Theodore Roosevelt Defines the Fight for the “Square Deal,” the Only Letter We Have Had Mentioning it by Name

Acquired by us from the direct descendants and never before offered for sale

 

He praises Progressive Congressman William Hinebaugh: “You stood against the secret closed caucus, for open committee meetings and against gag rules. You voted for the Progressive Tariff Commission, for real currency legislation, and the genuinely effective measures dealing with the Trust Problem. All of these and others were offered in fulfillment of the covenant with the people embodied in the Progressive platform of 1912. You and those associated with you proposed a program of concrete measures for the advancement of social and industrial justice.”

During his campaign for the presidency in 1904, Theodore Roosevelt publicly resolved not to run in 1908; instead, he supported his secretary of war, William Howard Taft, as the Republican nominee. Taft was elected president in 1908, but his conservative politics led to a falling out with Roosevelt, who decided to return to the political arena in order to oppose his former ally. In the 1912 election, therefore, it was Roosevelt who accepted the nomination of the newly formed Progressive Party. Progressives held a convention in Chicago that was populated by dedicated reformers who wanted to radically remake America. Their numbers included suffragettes, social workers, urban planners, conservationists, labor activists, political reformers, and idealists of all strains. Neither the candidate nor the platform let them down. The platform and Roosevelt also called for the reform of political parties to make them more accountable to the people and less beholden to special interests.

The Progressive Party platform stated, “This country belongs to the people who inhabit it. Its resources, its business, its institutions and its laws should be utilized, maintained or altered in whatever manner will best promote the general interest…Instead of instruments to promote the general welfare, they have become the tools of corrupt interests which use them impartially to serve their selfish purposes. Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government, owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people…To destroy this invisible government, to dissolve the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day.”

The platform declared for direct primaries for the nomination of state and national officers, for nation-wide preferential primaries for candidates for the presidency, for the direct election of United States senators by the people, and initiative, referendum and recall of officeholders. Further, it called for legislation looking to the prevention of industrial accidents, occupational diseases, overwork, involuntary unemployment, and other injurious effects incident to modern industry; the fixing of minimum safety and health standards for the various occupations, and the exercise of the public authority of state and nation including the federal control over interstate commerce and the taxing power; the prohibition of child labor; minimum wage standards for working women, to provide a living scale in all industrial occupations; the protection of home life against the hazards of sickness, irregular employment and old age through the adoption of a system of social insurance adapted to American use; and establishing continuation schools for industrial education under public control and encouraging agricultural education and demonstration in rural schools. It was in favor the organization of the workers, men and women, as a means of protecting their interests and of promoting their progress, thus favoring unions. It demanded equal suffrage for women, and under TR’s influence, contained trust-busting provisions.

In the end, Roosevelt fell far of winning, drawing 27%, of the vote to Wilson’s 42%, but ahead of Taft’s 23%. Roosevelt received 88 electoral votes compared to 435 for Wilson and 8 for Taft. This was nonetheless the best showing by any third party since the modern two-party system was established in 1864. Roosevelt was the only third-party candidate to out poll a candidate of an established party. This mainly positive showing led Progressive Party leaders to look to the future, and they hoped to do well in the 1914 Congressional elections. It also led TR to exert efforts to retain the unity of the party, and continue building it, in the wake of what was still a defeat. The Progressives would contest 138 Congressional districts, candidates being women as well as men.

William Hinebaugh was chairman of the Republican Party in Illinois, but switched to the [Progressive] Bull Moose Party in 1912 when his friend, Theodore Roosevelt, split with the Republican Party. It was on the Progressive Party ticket that Hinebaugh was elected to the 63rd U.S. Congress from the 12th Illinois District. Here TR endorses him for reelection in 1914, praising Hinebauge while revealing which policies he himself considers most important.

Typed letter signed, New York, September 1, 1914, to Hinebaugh. “Permit me personally to congratulate you upon your activities in the 63rd Congress. I have more particular in mind your early proposal of the Presidential Preference Primary and your noteworthy championship of Judicial Recall.

“Your whole course has merited the support of all good citizens in your district, regardless of party.You have been aggressively and effectively part of that group of representatives who have proved to be the only sanely constructive force at the Capital. You have stood against the secret closed caucus, for open committee meetings and against gag rules. You voted for the Progressive Tariff Commission, for real currency legislation, and the genuinely effective measures dealing with the Trust Problem. All of these and others were offered in fulfillment of the covenant with the people embodied in the Progressive platform of 1912. You and those associated with you proposed a program of concrete measures for the advancement of social and industrial justice. You are deserving of no less credit because these measures were rejected.

“It is my earnest desire and my hope and belief that a service of the splendid character, vision and courage you have given, will meet with the hearty popular endorsement at the polls, which it so richly deserves. Trusting that you will be returned to continue your efforts for the common good in the 64th Congress, that this fight for a square deal, so admirably begun, shall suffer no interruption for the lack of men of your caliber and courage.”

However, of the 138 congressional seats contested, just 5 Progressives were elected, and almost half the candidates failed to get more than 10% of the vote. Hinebaugh went down to defeat. The Progressive Party disappeared into history, and when in 1916 the Republicans nominated the progressive-leaning Charles Evans Hughes, TR supported him. Roosevelt never renounced his progressive credentials, but then turned his attention to advocating American involvement in World War I.

This is the only letter of TR specifically referring to his “Square Deal” we have had. The Square Deal proved to be the model for the New Deal, in the hands of that other Roosevelt, Franklin.