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African and European Addresses Introduction By Theodore Roosevelt Author LAWRENCE F. ABBOTT. 1910


You get to meet TR the scholar as he speaks at Major Universities of Africa and Europe. You all get to meet TR the Good Will Ambassador and see how he caused the United States of America to gain the Respect of the Leaders and the people around the world.



AMERICAN IDEALS BY THEODORE ROOSEVELT 1885 to 1900

This book not only lays out the problems that we face with representative government, it also points out the American civic qualities necessary to make representative government act honestly. When reading or listening to this book, it is not to hard to imagine that the planks of a political party should be built recognizing certain problems that TR clearly defines before he offers solutions. A political platform is just a statement of intent which will degrade to mere lip service and lofty ideals unless the voters in enough numbers hold their public servants to a specific  standard. First familiarize yourself with the standard Theodore Roosevelt set.  Then promote a TR revival and you will have prosperity and a government that you can be proud to leave your children. His method was tested and proved to be successful as determined by his long list of accomplishments that are still having a beneficial impact on our lives today.
 
 Grandmother use to say; “If your friend jumps off a bridge that does not mean that you should do the same”. So if others do not hold politicians to a standard, that has nothing to do with what you should do. Once right-thinking Americans start calling for proper standards, the flow of people jumping off the bridge of not holding politicians to TR standards will drastically decline.
 
The second section of this book shows what happens when a resolute person does not just pay lip service to Ideal standards. TR talks about actually applying these Ideals in real life politics when he was a civil service commissioner and a police commissioner. You get to see the lighting and thunder of those that wish to do business as usual. Then you see the rainbow that TR creates by not following others jumping off the bridge of business as usual.
 
This book closes with TR  slicing and dicing 3 books written by distinguished professors that attempt to make predictions based upon history. He gives them credit were he agrees with some of their assumptions but sets the record straight where they overlook facts. The first book is on: “National Life and Character”. The Second on: “Social Evolution” (with a sub-category of all religions being the same). Lastly: “The Law of Civilization and Decay”. These books attempt to look into the future. Overall TR was optimistic about the future but we must add one variable to the equation.. that variable being that as a whole the American People have forgotten TR and his proven examples of necessary civic action. He says in this section
 
“It is always best to look at facts squarely in the face, without blinking them, and to remember that, as has been well said, in the long run even the most uncomfortable truth is a safer companion than the pleasantest falsehood”. “Whether the future holds good or evil for us does not, it is true, alter our duty in the present”.
 
“We, ourselves, are not certain that progress is assured; we only assert that it may be assured if we but live wise, brave, and upright lives”.



THEODORE ROOSEVELT AN  INTIMATE BIOGRAPHY BY  WILLIAM  ROSCOE  THAYER 1919

Author William Thayer was a Harvard classmate of TR. He states he never voted for a Republican President and did not agree with a number of TR’s policies  but that he had a friendship with TR throughout his life. He interjects a good deal of opinions into his writings as he tries to explain what he witnesses in TR and the social moods of his time. He does make at least one error of fact when he gives an opinion about the 1902 Anthracite Coal strike. General John M. Schofield was going to play a part in the coal strike that Thayer should have know about or at least he did not consider. This error tells me that his access to TR was not super close and that some of his other opinions may be over stated. With this proviso stated, I must say, Thayer is an excellent writer and the closing of this book is well worth the read. He earnestly implores future generations to look closely at the life of TR because of the lessons of public folly and wisdom of a man that willed to be honest and make the world a little better wherever he had an opportunity. It is possible to sense the remorse he feels for not fully realizing the impact that TR’s life had in building up this nation. Then about 1914 when World War One started the impact of TR’s messages gave him a keen sense of his oversight and compelled him to write about his epiphany.
 




Applied Ethics and Realizable Ideals by Theodore Roosevelt 1912


This book consists of a series of five Lectures given in 1911 at the University of California Berkley campus. What a beautiful country this would be if the American People were able to accomplish what TR lays out as a proper course of action in our everyday lives. He does not talk about Ideals that are not possible to obtain. He does not talk about trying to figure out what is ethical. What he talks about the average man and average woman can accomplish. It can be accomplished because he does not ask anyone to do more  than he has done himself in the way he lived his life. TR not only talked the talk, TR walked the walk. TR's life long subject material was patriotism. To be an American Patriot you must be a good citizen. TR was always guided by his Christian ethics which he thought needed to find expression in wise deeds, not lip service or softheaded actions. An act of kindness without an expectation for personal gain is called paying it forward. What usually happens, when paying it forward, is that in some obscure way a blessing will find its way back to touch you in some manner. Theodore Roosevelt paid it forward nearly every day of his life. It is now high time that TR's monumental unselfish actions should have their greatest impact when the country he loved needs his guidance most.  His time for personal physical deeds have past. He can no longer do for us what needs to be done today. We only have his words now and a long record of accomplishments that prove the validity of his methods to inspire the actions that are required.  His words & examples in the form of deeds are all we need to inspire average citizens to achieve the realizable ideals of which he speaks.

The possibility of citizens acting upon TR's suggestions in a great enough number to move public opinion may be even more realizable today. The truth of his words resonate truer in our time than his own time, because we have followed a different course to our own detriment. Listen to his words. If you like what you hear, pay it forward by helping with the TR Revival of Applied Ethics and Realizable Ideals.

I am offering the actual introduction to this book because it is a vivid and striking wish that others hear TR’s messages.

