Progressives in American History

1.     In the view of progressives, what was wrong with American society? What solutions did they propose to address social problems?

In the view of the Progressives, American society needed more social and political programs as to best benefit its workers and citizens. The Progressives advocated for government services that would improve the lives of its inhabitants.

As far as social reform, they wanted health service that would include all government medical agencies, social insurance for unemployed, elderly, and disabled, farm relief, workman’s compensation, inheritance tax, and a constitutional amendment that would allow a federal income tax.

As for political reform, they wished to adopt women’s suffrage, primary elections for state and federal nominations, and the direction election of US Senators.

The Progressive platform also strongly recommended that states adopt certain measures for direct democracy. These measures included the recall election, allowing constituents to remove an elected official from office, the referendum, allowing citizens to vote on a law through pure popular vote, the initiative, allowing constituents to propose laws via petition and then decide on it by popular vote, and lastly the judicial recall, allowing citizens (via popular vote) to override a court who has declared a law unconstitutional.

2.     What were the major sources of the progressive movement? Which of those sources were most significant, and why?

The Progressive movement was a political melting pot containing people of many different political backgrounds. It began when Theodore Roosevelt decided to challenge President Taft for Taft’s re-election. Roosevelt did not approve of Taft’s increasingly conservative policy, and Roosevelt could not get the Republican party’s nomination for the next election. Thus, he had to create his own party: the Progressive Party of America.

Roosevelt told his political delegates to help him form a new party for his presidential campaign. Governor of California, Hiram Johnson was the chairman of the new party, Frank A. Munsey funded much of the new platform, and George W. Perkins became the organization’s executive secretary.

Initially, only five of fifteen Progressive Republican Senators declared support for Roosevelt’s new party. Many Republicans were afraid of hopping onto the Progressive platform, as there did not seem to be much of a political future for them if they did. However, the Republican party offered a strong platform to loyal participants who eventually sought higher political office. But, the Progressive party did gain some support from Independents who did not desire to be a part of the Republicans or Democrats, but were willing to join the Progressive movement.

A Little Bit of Nazi History

How did the Nazi Party originate?

It all began at the end of WWI. Germany was placed with the burden of responsibility for World War I directly by France and Britain and indirectly by the United States. Essentially, the US demanded immediate reparation payments from France and Britain. In turn, France and Britain demanded the same of Germany to then pay to America.

Unlike France, who created an income tax to fund the war, Germany decide to finance the war completely by borrowing loans. The “London Ultimatum” of May 1921 demanded that Germany pay back via gold or foreign currencies 2,000,000,000 (two-billion) per year in addition to 26% of the profit of Germany’s annual exports. By 1921, 60 German marks could purchase 1 US dollar. This ratio stayed stable for a while. By 1922, however, it was now up to 320:1, already dangerously inflated. Many international reparation conferences took place to speculate on how Germany could pay back its owed money, but no solution was reached. In turn, the ratio of German marks to dollars was at 8000:1 by December of 1922. The cost of living in Germany saw a 16-fold increase from June to December of 1922.

It was said that by the time you were done drinking a cup of coffee, the price of it would have doubled.

At this point, France and Britain (who still wanted their money from Germany) asserted that Germany had purposefully destroyed its own economy with the intent to avoid reparation payments. France wanted Germany to keep printing until it had paid back its debts. Britain was more lenient and was willing to grant Germany time to allow its economic system to recuperate and then pay back what they owed.

Interesting fact: "Zero Stroke was a term used to describe a mental disorder reportedly diagnosed by physicians in Germany under the Weimar Republic and which was caused by hyperinflation that occurred in the early 1920s. The disorder was primarily characterized by patients' desire to write endless rows of zeros, which are also referred to as ciphers. Cashiers, bookkeepers, and bankers were reportedly the most prone to this affliction. Besides a compulsion to write endless strings of zeros, individuals that suffered from this condition would reportedly become confused when referring to numbers and would state that they were ten billion years old or had forty trillion children."

After Germany's problems with hyperinflation, a charismatic and idealogical leader came along promising to fix Germany's problems and to restore it to greatness. His name? Adolf Hitler.

How did the Nazi Party come to power?

The Reichstag Fire was an arson attack on the German Parliament. This event played a key role in the establishment of the Nazi’s power in Germany. The fire was used as evidence by Hitler and the Nazis that communists were plotting to overthrow the German government. Adolf Hitler, sworn in as Chancellor four weeks earlier, asked German President Paul von Hinderburg to declare an emergency declaration against the Communist Party of Germany. Once Germans’ civil liberties had been suspended, the government arrested thousands of communists, including all of the German Communist parliamentary delegates. With their seats empty, the Nazis took over as the majority.

Hitler’s goal after being elected was to gain a majority for the Nazis and abolish democracy legally so that he could remain the Chancellor (the President had the power to remove him). He was successful in this endeavor when he passed the Enabling Act. This act allowed the Chancellor to pass laws without the involvement of the Reichstag, or Parliament. These powers were to remain for four years, then they could be renewed. Under the German Weimar Constitution, this was legal. It allowed Hitler the power to rule the country arbitrarily in times of emergency. This Enabling Act happened only once before, in 1923-1924 when Germany was in a state of emergency from hyperinflation, as previously mentioned. Once the Nazis gained a 2/3 majority in the Parliament (mainly by scaring or banishing communist delegates), the act was passed and Hitler became the dictator of Germany. Although it is still a subject of debate among scholars even today, the Nazi party is suspected of being behind the fire to gain political power.

What, exactly, did the Nazi Party stand for?

The Nazi Party (National Socialist Workers' Party) was a German political ideology that incorporated fascism, racism, and anti-Semitism. In practice, Nazism was on the far-right end of the political spectrum. Nazis believed that the Aryans were the master race and claimed that German was home to the purest breed of Aryans. The German government claimed that it needed to create New Order that involved an empire that would give Germany Europe as its land mass.

Nazis asserted that Jews were the largest threat to the Aryan race and to Germany. They associated Jews with both communism and capitalism, and for this reason the German economy of this time was neither. They supported and upheld a nationalistic socialism that was to best serve the Aryan race and the German nation and its economy. The government provided social welfare programs for workers, fair wages, and protection from capitalistic exploitations.

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