7. Theodore Roosevelt: The First Progressive, Part I

1. Financial Influence on Political Parties

Before 1896, the Democratic Party was roughly a party devoted to free trade and the gold standard, while the Republican Party stood squarely for a protective tariff and was more amenable to inflationist experimentation. Put very simply, the Democrats were particularly congenial to and influenced by Wall Street investment bankers, notably the Morgan interests and by the European Rothschilds, acting through their New York agent, August Belmont, who was for many years national treasurer of the Democratic Party.

6. 1896: The Collapse of the Third Party System and of Laissez-faire Politics

1. The First Collapse: 1894

In the cataclysmic year 1896 the face of American politics was changed forever. With the capture of the Democratic Party by the inflationist, statist forces of William Jennings Bryan, the old Democracy of free trade, hard money, personal liberty, and minimal government was gone forever. As Grover Cleveland mournfully pronounced, “...

Paul Volcker Looks Pretty Good Right about Now

With Trump poised to announce his pick for Fed Chair on Thursday, former Fed boss Paul Volcker quietly announced the forthcoming publication of his memoirs. Hopefully we will be spared a shamelessly self-serving title like Bernanke’s The Courage to Act. But in contrast to the fanfare surrounding post-retirement books by Alan Greenspan and Bernanke, Volcker’s offering likely won’t resonate with the financial press.

5. The Democratic Triumph of 1892

1. The Road to Democratic Triumph

1892 was the great year of resurgent Democratic triumph. It was the first time since the Civil War that the Democratic Party controlled the presidency as well as both Houses of Congress. The 3% difference in the popular vote (Democrats 46%, Republicans 43%, and minor parties 11%) was by far the largest gap in the totals since the Democratic presidential candidate Samuel Tilden swept the popular vote in 1876.