Titanic and the Progressive Era

The Titanic was made to be the best of its kind. During the Progressive Era, this ship was built with several extravagant emanates to draw the peoples attention. The news paper articles from this time tell about all of the new and never before seen features on the ship. I discovered that the knowledge of the luxuries and the size of this ship spread all across the United States. The news paper articles that I found came from North Dakota, Florida, Texas, South Dakota, and Kansas. In all of these articles, the authors are baffled by the rooms on the Titanic having private promenades. It was the first ship ever to have a private promenade. The ship had huge suites, several baths, sitting rooms, "hot rooms", gymnasiums, tanks (swimming pools), cooling rooms, turkish electric baths, and squash courts with squash coaches along board, to make the passengers feel more at home. In my opinion, I believe the builders were trying to make the Titanic into one of the first "cruise ships" as we know them today. I learned through these articles that the goal of the Titanic was to expand travel, make people feel at home while they were at sea, and make the biggest and fanciest ship ever.

This topic relates to Progressivism as a movement because one of the main goal of progressives was to reform things and make them better, and that is just what they did with the Titanic. The Titanic was said to be modeled after the Olympic. The builders made sure that everything in the Titanic was bigger and more advanced than the Olympic. According to the Kansas City Star, the restaurant was even better than the one on the Olympic. Just like the progressives, the builders of the Titanic wanted to take something like the Olympic, and make it even better for the people. The Titanic was more fit for extended living with its large size suites and numerous baths. The technology, luxurious emanates, and massive size symbolizes some of the progressives goals to reform and make things better than before.

Titanic Stairwell

Titanic Suite

Titanic Sitting Room

Sources
1. Comforts of Home While at Sea, May 15, 1911 - Aberdeen Daily News
2. Interior Views of Titanic, Showing Comforts Provided Passengers, April 17, 1912 - Daily Morning News - Dallas, Texas
3. A Palace on a Ship, March 24, 1912 - Kansas City Star
4. Two Titanic Suites will be 4,350 each, March 20, 1912 - Miami Herald
5. Titanic Maiden Trip, April 11, 1912 - Grand Forks Daily Herald - North Dakota