INTRODUCTION BY WILLIAM FREDERIC BADE.
   The addresses printed in this volume were delivered under the auspices of Pacific Theological Seminary by the Honorable Theodore Roosevelt, as Earl Lecturer, in the Spring of 1911. The Seminary is fortunate in possessing a Lectureship founded by Mr. Edwin T. Earl in 1901, whose purpose, as stated in the articles of foundation, is "to aid in securing at the University of California the presentation of Christian truth by bringing to Berkeley year by year eminent Christian scholars and thinkers to speak upon themes calculated to illustrate and disseminate Christian thought and minister to Christian life." The uncommon public interest which this series of lectures aroused, and the attendance of many thousands who daily crowded the Greek Theatre to hear them, emphasized to the Lectureship Committee the desirability of yielding to a wide-spread demand for their publication. Since Mr. Roosevelt did not have a manuscript, arrangements were made for an accurate stenographic report, which was afterwards submitted to him for revision. So much should be said in explanation of the forensic form of these lectures. Their fine ethical purpose justifies the hope that they may continue to stimulate good citizenship in wider circles than those which came within reach of the speaker's voice.




An Autobiography by Theodore Roosevelt 1913


Meet TR the man of Action who tells Americans how willpower and character will give anyone “The Ability” to do whatever they wish in life. I wish that I had read this book as a youth but no matter what your age he can infect you with a can do attitude.



Theodore Roosevelt’s LETTERS TO HIS CHILDREN By Joseph Bucklin Bishop 1919

Meet TR the loving father, who laughs, plays and enjoys what are fleeting moments in a parents life.


Theodore Roosevelt And his time Shown in his own letters, By Joseph Bucklin Bishop Volume one and two. 1919 – 1920

Gain a near perfect overview of TR's career. Anyone wishing to become a TR expert should read these two volumes. It will give you the ability to pick out errors in other books. You will also meet TR the trendsetter,  the fearless, the leader that inspires others to aspire to what should be done. Plus you will see the dark side of politics that is still with us today and how to deal with it effectively.
 
 
 

Theodore Roosevelt The Citizen JACOB A. RIIS 1903 1904

Jacob Riis was a Danish Naturalized citizen. Riis had written a book in 1890 titled “How the Other Half Lives," which was in Riis's words “an indictment of the things that were wrong, pitifully and dreadfully wrong, with the tenement homes of our wage-workers”. One day Mr. Riis came to his office to find a penciled note on a card ,from TR,  it said; "I have read your book, and I have come to help." TR was either a police commissioner or a state legislator when he left this note. Just prior to TR's death he says of Riis as “next to his father the best man he had ever known”, saying of Riis’s book that “it had been to him both an enlightenment and an inspiration for which he could never be too grateful”. Riis gives an up-close and personal account of his friend in Citizen Roosevelt. This is a very important book because it tells the exact methods TR used with advantage to triumph over those that tried to stand in the way of government reform. Riis gives insight into TR dynamic personality from a perspective that few had the sees what others overlook.



FEAR GOD and Take Your Own Part By Theodore Roosevelt 1914, 1915, 1916


 In the 3rd volume of Winning of the West written over 20 years before this book, TR documents that Daniel Boone lived by his Fear God creed. This is the definition TR gives of the Fear God Creed:  "Fear God, in the true sense of the word, means love God, respect God, honor God; and all of this can only be done by loving our neighbor, treating him justly and mercifully, and in all ways endeavoring to protect him from injustice and cruelty; thus obeying, as far as our human frailty will permit, the great and immutable law of righteousness".
 
    Living by this creed required a common sense approach to life's choices based on not violating these fundamental principles. This book describes how basically every one of TR's common sense principles (that are still benefiting society today) that he used to formulate public policy  during his administration was mocked at and cast aside for an exact opposite public policy approach that caused devastating effects. One gets the idea that it was done in some cases in a manner of spite by the Wilson Administration  attempting to degrade TR. Insecure individuals sometimes try to tear others down to build themselves up. TR endured the insults that took place through 7 years of the Wilson Administration without flinching. Since this book was written in 1916 you will not see the congressional election of 1918 where TR's wisdom was finally heard after 6 long years of preaching and leading by example as a private citizen. This election was a severe rebuke of the Wilson administration. But the stolen election of 1912  & the torture of ignorance that TR endured for the next 8 years because he could not remain silent to a stolen election, took the ultimate toll possible upon TR by having two of his four sons severely wounded in World War One and a third son Quentin, his youngest son, killed in an Arial dog fight over Germany. (In those days there were no parachutes.) TR would die in his sleep with in 6 months of Quentin’s death. He stated shortly before he died that the joy had gone from his life.
 
I am reminded of the trial of Socrates and the Passion of Christ when reading this book. What you have is common sense being offered by the accused with the accuser seemingly not hearing what is said. The accuser points at the accused and says they are guilty of the exact things of which they themselves are guilty. When TR talks about what the Wilson Administration did to insult him with the Panama Canal treaty near the end of this book, it becomes very clear the Wilson Administration was attempting to place guilt upon TR. TR's common sense logical explanation falls on deaf ears of those with a personal agenda as did words of Socrates and Christ. For those who have the wisdom to look honestly at the pages of history without bias, the fog of ignorance that once covered TR’s righteous  actions will be lifted. It is a wicked injustice to anyone that is an American Patriot not to remember the creed TR lived by because the way he lived his life is still having a positive effect on our lives today. If the examples he set are held up as a standard for political action today, his leadership will bear even greater fruit in the future.


