Thomas Woodrow Wilson
Progressive President Superhero
Superhero: The Trust Buster (Thomas Woodrow Wilson)
By day, progressive president; by night, corruption fighting superhero.
"Tariff, Banking, Business. They are no match for The Trust Buster and his reforms against corruption."
"Tariff, Banking, Business. They are no match for The Trust Buster and his reforms against corruption."
- The Underwood Tariff act of 1913: Provided for a substantial reduction of tariff rates and fees
- Federal Reserve Act: Created and set up the Federal Reserve System or the central banking system of the United States
- Clayton Anti-Trust Act: Lengthened the Sherman Act's list of business practices deemed objectionable
- Federal Farm Loan Act: Increased the credit of rural farmers
Sidekick: Monopoly Mucker (Henry Demarest Lloyd)
Henry Demarest, A.K.A. Monopoly Mucker, devoted much of his time to exposing industrial monopolies through journalism. In his job at the Chicago Tribune, he wrote a documented story called The Story of a Great Monopoly where he wrote about the methods used by Standard Oil as well as some railroad companies to eliminate competition. It alerted the public of the need for anti-trust legislation and became the base of the new genre, muckraking journalism. His studies later became expanded into the book Wealth Against Commonwealth.
Evil Nemesis: Monopoly Mayhem (Tariff, banking, business)
The Trust Busters main focus during his term were tariffs, banking, and business. Since these three topics were related and could categorized under monopoly in some way, they joined forces and became the Monopoly Mayhem to cause trouble for The Trust Buster.
- The tariff rates were high and needed to be lowered
- The banking system was antiquated and inadequate
- Unfair trade practices that included unlawful competition, false advertising, mislabeling, adulteration, and bribery
- Illegal and unfair business practices in legislation like price discrimination and interlocking directorates
- The farmers were in bad economic positions (Surplus of crops, price and profit drop of crops, expensive equipment, expensive shipment rates, etc.)
Bibliography
Bailey, Thomas Andrew, David M. Kennedy, and Lizabeth Cohen. The American Pageant. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1998. Print.
"Woodrow Wilson - Biography". Nobelprize.org. 1 Mar 2013. <http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1919/wilson-bio.html>.