The hands of the grandfather clock stood at 12:12 as Taft and Roosevelt followed their assigns down the corridor and into the Senate Chamber, where a sudden roar greeted them.
OBSERVERS WERE STRUCK by Roosevelt’s immobile concentration as his successor was sworn in. Those who did not know him thought that the stony expression and balled-up fists signaled trouble ahead for Taft. His sister Bamie, describing the scene to Corinne Roosevelt Robinson afterward, got only “the most wonderful feeling of dignity and strength, and people who had really not cared for him suddenly realized what a great man he was.” In fact, he was making a special effort not to distract attention from the new President of the United States. An occasional curt nod indicated his approval of points made in Taft’s subsequent speech.
Roosevelt’s fabled vigor was apparent only at the end, when he bounded out of his seat and ran up the steps of the rostrum to shake Taft by the hand. The two men embraced briefly, then stood talking, their hands on each other’s shoulders.
“There was not a dry eye in the place,” Bamie wrote, “and everyone’s throat contracted; as he said good-bye before anyone realized what was happening he went down the steps from the speakers desk and bowing and smiling went out of the little side door.… It was the simplest most dramatic exit imaginable & left the whole packed Senate with a tremor going through it.”
THE SNOW HAD stopped falling during the ceremony, and Roosevelt found a large, boisterous crowd of well-wishers waiting for him when he emerged onto the plaza outside. Mounted police tried to hold them back as they surged and roared, “Good-bye, Mr. President!” It was no longer his title, but they were clearly unwilling to give it to another.
William Loeb, Jr., was on hand (as so often before, starting at North Creek in the Adirondacks!) to escort Roosevelt to his train. A drab honor guard of about a thousand New York County Republicans formed a rectangle about the carriage and led the way toward Union Station, to thumping band music, while the crowd followed. The general mood was festive, but when the band segued into “Auld Lang Syne,” a sudden valedictory pall descended. Thousands of voices swelled the chorus, and the mass of marchers began to sway to the tune’s slow rhythm.
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne …
Roosevelt, who had been laughing and brandishing his silk hat, lapsed into quietness. Loeb furtively watched him, afraid he might break down. But by the time they arrived at the station, the band had switched to “There’ll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight,” and Roosevelt was as jovial as ever.
“Good-bye to you all,” he shouted in his high, cracking voice, and leaped out of the carriage the moment it rolled to a halt. Before the crowd could close around him, he had disappeared.
EDITH ROOSEVELT RECEIVED him in the new terminal’s magnificent President’s Room, as yet—and still—unused by any Chief Executive of the United States. Quentin was with her, looking triumphant, because he had managed to sneak into the Capitol without a pass. He and “Taffy” had watched the Inauguration together, squeezed into one seat in the Taft family row.
A special train was waiting, but ice delayed its departure for two wearying hours. Roosevelt was forced to hold an impromptu reception as hundreds of Washington friends and diplomats, including a tearful Jules Jusserand, came to wish him well and—over and over again—“good hunting.” Just as frequently, he assured everyone who would listen that he had had “a bully time” as President, but was happy to lay down the burden of office.
Shortly after three o’clock, the railway north was cleared, and Roosevelt passed with his wife and son through a crowd that had swelled to several thousand. The vast station hall reverberated with roars as he waved, flashed his teeth and pince-nez, and disappeared down the platform. At 3:26 on the station register, Theodore Roosevelt officially departed Washington, D.C.
THE STORM HAD abated, but with wires down and only hand signals operating for the next thirty miles, the train took more than two hours to get to Baltimore. By then darkness had fallen, and Roosevelt did not show himself, as if to emphasize to a small, wistful crowd that he was no longer public property.
Seven years and a hundred and sixty-nine days before, on another lowering evening, he had come south along this same track, eager to begin work as President of the United States. For all his show of grief for McKinley, and natural nervous tension, he had been happy then, as he was happy now; happy at the large things he had managed to achieve—a canal, a coal-strike settlement, a peace treaty, a national conservation conference—contented with myriad smaller triumphs, proud of his appointees, passionate about his country, in love with his wife and children; many-friended, much-honored, lusty in his physical and intellectual appetites, constantly bubbling with mirth; happy, above all, at having kept his promise not to hold on too long to power. Brownsville had been proof to many, and perhaps even a warning to himself, of the truth of Lord Acton’s famous dictum.
Already, in his fifty-first year, epitaphs of him were beginning to appear, distressingly written in the past historic, from H. G. Wells’s claim that he seemed “a very symbol of the creative will in man” to Henry Adams’s “Roosevelt, more than any other man living within the range of notoriety, showed the singular primitive quality that belongs to ultimate matter—the quality that medieval theology assigned to God—he was pure act.”
