#27 William Taft (1857-1930)

I think it inevitable that Taft was a somewhat anticlimactic personage. I am not sure if it was due to the fact that his book was measurably more boring that TR’s or if it just sucked for him to be the president after such an interesting guy but there it is. It’s a fact. Our jolly, oversized 27th president simply lacked the pizzazz and excitement that characterized Theodore Roosevelt’s administration and there’s nothing that anyone can do about that.

Of course, I can also blame the book. After some searching I decided to go with Judith Icke Anderson’s William Howard Taft: An Intimate History (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1981) because…well because…I’m not sure why. I think it was the use of “intimate” in the title. Ok, people, you can stop your sniggering right there! I was not using intimate in that way, it’s just that I thought I would be able to get inside Taft’s head with this particular work, in that intimate kind of way. And I really did. I feel like I know and understand gentle Taft after Anderson’s treatment but it was—well—rather boring.

William Howard Taft was born in Cincinnati, OH on September 15, 1857 to a rather famous father. Alphonso Taft was a prominent Republican lawyer when he joined Grant’s cabinet, first as secretary of war and then as attorney general. During Chester Arthur’s administration, Mr. Taft Senior was the ambassador to Austria-Hungary and little William grew up in this politically-charged environment.

In 1874, Taft graduated as salutatorian from Woodward High School before going on to Yale for college. After Yale, he was immediately admitted to the Cincinnati School of Law and graduated in 1880. Over the next few years, Taft became a lawyer (not a very good one) and also the Assistant Prosecutor of Hamilton County. He never really cared for the profession of law and almost as soon as he was able, he moved into what he would always love best—being a judge.

The Herrons were old family friends of the Tafts from Cincinnati but it was in 1884 that William decided that he was in love with their daughter, Helen, or Nellie. Nellie was a very independent and well-read woman and at first did not want to marry Taft. However, he soon brought her around and just two years later they were married. Throughout the years, they would have three children: Robert, Helen, and Charles.

By 1887, Taft had made something of a name for himself in certain circles and so it was to his delight that he was named a judge of the Ohio Supreme Court. These were, for a time, some of the happiest years of his life. It was short-lived, however, because President Harrison appointed him the US Solicitor General in 1890 and the ambitions of his wife would not allow him to refuse. In 1892, he was appointed to the 6th Federal Circuit of Appeals.

In 1900, President McKinley appointed Taft to a major position in the new government, as the first American governor to the Philippines. Taft was not naturally a leader but he was level-headed and intelligent—the perfect combination of characteristics that would aid his sojourn in the Philippines. During this time, Taft also became increasingly closer to Theodore Roosevelt, leaving the Philippines regularly on any serious mission that TR might send him. After the 1904 election, TR promptly named his friend, William Taft, to the cabinet as secretary of war. Since the United States was faced with a time of great peace, Taft mainly continued to do TR’s bidding, not bothering himself with the affairs of the War Department.

As the election of 1908 neared, TR was in a bind. When he had been elected in 1904, he had made a capital error by promising not to run for a 3rd term. Because of his continued popularity, TR had to find a successor and then throw all his weight behind his choice. TR chose William Taft. Taft, who had been content to go where TR said to go, was unhappy with the thought of becoming president himself and of having to make his own decisions. In fact, not many Americans at the time even knew who he was! “A Washington Post editorial pointed out that with the exception of Rutherford B Hayes, Taft was less known to the public than any other Republican ever seriously considered for the presidency” (p. 100). Due to his thorough indifference to the outcome of the election, Taft spent most of the campaign playing golf and trying to keep his weight down.

Nothing seemed to help though. With TR and Nellie fighting for Taft’s presidential bid, the American people went along willing and in 1908, voted William Taft as the 27th President of the United States. On the day of the inauguration, Washington DC was hit with so big a snowstorm that Taft needed to be inaugurated inside that day. This bad weather seemed to be an ill omen for the Taft administration because things went even worse rather quickly.