GOUVERNEUR MORRIS BY THEODORE ROOSEVELT 1888

 Who was Gouverneur Morris? He was not a governor, as I had first thought (believing a spelling change had taken place over 200 years).
 “Perhaps his greatest interest for us lies in the fact that he was a shrewder, more far-seeing observer and recorder of contemporary men and events, both at home and abroad, than any other American or foreign statesman of his time. But aside from this he did much lasting work. He took a most prominent part in bringing about the independence of the colonies, and afterwards in welding them into a single powerful nation, whose greatness he both foresaw and foretold. He made the final draft of the United States Constitution; he first outlined our present system of national coinage ; he originated and got under way the plan for the Erie Canal; as minister to France he successfully performed the most difficult task ever allotted to an American representative at a foreign capital. With all his faults, there are few men of his generation to whom the country owes more than to Gouverneur Morris”.
TR uses a phrase in another book “The Philosophy of History”. When reading or listening to history books written by TR you will come to understand how he was able to have such a clear vision of what political course of action was the best course. This book takes you back for an up-close look at the founding of the country and the slavery issue among other political battles. It takes you to France during the red terror for a view of vigilante government. There is no doubt in my mind that when TR was dealing with incendiary labor agitators during his political career he remembered the Red Terror lessons that he wrote about in this book. If you look at a list of all the history books that TR wrote it is obvious that he believed that it was very important that future generations needed not to forget the "Philosophy of our own History”.
Philosophy is defined as: a search for a general understanding of values and reality by chiefly speculative rather than observational means. You need to define Philosophy of History as a science based upon observation. TR uses history like a science experiment. He observes human political mistakes and successes. Then treats these observations as control groups. In this manner he was able to avoid what did not work in the past.

A Cartoon History of Roosevelt's Career By Albert Shaw 1910

This  is an excellent book even if it had no cartoons. With the cartoons this book is a treasure trove of knowledge about politics past and present. Cartoons from this period of time open a very wide view about public attitude and underhanded political tactics. There was a war that was raged to turn public opinion against the reforms that TR enacted. You can see in the large percentage of cartoons how the press, sometimes willfully other times out of ignorance tried to convince the people that TR was something that he was not. Looking back from our time, with the knowledge of history and the fruit of prosperity that grew from his wise actions the evil of ignorance is clearly displayed in some of these cartoons. You can see in these cartoons that every battle that people think is impossible to solve today because of misinformation, powerful wealth and ignorance was fought on a different battle field by TR 100 years ago. Some of the problems have changed, many have not, but that does not matter because the process of finding a solution is the key to problem solving. Some thought TR was impulsive making snap decisions. They were completely wrong. TR had a system of looking at a problem that narrowed down the possible solutions to a few choices in most cases. No matter what the problem was for TR possible solutions were tested based upon the best information that he could obtain. Was one side benefiting at the expense of another or was it a square deal for all sides?   He eliminated anything that was dishonest and measured everything by his Christian moral standard. When it came time to make a decision he did not have many solutions to choose from, which was his goal. Whether looking down the barrel of a drawn gun or facing down those making false charges against him, his edge was that he knew how to take action quickly, because he did not worry about solutions that would not be effective.  
 
 
I believe TR deliberately planned to leave us the problem solving process he used. He was meticulous about insuring that the examples of his experiences and successes were well documented and that they were completely accurate where ever he could control what was written. I believe he would of rather cut of his hand than write something that was not accurate. His solution process can be overlooked if you do not think it possible for a person to say exactly what they mean and live by what they say. I believe he learned, about the solution process that he used, from history books that he read and wrote about. His successful experiences in life validated the correctness of what he read about. One section of his life works was writing about history for future generations. It is impossible that he was not considering that future generations would look and learn by the examples that he was placing in the history books about methods he used to make America a super power.  You might not know that TR loved to laugh and all these cartoons were an enjoyment to him. The fact that he could laugh at those that were trying to destroy him, which some of these cartoons clearly indicate, shows a person confident in his course of action. That is the power of knowing history, because what works and fails has been done many times before. As you learn about TR you will understand that knowing history was one of his many passions.





THEODORE ROOSEVELT   BY  HENRY CABOT LODGE 1919


February 9, 1919: His 12,000 word address gives a vivid description of a life well lived. He paints an accurate portrait of an American Patriot, the likes of which may not be seen again if his examples are not remembered accurately. But Lodge falls short of honor when he describes the 1912 Republican convention as stormy which gave the nomination to Taft. Although technically correct in what he stated, he is guilty of an error of omission. Did Lodge fear confronting those that supported dishonest actions or did he think that it was not the place or time to accurately describe what really happened, June of 1912?  For the rest of the story read Bishop Volume 2 chapters 21, 22, & 23. Lodge’s friend Theodore’s life had just ended.  Theodore’s political philosophy required that light should be shown on dishonesty as the surest method to achieving justice from public servants. To call the 1912 convention stormy is tantamount to hiding what really happened. TR lived by the 10 commandments & he would be guilty of bearing false witness if what he states as follows was not completely accurate.
 
"I am in this fight for certain principles, and the first and most important of these goes back to Sinai, and is embodied in the commandment, 'Thou shalt not steal.' Thou shalt not steal a nomination. Thou shalt neither steal in politics nor in business. Thou shalt not steal from the people the birthright of the people to rule themselves."
 
TR instructed his delegates to walk out of the Convention and the Bull Moose Party was formed as a result of the "Thou shalt not Steal " commandment.
 
Also see the Strenuous Life THE EIGHTH AND NINTH COMMANDMENTS IN   POLITICS PUBLISHED IN THE "OUTLOOK," MAY 12, 1900
 



HISTORY AS LITERATURE  AND OTHER ESSAYS BY    THEODORE  ROOSEVELT 1913


This book contains sections of text that are included in other works but there is much that can be gained by reading the messages TR conveys as he elaborates on a very wide range of subjects that profoundly influences the march of civilization. This book could have had a sub-title of “The Practical Application Of Thought Process In Finding A “Square Deal”.

There is a mystery surrounding the publics’ knowledge of Theodore Roosevelt. The mystery is revealed by asking this question. What caused the public to know so very little about Theodore Roosevelt today? When his list of accomplishments for the public welfare have never been even closely equaled by other public people, the mystery is intensified. Why has the messages that he left to insure future prosperity been almost forgotten when they are backed up by his tremendous list of accomplishments?

