Progressive Era Thinkers

            Alice Paul was a progressive thinker known for her staunch support of women’s rights and women’s suffrage.  She was one of the leading women’s rights/suffrage leaders in her time, and blazed the trail for followers of her women’s rights trail.  Her innovative thinking helped to get women the right to vote, but more importantly she helped get women viewed as equals to men.  She truly was a powerful progressive era thinker.  Hillary Clinton is an analogous thinker in present day society.  Hillary believes very strongly in women’s rights and that men and women should be viewed as equals.  Today, Hillary is running for President, the ultimate goal on the women’s rights trail, first blazed by Alice Paul in progressive era.  Both the women have made powerful impacts socially and politically, and overall have benefitted the United States significantly.

            Andrew Carnegie was a progressive thinker who started out poor, but came out on the top with billions of dollars.  Carnegie revolutionized the pre-modern economy by controlling the first Billion dollar corporation.  US Steel pumped the economy full of money, gave jobs to thousands, and created crucial infrastructure objects (i.e., cars, engines, trains, military weapons, etc).  Carnegie and his ruthless and aggressive business practices reaped him the benefits of success.  Even though he was so wealthy, he donated millions and millions of dollars to housing projects and other charitable organizations.  Everything this man did benefitted the United States with great economic success.  He was with out a doubt a great philanthropist; Steve Jobs, CEO of apple computers, is Carnegie’s analogous thinker of today’s society.  Jobs is known for his radical new tech-devices, Mac computers, and the near monopoly i-pods.  Also a very rich man, Jobs frequently donates much of his money to worthy charitable organizations as a way to give back to the community as a whole.  Jobs is a rich and powerful philanthropist and a perfect analogous thinker to Andrew Carnegie.

            During the Progressive Era, many reforms, new laws, and business transactions occurred.  While sifting through the chaos, women’s rights/suffrage, worker’s laws/wages, business practices, charitable donations, and more are seen.  All four of the aforementioned progressive era thinkers and their present-day analogous thinkers were contributors to this chaotic period of progression.  Each of them had a critical role in improving the United States as a whole, through the economy, society, politics, and/or diplomacy.  All of these progressive thinkers had important and beneficial results for the United States as a Whole.  These were great thinkers, and their thoughts will live on forever.