First there was the tariff issue. Although the tariff fervor of decades ago had calmed down marginally, Taft re-raised the issue by having Congress work out another one, the result being the Payne-Aldrich Tariff. It was hugely unpopular. “Standing primarily as a symbol of the power of big business, the tariff aroused people both emotionally and politically, and one of the more dramatic episodes in Taft’s administration revolved around it” (p. 169). This new tariff was less than satisfactory and although Taft promised to veto it, he did not and this provoked an outcry against his repeated vacillations. “In retrospect, Taft’s refusal to veto the Payne-Aldrich Tariff perhaps did more harm than any other of his official acts. Although his travel, golf and general inanition provoked irritation, the tariff caused many people who had praised him formerly to condemn him now” (p. 176).

It didn’t help that Taft could not handle criticism any kind of criticism and the fall-out from the tariff issue sent him away from the capital in a long tour of the United States. Even this couldn’t save him though. Soon he was back in Washington and blundering into the Ballinger/Pinchot Affair. Basically this problem stemmed from the fact that Taft, when first elected, had declared that he saw eye to eye with TR over everything, especially conservation. It was soon realized, however, that Taft was really much more conservative at heart than his progressive predecessor and that didn’t really care about the same issues, which is how conservation got shunted to the side. It just so happened that one of TR’s best friends and adherents was Glifford Pinchot the head of the Forestry Service, under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior. Unfortunately, Taft appointed Richard Ballinger to head this department who was a “businessman’s lawyer who wanted to open the federal land in the West to private enterprise” (p. 181). It looked like Ballinger was not a conservationist and when it came down to verbal sparring between him and Pinchot, Taft came down hard on Ballinger’s side. Pinchot then went to TR (who was still overseas) and this fracas soon opened the chasm that was widening between TR and Taft’s long-time friendship.

Taft became dejected and depressed. His weight escalated. “More and more the president was referred to as ‘Taft the Blunderer.’ Deeply unhappy, he continued to gain weight, to vent his frustration in outbursts of temper, and rapidly to grow both older and sadder” (p. 188). His friendship with TR was irrevocably lost when his administration sued US Steel under the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. TR had, during his presidency, allowed US Steel to buy out another corporation to keep the United States from going into a recession. It was due to this buyout that the Taft administration pounced on US Steel and TR took it as a personal insult. Taft declared that he had no idea that his attorney general had this planned but all that did was to convince everyone that Taft didn’t read all his paperwork.

On the other hand, Taft also did some good in office as well. “In the name of economy Taft abolished four hundred positions in the Department of the Treasury and one hundred in the Philadelphia mint. He reorganized the customs service and made large cuts in the military services. Because the federal government did not yet have a unified budget, Taft tried during his first year in office to centralize control of the budgetary process. He pruned an unprecedented $92 million from the original estimates and sent the first modern budget to Congress” (p. 198).

The election of 1912 was to be one of the most highly contested of the modern era. First of all, TR threw his hat back into the ring and although Taft won re-nomination by the Republicans, this effectively split the party and allowed Wilson to win (TR was nominated by the Progressive Party). During the campaign, Taft, as expected, did very little and soon it was apparent that it was really just Wilson vs TR. It was unfortunate that the bull moose had split the party because he garnered quite a bit of votes. There was one person in the US though that was absolutely not unhappy that Wilson had won. Taft was extremely pleasant and happy as Wilson’s inauguration day approached. “Taft looked forward to the relief from his duties, and he showed none of the depression or pessimism often associated with a rejected chief executive. Instead, he acted like a man freed of a great burden” (p. 249).

“The reporters assessed Taft as a pleasant, well-meaning man who had been caught up in a situation which he could neither understand nor control. He had been a weak president, they admitted, but a good sport” (p. 248). As a new private citizen, Taft was offered the Kent Chair of Constitutional Law at Yale in 1913 so his family moved up to New Haven, Connecticut. He stayed there 8 years, while also taking on a number of other tasks such becoming the joint chairman of the National Labor Board.

In June 1921, Taft was granted his greatest wish by President Harding—he was appointed to Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court. He was not the best chief justice that we’ve ever had but he was a good one. It was under his direction that the Supreme Court would begin construction on the building that they are still in today.

