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THE   LOGIC   OF   HIS CAREER

CHAPTER 5

roosevelt's personal characteristics — conclusion

   IN what I have written, I have sought to lay the foundation for certain conclusions in regard to the character and accomplishments of Theodore Roosevelt, to which I will add the reasons as I see them for his great popularity and extraordinary success in so many distinct fields of human endeavor. In tracing his history, I think I have demonstrated that his political advancement was in no way due to anything he consciously did with that end in view.

He was never an extreme party man. I think that "Harper's Weekly," which I have quoted, stated his position correctly, in 1883, when it said: —

Mr. Roosevelt holds the soundest views upon public questions with the feeling that the Republican party is the organization which, from its traditional principles and the character of its membership, is more likely wisely to secure the public welfare.

   Roosevelt has always regarded a party as a means to an end, and when, in his opinion, it ceases to be an instrument for good, he is ready to cast it aside. That is a very different feeling from that to which I have referred of the man to whom "it was little short of treason to vote any other than the Republican ticket."

Roosevelt has always been a radical "democrat." Of course, I use the word in its broader sense and not as the designation of a party. He said so in his Oxford address. He once said to me at Oyster Bay after he had finished his term as President: "I am a democrat and a radical. I like to go to the Lodge here and sit on the benches while my cousin's gardener presides."

Earlier in this sketch I introduced Roosevelt's speech seconding the nomination of Mr. Lynch as temporary chairman of the 1884 National Convention, in which he said: —
Let each man stand accountable to those whom he represents for his vote. Let no man be able to shelter himself behind the shield of his State. What we say is, that one of the cardinal doctrines of the American political government is the accountability of each man to his people.

Here we find, over thirty years ago, the same idea that later found expression in the direct primary, the initiative and the referendum, the direct and immediate connection of the people with the thing done, as in the case of the recall of judicial decisions.

He always spoke of himself with extreme modesty. I remember that at the twenty-fifth anniversary of the graduation of our class, while he was President, he said in substance that he was not a great man, that there were very few such, but that he had improved his opportunities. For example, said he: —
Many other men have had the same experience in the West and could have raised a regiment in the Spanish War as I did, but they did not. I was afraid at first that they would call the regiment "Teddy's Terrors," which would have covered it with ridicule. I did not want any name, but "Rough Riders" was the one that finally stuck.

It was a necessity to get this regiment into action, otherwise it would have been laughed at. We came near being left behind, and I admit that I pulled every wire in sight to get that regiment to Cuba, and we got there. If we had not, I should never have been President.
Speaking of the Panama matter, he said: "I had to act quickly, and I did — and we are now building the canal." Criticism of his action did not create in his mind any doubt as to its righteousness.   Speaking in Denver in 1905, he said:—•

It is perhaps unnecessary for me to say that I am perfectly aware that many most admirable gentlemen disagree with me in my action toward the Panama Canal. But I am in a wholly unrepentant frame of mind in reference thereto. The ethical conception upon which I acted was that I did not intend that Uncle Sam should be held up while he was doing a great work for himself and all mankind.

It seems to be agreed that the responsibility for the settlement of the difficulties between Colombia and Panama, which made possible the building of the canal, was assumed by President Roosevelt. John Hay was then Secretary of State. From Mr. Hay's letters I make the following quotations: —

December 8, 1903, he wrote to Mr. James Ford Rhodes: —
It is hard for me to understand how any one can criticize our action in Panama on the grounds upon which it is ordinarily attacked. The matter came on us with amazing celerity. We had to decide on the instant whether we would take possession of the ends of the railroad and keep the traffic clear, or whether we would stand back and let those gentlemen cut each other's throats for an indefinite time, and destroy whatever remnant of our property and our interests we had there. I had no hesitation as to the proper course to take, and have had no doubt of the propriety of it since.
January 20, 1904, to Professor George P. Fisher, of Yale University: —

Some of our greatest scholars, in their criticisms of public life, suffer from the defect of arguing from pure reason and taking no account of circumstances. While I agree that no circumstances can ever justify a Government in doing wrong, the question as to whether the Government has acted rightly or wrongly can never b» justly judged without the circumstances being considered. I am sure that if the President had acted differently when, the 3d of November, he was confronted by a critical situation which might easily have turned to disaster, the attacks which are now made on him would have been ten times more virulent and more effective. He must have done exactly as he did, or the only alternative would have been an indefinite duration of bloodshed and devastation through the whole extent of the Isthmus. It was a time to act and not to theorize, and my judgment at least is clear that he acted rightly.

