Some Impacts of the Progressive Movement
The Progressive movement had a number of effects on American politics and life, some of which appeared only long after the Progressive Era ended. For example, although the Progressives introduced primary elections as a means of choosing presidential nominating delegates, only in the second half of the 20th century did the primary season as we know it now come to play a central role in choosing presidential nominees. Other impacts developed more quickly, one being the professionalization of government, the other being the effective marginalization of the Populist movement. These two effects, evident by the 1920s, and with lasting effects, will be considered here.
Some elements of the professionalization of government had already emerged before the Progressive era, a regular civil service taking the place of the unabashed spoils system that had characterized much of the 19th century. However, the Progressives strongly advanced the role of professionalism in public service. The effect was seen most strongly in local government, with many cities introducing the city-manager system, with the day-to-day management of city affairs entrusted to an appointed, supposedly apolitical city manager, the mayor and city council being relegated to something like a "board of directors" function of setting overall policy directions Stone 244). More broadly, the idea of professionalism took root, and would flower during the New Deal, giving rise to the large managerial class of public experts that remains with us today.
A quite different effect of Progressivism - and one very much intended by the Progressives - was the undermining of Populism, which had become a major political force at the turn of the 20th century. Progressivism was in some ways a reformist conservative response to Populism, offering reform of the most serious abuses of the Gilded Age, but without the potential s
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