In 1924, Taft suffered two heart attacks, one in February and one in April. By February 1930, Taft had to retire from the Supreme Court due to health reasons and by March 8th of that year, he was dead from heart trouble.

#26 Theodore Roosevelt Part 2

Really Cool Stuff about Theodore Roosevelt
BTW: I actually couldn’t put everything that Teddy ever did on this list so you can thank me later for my superb editing skills.
1. In Dutch, Roosevelt means ‘Field of Roses.’
2. TR was a lifelong devotee of the noble art of boxing. However, while in the White House, TR’s sparring partner hit him a little too hard. “Roosevelt continued to box even in the White House, and while sparring with a military aide, suffered a blow that cost him the sight of his left eye. Characteristically, he hid the injury so the young man would not be concerned about having injured the president” (p. 49).
3. He wrote, or co-wrote, over 38 books. Beginning in 1882 with his first book, The Naval War of 1812, TR’s published works spanned the rest of his lifetime until 1918 and The Great Adventure. He also wrote Hunting Trips of a Ranchman, Thomas Hart Benton, Essays on Practical Politics, Gouverneur Morris, Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail, The Winnings of the West (4 vols), New York, The Wilderness Hunter, American Big-Game, Hero Tales from American History, Hunting in Many Lands, American Ideals, Some American Game, Trail and Campfire, The Rough Riders, Oliver Cromwell, The Strenuous Life, The Deer Family, Outdoor Pastimes of an American Hunter, Good Hunting, Outlook Editorials, African and European Addresses, African Game Trails, American Problems, The New Nationalism, Presidential Addresses and State Papers and European Addresses (8 vols), The Conservation of Womanhood and Childhood, Realizable Ideals, Autobiography, History as Literature and Other Essays, Progressive Principles, Life-Histories of African Game Animals, Through the Brazilian Wilderness, America and the World War, A Book-Lover’s Holidays in the Open, Fear God and Take Your Own Part, The Foes of Our Own Household, and National Strength and International Duty.
4. While on his honeymoon with Alice Lee, TR climbed the Matterhorn, one of the tallest mountains in Europe. “The mountain had first been conquered only sixteen years before by a team that had lost four of its members. Although the route to the top and been eased by the installation of chains and ropes at critical points, it was a difficult climb, particularly for an amateur who had been warned by his doctor not even to run upstairs” (p. 114-15).
5. TR’s first book, The Naval War of 1812, was an instant classic. “The Navy Department quickly recognized the book’s value. It decreed that at least one copy was to be placed on board every ship in commission and it became a textbook at the fledgling Naval War College” (p. 129).
6. Towards the end of Jefferson Davis’ life, he and TR got into a nasty exchange through letters after TR asserted that Davis should be compared with Benedict Arnold.
7. Along with several likeminded individuals, TR founded the first Boone and Crockett club. “But the settlement of the West made it difficult to carry out this objective [to protect big game from indiscriminate slaughter], and the club turned its energies to conservation, a transformation signified by the formation of a Committee on Parks. The membership included some of the nation’s leading lawmakers and eminent scientists, which gave it considerable influence upon public opinion and on Congress” (p. 196). The Boone and Crockett club also used its influence to save Yellowstone from further despoliation after the passage of the Park Protection Act in 1894.
8. After Alice’s death, TR grew to hate the nickname “Teddy” and close friends and relatives never used it.
9. TR coined the term “muckraking” in retaliation to crusading journalists.
10. TR made the term “White House” official. “Roosevelt’s arrival in the White House, a name he quickly made official by executive order, was like a blast of fresh and bracing air in the fetid atmosphere of Washington” (p. 358).
11. TR caused quite a stir when he allowed his good friend and the first black, Booker T Washington, to dine at the White House.
12. When President Roosevelt aided in breaking up the coal miner’s strike, he set a number of precedents for the executive office. “For the first time a president had intervened to bring about a negotiated settlement of a labor dispute; for the first time a president had proposed binding arbitration, and for the first time a president had threatened to use troops to seize a strike-bound industry” (p. 377).
13. Through his efforts in resolving the Russo-Japanese War, Roosevelt was the first American to ever win the Nobel Peace Prize.
14. Theodore walked Eleanor Roosevelt, his niece, down the aisle in her wedding to Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
15. He was the very first president to ride in an airplane and a submarine.
16. TR’s association with the teddy bear began in Nov 1902 when TR refused to kill a bear that had already been roped because it was unsporting. “Clifford K Berryman of the Washington Post produced a whimsical cartoon based on the incident, ‘Drawing the Line in Mississippi.’ Morris Michtom, a Russian Jewish immigrant who ran a toy shop on Brooklyn, was inspired by the cartoon to create a cuddly stuffed bear for children. He gave it the president’s nickname, and the bear became an international phenomenon” (p. 423.)
17. TR appointed the first Jew to the cabinet. “Oscar Straus, a New York businessman-politician became the first Jew to be appointed to the Cabinet when Roosevelt named him secretary of commerce and labor” (p. 424). The cabinet post of commerce and labor had just recently been added by TR.
18. TR was a great, but unknown, proponent of the arts. “He appointed a fine arts council to advise the federal government on building design, and he is credited with not only being the real father of the National Gallery of Art but supporting the architects that restored Washington to the original L’Enfant plan” (p. 426).
19. Let’s not forget all the things that Edith, as First Lady, accomplished. “She was the first to hire a social secretary—Isabelle Hagner, member of a an old Washington family—the first to establish her own office, and the first to include a cameo of herself along with that of the president on the engraved formal invitations sent out by the White House. She also began the White House china collection and that of portraits of first ladies, which were installed in a special gallery” (p. 427-28).
20. When TR won re-election in 1904, it was by an enormous amount. “’I have the greatest popular majority and the greatest electoral majority ever given a candidate for President,’ Roosevelt wrote to Kermit” (p. 435).
21. TR created the frontrunner of the FBI. “Congress refused to rescind the ban [on using the Secret Service to ‘ferret out corruption in government’], but by executive order the president created an investigatory agency within the Department of Justice that eventually became the Federal Bureau of Investigation” (p. 493).
22. As TR was touring around Europe, he was befriended by Kaiser Wilhelm II. “The Kaiser broke all precedents by inviting Roosevelt to attend the field maneuvers of the German Army—making him the first civilian to be so honored” (p. 508).
23. TR has a river named in his honor after his trek down the Amazon. “But in spite of their privations, Roosevelt and his party had mapped the 1,500 miles of the River of Doubt, a powerful waterway as long as the Rhine of the Elbe, which the Brazilians renamed the Rio Roosevelt in his honor. In Brazil, it is popularly known as the Rio Teodoro” (p. 538).

