Theodore Rex (185 page)
Authors: Edmund Morris
23
As so often
Butt,
Letters
, 205–7, 245–46; Watson,
As I Knew Them
, 128; Longworth,
Crowded Hours
, 158.
24
The President’s annual
Butt,
Letters
, 251.
25
To the President
Ibid., 253.
26
“I don’t feel”
Ibid.
27
ALL THE ROOSEVELTS
The following description is taken from ibid., 254–56, with minor details from Presidential scrapbook (TRP).
28
No sooner had
Butt,
Letters
, 257–59;
The Washington Post
, 29 Dec. 1908.
29
Time was when
Longworth,
Crowded Hours
, 137–38; Butt,
Letters
, 258.
30
“MR. SPEAKER”
Willard B. Gatewood, Jr., “The Secret Service Controversy,” in his
Theodore Roosevelt and the Art of Controversy
, 237, misdated this call as occurring on 8 Jan. See
Congressional Record
, 60 Cong., Sess. 2, 1909, vol. 43, 458–62; also TR,
Works
, vol. 17, 620;
The New York Times
, 17 Dec. 1908.
31
So far, the
Longworth,
Crowded Hours
, 160; Harbaugh,
Life and Times
, 344.
Historical Note:
Harbaugh notes that this confrontation “served mightily to hasten” the basic swap of political philosophy between the Republican and Democratic parties in the twentieth century. TR himself accused the congressional GOP leadership of hiding behind states’ rights in order to protect interstate corporations, while the Democrats, who had formerly made a shibboleth of states’ rights, began to align themselves behind the President. “By the middle of the century the reversal would be relatively complete: the majority of Democrats in Congress would be wedded to the centralized welfare state; all but a small minority of Republicans would be opposed or unsympathetic to it.”
32
Cannon sat now
Gatewood,
Theodore Roosevelt and the Art of Controversy
, 237; Harbaugh,
Life and Times
, 344–45.
33
There was some
The Atlanta Constitution
, 11 Jan. 1909, qu. in Gatewood, “Secret Service,” 238.
34
Its chief, John
Ibid., 240–42.
35
The Secret Service’s
Ibid., 243–45, 237. When the House had first limited its Secret Service appropriation, TR and Attorney General Bonaparte transferred nine investigative agents to the Justice Department, thus forming (on 26 July 1908) the nucleus of the FBI. Ibid., 252–55.
36
“Nobody likes him”
Butt,
Letters
, 336. See this book,
passim
, for copious anecdotes of the last days of TR’s Presidency.
37
ARCHIE BUTT
was
Ibid., 278, 297, 281.
38
One legislative request
TR,
Letters
, vol. 6, 1248; Beach,
United States Navy
,
423–26; White,
Autobiography
, 404; Sprout,
Rise of American Naval Power
, 272–73.
39
“I do not believe”
Butt,
Letters
, 314.
40
“They little realize”
Ibid.
41
“Why, Mother”
Ibid., 327–28.
42
At Hampton Roads
Washington
Evening Star
, 22 Feb. 1909; TR to Archibald B. Roosevelt, 23 Feb. 1909 (TRP); Butt,
Letters
, 353–54.
43
“That is the answer”
Butt,
Letters
, 354.
4 M
ARCH
1909
1
“It will be”
The New York Times
, 5 Mar. 1909. Davis,
Released for Publication
, 150–57.
2
His Inauguration was
Except where otherwise indicated, this account of TR’s departure from Washington is based on reporting in the Washington
Times
and Washington
Evening Star
, 4 Mar. 1909, plus
The New York Times
and
The Washington Post
, 5 Mar. 1909. See also Davis,
Released for Publication
, 150–55.
3
“I knew”
The New York Times
, 5 Mar. 1909.
4
“It isn’t”
Butt,
Letters
, 381. Butt wrote afterward that he felt “about as depressed as I have ever felt in parting from any one in my life, save only my own mother.” Ibid.
5
OBSERVERS WERE
Moore,
Roosevelt and the Old Guard
, 222; Anna Roosevelt Cowles to Corinne Robinson, 6 Mar. 1909 (TRC).
6
“There was not”
Anna Roosevelt Cowles to Corrine Robinson, 6 Mar. 1909 (TRC).
7
did not show
Baltimore Sun
, 5 Mar. 1909.
8
constantly bubbling
Gifford Pinchot called TR “on the whole, the happiest man I ever knew.”
Roosevelt House Bulletin 1
(1924): 3.
9
Acton’s famous dictum
“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Lord Acton to Bishop Mandell Creighton, 5 Apr. 1887.
10
“a very symbol”
Harper’s Weekly, 6
Oct. 1906.
11
“Roosevelt, more than”
Adams,
Education of Henry Adams
, 417.
12
Uncounted men
For the recollection of one such child, see W. Preble Jones, memo, 24 Nov. 1924 (TRB).
Unless otherwise credited, all images are from the Theodore Roosevelt Collection, Harvard College Library, Cambridge, Mass
.
Frontispiece Theodore Roosevelt by Edward S. Curtis, 1904. The National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.
prl.1
Roosevelt’s journey to the Presidency, 14–16 September. Map by the author.
prl.2
The Wilcox Mansion, Buffalo [now Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site], September 1901. Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society.
1.1
Theodore Roosevelt walks to work, 20 September 1901.
2.1
Booker T. Washington, 1901. The Schomburg Collection, New York Public Library.
3.1
Philander Chase Knox, ca. 1901.
5.1
Father and daughter at the launching of the Kaiser’s yacht, 25 February 1902.
6.1
Independent Cuba raises her flag, 20 May 1902. Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site, New York.
7.1
Graduation ceremony at United States Naval Academy, 1902. The Library of Congress.
