt.

Without its Bull Moose leading the way, the party dissolved shortly thereafter. Roosevelt himself died of stomach cancer in 1919.

Dalton, Kathleen. "Finding Theodore Roosevelt: A Personal and Political Story." The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, vol. 6, no. 4, 2007, pp. 363–83.
Davis, Allen F. "The Social Workers and the Progressive Party, 1912–1916." The American Historical Review, vol. 69, no. 3, 1964, pp. 671–88.
Green, G. N. "Republicans, Bull Moose, and Negroes in Florida, 1912." The Florida Historical Quarterly, vol. 43 no. 2, 1964, pp. 153–64.
Ickes, Harold L. "Who Killed the Progressive Party?" The American Historical Review, vol. 46, no. 2, 1941, pp. 306–37.
Pavord, Andrew C. "The Gamble for Power: Theodore Roosevelt's Decision to Run for the Presidency in 1912." Presidential Studies Quarterly, vol. 26, no. 3, 1996, pp. 633–47.

So this period of American history is important because Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson oversaw the expansion of the power of the Federal government both at home and abroad; and in doing so, they became the first modern American presidents. I mean these days we might talk about small government and large government but really, we're always talking about large government. Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson recognized that the national government was going to have to deal with big business and that it would have to get big to do that, and also that it had a role to play in ensuring that Americans would retain some freedom in this new industrial era. And they also built Neo-Imperialistic foreign policy around the idea that the safer the world was for American business, the better it was for Americans. as our old friend Eric Foner wrote, "the presidents who spoke the most about freedom were likely to intervene most frequently in the affairs of other countries." Sometimes for good and sometimes for ill. We'll see an extreme and ambiguous case of that next week when we look at America in World War I. Thanks for watching, I'll see you then.

Crash Course is produced and directed by Stan Muller, our script supervisor is Meredith Danko, the associate producer is Danica Johnson, our show is written by my high school history teacher Raoul Meyer, Rosianna Rojas, and myself, and our graphics team, is Thought Cafe. Every week there's a new caption for the libertage, if you would like to suggest one you can do so in comments, where you can also ask questions about today's video that will be answered by our team of historians. Thanks for watching Crash Course, and as we say in my hometown, Don't Forget To Be Awesome.

This is a draft of the Progressive Bull Moose Party Principles and Platform. If we can achieve even one third of these ideas it will go a long sea mile toward giving power back to the American people. If anything on here stands out to you as being particularly important or something you disagree with, please say so. This is a work in progress, please join the conversation and help us flesh this out.

Stage 1 Priorities: Fix the System. Save the Planet—

Election Reform

Abolish corporate personhood.
End partisan gerrymandering.

We support the Open Our Democracy Act which “requires that states establish independent commissions for congressional redistricting; makes Election Day a holiday; and institutes open top-two primaries for House and Senate elections, allowing all voters, including registered Independents and unaffiliated voters to participate in primaries.”

Repeal Citizens United and the McCutcheon rulings.
Kill super PACs and end big money in politics.
Reform campaign finance laws.
Allow open primaries (like in California).
Create a “None of the Above” option in all federal elections.

Wall Street and Corporate Reform

End “Too Big to Fail”—bust ‘em apart. Resurrect Glass-Steagall.
Eliminate corporate welfare—including tax breaks, subsidies & loopholes.
Tame rampant income inequality—including establishing equal pay for women, a living wage & increased taxes on the billionaires & 0.01%.
Strengthen Social Security (remove the ceiling).
Cap the size of corporations. End hostile, unproductive takeovers & leveraged buyouts; stop mergers that undermine competition.
Establish measures to bring much greater transparecy to the Federal Reserve, including annual or biennial independent audits (the Fed needs to remain independent of partisan politics, but the American people, ultimately, have a right to know everything that happens).
Re-write the STOCK Act to strengthen the ban on Members of Congress from trading on insider information, eliminating their "abnormally higher returns," and the harm this causes the American people.
Guiding Ideas:

"The man of great wealth owes a peculiar obligation to the state because he derives special advantages from the mere existence of government." —Theodore Roosevelt,
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." —Franklin D. Roosevelt,
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we cannot have both." —Louis D. Brandeis, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (1916-1939)
"An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics." —Plutarch, Ancient Greek Historian (c. 46-120 A.D.)