I really enjoyed this biography and I realize that part of that is just Theodore Roosevelt himself. What an interesting dude! He was exciting and quotable and full of adventures—what could be better for a biographer, right? Nathan Miller immediately gave us his reasons for writing this biography on TR. “This book, the first full-scale, one-volume biography in more than three decades, is intended for those readers who wish to know the full story of his life. Moreover, I have had access to the letters of Roosevelt’s courtship and marriage to his first wife, Alice Lee, that were unavailable to earlier writers. Although I have placed emphasis upon Roosevelt’s public career, I was attracted by the man himself and by his relations with his close associates and family, his children, and particularly his two wives. I have tried to portray a three-dimensional figure of flesh and blood who confronted failures as well as triumphs” (p. 10-11).

Not only did Miller bring TR to life, but he also did a great job of showing both the good and the bad sides of his character. Miller mentions that at one point stories about TR were used by the opposition to show mental imbalance, whereas TR’s friends used them to show his indomitability. Miller also lets us know that TR had a tendency towards avoidance like how he handled his father’s and first wife’s deaths. There were times that he experienced panic and depression and he would jump to conclusions about events and people. “Despite Roosevelt’s high moral tone, he possessed a streak of ruthlessness and at times broke his own rules for fairness and justice. Individuals were condemned without hearing, he rarely admitted the possibility of error, and upon occasion employed the dangerous tactic of guilt by association. Opponents who could not be won over were dismissed as traitors or worse. Critics called him cunning, selfish, vindictive, melodramatic, megalomaniacal, dishonest, shallow, and cynical. Perhaps Roosevelt’s greatest failure was his insistence on being both a political and moral leader. When he tried to justify political acts in moral terms, he sometimes cast himself in the role of insufferable hypocrite” (p. 412).

