The Progressive Era vs. The 1920's
In contrast to the active government of the Progressive Era, the level of government involvement in the economy while the three conservative presidents of the 1920's were in power decreased dramatically.
3 Conservative Presidents of the 1920's
Laissez Faire Philosophy Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover. During the 1920's government involvement in business was greatly reduced. The philosophy of the three conservative presidents of the 1920's was "Laissez Faire", basically meaning that government should stay out of the economy. The result of this way of thinking was that government regulations over businesses were relaxed and that trust busting was halted. Another philosophy of the time was rugged individualism or in other words that "The people should support the government, but the government should not support the people" (Hoover). The three presidents of the time believed that the best way for the government to help the people was to stay uninvolved even in a time of crisis. The best example of this is president Hoover's response to the great depression. Hoover's idea of "Rugged Individualism" led him to stay highly uninvolved in the initial recession. This lack of action led to a prolonged depression and was not successful at all. The lower levels of government involvement in the economy are also evident when president Coolidge said "If Government kept it's hands off the economy, business would prosper" clearly highlighting a stark contrast to the ideology of the progressive era. |
3 Progressive Presidents of the Progressive Era
Active Government Role Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and Woodrow Wilson Throughout the progressive era the scope of government involvement in the economy was increased dramatically. The philosophy of the three presidents of the progressive era was that the government should take an active role in regulating businesses in order to protect the people. These presidents believed that the government was vital to stopping a crisis. A good example of this is Teddy Roosevelt's response to businesses impeding on the environment. Roosevelt used his power to pass new laws that designated vast areas of land as protected public property. These conservation efforts were highly successful due in large part to the governments active role in them. Another good example of the government's active role during the progressive era is how the government reacted to the terrible working conditions of the time. For the benefit of the people the government implemented new reforms aimed at forcing businesses to adhere to higher safety standards, better pay and other improvements to the work environment. Many of these reforms laid the foundation for many laws regarding workers rights that are still around today. Clearly this shows how successful the active government of the progressive era was. |