Square Deal Quotes
Earlier in his life, the President had very racist views towards the American Indian as can be seen in {588991}. However, in his regiment he organized—the Rough Riders—for the Spanish American War, there were a number of Native Americans who acquitted themselves with distinction and Roosevelt had a change of mind and heart. Further he was somewhat older and had time to reflect on the irrationality of his earlier view.
The Elkins Act was a cornerstone of Roosevelt’s “Square Deal” program. It authorized the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to impose heavy fines on railroads that offered rebates, and upon the shippers that accepted these rebates. The large corporations and monopolies would get rebates from the railroads and thus pay far less than their smaller competitors to ship their goods. It drove thousands of small companies out of business. This was a basic part of American law until the deregulation of the latter part of the 20th century. So what had been illegal, unethical, and immoral for almost a century, became legal, ethical and moral, but again discriminated against small companies.
He was running on the Bull Moose Party ticket. The “square deal” phrase was a major slogan of the campaign and had first been used earlier in 1903 and 1905. See {32586} and {32766}. The Smithsonian Institution has even preserved the audio of this quotation. See their website.
Viscount Morley of Blackburn
Remark to J. Edgar Hoover who masterminded the forced deportation of Emma Goldman, a leading anarchist of the day. Hoover had not given Goldman or her attorney any notice of the time of her deportation so they were unable to obtain legal stays. Hoover maintained to Goldman that he had given her a "square deal."
Obama had been commonly called a socialist by the extreme right even though his positions and statements were against socialism and he opposed major tenets of socialism like government ownership of utilities, banking and heavy industry. Obama scheduled this speech in a location in which TR had spoken in favor of his reforms. And he reminded the audience and the nation that the right wing had tried to tarnish Roosevelt by labeling him a socialist.
