Theodore Roosevelt & the Dawn of the American Century: "I will tolerate no assault upon the navy or upon the honor of the country" (He Insists He Will Send the Famous Great White Fleet Around the World to Show American Power and Attacks the ?Wealthy Malefactor Class?)

Theodore Roosevelt

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?.nor will I permit anything so fraught with menace as the usurpation by any clique of Wall Street senators of my function as Commander-in-Chief.".With an original cartoon that Roosevelt himself cut out and sent with the letterIn 1898, at the end of the Spanish-American War, the United States was thrust into the mainstream of international affairs and gained status as a world power, acquiring as possessions the Philippines and Guam in the Pacific, then Puerto Rico in the Caribbean. In 1901, Theodore Roosevelt brought to the White House a deep conviction that only through a strong navy could a nation project its power and prestige abroad. At his behest, from 1904 to 1907, American shipyards turned out 11 new battleships to give the Navy awesome battle capabilities. This was timely because in 1907 hostilities with Japan seemed possible, and the Japanese navy dominated the Pacific. America's problems with Japan arose shortly after TR mediated the treaty ending the Russo-Japanese War. In that conflict the Russian fleet had been annihilated by the Japanese, but despite their triumphs over the Russians on the high seas, the Japanese failed to get all they felt they deserved at the peace table and blamed Roosevelt for it. In the same year, anti-Japanese feelings were sweeping California and the San Francisco Board of Education ordered the segregation of all immigrant and descendent Japanese school children. When the news of this reached Japan, violent anti-American protests broke out. Roosevelt managed to persuade the Board of Education to discontinue its segregation policy in exchange for an agreement with Japan to slow down its stream of immigrants into the United States.Roosevelt developed a plan to send the navy around the world, expecting both to impress foreign nations, serve as a warning to potential adversaries, and provide the American people with an example of US naval prepardness, strength and range. Such an impression, he hoped, would help him get the desired appropriations for even more battleships. Not everyone approved of the idea of sending the fleet on this cruise. Some critics were against this show of force while others were worried that the Atlantic naval defenses would be weakened by taking away so many ships. In Congress, opponents like anti-Roosevelt Republican Senator Eugene Hale, chairman of the Naval Appropriations Committee, threatened to withhold money for the cruise. But this didn't bother Roosevelt who replied that it would proceed anyway.Roosevelt came to office in a progressive era when corporate monopolies and conspiracies, price fixing, discriminatory commercial preferences and outright dishonest business practices were being recognized as problems that needed to be addressed. The new President believed strongly that the government could give Americans a more just and equitable society, and to do this he needed to bring order and fair dealings to industry and commerce. He broke presidential ground by establishing a detailed program to ?effectively control and regulate all big combinations,? calling it the Square Deal. He created the Bureau of Corporations with the power to investigate businesses engaged in interstate commerce, pursued this policy of ?trust-busting? by initiating suits against 44 major corporations, managed passage of the Elkins Act that regularized railroad rates and prohibited discriminatory practices, and fought for and obtained regulation of food and drugs. Against the opposition of businesses seeking to exploit natural resources, he advocated conservation and set aside vast government lands to strictly public use. Just as importantly, he attacked the corruption in government that allowed the abuses he now sought to end.But Roosevelt went a step farther than indicting business, he was an outspoken opponent of those he called malefactors of great weath who used their power for evil purposes. As early as 1895, he wrote ?Too much cannot be said against the men of wealth who sacrifice.

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• Titre: Theodore Roosevelt & the Dawn of the American Century: "I will tolerate no assault upon the navy or upon the honor of the country" (He Insists He Will Send the Famous Great White Fleet Around the World to Show American Power and Attacks the ?Wealthy Malefactor Class?)
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