ipl-logo

A Comparison Of Theodore Roosevelt And Woodrow Wilson's New Nationalism

1181 Words5 Pages

America’s first progressive presidents, Wilson and Roosevelt, sought to change America's economic and governmental structure, accordingly, Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson carried their legacy of reform into the sixties. Theodore Roosevelt’s New Nationalism and Woodrow Wilson’s The Old Order Changeth, both wanted big government to step up and take control of big business, and eradicate special interests, for the betterment of society. In arguably his most famous speech ever, Lyndon Johnson expressed his ideas for the future of America in the Great Society Speech. Given in 1965, LBJ bore his progressive soul, and shared his desire to end poverty and racial discrimination in the U.S. The political philosophy of Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson shares …show more content…

In order for the government to then to protect the people they need to be big enough to do so. "The New Nationalism... is impatient of the utter confusion that results from local legislatures attempting to treat the national issues as local issues." Theodore Roosevelt remarked, " It is still more impatient of the impotence which springs from the over division of governmental powers..." (310) He goes on further, re-defining what roles the branches of government should have, calling the executive power "the steward of the public welfare."(310) Woodrow Wilson elaborates on this in regard to the extent of power the government must have, saying, "We used to say...that the best government was the government that did as little governing as possible... But we're coming now to realize that life is so complicated that we are not dealing with the old conditions and the law has to step in and create new conditions under which we may …show more content…

In 1910, Theodore Roosevelt says that "Conservation means development as much as it does protection."(309) Furthermore, he says, we must leave the land better than we left it for future generations to come. He compares this, our American duty, to a farmer who tills the soil well and leaves his land to his sons better than when he received it. Johnson's conservation philosophy has a twofold reasoning. Firstly, he believes pollution threatens "The water we drink, the food we eat and the air we breathe."(478) He advocates that we keep the land usable and beneficial, and not leave it spoiled. Secondly, Lyndon says that "we must act to prevent an ugly America."(479) Johnson believes that the beauty found in nature can be lost efforts are not made to counteract this loss of

Open Document