Roosevelt utilized to the utmost every opportunity; for example, he spent some time on his ranch. This was a very common experience. Many men have done the same thing, but the experience in Roosevelt's case led to the writing of the "Winning of the West" by American pioneer explorers. That was not all: it led to the writing of several most interesting books on frontier life, and then to the forming of the Rough Riders in the Cuban War which, Roosevelt said, made him President. Of course, I should qualify this; if the Rough Riders had not made Roosevelt President, some other influence would. What made him President was the cumulative force of his achievements brought into a high light through picturesque circumstances made possible by his unique personality. I do not find any evidence that Roosevelt became a politician after he became President. I think that enough can be found in what I have written to demonstrate my right to this belief. No politician would have invited Booker Washington to the White House to dinner. No politician would at the same time have denounced the abuses tolerated or practiced by organized capital and organized labor. No politician would have discharged the Negro regiment at Brownsville, or been so regardless of the amenities in dealing with Congress, an error and a weakness, but not the error of a self-seeking man. We often heard when Roosevelt was filling out McKinley's unexpired term that labor was against him, that capital was against him, that the politicians were against him; but when in 1904 the votes were counted, it became quite apparent that the people, or most of them, were with him. The fact is they believed in him. Of course, it must be remembered that Roosevelt had a most extraordinary personality. He had, I think, more genuine sympathy with more classes of people than any man ever in public life in this country. I can best illustrate what I mean by two stories, both of which I heard him tell.

It seems that when he was hunting in Colorado several years ago, he met a cowboy who had been with him with the Rough Riders in Cuba.

The man came up to speak to Roosevelt, and said, "Mr. President, I have been in jail a year for killing a gentleman."

"How did you do it?" asked the President, meaning to inquire as to the circumstances.

"Thirty-eight on a forty-five frame," replied the man, thinking that the only interest the President had was that of a comrade who wanted to know with what kind of a tool the trick was done. Now, I will venture to say that to no other President, from Washington down to and including Wilson, would the man-killer have made that response. This same live sympathy existed between Roosevelt and every class of men with whom he ever came in contact, and he has come in contact with all classes from kings and princes to Digger Indians.

Another old comrade, sure of his sympathy, wrote from a jail in Arizona: —
dear colonel:

I am in trouble. I shot a lady in the eye, but I did not intend to hit the lady; I was shooting at my wife.
Any one who wants to get some adequate notion of Roosevelt as a naturalist and lover of nature can do so in a most agreeable way by reading "Camping and Tramping," by John Burroughs. This book was written in 1907, and is descriptive of Roosevelt's trip to Yellowstone Park in 1903. The introduction should not be overlooked, because it contains a most characteristic letter from Roosevelt to Burroughs, written in 1892 in response to a suggestion from the latter that the European forms of animal life were, as a rule, larger and more hardy and prolific than the corresponding forms in this country, with which statement Roosevelt takes issue.
I have never been disturbed [Burroughs says] by the President's hunting trips. It is to such men as he that the big game legitimately belongs — men who regard it from the point of view of the naturalist as well as from that of the sportsman, who are interested in its preservation, and who share with the world the delight they experience in the chase. Such a hunter as Roosevelt is as far removed from the game butcher as day is from night; and as for this killing of the "Varmints," — bears, cougars, and bobcats, — the fewer of these there are the better for the useful and beautiful game.

In the trip to the Yellowstone, Burroughs said, "I was able to help him identify only one new bird; all the other birds he recognized as quickly as I did."

The following story illustrates Roosevelt's tender and sympathetic nature: —

Near a little brown school house [Burroughs writes], by the railroad track, the schoolma'am and her scholars were drawn up in line to see the Presidential train pass. The President was at luncheon, but leaving the table rushed to the platform and waved his napkin. When he came back he said: "Those children wanted to see the President of the United States, and I could not disappoint them. They may never have another chance. What a deep impression such things make when we are young."

There was a reception at Medora where Roosevelt's old ranch was located. Shaking one man by the hand, he said: "You once mended my gunlock for me, — put on a new hammer." "Yes," said the old chap, "I'm the man, Mr. President." "Hell-Roaring Bill Jones" was missing, he began to celebrate so early that he was "all in" before the train arrived.