I believe part of the mystery may be solved by understanding what human intellect forces became active in society from his generation to the next generation. As he goes through the subjects in this book you will notice that he does not play the political game to telling people what they want to hear. The next generation did not experience the struggle for equality and were less impressed by TR’s position because human intellect often wants more for less effort and TR was about more for more work if a square deal was the goal. One hundred years have passed since many of his words were delivered. That is often the time necessary for people to recognize the higher meaning of actions and the truth in words of warning.

What is a Square Deal? In one instance it means treating a rich person or a poor person equally. This seems easy to understand as a concept. But in reality how is it that people can enter into contracts or agreements and not have both parties believe they are entitled to more than they deserve? The courts are filled with cases driven by this force of human intellect that wants a fair or square deal. Supposedly fair-minded people, on both sides of the agreement, can think they are being short-changed. Clearly people have a flaw in over valuing there contribution to many situations. Everyday conflicts have the same force at work. Isn’t this the driving question in our day to day life? Was I treated fairly or should someone have done something differently to make it fair?

So lets look at TR in his day where wealth was crushing the little person in the birth of the industrial revolution. He took a position that angered wealth and pleased poor but the poor often enough, although grateful, wanted more which would not have been fair. So TR made enemies on both sides. This is a simplistic analogy but it shows the forces at work in the numerous other subjects which TR did not fear to tackle. He was popular in his day but there were always a fair number of those that sang his praise who did so because they were helped to get a square deal but who did not understand that they were not entitled to more and who through ignorance sided with those later on that promised them more than they were deserved.

If you have the character of a Theodore Roosevelt, you can become popular when you champion a square deal when things are out of whack and one side has an unfair advantage. But when you hold firm and recognize and list the arguments of both sides as a means of understanding the problem before you, you are apt to anger people. As you read or listen to this book you will see the practical application of TR looking at the beliefs of people and listing what is good and what is of lesser quality. Just because a person has a poor position on a subject, TR does not reject the entire person's beliefs. TR has no sacred cows. He does not fear to take a position that may be unpopular. There was a great movement of equality and social justice in his day. TR played an important part in bringing that about. What may help explain the obscurity that TR sank into, after his days in the sun, is that human force that always believes an individual is entitled to more than they actually are entitled. When a greater level of equality was achieved, and TR’s position stood against both sides of the arguments wanting to receive more than they were entitled,  few were left to sing TR's praises.

One hundred years have passed and some of the sacred cows which he gores in this book prove his position correct. Some may take exception to his position on other subjects. Be careful not to take a position that does not afford you the opportunity to see what the other side thinks is fair, you may never find the truth which is also alluding those that you oppose.

Theodore Roosevelt had the gift to indiscriminately look for good and evil in people and then explaining to those considered good and evil by others, that by working in combination for future benefit great things could be accomplished. That helps explain his list of accomplishments that no one in American Politics has come close to achieving. How his messages, that the passing of time has proved correct, have become obscure to the public in proceeding years, when he has benefited them so greatly, is less important than having others hear the message that he knew we would need to hear today.



IMPRESSIONS OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT  By Lawrence F. Abbot 1920


 Lawrence Abbot was a personal friend of TR for 22 years. He tells about what he witnessed over the years of his acquaintance. Doctor Abbot acted as personal secretary to TR during the time TR made his African and European addresses. In this important section of the book he meets the Ex-President in Egypt. Then he travels with him down the Nile River and around Europe and describes the electrifying effects of TR’s University lectures, the receptions by Monarchs and people lining the streets, to set sight upon an American Icon . This book gives you a glimpse into how honesty of words and action toward other countries gave TR the power to keep the world at peace when he was president.



THEODORE ROOSEVELT THE   LOGIC   OF   HIS CAREER BY CHARLES G. WASHBURN 1916

The Author Charles Washburn was a Harvard Classmate of TR, and a friend that did not always agree with  TR’s political policies. He covers many topics & adds more knowledge about free trade, tariffs and referendums to recall judicial decisions, that can be found in other books about TR. From his perspective, he tries to tell an honest story but most likely unconsciously  he fears to tell the whole truth.  Washburn was a member of the republican party. He seems to justify supporting Taft in 1912 because he believes TR was wrong about referendums to recall judicial decisions (in cases where judges used less than clear and convincing arguments to violate the constitution, and acted as legislators). Mr. Washburn says nothing about a requirement for honesty in elections. Mr. Washburn seems to have a legal background. This is what he says about TR's support for recall of judicial decisions (referring to TR fearlessly not hiding his opinion on a topic that was very controversial to his party at the time): Read between the lines and you will notice that Mr. Washburn says TR committed the crime of giving the people an honest opinion during the campaign of 1912 that the party would not stand for:
 
“He must have known, as well as any one, what the result would be. And then, when he had left nothing undone and had done everything to make his nomination in a Republican Convention impossible,”………..
 
 
Nomination impossible, what does that mean? He does not say. For those that know  what happened at the 1912 convention it means that 39 delegates from the previous 1908 convention ran the 1912 convention until the 1912 delegates were seated and that they replaced several hundred Roosevelt delegates with Taft delegates making TR's  nomination impossible, even though TR obtained enough delegates from the primary elections to win the Republican nomination. But Mr. Washburn chose not to tarnish his party in this book by omitting what really happened. The person he voted for, Taft, acted dishonestly and contrary to voters legal rights of choice. TR clearly would have given the nomination to Taft if it was an honest convention. Everything in TR’s career points to example after example of TR’s acceptance of fair contest outcomes. This is a history example of good people willing to do dishonest acts for what they think is best. If he was sure about the validity of the actions of his party leaders there would be no hesitation to offering the honest truth about what they did. He cannot do this because the election was stolen.

