Which phrase best captures Roosevelt's approach to reform?

Which phrase best captures Roosevelt's approach to reform?

• A. Laissez-faire governance
• B. Complete deregulation
• C. War with Europe
• D. Regulation of trusts and arbitration

Answer: (D)

The essential idea here is that Roosevelt’s reform strategy used federal power to curb concentrated corporate power while also leaning on mediation to resolve conflicts through arbitration. He believed government should regulate big business to prevent unfair practices and protect the public, but he also pushed for peaceful, negotiated solutions to labor and other disputes when possible. Roosevelt earned the nickname a trust-buster because he pursued enforcement of antitrust laws to break up or regulate monopolies, and he expanded regulatory authority through measures like the Hepburn Act, which strengthened the Interstate Commerce Commission to oversee railroads. At the same time, he embraced arbitration as a tool to settle disputes—most famously mediating the 1902 coal strike to avoid a crisis and set a precedent for workers’ grievances being settled by arbitration rather than by force. That combination—regulating trusts and using arbitration to resolve conflicts—best captures his approach, unlike laissez-faire or deregulation, which would oppose government intervention, or any idea of entering into war with Europe, which isn’t about domestic reform.

The essential idea here is that Roosevelt’s reform strategy used federal power to curb concentrated corporate power while also leaning on mediation to resolve conflicts through arbitration. He believed government should regulate big business to prevent unfair practices and protect the public, but he also pushed for peaceful, negotiated solutions to labor and other disputes when possible.

Roosevelt earned the nickname a trust-buster because he pursued enforcement of antitrust laws to break up or regulate monopolies, and he expanded regulatory authority through measures like the Hepburn Act, which strengthened the Interstate Commerce Commission to oversee railroads. At the same time, he embraced arbitration as a tool to settle disputes—most famously mediating the 1902 coal strike to avoid a crisis and set a precedent for workers’ grievances being settled by arbitration rather than by force.

That combination—regulating trusts and using arbitration to resolve conflicts—best captures his approach, unlike laissez-faire or deregulation, which would oppose government intervention, or any idea of entering into war with Europe, which isn’t about domestic reform.