What other hunter in Africa would have had a "pigskin library" and have given the reason for the presence of every book in it? He was a constant surprise, even to those who knew him best, in some manifestation of his activity. I remember that one of my brothers wrote an article in the "Atlantic" of May, 1908, entitled "Shall We Hunt and Fish —The Confessions of a Sentimentalist." In it he was somewhat critical of Roosevelt's views of hunting as expressed in "Outdoor Pastimes of an American Hunter" in which Roosevelt said, "There is no need to exercise much patience with men who protest against field sports, unless, indeed, they are logical vegetarians of the flabbiest Hindoo type." I knew when the magazine was coming out, and on the day bought a copy on my way home from the Capitol. The next morning, I went to the White House on some errand, and when Roosevelt came out of his office to make the rounds of those gathered in the Cabinet room, I said, when he got along to me, "Mr. President, here is an article written by a brother of mine in which he throws some stones at you." "Oh!" said Roosevelt, "I have read the article and agree with a good deal of it — but," said he, "you know you must always have fresh meat in camp." He had read it before I had.

He always invited confidence and was most delicate and sympathetic in his response to any expression of sentiment. I remember that once I sent him a letter my mother had written me, referring to a recent message of his, of which the following is a copy:—
Letter from my Mother
February 2, 1908.
I am greatly interested in reading now and then a little about you in the papers. How perplexing everything is, how difficult to know the right course to take. I read with deep interest the President's message. I liked it all. If public credit is to be shaken by exposing a wrong, it ought to be shaken; the men guilty of wrong are the ones who weaken public credit, not the President who exposes them. How corrupt the politicians who would keep up public credit at any cost. The right is the "only thing that will wash" in the long run, so President Eliot seems to think about the President's policy. There would be no difficulty in dying game in defense of the right, if only we were dead sure what right is. It is a help to feel that our views of right must help along the real right in the grand economy of things. To be sure that you are not swerved in your conscientious decisions by any thought of your own advantage is the great thing, the only thing if you would be a man "without a cross."
Two days later I received the following reply:
the white house, washington, February 5, 1908.
I very sincerely appreciate your having shown me your mother's letter, which I return herewith. No wonder you are devoted to her. What she says in her letter represents, I am confident, the principles for which this nation must stand if it is to endure. I am very much pleased at the dear lady's high spirit as well as her conscientiousness. I love that sentence of hers, "There would be no difficulty in dying game, in defense of the right, if only we were dead sure what right is." That is the kind of sentence I like to read.
Letter to my Mother
6 Feb'y, 1908,
1721 rhode island avenue, washington, D.C.
I liked your letter so much that acting (a somewhat unusual thing for me) a little on impulse, I sent it to the President with the statement that it was the first time I had ever shown a letter of yours to another.

His note in reply was so sympathetic that I think it will interest you.

I read your letter and the President's to Slater [my son, a boy of twelve]. He said of yours, — "Gee, it sounds like Abraham Lincoln."
Roosevelt had time to do these things. Sometimes apparently superficial signs indicate the great qualities that lie beneath. I was looking over his autobiography the other day, and the illustrations interested me. They did not so much suggest associations with the great men in this and other lands, as with old companions in the Legislature or members of the police force, with social workers, and children of the slums; and when Roosevelt emerged from the atmosphere of kings and princes in Europe, he sought relief by telegraphing for Seth Bullock and his wife to meet him in London. Seth Bullock was at one time sheriff in the Black Hills district, who, the first time he met Roosevelt, said to him and his companions, "You see, by your looks I thought you were some kind of a tin-horn gambling outfit, and that I might have to keep an eye on you." This man later, as Roosevelt has said, "became, and has ever since remained, one of my stanchest and most valued friends," and he telegraphed for him because, as he said, "by that time I felt that I just had to meet my own people, who spoke my neighborhood dialect."

This is all real. No veneer of affectation can stand the stress of thirty years of public life. Roosevelt has been a great preacher as well as a great performer, and the combination has made him an immense power for good in our political, business, 'and social life. The following is typical of much that he said: —

I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life, the life of toil and effort, of labor and strife; to preach that highest form of success which comes, not to the man who desires mere easy peace, but to the man who does not shrink from danger, from hardship, or from bitter toil, and who out of these wins the splendid ultimate triumph.
Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory or defeat.

