Unreasonable Men: Theodore Roosevelt and the Republican Rebels Who Created Progressive Politics

by Michael Wolraich

Overview

"As Michael Wolraich argues in his sharp, streamlined new book, Unreasonable Men, it was 'the greatest period of political change in American history.'" -Washington Post, 50 Notable Works of Nonfiction

At the turn of the twentieth century, the Republican Party stood at the brink of an internal civil war. After a devastating financial crisis, furious voters sent a new breed of politician to Washington. These young Republican firebrands, led by "Fighting Bob" La Follette of Wisconsin, vowed to overthrow the party leaders and purge Wall Street's corrupting influence from Washington. Their opponents called them "radicals," and "fanatics." They called themselves Progressives.

President Theodore Roosevelt disapproved of La Follette's confrontational methods. Fearful of splitting the party, he compromised with the conservative House Speaker, "Uncle Joe" Cannon, to pass modest reforms. But as La Follette's crusade gathered momentum, the country polarized, and the middle ground melted away. Three years after the end of his presidency, Roosevelt embraced La Follette's militant tactics and went to war against the Republican establishment, bringing him face to face with his handpicked successor, William Taft. Their epic battle shattered the Republican Party and permanently realigned the electorate, dividing the country into two camps: Progressive and Conservative.

Unreasonable Men takes us into the heart of the epic power struggle that created the progressive movement and defined modern American politics. Recounting the fateful clash between the pragmatic Roosevelt and the radical La Follette, Wolraich's riveting narrative reveals how a few Republican insurgents broke the conservative chokehold on Congress and initiated the greatest period of political change in America's history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780230342231
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	07/22/2014
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Michael Wolraich is a political journalist and historian, author of Blowing Smoke, and co-founder of the political blog dagblog.com. His writing has appeared at The Atlantic, The Daily Beast, CNN, Reuters, Talking Points Memo, and Pando Daily. He has also appeared on C-SPAN's BookTV, The John Batchelor Show, Culture Shocks, and various radio shows across the country. He lives in New York City.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents
Chapter 1: The Bolt
Chapter 2: The Railroad
Chapter 3: The Muck Rake
Chapter 4: The Panic
Chapter 5: The Money Power
Chapter 6: The Smile
Chapter 7: The Tariff
Chapter 8: The Insurgency
Chapter 9: The Progressive
Chapter 10: The Bull Moose
Epilogue
Selected Bibliography
Endnotes

Editorial Reviews

05/19/2014
From 1904-1912, the American political system underwent enormous growing pains, and political writer Wolraich (Blowing Smoke) gives this decade an exhaustive, detailed examination, from the first “creeping sense” of a new political body into a “war with only two sides” that birthed America’s enduring bipartisan identities. He chronicles the mobilization of a group behind a unified ideology and the book’s massive cast provides the means to deliver a character-driven historical narrative. It a story of change, with larger societal shifts traced back to individual transformations, embodied in Roosevelt’s initially pragmatic middle-ground political stance giving way to an embrace of a divisive progressivism that articulated a “historic conflict between privilege and democracy.” The pressing issues of this first progressive era became ongoing touchstones for inter-party debate and lasting national concerns, including environmental conservation, overhaul of tariff systems, centralization of banking, modification of Congressional responsibilities, and the introduction of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Amendments. Wolraich probes this historic moment in light of an American political reawakening to the idea of the interests of the citizens as separate from, and potentially victim to, the interests of corporations and capital holders; it is a mighty and relevant insight into the cyclical nature of history. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

As Michael Wolraich argues in his sharp, streamlined new book, Unreasonable Men, it was ‘the greatest period of political change in American history.'” —Washington Post, 50 Notable Works of Nonfiction

“In a timely history of the birth of progressivism, political journalist Michael Wolraich explores the spectacular power struggle that shattered the Republican Party and split the country between the ideological factions that now define modern politics: progressive and conservative.” —The Daily Beast

“Wolraich probes this historic moment in light of an American political reawakening to the idea of the interests of the citizens as separate from, and potentially victim to, the interests of corporations and capital holders; it is a mighty and relevant insight into the cyclical nature of history.” —Publisher's Weekly

“Wolraich presents an engaging survey of a movement's progress from radical extremism to conventional wisdom.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Unreasonable Men offers a good, hopeful read for these politically slow early summer days.” —Alternet