You can’t help but like Teddy Roosevelt, I’m afraid. Even with all the bad traits thrown in it was impossible not to like this guy. TR somehow had a rare gift that seemed to break down people’s conceptions of him and for making the right decisions at the right time. For instance, his avoidance issues led him to move out to the Badlands after Alice’s death. However, that minor act led all the way to the presidency. “Roosevelt had three major liabilities in politics; he was an aristocrat, he was an intellectual, and he was an easterner. Altogether, he spent only about three years in the Bad Lands, a period interrupted by sometimes lengthy stays in the East. Yet he so successfully, identified himself with the West that for the remainder of his life, the public thought of him as a rough-riding cowboy rather than a New York dude. This western experience removed the stigma of effeminacy, ineffectuality, and intellectualism that clung to most reformers” (p. 164). There are also other examples in his life of brilliant political decisions that did not seem so at the time like quitting his job as Assistant Secretary of the Navy to go to war or like leaving for Africa after Taft won the election to keep himself out of the way. It’s this sort of innate political prescience that typifies Roosevelt’s existence and makes him just so irresistible.

#26 Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919)

“It was chiefly Roosevelt’s vigorous action, his enormous energy, his gift for rhetoric, his moralistic and patriotic pronouncements, his disdain for purely material ends, and his devotion to the national state which captured people’s hearts and made businessmen uneasy about the future direction of Republican policy” (Anderson, William Howard Taft, p. 89).

Yay yay ya-yay yay! I have arrived at Teddy Roosevelt! Yes! I have been looking forward to this for some time and not only because I already like Teddy Roosevelt but also because, and even you have to agree with me, he was an intensely interesting personage. Years and years ago I read (and own) Edmund Morris’ Theodore Rex and it inspired in me a lively appreciation for our youthful 26th president. And even before that I was introduced to one of my mother’s favorite movies, The Wind and the Lion, a true story about Roosevelt and the kidnapping of an American overseas. It’s an excellent movie and I highly recommend everyone watching it. In fact, I’ll probably be re-watching it again here shortly.

Out of the myriad collection of Theodore Roosevelt materials, I, having done my research, settled on Theodore Roosevelt: A Life by Nathan Miller (New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc, 1992). Yes, it’s around 20 years old but unless I was willing to read a Teddy Roosevelt trilogy then this one had to do. It appeared to be a 600-page comprehensive biography and that looked good to me. Besides, it got good reviews.

Theodore Roosevelt was born on October 27, 1858 to a wealthy family in New York City. At the age of 3, he contracted bronchial asthma which would affect him the rest of his life but especially in these early ages. During the Civil War, Teddy’s (his earliest nickname) family was split right down the middle. His father was very pro-North, being from New York, but his mother and her family were from the heart of Georgia and so very pro-South. Because of this familial split, Theodore Sr refused to join the army and instead did other work for the Northern cause.

Teddy was educated by his Aunt as a young child but then he moved on to tutors. As part of his early instruction, his whole family took a one year trip to Europe in 1869 but Teddy’s health issues steadily became worse. Upon arriving back in the United States, Theodore made a move to physically conquer his illnesses by excessive working out and not allowing himself to fall prey to any adversity. “Overcoming fear was one of Roosevelt’s major concerns throughout life” (p. 38).

In 1872, the Roosevelts took another extended trip abroad but this time starting in Egypt and then moving north to Europe. Theodore and his brother spent several months studying in Dresden, Germany and it was due to his heavy academic pursuit that Teddy was admitted to Harvard on September 27, 1876. He was a popular boy but the man he was to become was in the making. “The boy also began applying to others the code of behavior he learned from this father. A fellow must avoid profanity, excessive drinking, and maintain a high standard of personal ethics” (p. 59). It was during this time that Teddy became involved with politics because his father was appointed as the Collector of Customs NY, which was an extremely high-profile position. Unfortunately, Theodore Sr died of stomach cancer only a few years later.