Fine expression of his dauntless spirit; and, again: 
On behalf of all our people, on behalf no less of the honest man of means than of the honest man who earns each day's livelihood by that day's sweat of his brow, it is necessary to insist upon honesty in business and politics alike, in all walks of life, in big things and in little things; upon just and fair dealings as between man and man. ... In the work we of this generation are in there is, thanks to the Almighty, no danger of bloodshed and no use for the sword; but there is grave need of those stern qualities shown alike by the men of the North and the men of the South in the dark days when each valiantly battled for the light as it was given him to see the light. This spirit should be our spirit, as we strive to bring nearer the day when greed and trickery and cunning shall be trampled under foot by those who fight for the righteousness that exalteth a nation.

Sometimes, in almost a whimsical manner, Roosevelt impresses a lesson to be derived from some Biblical quotation. In "Character and Success," for example, published in March, 1900, he said: —

The Bible always inculcates the need of the positive no less than negative virtues, although certain people who profess to teach Christianity are apt to dwell wholly on the negative; we are bidden not merely to be harmless as doves, but also as wise as serpents. It is very much easier to carry out the former part of the order than the latter; while, on the other hand, it is of much more importance for the good of mankind that our goodness should be accompanied by wisdom than that we should merely be harmless. If with the serpent wisdom we unite the serpent guile, terrible will be the damage we do; and if with the best of intentions, we can only manage to deserve the epithet of "harmless," it is hardly worth while to have lived in the world at all.
His power of vigorous statement was great. When he was asked to abandon certain investigations as to the alleged violation of the Anti-Trust Law which were said to implicate some wealthy contributors to the campaign fund in the Taft campaign, Roosevelt wrote Attorney-General Bonaparte as follows: —
oyster bay, new york, 1908.
. . . What a scoundrel	must be!   If he comes
to you again I shall be really delighted to have you tell him straight from me that the investigation will be pressed with the utmost energy to a conclusion, and that this will be done whether his clients contribute a million for the election of Taft or a million for the election of Bryan, or whether they fail to contribute a cent to either side. I would really like to have you give him just this message from me, and put it in writing if you desire.
And yet he is a man of the most lovable qualities. A Catholic priest once said he had sat on the platform near Roosevelt at some meeting — "The man had not spoken three minutes before I loved him, and had any one tried to molest him, I could have torn him to pieces." Nor is there anything of arrogance about him. He never claimed to be preeminent in any field of human endeavor. He never laid claim to anything but doing the best he could; he freely admitted that he made mistakes. A characteristic story is that of a friend who took him to task for some mistake he had made in one of his appointments: "My dear sir," replied the President, "where you know of one mistake I have made, I know of ten."

He talked with a freedom that fairly took one's breath away. I remember once at luncheon at the White House, in speaking of two men, both of whom were then living and one of whom was then in the Senate, he said, "I think that is the more adroit rascal."

A story which I heard of Roosevelt nearly at first hand, and which I believe has never been in print, admirably illustrates his great courage or lack of fear. Mr. Henry White told it to Senator Lodge, who told it to me. It seems that Mr. White said to Roosevelt, speaking of his being shot in Milwaukee " I think you were foolhardy to make a speech after you had been shot." "Why," said Roosevelt in reply, "you know I did n't think I had been mortally wounded. If I had been mortally wounded, I would have bled from the lungs. When I got into the motor I coughed hard three times, and put my hand up to my mouth; as I did not find any blood, I thought that I was not seriously hurt, and went on with my speech."

   I began to write these notes in November, and continued  at  intervals  for several months.   As I write on the train on April 30, 1915,between  San  Francisco  and  Portland, Oregon, I have just been reading such of the testimony as is reported in the papers in the pending libel suit brought by Mr. Barnes, of New York,   against Mr.  Roosevelt.   I  find nothing in Roosevelt's testimony which is not perfectly consistent with his acts and speech for the past twenty years, most of which can be found recorded in his autobiography. When he entered public life, he found certain conditions; he dealt with them as best he could. To have refused to work with men of whose every act he did not approve would have meant that he could accomplish nothing. He always acted upon the adage that " half a loaf is better than no bread." As he wrote in 1904.
( ^1 The jury in May, 1915, brought in a verdict favorable to Roosevelt.)

