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

About this book

"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 Streets corrupting influence from Washington. Their opponents called them "radicals " and "fanatics." They called themselves Progressives. President Theodore Roosevelt disapproved of La Follettes confrontational methods. Fearful of splitting the party he compromised with the conservative House Speaker "Uncle Joe" Cannon to pass modest reforms. But as La Follettes crusade gathered momentum the country polarized and the middle ground melted away. Three years after the end of his presidency Roosevelt embraced La Follettes 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 Wolraichs riveting narrative reveals how a few Republican insurgents broke the conservative chokehold on Congress and initiated the greatest period of political change in Americas history.