Changing Horses Midstream

As mayor of Buffalo, Grover Cleveland gave the people an even more honest government than some of them wanted. Because he had such a fine record of cleaning up corruption and saving the taxpayers' money, the Democrats nominated him for governor, and later President. No Democrat had been elected President since the Civil War. However, at this time the Republican party was split into two groups. One group, the Mugwumps, was demanding reform and a more honest government. Because they didn't like the Republican candidate, they voted for Cleveland. It was a very close election, but Cleveland won. No President has ever worked harder than Cleveland. He studied every bill Congress passed and vetoed over four hundred of them. When one politician told him that his actions might keep him from being re-elected, he said, "What's the use of being elected or re-elected unless you stand for something?"

In the election of 1888, Cleveland and the Democratic party stood for a lower tariff. It was a very close election. Cleveland got more popular votes than Benjamin Harrison, but Harrison won in the electoral college and became President. When Mrs. Cleveland moved out of the White House, she told the servants to take good care of it. "I want everything just the way it is now when we come back," she said. "That will be exactly four years from now." She was right.

Because his father had been a congressman and his grandfather had been President, Ben Harrison's name was already well-known throughout the country. As President, he wanted to continue the reform of  the civil service started by Cleveland. He appointed Theodore Roosevelt as commissioner, but not even Roosevelt could do much because Congress didn't want reform. Harrison was in favor of a high tariff, and with his help Congress passed the McKinley Tariff Act. This put a high tax on goods shipped to the United States from other countries. As a result, prices went up. Farmers and small businessmen complained. At the same time, some of the big manufacturers were having labor troubles. Labor unions said that the power of the government was being used to help the rich and hurt the poor. Laborers organized strikes to protest working long hours for low pay in airless factories that later became known as sweatshops. Many voters turned against Harrison and he was defeated in the election of 1892.

Grover Cleveland's second term was much like his first. He worked hard and did what he thought was right, whether it was popular or not.

A serious depression swept over the country. Cleveland tried to improve the treasury system rather than help the people who were out of work. His methods were not very successful. He thought it would be unconstitutional for the federal government to help individual people or businesses. When he left office, the federal government was a better-working and more honest organization.

William McKinley made a national reputation as a businesslike executive and was nominated for President in 1896. The Democrats claimed McKinley would take orders from the rich bankers in the big cities, but he won the election by a large majority.

At this time, some newspapers were particularly eager for the U.S. to declare war on Spain. They printed stories about how the Spanish mistreated the Cubans. These newspapers were later called the yellow press. Not all of these stories were true, but they made people angry. McKinley didn't want war. He knew that Spain had finally agreed to give Cuba its independence without fighting. However, he gave in to the newspapers and asked Congress to declare war against Spain. One hundred days later, the U.S. defeated Spain in Cuba. Cuba was declared independent, and the U.S. took control of the Philippines as well as Guam and Puerto Rico.

Before this, Americans living in the Hawaiian islands had staged a revolution and overthrown the old Hawaiian government. They wanted to become part of the United States so that they could sell sugar grown in the islands for a high price. President Cleveland had refused to recognize the new Hawaiian government because it had been forced on the people against their will. McKinley was not as particular. At his request, Congress quickly voted to annex the islands.

McKinley was assassinated in 1901 by Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist who said he wanted to kill a great ruler.

Theodore Roosevelt's friends had told him not to go into politics because it was "a dirty business." Roosevelt's answer was that it didn't have to be dirty. A man could be a politician and work honestly for the welfare of his country. With all his heart, Roosevelt believed in a strong and unified country. During the election he had seen that the nation was in danger of breaking up. The division was not between the North and the South but between the rich and the poor. Roosevelt was proud of what American big business could produce, but he saw that small businesses and workers needed protection. People called him a "trust buster," but he didn't what to bust the trusts, only to control them. He wanted everybody to have a "square deal." He forced the railroads to give fair rates to small businesses, forced the owners of coal mines to pay better wages, and forced Congress to pass laws protecting people from impure food and drugs. Many politicians didn't like him, but the people did.

Roosevelt also wanted a canal across the Isthmus of Panama. The canal would allow the nave to move rapidly from one ocean to the other. At this time, the isthmus belonged to Colombia. Roosevelt tried to buy the land for the canal, but the Colombian government refused to sell. Some of the businessmen in the isthmus who wanted the canal began to plot a revolution with the help of the U.S. Army officers. Roosevelt also knew about the plan. He sent his warships to the area. When the revolution started, American sailors stopped the Colombian government from sending troops to stop it. Two days later the U.S. recognized the new Republic of Panama. The new country leased part of its land to the U.S. for the canal. Later, enemies of Roosevelt would say that he had actually caused the revolution in Panama, but the truth is that he'd only helped it along to get what he wanted. He said he was more proud of it than anything else he'd done as President.

Although he hadn't sought a third term, he was unhappy with the way President Taft was running the country. He formed the Progressive party (later called the Bull Moose party after an attempt on his life) and ran against him in 1912. In this election the Republican vote was split between the two men, and so the Democratic candidate Woodrow Wilson was elected. During World War I, Roosevelt wanted to raise a regiment and go fight against France. President Wilson refused because he wanted the war run by professional military men. Roosevelt never forgave him.

Roosevelt had originally admired William Taft's ability and it was largely because of him that Taft had been nominated by the Republican party in 1908. Taft himself, however, was not happy about the idea. He didn't think he would make a good President. His ambition was to be appointed to the Supreme Court. Mrs. Taft wanted to be First Lady, so she also talked him into it.

Taft planned to carry out Roosevelt's progressive policies and actually did a pretty good job of it. He improved the civil service, and he was the first President to put aside government-owned lands where oil and coal had been found. He said the profit from these should belong to the people, not to private business. However, he simply didn't have the same flair Roosevelt did, and Roosevelt and his followers began to think that Taft wasn't doing enough.

Taft believed that the powers of the President should be limited. He didn't believe that a President, even in a good cause, should take over powers normally given to Congress. He kept framed on his desk a saying by Lincoln: "I do the very best I know how - the very best I can; and I mean to keep on doing so until the end."

Roosevelt and his friends said that Taft had sold out Roosevelt's ideals. Taft was deeply hurt by the things Roosevelt said about him. He knew that in a three-way race against Wilson and Roosevelt he had no chance, but he had been nominated, and so he did his best. In the election, Roosevelt got more votes than Taft, but Wilson got more than either of them and was elected. In 1921, Taft was appointed Chief Justice of the United States. This was the work he loved, and he had never been happier.