A man who goes into the actual battles of the political world must prepare himself much as he would for the struggle in any other branch of our life. He must be prepared to meet men of far lower ideals than his own, and to face things, not as he would wish them, but as they are. He must not lose his own high ideal, and yet he must face the fact that the majority of the men with whom he must work have lower ideals. He must stand firmly for what he believes, and yet he must realize that political action, to be effective, must be the joint action of many men, and that he must sacrifice somewhat of his own opinions to those of his associates if he ever hopes to see his desires take practical shape.
Roosevelt has wisely acted upon this principle. In the fallibility of human judgment, he may sometimes have gone too far with this man or that, or perhaps not far enough, but his policy has not changed.
Whatever many of his friends may have wished, Roosevelt made up his own mind in 1912, and in the campaigns that followed inflicted and received many wounds. If he caused suffering, he endured much himself. No one would feel more keenly than he the loss of the political sympathy and support of those of his old friends who did not follow him, and this is to me convincing proof of his confidence in the righteousness of his cause. To many of them, to me, I am sure, parting company with him was deeply painful. I count it among the sorrows of my life. He was imbued with the spirit of the crusader; he believed that he was leading a great cause, and that in doing so he was serving the best interests of his countrymen. A leader on the field of battle sees nothing but his goal, and in his progress tramples alike on friend and foe. Such was Roosevelt's relation to the conflict. This is the reply to the charge that he wantonly maimed and bruised many of his former associates who differed with him politically.

Roosevelt had the choice, at the end of his presidential term, between resting upon his accomplishments, secure in the position of first citizen of the Republic and idolized by his countrymen, and again entering the arena of political strife to battle for the causes he believed in. He chose the latter course, in which personally he had everything to lose and nothing to gain. "Spend and be spent" was the motto emblazoned on his shield, which was always found in the forefront of battle. Who will say that he should or could have followed any other course; or, with our poor mortal vision, that in the end his countrymen may not profit by what many of his friends then regarded as his great sacrifice?

"In the long fight for righteousness the watchword for all of us is,' Spend and be spent.' It is of little matter whether any one man fails or succeeds; but the cause shall not fail, for it is the cause of mankind." The End

A concluding word from Robert J. Kuniegel

TR AMERICAN PATRIOT hopes you enjoy our books.  Theodore Roosevelt lived his life in a manner that is the only way possible to make government responsive to the people.  He has written how to make meaningful reform possible not only for his generation but for future generations, if we read what he has said.  We only need to interest others in reading what he has said to transform our government. 

Reading the books on TR AMERICAN PATRIOT DOT COM  and having others do the same, will develop citizens and leaders capable of transforming American politics into a system of government that will be honest, and responsive to “a square deal”.  A square deal has no special deals for the rich, the middle class, or the poor.  Our government today has degenerated into a system that rewards citizens for not being productive.  It promotes entitlements under the guise of helping people, when in fact it only helps politicians to protect their own royal positions.  Policies that foster a special privileged class was the type of government policies Theodore Roosevelt fought against and won.  He was a visionary.  He knew this fight would need to be fought through the ages if we were to keep our country strong.  He was an intrepid pioneer that blazed a trail through a jungle of corrupt government, so that others might follow his proven and highly successful common sense approach toward honest government.  His fearless course helped make America a beacon of hope to all that seek justice.  His endless devotion to America helped make America a super power that no just nation has needed to fear as long as our citizens value his lofty resolute square deal policy toward our fellow citizens and those of other nations. 

Theodore Roosevelt’s greatest gift to this country is before us.  It is not in the past, if we as Americans recognize that his message is not just a story from American history pages.  His message is an example, clearly defined.  It details actions that are required if we desire to do something meaningful for our country.  Join the good fight today.  You only need to read and interest others to do the same.  

David Boyd, repeating what he had read, once said, “The person we become is because of our experiences in life, the people we meet, and the books we read. ” It is time to have others meet Theodore Roosevelt.  It is time for a Theodore Roosevelt revival, “Fear God and do your own part”.  Dare to help make Theodore Roosevelt the standard and not the exception.  America needs to adopt a wise, fearless and honest role model as the standard we revere, so that our public servants know what we expect.  The first step to honest government is no harder than setting proper standards of conduct for our public servants through the use of a proper role model.  Can you find one quality in Theodore Roosevelt that is not right in a public servant?  If you think you can, I bet your conjecture is based upon something other than truth and honest reasoning and this American would love an opportunity to debate any such conjecture.