THEODORE S. ROOSEVELT (R) - 1901-1909
When Pres. McKinley was assassinated, the 26th President became the youngest president, at age 42, to ever hold the office. He vowed to keep McKinley's policies in place, but he did so in a more robust way. He was the first president since Lincoln to truly push and test the boundaries and limits of the bully pulpit.
Roosevelt was a capitalist who saw the growing monopolies and corporations as something that needed to reigned in. He felt he needed to save Big Business from itself. He cracked down on misleading labelling for meat and drugs, and tended to side with labor more than management in strikes and disputes. He viewed his progressivism as a way of preventing socialism from catching on.
He asserted him in foreign affairs as well. When Colombia rejected his proposal for the Panama Canal, no sooner had Panama (a Colombian province) revolted, TR recognized it immediately as an independent country. Panama then let the US build their canal. TR won a Nobel Peace Prize for his negotiations in ending Russo-Japanese War in 1905.
Roosevelt had pledged not to run for re-election in 1908, but Taft's following presidency made him regret that pledge. He ran again in 1912 on the third-party "Bull Moose" ticket and came in second, Taft third, Wilson first.
Incidentally, he never cared for the nickname "Teddy."
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