The use of this text or audio material is subject to the TR American Patriot user agreement located at: TR American Patriot.com 

THEODORE ROOSEVELT
1919

.CHAPTER 11

 THE VICE-PRESIDENCY

IT was Governor's Day at the Orange County Fair at Middletown, New York, that I had a memorable visit with Theodore Roosevelt. How my bosom heaved with pride as I rode in a "royal chariot" in a parade through the streets of the little city, behind the village band. Constituted as I am, caring so little for "fuss and feathers," I felt that the whole performance, as far as my relation to it was concerned, was a joke, but I felt that the little parade was not a joke by any means, for I considered that the greatest man in America was at the head of the line, and that he would stir the farmers of the singularly rich county into the highest enthusiasm and helpful endeavor, and that I, myself, would be enriched with his wisdom and refreshed, by his companionship. "When we got to the speaker's stand at the Fair, thousands upon thousands had gathered around and pressed close against the stand to see and hear the Governor. He said to me, '' Come along here, old boy, and sit with me on the speakers' stand. You have always backed me up, and I want you to stand behind me to-day."
It was a great speech he made. Everything he said and did I thought was great. But he was intrinsically great, and the people of our country and the world recognized that he said and did the greatest things possible to mortals. Their love magnified him almost into the superhuman. One of the things I remember most distinctly about the speech was the humor that filled his soul so full that it ran over in comical facial expressions and in funny incident, which was one of his chief personal charms and which delighted his audiences-. It was a country lunch we had on the ground, and it was great, as it should have been on Governor's Day and after such a speech. I had another heave of pride in my bosom when they placed me next to the Governor to eat. While he did his full job as a working man at that meal, he would take time to throw out a chunk of wisdom, now and then, or to start a hearty laugh. The little circle was charged with his magnetism. Everybody on the ground felt the same delightful thrill of his personality. When the lunch was over he said to me, "I asked you to come out to Middletown to-day because I have something of great importance I want to take up with you. I do not care to say what I desire here in public, nor even to this inner circle of my good friends, and I want you to take a walk with me so that I can say what I desire without anybody hearing me." He said, "There is a lonely place down there in those woods, and we will go there."

When we came to the woods he said,'' Sit down here on the ground." He said to me seriously, "Hobart is going to die. He has an incurable disease and cannot live long, and cannot be renominated for the vice-presidency. The leaders, who will name the candidates to succeed him, have just been to me to offer me the place and insisted upon my taking it. I want to know what you think about it; what would you do if you were in my place ? You and I have had cabinet meetings at Police Headquarters, at the Capitol at Albany and elsewhere, and we will have one here."

"My answer to your question," I said, "will depend upon how you feel about it, because your in* stincts are so strong and your prophetic vision is so keen and wide that I would rather trust your judgment than my own, and I would say, do what you think is the best thing to do and the thing you want to do most." He replied, "I am not going to tell you how I feel about it. I have brought you here to get your judgment, and when you have given me yours I will then tell you what I think about it." " Governor," I said to him, "this is a matter of tremendous importance. I feel honored at your confidence, and will take this matter under serious consideration, sleep on it overnight and let you know in the morning."

"No," he said, "I don't want you to take it under consideration and let me know to-morrow. I do not want you to take an hour, nor five minutes, nor one minute, so just bang away and say what you think now. What I want is your first impression on the subject. Your intuitions are stronger than your logic as they are in most men.

"Here goes," I replied. "The vice-presidency is a temple or a tomb; in the latter years of our republic it has been a tomb; in the earlier history of our country it was a temple. The best man was made President, the next best man Vice-president, with the understanding that, at the expiration of the term of the presidency, he would be nominated as the successor. But you are not an ordinary man. Unlike any other one in the country, you are so potential and somagnetic that I believe if you were made Vice-president the people would return to the custom of the fathers and nominate you for President as McKinley's successor.

"Governor, I do not think that any rope was ever made strong enough to tie your legs, or buckle ever made strong enough to strap a muzzle over your mouth. You would be put, as Vice-president, to preside over the Senate, with the understanding that you would be a wooden man or a rubber stamp. But it would be found that the leaders would have to come to your mind for wisdom and seek your dynamic force to run the wheels of government successfully, and in a perfectly natural way we would return to the custom of our fathers and make you McKinley's successor.

"Besides, as Vice-president, you would have one chance out of six to be President; sixteen per cent, of all the Presidents of the United States have been so, by the death of the President and the accession of the Vice-president to his office. You would not want to become President that way? I know you so well, and yet you would be all the same. I was down to Washington the other day and saw McKinley and he looked so pale and haggard that he shocked me. His wife, you know, is an incurable invalid, and his intense affection for her has made her failing health a matter of great concern to him; and his mother, to whom he is so devoted, has been very sick, and that has borne upon him.