In the year of 1878, Theodore, now the head of the family, met his future wife through friends of his from college. Up in Massachusetts, while weekending with the Saltonstalls, he met Alice Lee and vowed to marry her. He spent several years wooing her and after he graduated from college, they married on October 27, 1880. He immediately was admitted to Columbia Law School and voted, for the first time, for James Garfield for president.

Along with being newly married and attending law school, Theodore became increasingly involved in politics and was eventually elected to the state assembly at Albany in 1881. Theodore’s faults would become noticeable at this time such as his bouts with panic/depression and his tendency toward avoidance.

Tragedy hit Theodore in what seemed like a tsunami wave. On February 2, 1884, Alice had a daughter, also to be named Alice. However two days later, both Theodore’s wife, Alice, and his mother died. Alice died of Bright’s disease (a kidney-related problem) which had been exacerbated from the pregnancy while Mitty, his mother, died from typhoid. He was devastated and it took him several years of grief to even be around his daughter again. In the meantime she was given over to Theodore’s oldest sister, Bamie.

In reaction to this terrible turn of events, Theodore decided to pack up and move out West to the Bad Lands of the Dakota Territory. He was there a few years but after several famines and snow storms that killed off most of his cattle, he was prevailed upon to return to New York and soon he was right back in the thick of things. He became secretly engaged to his childhood friend, Edith Carow, and even ran for governor of New York in 1886 but lost. He married Edith on December 2, 1886 in London and they were to have several children together: Kermit, Ethel, Archibald, and Quentin.

He energetically electioneered for Benjamin Harrison and as a reward was named to the US Civil Service Commission, where he proceeded to stir things up. After several years there, he was then appointed to the New York Board of Police Commissioners in 1895 and he cracked down on the sale of alcohol on Sundays to the anger of most New Yorkers. He was so effective that he managed to keep his appointment even through the presidency of Democrat Grover Cleveland. In 1896, Roosevelt went on the stump for McKinley and through successful speech-making he was able to aid McKinley’s rise to the presidency. Through constant prodding, McKinley finally announced that Theodore was appointed as Assistant Secretary to the Navy, a position that he greatly coveted.

While Secretary of the Navy, Theodore was delighted when the United States went to war against Spain and he was able to actively aid his country. Thanks to the yellow press McKinley was almost forced into war in an attempt to free Cuba from Spanish domination. Roosevelt almost immediately quit his post to become the lieutenant
colonel of the first US Volunteer Cavalry on April 21, 1898, which was soon known as the Rough Riders. “Over the previous ten days, cowboys, ranchmen, miners, gamblers, Indians, lawmen, and hard-bitten men who had tangled with the law had drifted in Camp Wood, where they mixed with a smattering of sportsmen, soldiers of fortune, Ivy League athletes, society clubmen, New York City policemen, actors, and musicians” (p. 276). It was a long, tough trip to Cuba but the Rough Riders fought bravely at the Battle of San Juan Hill (July 1, 1898). Roosevelt was promoted to colonel and he was back in New York by the middle of August. In his absence in Cuba, Roosevelt’s popularity skyrocketed.

To make use of this new-found popularity, he was tapped by the Republican guard to run for governor of New York. “They [New Yorkers] were captivated by the flashing grin, the determination in the blue eyes squinting behind the thick spectacles, and the vigor in the staccato flood of words driven home by the steady pounding of fist on palm” (p. 313). He won! He was a political whirlwind in his first term and he stepped on the toes of many old-school Republicans. In fact, he became the implacable enemy of Tom Platt. Because of the enmity between them, Platt recommended that Roosevelt be nominated as McKinley’s vice presidential candidate in the 1900 elections. When McKinley was re-elected, Roosevelt was relegated to his least-favorite job ever—the vice presidency.

Teddy was mountain climbing in the Adirondacks when he learned that McKinley had been shot in Buffalo. Around a week later, McKinley died and then that “damned cowboy” according to Mark Hanna, became the 26th president of the United States of America. “There is no greater contrast in American politics than between Theodore Roosevelt and William McKinley. Roosevelt was exuberant, emotional, and unpredictable; McKinley was a stolid, unimaginative Republican party wheelhorse who reminded some observers of a statue in search of a pedestal” (p. 240-41).

