PROGRSSIVE PRESIDENTS

THEODORE ROOSEVELT

CHILDHOOD

• Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., was born on October 27, 1858
• Roosevelt's youth was in large part shaped by his poor health and his need to overcome severe asthma
• Roosevelt and two cousins formed what they called the "Roosevelt Museum of Natural History"
• Although his father was dead when the young Roosevelt made his entry into politics
• Family trips abroad, including tours of Europe in 1869 and 1870

ADULTHOOD

• He entered Harvard College on September 27, 1876
• An accomplished naturalist and a published ornithologist
• Graduated from Harvard with an A.B. magna cum laude on June 30, 1880
• Formed the First US Volunteer Cavalry Regiment (Rough Riders)
• Winning the 1898 state election by a historical margin of 1%

PRESIDENCY

• Became president September 14th 1901
• Won again November 1904
• He became known as the "trust-buster"
• Roosevelt won the Nobel Peace Prize
• Supported the Panama Canal

AFTER OFFICE

• Roosevelt left New York for the Smithsonian-Roosevelt African Expedition
• In November 1911 a group of Ohio Republicans endorsed Roosevelt for the party's nomination for president
• On October 14, 1912, a saloonkeeper named John Flammang Schrank shot him
• Had a river in South America named after him
• Died January 6th 1919 from a bloodclot that broke into his lungs killing him in his sleep

Controversy
Ever since 1904 he had come in for periodic criticism for the manner in which he facilitated the Panama Canal

WILLIAM H. TAFT

CHILDHOOD

• Born on September 15, 1857
• Joined the congregation at an early age and was an enthusiastic participant
• He attended Yale College in New Haven, Connecticut
• In 1878, Taft graduated, ranking second in his class
• attended Cincinnati Law School, graduating with a Bachelor of Laws in 1880

ADULTHOOD

• Taft married his longtime sweetheart, Helen Herron, in Cincinnati in 1886
• In 1887, he was appointed a judge of the Superior Court of Cincinnati
• At age 32, he was the youngest-ever Solicitor General
• In 1904, Roosevelt appointed Taft as Secretary of War
• Declared himself Provisional Governor of Cuba.

PRESIDENCY

• Taft defeated Bryan by 159 electoral votes; he garnered 51% of the popular vote
• He encouraged congressional reformers to draft bills including lower rates
• Taft created the United States Chamber of Commerce
• Publicly endorsed his program for uplifting of the Black Americans
• First American president that crossed the border into Mexico

AFTER OFFICE

• Taft was appointed the Chancellor Kent Professor of Law and Legal History at Yale Law School
• Became the only President to serve as Chief Justice
• Taft is often remembered as being the most obese president
• Taft retired as Chief Justice on February 3, 1930, because of ill health
• Taft died on March 8, 1930, from cardiovascular disease

Controversy
Louis Glavis, accused President William Taft’s head of the Department of the Interior, Richard Ballinger, of interfering in an investigation into coal mining in Idaho

WOODROW WILSON

CHILDHOOD

• Born on December 28, 1856
• He was the third of four children
• Wilson's earliest memory, was of hearing that Abraham Lincoln had been elected and that a war was coming
• He served as the first permanent clerk of the southern church's General Assembly
• Wilson himself in 1873 formally became a member of the Columbia First Presbyterian Church

ADULTHOOD

• Wilson attended law school at the University of Virginia for one year
• Met and fell in love with Ellen Louise Axson, he proposed to her and they became engaged
• Has three daughters
• President of Princton
• Was the governer of New Jersey

PRESIDENCY

• Elected March 4th, 1913
• 1915 became the first sitting president to attend, and throw out the first ball at, a World Series game
• Wilson mobilized public opinion behind the tariff changes by denouncing corporate lobbyists
• Wilson's primary objective was to keep America out of the war in Europe
• On October 2, 1919, he suffered a serious stroke, leaving him paralyzed on his left side

AFTER OFFICE

• Wilson continued daily drives, and attended Keith's vaudeville theatre
• On February 3, 1924, Wilson died at home of a stroke and other heart-related problems
• He was interred in a sarcophagus in Washington National Cathedral
• Wilson wrote his one-page will on May 31, 1917
• The only president interred in Washington, D.C.

Controversy
According to critics, Wilson believed that slavery was wrong on economic labor grounds, rather than for moral reasons