Question

What steps did President Theodore Roosevelt take to regulate big business?

Answer 1

Hint: Theodore Roosevelt, who became president at the age of 42 after William McKinley's assassination, was the youngest person to hold the office. John F. Kennedy, the youngest president elected by popular vote, was inaugurated at the age of 43. He was the first state leader to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. He strengthened America's foreign policy as President and mediated a truce in the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-05. He is the only president who has ever been asked to mediate in an international conflict.

Complete answer:
- One of Roosevelt's first actions as president was to give a 20,000-word message to Congress, requesting that large corporations' control be limited (called "trusts"). To the chagrin of big business, he also spoke out in favor of organized Labour, but to their surprise, he supported the gold standard, protective tariffs, and lower taxes.
- For his regulatory reforms and antitrust cases, Roosevelt, a Progressive reformer, was regarded as a "trust buster." His "Square Deal" included railroad rate control as well as the regulation of pure foods and drugs, which he saw as a win-win situation for both regular citizens and businesspeople.
- Theodore Roosevelt's domestic policy, known as the Square Deal, mirrored his three main goals: natural resource conservation, corporate regulation, and consumer protection. The "three Cs" of Roosevelt's Square Deal are often referred to as the "three Cs."
- Roosevelt saw big business as an important part of the American economy, and he only wanted to punish the "bad trusts" that hindered trade and charged unfair rates.
- He passed a number of laws. During Roosevelt's presidency, corporations were broken up by enacting plenty of laws that weakened their hegemony.

Note: Among Theodore Roosevelt's many accomplishments, perhaps the most well-known is his expansion of the presidency's, federal government's, and American foreign policy forces. He's also remembered for "trust-busting" (breaking up monopolies), mediating the end of the Russo-Japanese War, and launching the Panama Canal project.