Question

As a progressive, how did Taft compare with Roosevelt?

Answer 1

Hint: Theodore Roosevelt was the 26th president of the United States and William Howard Taft was the 27th president. Both of them believed in progressive conservatism but their presidential tenures were very different from each other.

Complete answer: a. Theodore Roosevelt was a progressive conservative which means that he believed in the promotion of traditional models of society but at the same time wanted reforms when they were needed in terms of science, technology, economy etc.
b. William Taft was also of the same school of thought but was more inclined towards conservatism and he was pro-business.
c. Roosevelt had in his second term of presidency declared that he would not go for a third term and had named William Taft as his successor, who won the elections in 1909 and held the office till 1912.
d. According to scholars, Roosevelt was a more dynamic leader who believed in the idea that as the president he could do anything unless it is exclusively forbidden by the constitution, he believed that he worked for the people and not the government. William Taft on the other hand was more of a strict conservative who (he was professionally a lawyer) restricted a lot of policies because of his legalistic view.

Note: In 1912, the Republican party went through a rift because of the rough relationship between Roosevelt and Taft (which is ironic because Taft was declared as the successor of Roosevelt). This happened because Taft during his presidential term had filed an antitrust case against US Steel because he didn’t find it acceptable for it to have a monopoly over steel production, a company which had signed a gentleman’s agreement with Roosevelt during his office term.