ABSTRACT
The youthful and buoyant Roosevelt supported journalistic reform, but, in one volatile moment, he lashed out at the crusaders for finding nothing good about society but looking constantly at the negative elements—as if raking muck. The epithet took hold, and the golden age of reform journalism became known as muckraking. Lincoln Steffens, an intellectual who wore spectacles and a string tie, is widely acknowledged as the first muckraker. After studying at the finest universities in the United States and Europe, Steffens joined the New York Evening Post, covering Wall Street and city police. S. S. McClure, the Irish immigrant who founded the leading muckraking magazine, decided to tackle the enormous power of corporations by focusing on a single trust and tracing its history, leaders, and inner workings. Schlesinger is one of many scholars of the Progressive Era to praise the muckrakers for their leading role in helping the nation recover from a dark period in its history.
