1912 Election :
Wilson (D) v. Taft ( R) v. Roosevelt (P) v. Debs (S)
Wilson's " New Freedom" v. Roosevelt's "New Nationalism"
Woodrow Wilson - Former President of Princeton University, Governor of New Jersey, and 1st southerner elected since the civil war!
1913 - Wilson became the first person to personally deliver his "State Of The Union " Address
Wilson's Assault on the "Triple Wall Of Privilege":
1. The Tariff - Underwood Tariff Bill (1913) lowered tariffs from 40.8% to 27% (also enacted a graduated income tax which had been authorized by the 16th Amendment)
2. Banking & Currency System - Federal Reserve System
3. Trusts - Clayton Anti-trust Act (1914): Also called " Labor's Magna Charta "
- Why ?
Other Progressive Reforms Under Wilson :
- Workingmen's Compensation Act (1916)
- Appointed the first Jewish-American to the Supreme Court (Louis D. Brandeis)
Wilson's Foreign Policy: " Moral Diplomacy" - opposed T. R.'s Big Stick policy and Taft's Dollar Diplomacy
Mexican Revolution against their corrupt government led to a series of new leaders. The
U.S. ultimately extended formal diplomatic recognition to the government of Pres. Carranza who was then challenged by "Pancho" Villa. U.S. troops under General Pershing were sent into Mexico to capture Villa but were unsuccessful
August 1914 - World War 1 began between the Central Powers (Germany & Austria-Hungary) and the Allies (France, Britain, and Russia)
Wilson called for American neutrality but U.S favored the Allies - Why?
Profits from the sales of arms to the allies pulled the American economy out of a recession
May 7, 1915 - Germans sank the British passenger liner, the Lusitania killing 128 American lives
Wilson insisted that he would hold Germany to "strict accountability" for the loss of American ships and lives to submarine warfare > following the sinking of two more ships, the Arabic (British) and the Sussex (French), Germany agreed to warn passenger and merchant ships
1916 Election: Wilson (D) v. Huges (R )
"He Kept Us Out of War"