Smaller, More Responsive Government

Establish term limits—including lobbyists, congressional staffers, agency “lifers,” and the Supreme Court (18 years), with a rotating Chief Justice (every 6 years).
Establish merit-based selection of U.S. Supreme Court justices, with two-thirds supermajority confirmation in the U.S. Senate.
Rein in government spending. Balance the budget. Payoff the debt.
Rein in corporate lobbying, including a 3-year “cooling off” period, increased transparency and monitoring, and stronger sanctions (fines and imprisonment) for violations.
Halt domestic spying without a warrant. Abolish secret courts.
Establish a national referendum over extended military action (“The War Powers Act of 1973 gives the president the power to wage war for 60 days before an authorization from Congress is needed.”)

Environmental Reform

Invest in clean, renewable energy.
Move the country away from fossil fuels, while working with corporations to transition workers to new jobs.
Demand clean water and clean air.
Protect our oceans, rivers, and lakes from pollution, toxic dumping, and over-fishing.
Continue to reduce carbon emissions.
Repeal immediately the "Monsanto Protection Act," and the DARK Act (Deny Americans Right to Know Act).

Stage 2 Priorities: Implement the Progressive Agenda—

Women’s Rights

Eliminate the gender pay gap.
Provide 90 days of paid family leave.
Protect women’s health education
Require the boards of all public companies to have at least 40% women (and at least 40% men too).

Immigration Reform

First and foremost, take immediate, reasonable steps to strengthen our borders, protect border communities, and bring an end to illegal immigration.
Establish a just, humane path to citizenship that allows immigrant families to stay together, pay taxes, and contribute to the betterment of the United States. As Ronald Reagan said in his 1984 election, “I believe in the idea of amnesty for those who have put down roots and who have lived here even though sometime back they may have entered illegally.”
Enforce the laws against employers that are illegally hiring illegal immigrants.
Partner with our Latin American neighbors and allies around the world to reduce the extreme income inequality that drives migration.

Student Loan Reform

End the federal government’s profiteering off student loan programs.
Curb excessive student loan interest rates.
Make public colleges and universities tuition free.

Health Care

Establish a free healthcare system for all U.S. citizens, one that is equivalent to the healthcare available to members of the U.S. Congress.
Eliminate the health insurance industry (We currently spend one-third of all healthcare dollars on billing and bureaucracy. This doesn’t even include the profits that go to insurance companies. This makes no sense. We propose to eliminate the health insurance industry and replace it with a single payer system.).
Require the government to negotiate lower prices for healthcare costs and prescription drugs.

Gun Laws

We fully support the U.S. Constitution, including the Second Amendment.
We do not support the increasing militarization of the police.
We believe in reasonable backgroud checks for all gun buyers (but we do not suppport a “national gun registry” or unlawful government surveillance of gun buyers)
Guiding Ideas:

"The great body of our citizens shoot less as times goes on. We should encourage rifle practice among schoolboys, and indeed among all classes, as well as in the military services by every means in our power. Thus, and not otherwise, may we be able to assist in preserving peace in the world… The first step – in the direction of preparation to avert war if possible, and to be fit for war if it should come – is to teach men to shoot!" —Theodore Roosevelt
"To be prepared for war, is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.” —George Washington
"By calling attention to ‘a well regulated militia,’ ‘the security of the nation,’ and the right of each citizen ‘to keep and bear arms,’ our founding fathers recognized the essentially civilian nature of our economy… The Second Amendment still remains an important declaration of our basic civilian-military relationships in which every citizen must be ready to participate in the defense of his country. For that reason I believe the Second Amendment will always be important." —John F. Kennedy
"One loves to possess arms, though they hope never to have occasion for them." —Thomas Jefferson
"Laws that forbid the carrying of arms… disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes… Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man." —Thomas Jefferson
"You won’t get gun control by disarming law-abiding citizens. There’s only one way to get real gun control: Disarm the thugs and the criminals, lock them up and if you don’t actually throw away the key, at least lose it for a long time… It’s a nasty truth, but those who seek to inflict harm are not fazed by gun controllers. I happen to know this from personal experience." —Ronald Reagan

Law Enforcement

End the war on drugs. Do not legalize drugs, but decriminalize personal possession. Treat drug use and abuse as a public health issue, not a crime.
Recalibrate the DEA to focus on harm reduction and treatment programs, while continuing to focus on drug cartels, and keeping drugs out of the hands of kids.
Legalize, regulate, and tax cannabis like alcohol.
Outlaw private prisons.
End mandatory minimums.
Abolish asset forfeiture.

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