I was under the impression there were 3 distinct progressive eras.
The first was 1890-1920. Anti-trust measures. Direct election of senators. Women’s suffrage. Progressive income tax.
Second was under FDR. Abolition of child labor. Minimum wage. Social security. Public works projects. UI. 40 hour workweek. Financial regulation.
Third was in the 1960s. Medicare, medicaid, civil rights movement, women’s rights movement. Gay rights movement started. War on poverty.
However, are these distinct revolutions or are they all tied together? Can you really distinguish a progressive era that ended around 1920 from another that started in 1932?
Or was the first progressive era the only real one, and we have had reforms before and since but nothing like that? The abolition of slavery and the creation of medicare were both progressive accomplishments, but they were not distinct eras.
I heard a theory that progressivism occurs in waves every 30 years or so, and it constitutes a short burst of reforms. However I don’t know how accurate that is. Maybe under FDR and LBJ since most of their reforms occurred in short periods, but the first era was multi-decade. Plus the social reforms are constantly. Gay rights has been going on for decades, I guess. However I assume you could make the argument (correct me if I’m wrong) that there was reform in the 1960s, then not a lot, then reform started up again in the 1990s. Or on issues like LGBTQ rights was the reform constant from the 1960s onward? Health reform (other than medicare & medicaid) had a lot of smaller reforms. Many presidents (Clinton, Carter, Nixon, Truman) tried to create a UHC system. Obama came the closest, but it still has tons of holes. SCHIP under Clinton, COBRA under Reagan, etc. Same with environment reform, it seems to be a slow moving constant and not something that happens in spurts.