If we choose to remember our history this, is an example of Machiavellian vigilante politics with good intentions that most likely caused World War 1 by replacing Theodore Roosevelt with a president that thought that you can avert war by being too proud to fight. I guess President Wilson never faced a bully in the playground or Taft really never thought justice was the surest path. Mr. Washburn thought it was ok to do business with a thief if he is selling something that he likes. All of these actions are completely opposite to how TR lived and worked and became successful. One of the main reasons this web site has been built is to show that TR's honest principles produced the greatest success this country ever enjoyed and that we are operating today under Machiavellian principles, which seem in the short run to be beneficial but in the long run they are destructive. TR's life examples and success prove beyond a shadow of doubt which method is best. It is time to demand the type of honesty in politics TR says is vital and he tells us how and why we should demand it.

 

LIFE AND WORK OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT By THOMAS H. RUSSELL, 1919

A sad book because of TR’s sudden death and the grief of friends and a nation. But a great book that will make you want to follow his example of “Seeking out what you can do for your country”.



Messages, Proclamations, and Executive Orders:

to the end of the Fifty-seventh Congress, First Session 1901 & 1902. These are public documents that show the first steps of a new president getting right to work cutting red tape to save our Natural Resources and carving out the “Keystones” necessary to make the United States an economic power house.
 


State of the Union Address 1901 through 1907 found in the Congressional Record

Picture a bull dog with iron jaws latching on to an issue, while having the teeth of the bull dog represented by piercing arguments that hold the issue from all sides so that no valid consideration is overlooked or no special deal can be offered to confuse the issue. This is the type of tenacity that TR used when making requests for needed legislation. This would be a marvel to witness if it were even just a few issues but he used this type of tenacity with hundreds of issues that he pushed through congress. TR was a bull dog when fighting evil. Evil was anything that did not benefit the public and the country. But that is not the only picturesque analogy that can be drawn by reading his State of the Union Messages. I see a master block mason first setting up his work area so that he will be able to do his best work. Then I see this master craftsman carefully, but with speed, build this country into a super power by setting block after block of the necessary foundation in place. Some take it for granted that we were destined to become an economic super power but I wonder how that would have been accomplished if TR did not fight for a square deal for the working class or a dozens of other issues that were essential to the prosperity that we enjoy today.
 
As you read or listen to these messages consider how many of his requests for legislation were enacted that are of benefit to you personally. You may disagree with a few of his requests out of the vast majority. But be careful to go back and look for qualifying statements & safeguards that needed to be considered. Politics is no longer practiced with TR's brand of philosophy. Machiavellian, expediency, special deals and retaining power as all important, have replaced TR's, Socratic thoughtful, square deals and willingness to make any office he held his last office. If holding that office required not doing his best for the public, the office was not worth holding . If TR was the most successful president based upon his record of accomplishments why is the public not aware of the difference between how he accomplished his deeds and the accepted political expediency philosophy of today? This web site is about correcting that deficiency in our educational system & giving the people opportunities to reform government using the same methods that TR used.


THE FOES OF OUR OWN HOUSEHOLD By Theodore Roosevelt 1917

By Theodore Roosevelt: Prior to World War One, Germany had sent a number of immigrants to this country as spies, saboteurs, & propagandists. These German agents influenced German immigrants to support Germany when war broke out and keep America out of the fight. It was a fairly successful plan because some politicians including President Wilson feared the German vote. This country needed someone to speak out against the foes of our household. When others feared to speak out, Theodore Roosevelt was there & almost seemed super human in his efforts to find opportunities to sound the clarion call for wise action. TR said:

“We have believed that we would get devotion to our country from immigrants who came here merely to make money and escape meeting obligations. The belief was ill founded. The man who feels that the country owes him everything and that he owes the country nothing, will pay the country just what he thinks he owes— nothing. It is a curious fact that many Germans who came here to avoid military service, and who while here have had to do nothing they did not care to do, yet as soon as the strain came, felt all their loyalty toward the country which exacted much from its citizens, and none at all for the country which expected nothing from its citizens”.

TR was not the type of person that would only fight one foe of our country at a time. He challenges every recognizable foe in this book that his logic based upon his Philosophy of History examples could reveal. He gives very powerful arguments that explain the dangers of Hyphenated Americans, Socialism & Communism. There are a long list of social ills that he talks about that are tearing the country apart today. He uses a term softheaded people to describe one type of foe that we need to recognize today.

 The concept of “parasite women” was prevalent in his day, TR did not hesitate to set the record straight about equal rights for women so that those people that were following popular opinion would have a correct opinion to follow. Without fearless leaders that are willing to challenge those things, the crowd wrongly believes that to be politically correct, the country will follow popular opinion until some disaster changes the way they think. What TR does time after time is to recognize pending disasters. He then places himself in front of the stampede of ill thinking people while firing warning shots that change the course of popular opinions to avert disasters. He states time after time that the possibility of personal injury was never a factor and that correcting a wrong was his only consideration. Where are the fearless leaders today? Have saboteurs re-entered the country? Have the foes of our household returned because it has become popular opinion not to remember TR's examples for removing the foes that will surely destroy this country. A letter by Abraham Lincoln to Mrs. Bixby, a mother that had 5 sons killed in the civil war, can be found in several speeches by TR as a reason for dedicating some of our time toward trying to recognize the foes of our household in times of peace. When you consider what people have given to this country to preserve it, should we not try to learn a little about the philosophy of history which TR writes about so that disasters such as this mother faced can be avoided?  TR writes about history so that individuals and leaders will learn how to recognize the foes of our household and know how to respond. Knowledge of history & TR's moral character examples will produce people like TR if you help promote this web site.



THEODORE ROOSEVELT THE MAN AS I KNEW HIM  BY FERDINAND IGLEHART  DOCTOR OF DIVINITY 1919

FERDINAND IGLEHART Doctor of divinity and pastor of the Park Avenue Methodist Church in New York City, “we were associated with him in his work as Police Commissioner in closing Sunday saloons and were engaged with him in the desperate fight against evil and crime in the great city”.