'' The Spanish War racked and jaded him. A blood vessel might break in the back of his head and he be gone in the twinkling of an eye and you would be his successor. Besides, some rascally anarchist might Mil him; you would not want the Presidency under those circumstances. You would risk your own life to fight, and even kill, a man that would attempt to touch a hair of McKinley's head. Knowing your ideas of heroism, you would count it a trial to take the chief office under those circumstances, and yet you would have to do it. Remember, Governor, if you accept this nomination for the Vice-presidency, you have one chance in six to be President.

"On the other hand, though fit for anything in the nation, you are not around begging for a job. You have an office of great honor and responsibility and opportunity as Governor of the Empire State. You are the ruler of twelve millions of people, more than a number of ambitious sovereigns in Europe have as subjects. You have an unlimited field of usefulness in the Governorship, and I know that in your heart of hearts you live to do duty and not seek position or fame. While I believe the chances would be even if you were nominated for the Vice-presidency that you would reach the Presidency, I believe if I were in your place I would stay in my present office and decline the nomination offered. I believe the distance between Albany and the White House is shorter than that between the Capitol, with its Senate chamber, and the White House; that the path from the Governorship to the Presidency is shorter and easier than from the Vice-presidency."

He said excitedly, "Right you are," and, jumping up, he gave me a hard slap on the shoulder and said, "Exactly right you are. I agree with you. I intend to stay where I am. I will not touch the Vice-presidency with a ten-foot pole. It is not my business to hunt for the Presidency, but to do my duty to my State and country as it is made plain to me. If the people of this country ever desire to elect me as head of the nation, of course I will feel honored and accept the position, but I shall not now entertain any plans of working my way toward such an exalted office by any political schemes."

That was in the fall of 1899. Governor Roosevelt persistently declared his desire for another term as Governor and that, despite any factional opposition ta him, he would secure the nomination and succeed himself. In the following summer, in 1900, the National Convention met in Philadelphia to nominate a President and Vice-president. Governor Roosevelt was one of the delegates at large to that Convention. It was the first Republican National Convention which he had attended as a delegate for sixteen years. Then he went out from the Convention in Chicago that nominated Elaine into political retirement. Now he flamed upon the imagination of the Philadelphia Convention as a reformer, the illustrious Colonel of the Rough Riders, the wise and loved Governor of the Empire State, and the Convention went wild with enthusiasm every time he appeared. He made a speech nominating McKinley for the Presidency. The delegates by acclamation clamored for his nomination for the Vice-presidency. He declined, honestly declined, but the more he protested the more insistent the Convention became. At last he consented to the second place on the ticket with McKinley at the head, and entered upon a vigorous and efficient campaign for the election of the ticket.

The day after he came home from the Convention in Philadelphia, that nominated him on the ticket with McKinley, he saw me crossing Broadway and 23rd Street and, throwing up his hand, he beckoned to me to come over to him. It was not necessary for him to beckon me, for I was already hurrying toward him. As I came within about twenty feet of him, he yelled out in a voice that could have been heard a quarter of a block away, '' I had to take it, old man! I had to take it! Just listen to me a minute and I will tell you the story of the Convention. It was really a Roosevelt Convention; everything was cut and dried for McKinley's nomination, everybody expected it and desired it, but there was no enthusiasm about it. All the enthusiasm of the Convention seemed to center around me. In season and out of season the boys cheered me. I protested against the nomination, sincerely and vehemently, and when they paid no attention to my protest and nominated me, I repeatedly refused to accept it. But, Doctor, I had to do so. If I had not, the people of this country would never have given me another office worth while, as long as I live. If I had refused so unanimous and enthusiastic a call of my countrymen to service, I should have deserved to be relegated to the rear forever. My heart was broken with the affection and confidence of my fellowmen, and when I came to believe that the voice of the people was really the voice of God to me I accepted the position with cheerfulness and gratitude."

He was inaugurated Vice-president on the 4th of March, 1901. With his family he went into the Adirondacks for the summer. He was in the deep woods in camp and, being informed that President McKinley had been shot, he hastened to Buffalo, where he remained three days. Learning from the physicians that the President would likely recover, he went back to his camp again, and there was found by the messenger sent to carry to him the sad news that President McKinley had died September 13th. He rushed to Buffalo and was there sworn into office as the President of the United States.