In time, no doubt, the inevitable memorial committee would form, and solemn scholars would comb his works for quotations suitable to chisel in stone. Statute books and official histories would celebrate his administrative achievements: the Monroe Doctrine reaffirmed, the Old World banished from the New World, the great Canal being cut; peace established in the Far East; the Open Door swinging freely in Manchuria and Morocco; Cuba liberated (and returned to self-government just in time for his departure); the Philippines pacified; the Navy hugely strengthened, known literally around the world; the Army, shorn of its old deadwood generals, feeling the green sap of younger replacements; capital and labor balanced off, the lynch rate declining, the gospel of cleaner politics now canon, and enough progressive principles established, or made part of the national debate, to keep legislative reformers busy for at least ten years.
But for millions of contemporary Americans, he was already memorialized in the eighteen national monuments and five national parks he had created by executive order, or cajoled out of Congress. The “inventory,” as Gifford Pinchot would say, included protected pinnacles, a crater lake, a rain forest and a petrified forest, a wind cave and a jewel cave, cliff dwellings, a cinder cone and skyscraper of hardened magma, sequoia stands, glacier meadows, and the grandest of all canyons.
Less solidly but equally enduringly, he left behind a folk consensus that he had been the most powerfully positive American leader since Abraham Lincoln. He had spent much of his two terms crossing and recrossing the country, east and west, south and north, reminding anyone who would listen to him that he embodied all America’s variety and the whole of its unity; that what he had made of his own life was possible to all, even to boys born as sickly as himself. Uncounted men, women, and children who had crowded around the presidential caboose to stare and listen to him now carried, forever etched in memory, the image of his receding grin and wave.
(photo credit epl.2)
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
PORTIONS OF THE manuscript of Theodore Rex were written at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, D.C., and in the research library of the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site, New York City. The author expresses his great debt to these two institutions. He also thanks the following people for helping him in ways more than ordinary: Daniel J. Boorstin; David Burnham; Michael Cahill; William Chanler; Karen Chapel; Catherine Cook; Wallace Finley Dailey; Amanda Deaver; George Didden III; Maurice F. X. Donohue; Philip Dunne; G. Thomas Edwards; Allen Fitz-Gerald; Jeff Flannery; Stephen Fox; Rob Friedman; David Gerstner; Ann Godoff; Julie Grau; Sharon Harris, translator; Paul T. Heffron; Stephen B. Hess
; Mia Kazanjian; Dave Kelly; Michael P. Lacey; Alton A. Lindsay; Robert Loomis; Henry Luce III; Margaret Fox Mandel; Thomas Mann; Albro Martin; Alison Martin; John M. Mason; Robert K. Massie; Lyle McGeoch; Bruce K. MacLaury; Charles Moose; Sylvia Jukes Morris; Angela Orcken; John Gray Peatman; Christina Rae; P. James Roosevelt; W. S. Sims; Brad Smith; Kathy Smith; Mary E. Smith; Michael D. Sternfeld; Joanna Sturm; Robert N. Walton; and John D. Weaver.
John Allen Gable is especially thanked for a scholarly review of the manuscript, and the services of Rebecca Kramer and Timothy Mennel are remembered with profound gratitude.
ARCHIVES
Unless otherwise noted, collections are held in the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
ABP Alton B. Parker Papers
AC Author’s Collection, Washington, D.C.
ADW Andrew Dickson White Papers, Olin Library, Cornell University,
Ithaca, N.Y.
AJB Albert J. Beveridge Papers
ARL Alice Roosevelt Longworth Papers
AS Albert Shaw Papers, Manuscript Division, New York Public Library (NYPL)
BTW Booker T. Washington Papers
CS Carl Schurz Papers
CSR Cecil Spring Rice Papers, Churchill College, Cambridge, U.K.
EMH Edwin M. Hood Papers
ER Elihu Root Papers
ERD Ethel Roosevelt Derby Papers, privately held (now in TRC, below)
ES Emily Stewart Papers
EWC Edward W. Carmack Papers, Tennessee State Library and Archives,
Nashville, Tenn.
FBJ Frances Benjamin Johnston Collection
FBL Francis B. Loomis Papers, Hoover Institution, Stanford, Calif.
FMcC Frank McCoy Papers
GC Grover Cleveland Papers
GD George Dewey Papers
GBC George B. Cortelyou Papers
GVM George von Lengerke Meyer Papers
GWP George Walbridge Perkins Papers, Butler Library, Columbia University,
New York, N.Y.
HBP Harold Brayman Papers, University of Delaware Library, Newark,
Del.
HH Hermann Hagedorn Papers, TRB (below)
HJ Henry James Papers, Houghton Library, Harvard University,
Cambridge, Mass.
HKB Howard K. Beale Papers, Mudd Library, Princeton University,
Princeton, N.J.
HMD Sir H. Mortimer Durand Papers, School of Oriental and African
Studies Library, London University, U.K.
HP Henry Pringle Papers, Houghton Library, Harvard University,
Cambridge, Mass.