“I suspect that if any one had been there, that beautiful October day, with spirit ears keen enough, he would have heard the angels, with their harps, serenading the child that heaven had sent to earth. So on this little piece of ground, a few feet front and a few feet deep, was born the babe that grew to be the giant who set all the bells to ringing, the whistles to blowing, the bands to playing, the children to laughing, the multitude to shouting, the battle-drums to beating, and the millions to practical service for their fellowmen and for the public good. The old birthplace, four stories high, was the foundation and first story of the magnificent structure of the Roosevelt character and life”.


“There should be an eleventh commandment: "Thou shalt tell the truth, and thou shalt tell it just as much on the stump as in the pulpit." Do not fail to perform whatever you have promised. On the other hand, do not, through weakness, folly, or wickedness, promise, or ask to have promised, what you know cannot be performed. When a man runs for office, if you ask him to promise what you know cannot be done, you are asking him to lie. You are taking a position that is infamous for yourself, because you are asking him to take an infamous position. On the other hand, if you ask him, as you have a right to ask him, to do what can be performed, and he fails to redeem his promise, hold him to the strictest accountability. If he promises you the millennium, distrust him. If he tells you that, providing you vote for his particular patent remedy, he will cure all diseases of the body politic, and will see that everybody is happy, rich, and prosperous, not only distrust him, but also set yourselves down as fools if you follow him”.

“Recently Colonel Roosevelt said to me: "You remember the walk we had from the church to the White House, a dozen years ago, when I turned my heart inside out to you, and told you I believed God had raised me up to lead the nation in its desperate fight for its life against the illegal despotism of combined wealth in collusion with corrupt municipal, state and federal office holders, and that my daily prayer was that God would spare my life long enough to see that menace to the republic removed? He did spare me, and I thank Him. But I thank Him most for sparing me to take a part in the settlement of the great world war. No Hebrew prophet was ever called up to cry out against the danger confronting his nation, or the moral evils that curse the world, more truly than I have been called up to plead for an ideal Americanism, strong, brave, just and pure, 100 per cent, loyal American, and also to fight to the death absolute despotism in its oppressions and crimes, which in its demoniacal rage for world rule has killed off the flower of the world, its young men, and caused more agony than has ever been suffered since the world began. I thank God that I have lived to see the victory which places the United States in the forefront of the free peoples of the world and which means universal democracy with its liberty, happiness, thrift and love to the millions of the oppressed children of earth, which will hasten the establishment of the Kingdom of Christ in the world, with its universal peace, righteousness, and love."

“Before Mr. Roosevelt had made his name and fame a household word I noticed that he was by far the best informed man I had ever met. Of the hundreds of subjects I have taken up with him, there was not one about which he did not know much more than I did myself, and some of those subjects were specialties upon which years of study and labor had been spent. And as years advanced I learned that he was not only regarded by those closest to him, but by well-nigh universal consent, as the best informed man in the largest range of subjects of anybody in the nation, if not in the world”.

 “I find one who is given to wrong-doings and professes to be good I strike him with all the power that is in me." After the address I commended what he said? and he replied: "Dr. Bowman, I absolutely have no use for a man who is a counterfeit."

 “I give here the estimate of Rabbi Henry Pereira Mendes, one of the most eminent Hebrew scholars in America”,

“The question of what kind of a man Roosevelt was is of tremendous importance, but more so is the question what kind of men his memory inspires us to be. It is little use saying he awakened conscience, touched the heart, and was a great moral force, unless we feel that he has awakened our conscience, touched our hearts and made us a moral force in our own little world of society, politics and family. We can imagine such a man in past years of our American-Jewish history, and thereby estimate his worth”.

“He is said to have had from his earliest youth this characteristic of absorbing good from every one and everything with which he came in contact. He had it to the fullest in the wisdom of his maturity. He would discuss himself in as frank manner as he would discuss his opponents. His career as a member of the Legislature, as Civil Service Commissioner, Police Commissioner, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Colonel of Rough Riders, Governor of New York, Vice-President and President of the United States, as author, historian, naturalist, hunter, sportsman, husband, father, citizen, carried through it all as the one controlling motif a consistent determination to do what he thought was right. It mattered not one whit how that course affected himself or anyone else or anything if he thought it was right he did it—and he did it to the hilt”.

“It would be my wont to say of Colonel Roosevelt that which he would have me say of him. Could we consult him now, I know it would be his wish, above all things, that we draw something from his example of benefit to the people he loved so much”.

“The lesson of the patriotism of Theodore Roosevelt, which will live forever, is his monument. This patriotism was not the kind that is born of extremities; it was not that fire, splendid as it is, which burns in the souls of men only when their country is in danger. His patriotism was not the patriotism stirred only by martial music—it was the patriotism of good citizenship, at the fireside, the plow, the mart, in low places and in high places, in season and out of season; it was the patriotism which caused him to make his country's welfare his own business and to interest himself continually in the practical politics of his community. He believed and acted always the patriotism of peace as well as of war, and it moved the man to measure his every act, from his earliest manhood to the date of his death, by how, in his good judgment, he could do the most for his country's welfare. This is the only patriotism which, in the last analysis, is worth while”.




