During the 1902 Coal strike Teddy Roosevelt was president. He believed that presidency was a bully pulpit. When the Coal Strike started, he could use his presidency to his advantage. He believed that he was the nation’s manager.
Because he believed he was the nation’s manager, he thought he could resolve the issue between the different groups and their interest. Coal miners were getting paid less for more work and wanted a raise. Their bosses wouldn’t give it to them, so they started to strike which took national news. No one worked and it started to get cold, which made coal prices go up and the general public might freeze because they couldn’t afford it.
Roosevelt made and arbitration which the mine owners did not except. Roosevelt didn’t want the public to freeze, so he took the problem to his hands. He talked to the miners and said: if you don’t work I will get army to do the work instead. This made the miners think twice and started to work again. As months passed coal prices went down and the general public would not freeze in the winter.
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