7.2
Theodore Roosevelt’s White House in summer. Collection of Alice Sturm.
8.1
Quentin Roosevelt in the daisy field at Sagamore Hill. Sagamore Hill National Historic Site.
8.2
Elihu Root as Secretary of War. The Library of Congress.
9.1
Roosevelt during his New England tour, 1902.
10.1
John Mitchell as president of United Mine Workers, ca. 1902.
11.1
The temporary White House, no. 22 Jackson Place, 1902.
13.1
Theodore Roosevelt’s White House in winter.
14.1
Jules Jusserand, anonymous sketch. Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site, New York.
15.1
The President on his cross-country tour, 1903.
15.2
Roosevelt at Glacier Point, Yosemite, May 1903. Sagamore Hill National Historic Site.
16.1
View of the renovated White House, ca. 1903. Author’s Collection.
16.2
Secretary of State John Hay, 1904. Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site, New York.
17.1
The President and his family, summer 1903.
18.1
Sagamore Hill in winter.
19.1
Mark Hanna and members of the Republican National Committee, 11 December 1903.
20.1
Theodore and Edith Roosevelt receiving at a White House garden party.
21.1
The Republican National Convention, Chicago, June 1904.
22.1
Roosevelt being notified of his nomination, 27 July 1904.
22.2
Alice Roosevelt, 1904. Collection of Alice Sturm.
23.1
Roosevelt’s Inauguration, 4 March 1905.
23.2
TR reading with Skip in Colorado, May 1905.
24.1
Alice Roosevelt and William Howard Taft en route to Japan, 1905. Collection of Alice Sturm.
24.2
Extracts from TR’s “picture letter” to Alice, 21 July 1905. Collection of Alice Sturm.
24.3
Sergei Witte, Baron Rosen, the President, Baron Komura, and Ambassador Takahira, 5 August 1905.
25.1
Alice in the Far East, late summer 1905. Collection of Alice Sturm.
25.2
Roosevelt in his Sagamore Hill study, September 1905.
26.1
Theodore Roosevelt in mid-sentence.
27.1
The President’s favorite photograph of Edith Kermit Roosevelt. Author’s Collection.
27.2
Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas Longworth, ca. 1906. Collection of Alice Sturm.
27.3
Roosevelt mounting a steam shovel, Panama Canal Zone, November 1906.
28.1
Speaker Joseph Cannon, ca. 1907.
29.1
Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot on the Mississippi River, October 1907.
30.1
Roosevelt (invisible) leads a Rock Creek Park expedition. Sagamore Hill National Historic Site.
30.2
Theodore Roosevelt hosts the first conservation conference, May 1908.
32.1
President-elect William Howard Taft, 1909.
32.2
The Great White Fleet returns from its round-the-world trip, 22 February 1909.
epl.1
Roosevelt and Taft arriving at the Capitol, 4 March 1909.
epl.2
The children of Taylor, Texas, bid farewell to Theodore Roosevelt, 6 Apr. 1905. Sagamore Hill National Historic Site.
E
DMUND
M
ORRIS
was born in Nairobi, Kenya, in 1940. He was schooled there, and studied music, history, and literature at Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa. After leaving Africa in 1964, he became an advertising copywriter in London. He immigrated to the United States in 1968 and became a full-time writer in 1972.
The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt
began life as a screenplay. It was published in 1979 and won the Pulitzer Prize and American Book Award. In 1981, Morris was appointed the official biographer of President Ronald Reagan. The resultant work,
Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan
, caused a controversy when it appeared in 1999 because of its use of a partly imaginary narrator.
Theodore Rex
is the second volume in a planned trilogy on the life of Theodore Roosevelt.
Edmund Morris lives in New York City with his wife and fellow biographer, Sylvia Jukes Morris.
Read on for a preview from Edmund Morris’s
COLONEL ROOSEVELT
LATER THAT AFTERNOON
, the
Mayflower
hitched itself to another train and headed for Wisconsin. Advance word came that a “GXLC” situation portended in Milwaukee, with plans for a grand parade and public dinner before Roosevelt’s speech. Dr. Terrell refused to let his patient be subjected to these strains.
Upon the train’s arrival in Milwaukee at six o’clock, members of the local Progressive committee came aboard, and were told that the Colonel was “extremely tired.” He would dine privately in his car, rest for an hour or so, and not use his voice until the time came for him to speak at the Auditorium. Even then, he would be able to make only a few opening remarks. The main text of his address would have to be read for him. O. K. Davis explained that Roosevelt had long speeches scheduled every night for the rest of the campaign.
The committee chairman complained so bitterly that Roosevelt took pity on him and said to Davis, “I want to be a good Indian, O. K.”
From that moment he was the committee’s prisoner. He was driven through a mile-long, rejoicing crowd to the Gilpatrick Hotel on Third Street. A hospitality suite awaited him upstairs. Before sitting down to dinner, he lay back in a rocking chair and napped—something Davis had never seen him do before. Shortly after eight, he folded his speech typescript into his inner right jacket pocket and walked down two flights of stairs to the lobby. Henry Cochems and a bodyguard named Alfred Girard preceded him. He was flanked on one side by Elbert Martin and Cecil Lyon, and on the other by Philip Roosevelt and Fred Leuttisch, a Party security man.
OUTSIDE IN THE ILL-LIT STREET
, his roofless, seven-seat automobile stood waiting. A rope cordon kept the sidewalk clear, but several hundred onlookers clustered in the street beyond. Martin opened the vehicle’s near rear door, and Roosevelt got in. He took his customary right-hand seat while his escorts fanned out to take theirs. Lyon ran round the back. As he did so, the crowd in the street moved closer, cheering. The Colonel stood up to bow, waving his hat in his right hand.