THE MOST INTERESTING AMERICAN BY JULIAN STREET 1916

A very short book under 10,000 words. Julian Street first meets TR in 1916 for several interviews. He writes about these interviews. These interviews reveal a striking contrast between the man that should have been president in 1916 and how he would have approached the lead up to World War One. This is contrasted with President Wilson’s actions, that were 180 degrees opposite to what TR would have done.  A very interesting little book to the TR experts when you consider an incident that happened at the Republican National Convention in 1912 explained by Bishop “In his own words”. (not covered in this book). One might say that President Taft played Machiavelli, trying to hold power in any way possible & Elihue Root played Judus, helping to steal a fairly-won primary election away from Theodore Roosevelt after Roosevelt's delegates were denied entry to the convention. If not for this act Theodore Roosevelt would have been President in 1916. When you read this book in the light of what happened in 1912 you can see how it is a definite possibility that Taft, Root and others caused the deaths of millions of people including TR’s youngest son, by changing the course of history. That political dishonest act started the great tragedy. History is filled with examples of honest people paying the price when others act in less than honorable ways. It is important that we recognize and record when they happen so that someday other have a chance to recognize just how destructive dishonesty can be. TR says; “Face facts as they are”! He also said; “It was his duty to spend and be spent”! He lived by his words and the world is better for a life well lived. Those that know their history have a better chance to avoid tragedy. Have we forgotten Machiavellian philosophy caused this tragedy?



THE ROUGH RIDERS BY THEODORE ROOSEVELT 1899

by TR. There is a certain bond that develops among people that face death together that many will never understand. Why does one soldier fall in battle while another faces the same risks or greater risk and cheats death. Many great leaders fall in battle and some survive. TR the author had written about war extensively in “Hero’s Tales”, The War of 1812, and the Winning of the West. He had read countless books of battles through the ages in world history. He had also learned how to avoid battles that did not need to be fought. He would never ask of any person something that he himself would not do. That was one of his creeds. So he resigned a safe desk job as assistant secretary of the Navy, against the advice of friends and colleagues, and by using all his wit made it into the deadliest battles of the Spanish American War. He cheated death in the same manner that George Washington had done numerous times. An account in another book from Spanish Soldiers  has been reported that TR's actions did not make sense because he was leading charges in a hale of bullets and cannon fire when he should have been retreating. The fact is, that people told TR all through his life, that he could not or should not do what he intended to do because he would be destroyed. They were so wrong. Far from being destroyed he is still talking to us from the pages of  history. This book is about the bond of fellow soldiers and going to war when duty calls.


THE  STRENUOUS  LIFE BY THEODORE ROOSEVELT 1899

This book consist of a series of speeches TR gave before he became president.  From a very young age TR decided to be an honest person like his father. TR was a preacher of civic duty. When you read or listen to what he is saying keep in mind that he strictly lived by the words he spoke.
 
Wouldn't it be nice to hear about a really honest politician today? This is what TR has to say about that in this book. "No community is healthy where it is ever necessary to distinguish one politician among his fellows because "he is honest." Honesty is not so much a credit as an absolute prerequisite to efficient service to the public".  I guess TR would say that we do not have a healthy community today and it is time to do something about that.
 
 In these speeches among other things TR lays great stress on military preparedness and military duty. I want to say a little about this. Socratic reasoning is a process where what is good action for the individual on a small scale is good action for the state. You only need to apply what is best for the individual and expand it to a broader scale or visa versa, if something is not beneficial to both something is wrong with your reasoning.

Without government protection, individual freedom is not possible so he stresses the most important element of freedom. Strength is directly related to individual freedom to act honestly. Without strength in the individual or the state our system of government decays according to TR’s reasoning. The principle course of action remains the same for state and individual. If honesty is important for an individual it is also important for the government and visa versa. If you want to be honest and treat others well there will always be the bully or prig that will stand in your way or make fun out of you so that others will not follow your example. Now consider both parts of his adage, “Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far”. I estimate that 90% or more of his life was about speaking softly.  His honest and caring helpful attitude toward everyone was the speak softly part of TR, the big stick, which he rarely had to use, was what made it possible for him to speak softly. He knew that if others perceive you helpless that you are destine to be a victim. The following quote is from his autobiography he was 13 years old.
 
"Then an incident happened that did me real good. Having an attack of asthma, I was sent off by myself to Moosehead Lake. On the stage-coach ride thither I encountered a couple of other boys who were about my own age, but very much more competent and also much more mischievous. I have no doubt they were good-hearted boys, but they were boys! They found that I was a foreordained and predestined victim, and industriously proceeded to make life miserable for me. The worst feature was that when I finally tried to fight them I discovered that either one singly could not only handle me with easy contempt, but handle me so as not to hurt me much and yet to prevent my doing any damage whatever in return. The experience taught me what probably no amount of good advice could have taught me. I made up my mind that I must try to learn so that I would not again be put in such a helpless position; and having become quickly and bitterly conscious that I did not have the natural prowess to hold my own". What works for a little boy also works for a country. Keep this also in mind when he stresses military preparedness in this book.



THROUGH THE BRAZILIAN WILDERNESS By Theodore Roosevelt 1914

Meet TR the explorer as part of an expedition mapping the course of an unknown river into the head water of the great Amazon River. The River of Doubt now bears his name as an honor for the service he provided to the people of South America. It is a story of adventure, great peril, grueling hardship. He was 54 years old at the time, which proves he was still tough as nails.


MY BROTHER THEODORE  ROOSEVELT BY CORINNE ROOSEVELT ROBINSON

If we had a five star rating system with five stars being a great book this would be a five star book. I first started listening to this book on a two hour drive to Philadelphia with my wife Jane. After about  40 minutes I had said that I did not think there was anything of major political interest in the book. Jane had said that she liked the book and that his sister was showing how the father was a major influence in the later lives of his children. Jane was absolutely correct. Never underestimate the role that a parents examples and words can have in molding the next generation. The first 25% of this book deals with the nurturing that they received from their parents.  Corinne Roosevelt Robinson is a brilliant author in her own right. Not because TR gave her great things to write about which was the paint on the canvas that she uses, but  she is brilliant because she recognized and wrote about the things which were most important for future generations to read. I clip my favorite paragraphs from each book and keep them in a word document which normally consist of 5 pages because I try to limit the size. This book I have a word document with 20 pages. I include just a few paragraphs of different subjects which cannot be called the best because there are so many of equal rank.

