Theodore Roosevelt took office in September of 1901 when President McKinley was assassinated. He, like many Progressives, possessed a fear that the consolidation of power and wealth in the hands of private interests threatened the stability of the nation. Roosevelt's aim was not to restructure American capitalism but to protect it from its own extremes through careful government intervention. In enforcing federal antitrust laws, Roosevelt drew a distinction between good trusts and bad trusts. Roosevelt's administration …showed first 75 words of 353 total…

…showed last 75 words of 353 total…the Hepburn Railway Act of 1906), consumer products (Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act of 1906), and conservation of natural resources. Without this man the idea of what a President should do was changed. Roosevelt formed a path for the other Progressive Presidents, William H. Taft and Woodrow Wilson. Though he was very popular, Roosevelt had alienated the Republican "Old Guard" with his various "radical" actions and he was denied the nomination in 1912.