“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.
No comments:
Post a Comment