Tuesday, March 30, 2010

TR--Part 3: The Elected Term in Office


Roosevelt was elected to his own term in office in 1904, when he overwhelmed the Democratic nominee. In his exuberance in being nominated at the 1904 Republican convention, Roosevelt had pledged to only serve one full term--a pledge he regretted even before that term was completed.

The early part of Roosevelt's term was quite successful. He returned to trust-busting, and some of the more "progressive" political stands that he had made during his first term. Roosevelt also scored a foreign policy success, helping to arbitrate the end to the Russo-Japanese war in 1905--a feat that won him the Nobel Prize for peace in 1905. Roosevelt achieved this breakthrough by secretly negotiating with the Japanese to allow them to invade Korea in return for assurances that the Japanese had no interest in the Philippines.

In 1907, however, the Panic (caused by the failed attempt on the part of some banks to "corner" the market in copper ) caused  a run on  banks nationwide, which was only stopped by J.P. Morgan and his willingness to use his own money to shore up a number of banks in New York City. This event, and the resultant recession, undermined Roosevelt's relationship with Congress, and he found it increasingly difficult to get legislation passed there. Despite Roosevelt's weakened political position, he did get to name his successor, William Howard Taft, who beat this Democratic challenger  nearly as handily as Roosevelt had four years before.

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