“In Unreasonable Men, Michael Wolraich has tapped into an historical goldmine: that turn of the century period when insurgent Republicans drove the progressive movement in America. With impressive documentation, Wolraich expands our understanding of the very different and decidedly more conservative Republican Party of today.” —Thomas B. Edsall, Joseph Pulitzer II and Edith Pulitzer Moore Professor, Columbia Graduate School of Journalism

“This is a fascinating, thoroughly readable account of the rise of Progressivism in America, with a detailed portrait of the rivalry between the two giants of that movement, Teddy Roosevelt and Fighting Bob La Follette. It's a great addition to the history of the period, and it sheds some crucial light on our current moment.” —Matthew Rothschild, senior editor at The Progressive

“Unreasonable Men is a shrewd and vividly written account of a conflict that defined the politics of the Progressive Era. It is also a timely story: the same argument between foes and defenders of corporate power which raged a century ago can be heard in our partisan battles today.” —Michael Kazin, Professor of History at Georgetown University, editor of Dissent and author of American Dreamers: How the Left Shaped a Nation

“Unreasonable Men recounts the nation's dramatic transformation as political focus shifted from promoting the interests of the wealthiest Americans to protecting its everyday citizens. Wolraich's engaging narrative recaptures the excitement and suspense of the nation's turn from conservatism to progressivism. For a nation facing a similar crisis over the role of government today, this book offers inspiration and illustrates the power of fearless leaders committed to real change for the betterment of all.” —Nancy C. Unger, Professor of History at Santa Clara University and author of Fighting Bob La Follette: The Righteous Reformer

“Michael Wolraich has that special ability to be immersed in the present and bring its insights to the past while still accepting, understanding it on its own terms. Here he brings to life the century old battle where progressive reformism emerged paradoxically out of a civil war within the GOP. A must read.” —Josh Marshall, Editor and Publisher of Talking Points Memo, Polk Award winner

From the Publisher

Unreasonable Men recounts the nation's dramatic transformation as political focus shifted from promoting the interests of the wealthiest Americans to protecting its everyday citizens. Wolraich's engaging narrative recaptures the excitement and suspense of the nation's turn from conservatism to progressivism. For a nation facing a similar crisis over the role of government today, this book offers inspiration and illustrates the power of fearless leaders committed to real change for the betterment of all.

Professor of History at Santa Clara University and Nancy C. Unger

2014-06-05
A bulletin from an earlier era of American political paralysis.A century ago, much of America was frustrated and angry with a do-nothing Congress held captive by wealthy interests and controlled by obstructionist Republicans led by Sen. Nelson Aldrich and the colorful speaker of the house, Joe Cannon. Wolraich (Blowing Smoke: Why the Right Keeps Serving Up Whack-Job Fantasies about the Plot to Euthanize Grandma, Outlaw Christmas, and Turn Junior into a Raging Homosexual, 2010) ably explores the birth of the movement within the Republican Party that broke the legislative logjam and released a torrent of reformist legislation, but at the cost of splitting the party and electing a Democratic president and Congress. The Progressives were the tea party of their day, led by Robert "Fighting Bob" La Follette of Wisconsin, and they were viewed by the party establishment as unreasonable extremist nuisances. They rejected compromises and half-measures as sops intended only to delay genuine reform and campaigned against fellow Republicans who obstructed them. Their attitude exasperated Theodore Roosevelt, a moderate reformer who, during his presidency, advocated only for politically palatable incremental change before seizing the Progressive banner from La Follette during the wildly contentious election of 1912. These shifts in influence among the Progressives, moderates and conservative "standpatters" occupy Wolraich more than the personalities of the Progressives themselves; La Follette's allies appear only as spear-carriers, and their crafty opponents loom at least as large here. The author's lively prose struggles to overcome the narrative challenge presented by the points of congressional contention at the time: tariff schedules and railroad rate regulation, issues that understandably fail to hold modern readers’ passions. A clearer distinction among the platforms of the Republican Progressives, the Democratic populist William Jennings Bryan and the ultimately triumphant Woodrow Wilson would also have been helpful.Though he breaks no new ground, Wolraich presents an engaging survey of a movement's progress from radical extremism to conventional wisdom.

Kirkus Reviews