“Upon becoming president, Roosevelt set three goals for himself: to become the preeminent leader of the Republican Party in order to ensure his election to the presidency in his own right in 1904; to transform the presidency into the most important position in the federal government; and to make the federal government the most important and decisive influence in public affairs” (p. 356-57). Roosevelt was a hurricane of political activity and he loved every minute of it. He immediately began by tackling trusts through the Sherman Anti-Trust Act—he was known as a “trust buster”—and he also helped put down a major coal miner’s strike. He renovated the White House, adding the West Wing, while he spent time upholding the Newland Act.

In the foreign policy arena, Roosevelt made his force felt by adding the Roosevelt Corollary onto the Monroe Doctrine and then he aided a revolution in Panama that would eventually allow them to declare independence from Columbia. Roosevelt then signed a treaty with them to allow the US to build the Panama Canal. “America, he believed, had the moral obligation to overawe international bullies, maintain order, and uplift backward peoples” (p. 385).

In 1904, Roosevelt won the presidency in his own right against the Democratic nominee, Judge Alton B Parker. Since the electorate had spoken, Roosevelt felt justified in moving forward with his policies. The first thing that he did was to set up peace talks between Russia and Japan at Portsmouth, NH in 1905. A year later he went to Panama to inspect the nascent canal construction; he insisted on the Algeciras Conference which was instrumental in keeping the world out of war for at least a decade; and he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work with the Portsmouth Peace Talks. He also spent more time defining and sustaining conservation work. “During the Roosevelt years, thirty irrigation projects were started, including some of the nation’s largest dams; Grand Canyon and Niagra Falls were among the eighteen projected national monuments, and five new national parks and fifty-one wildlife refuges were established. These were to be Theodore Roosevelt’s great legacy to the American people” (p. 472). In 1907, he saw the Great White Fleet off on their trip around the world.

For the election of 1908, Roosevelt, who had already determined not to run again for presidency, threw all his support behind William Taft, his Secretary of War. Taft eventually won the election and while he moved into the White House, Roosevelt left for a year-long African safari so as not to get in the way. “In all, Roosevelt and his son [Kermit] bagged 512 animals, including 17 lions, 20 rhinoceroses, 9 giraffes, 47 gazelles, 8 hippopotamusses, 29 zebras, 9 hyenas, and a scattering of such odd creatures as the bongo, the dik-dik, the kudu, the aardwolf, and the klipspringer” (p. 499). He also took another tour of Europe where he was invited to the various royal courts.

When he returned home to Oyster Bay, the progressive portion of the Republican Party immediately began to court Roosevelt for the 1912 election. Roosevelt loved politics so he consequently went on a tour of the US in 1910. In fact, during his campaign, he was about to give a speech when he was shot. He went ahead with the speech and only afterwards were they able to get the bullet out. Since relations with Taft had slowly deteriorated, Roosevelt felt no guilt about trying to run for president again, even though he was technically the Progressive candidate. In the end though he merely ended up splitting the Republican vote and it allowed Woodrow Wilson to win the election.

In 1913, Roosevelt was invited by several South American nations to do a lecture tour which he delightedly agreed to do. While there, he and his son, Archie, decided to take a trip down the Amazon to map the newly-discovered River of Doubt. Unfortunately, Roosevelt would contract malaria and several other illnesses from this trip and it would plague him till he died.

Back again in the US, Roosevelt edited and wrote for the magazines The Outlook and Metropolitan. He continued in a rather quiet existence, except for his vitriolic articles against the current administration, until World War I began. Roosevelt was a staunch supporter of the war effort and in 1917, he toured the US again to drum up assistance for his effort to bring the United States into the European war. When the US eventually declared war against Germany, Roosevelt’s entire family joined the war effort but in the next year, Quentin, Teddy’s youngest child, was shot down in a plane over Germany. Roosevelt never fully recovered from this blow and died on January 6, 1919 due to an embolism.