This following paragraph validates the saying that the person we become is because of the books we read, our experiences in life and the people we meet. This is a statement about religious faith by TR late in his life. But one could say that it is TR's father talking through his lips.


"I advocate a man's joining in church work for the sake of showing his faith by his works; I leave to professional theologians the settlement of the question, whether he is to achieve his salvation by his works or by faith which is only genuine if it expresses itself in works. Micah's insistence upon love and mercy, and doing justice and walking humbly with the Lord's will, should suffice if lived up to. ... Let the man not think overmuch of saving his own soul. That will come of itself, if he tries in good earnest to look after his neighbor both in soul and in body—remembering always that he had better leave his neighbor alone rather than show arrogance and lack of tactful-ness in the effort to help him. The church on the other hand must fit itself for the practical betterment of mankind if it is to attract and retain the fealty of the men best worth holding and using."

This paragraph is a Corinne Roosevelt Robinson quote.

Shortly before leaving Dresden I had my twelfth birthday and the Minckwitz Clan made every effort to make it a gay festival, but perhaps the gift which I loved best was a letter received that very morning from my beloved father; and in closing this brief account of those days spent in Germany, because of his wise decision to broaden our young horizons by new thoughts and new studies, I wish once more, as I have done several times in these pages, to quote from his words to the little girl in whom he was trying to instill his own beautiful attitude toward life: "Remember that almost every one will be kind to you and will love you if you are only willing to receive their love and are unselfish yourself. Unselfishness, you know, is the virtue that I put above all others, and while it increases so much the enjoyment of those about you, it adds infinitely more to your own pleasure. Your future, in fact, depends very much upon the cultivation of unselfishness, and I know that my darling little girl wishes to practise this quality, but I do wish to impress upon you its importance. As each year passes by, we ought to look back to see what we have accomplished, and also look forward to the future to make up for any deficiencies showing thus a determination to do better, not wasting time in vain regrets." In many ways these words of my father, written when we were so young and so malleable, and impressed upon us by his ever-encouraging example, became one of the great factors in making my brother into the type of man who will always be remembered for that unselfishness instilled into him by his father, and for the determination to do better each day of his life without vain regret for what was already beyond recall.

 Here is a great story which is typical TR.

Theodore Roosevelt announced that he would speak to "The 19th Century Club" on "Americanism." A brilliant editor of an able newspaper was asked to make the speech in answer to the address of "the Young Reformer." As I say, I went with my brother to the meeting and sat directly under him in a front seat. It was the first time I had ever heard him speak in public and I confess to having been extremely nervous. He was never an orator, although later his speeches were delivered with great charm of manner and diction, but at this early stage of his career he had not the graces of an older and more finished speaker. I can see him now as he came forward on the platform and began with eager ardor his plea for Americanism. Every fibre of my being responded to him and to his theme, but I seemed to be alone in my response, for the somewhat chilly audience, full of that same armchair criticism of which I have spoken, gave but little response to the desire of the heart of Theodore Roosevelt, and when he had finished his half-hour's presentation of his plea, there was very little applause, and he sat down looking somewhat nervous and disappointed. Then the brilliant man, twice the age of Theodore Roosevelt, who had been chosen to reply to him, rose, and with deft oratorical manipulation rang the changes on every "ism" he could think of, using as his fundamental argument the fact that all "isms" were fads. He spoke of the superstition of spiritualism, the extravagance of fanaticism, the hypocrisy of hypnotism, the plausibility of socialism—and the highbrow members of "The 19th Century Club " were with the brilliant orator from start to finish, and as he closed his subtile argument, which left Americanism high and dry on the shores of faddism, the audience felt that "the Young Reformer" had had his lesson, and gave genuine applause to his opponent.

Half-way through that opponent's address, I confess, on my own part, to having experienced a great feeling of discouragement; not because I agreed with what he said, but because of the effect produced upon the listeners; but suddenly I saw my brother smile the same smile which used to cross his face in later years when some heckler would try to embarrass him from the back of a great hall, and he took a pencil and wrote something on his cuff. The smile was transitory but it gave me fresh hope, and I knew quite well that the audience would hear something worth while, if not to their liking, in the last ten minutes of the evening, when, as I said before, the speaker of the evening was allowed to rebut the rebutter. The clever editor sat down amidst interested applause, and "the Young Reformer" stepped once more forward to the edge of the platform. He leaned far over from the platform, so earnest, so eager was he, and this is what he said: "I believe that I am allowed ten minutes in which to refute the arguments of my opponent. I do not need ten minutes—I do not need five minutes—I hardly need one minute—I shall ask you one question, and as you answer that question, you will decide who has won this argument—myself or the gentleman on the other side of this platform. My question is as follows: If it is true that all isms are fads, I would ask you, Fellow Citizens, what about Patriotism? " The audience rose to its feet; even "The 19th Century Club" could not but acknowledge that patriotism was a valuable attribute for American citizens to possess. That was the first time that Theodore Roosevelt, in public, asked of his fellow countrymen, "What about Patriotism?" but all his life long, from that time on, it was the question forever on his lips, the question which his own life most adequately answered.

One closing paragraph from the book.

One day—in fact, it was the last day that I sat with him in the hospital—he seemed particularly bright and on the near road to recovery. His left arm was still in bandages, but with his strong right hand he gesticulated as of old, and sitting in his armchair, his eyes clear and shining, his face ruddy and animated, he seemed to me to have lost nothing of the vigorous and inspiring personality of earlier days. As usual, he shared my every interest, reiterated his desire to have my little grandson, Douglas, and his sisters pay a visit in the holidays to Sagamore Hill, to