HW Henry Watterson Papers
JB John Barrett Papers
JBM John Bassett Moore Papers
JCOL John C. O’Laughlin Papers
JCS John Coit Spooner Papers
JH John Hay Papers, Hay Library, Brown University, Providence, R.I.
JHC Joseph Hodges Choate Papers
JHW James H. Wilson Papers
JJ Jules Jusserand Papers, Archives of the French Foreign Ministry, Quai d’Orsay, Paris, France
JM John Mitchell Papers, Catholic University, Washington, D.C.
JRG James R. Garfield Papers
JSC James S. Clarkson Papers
JTM John Tyler Morgan Papers
KR Kermit Roosevelt Papers
LCG Lyman C. Gage Papers
LG Lloyd C. Griscom Papers
LW Leonard Wood Papers
MHM Mark Hanna McCormick Family Papers
MHS Massachusetts Historical Society, Cambridge, Mass.
MS Mark Sullivan Papers, Hoover Institution, Stanford, Calif.
MST Moorfield Storey Papers
NA The National Archives, Washington, D.C.
NWA Nelson W. Aldrich Papers
NYHS The New-York Historical Society, New York, N.Y.
OSS Oscar S. Straus Papers
PB Poultney Bigelow Papers, Manuscript Division, NYPL
PBV Philippe Bunau-Varilla Papers
PCJ Philip C. Jessup Papers
PCK Philander Chase Knox Papers
RLF Robert M. LaFollette Papers
RO Richard Olney Papers
RSB Ray Stannard Baker Papers
SH Sagamore Hill National Historic Site Archives, Oyster Bay, N.Y.
TAB Theodore A. Bingham Papers
TD Tyler Dennett Papers
TH Tomás Herrán Papers, Lauinger Library, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.
TRAF Theodore Roosevelt Association Film Collection, Motion Picture Division
TRB Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site Archives, New York, N.Y.
TRC Theodore Roosevelt Collection, Widener and Houghton Libraries, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
TRJR Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., Papers
TRP Theodore Roosevelt Papers
WF Wadsworth Family Papers
WAW William Allen White Papers
WHM William H. Moody Papers
WHT William Howard Taft Papers
WVD Willis Van Devanter Papers
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
The following published sources are referred to in more than one chapter. Other sources are cited in passing.
The standard bibliographies of Theodore Roosevelt are: Dewey W. Grantham, Jr., “Theodore Roosevelt in American Historical Writing, 1945–1960,” Mid-America 43.1 (1961); Richard H. Collin, “The Image of Theodore Roosevelt in American History and Thought, 1885–1965” (Ph.D. diss., New York University, 1966); Gregory C. Wilson, comp., Theodore Roosevelt Collection: Dictionary Catalogue and Shelflist, 5 vols., with an important one-volume Supplement, Wallace Finley Dailey, comp. (Cambridge, Mass., 1970, 1986); and John Allen Gable, “Theodore Roosevelt: A Selected Annotated Bibliography,” in Natalie A. Naylor, Douglas Brinkley, and John Allen Gable, Theodore Roosevelt: Many-Sided American (Interlaken, N.Y., 1992).
DOCUMENT
Anthracite Coal Commission. Report to the President on the Anthracite Coal Strike of May-October 1902. Washington, D.C., 1903.
British Documents on Foreign Affairs: Reports and Papers from the Foreign Office Confidential Print. Series C: North America, 1837-1914. Ed. Kenneth Bourne. Frederick, Md., 1986-1987.
Campaign Contributions: Testimony Before a Subcommittee of the [Senate] Committee of Privileges and Elections. 62 Cong., sess. 2. Washington, D.C., 1913.
Conditions in the Chicago Stockyards: Message of the President of the United States. 59 Cong., sess. 1, H. doc. 873. 1906.
Die Grosse Politik der Europäischen Kabinette, 1871-1914. Berlin, 1922-1927.
Documents diplomatiques français (1871-1914). Paris, 1929-1959.
Official Proceedings of the 13th Republican National Convention in the City of Chicago, June 21, 22, 23, 24, 1904. Minneapolis, 1904.
Official Report of the Proceedings of the Fourteenth Republican National Convention. Columbus, Ohio, 1908.
Proceedings of a Conference of Governors in the White House, May 13–15, 1908. Washington, D.C., 1909.
Proceedings of the Anthracite Coal Commission. Washington, D.C., 1903.
Republican Campaign Textbook. New York, 1904.
“Resignation of the Postmaster.” 57 Cong., sess. 2, vol. 9, H. doc. 42. 1903.
Roosevelt vs. Newett: A Transcript of the Testimony Taken and Depositions Read at Marquette, Michigan, May 26–31, 1913. Privately printed, 1914 (copy in TRB).
Summary Discharge or Mustering Out of Regiments or Companies: Message of the President of the United States. Washington, D.C., 1908.
The Story of Panama: Hearings on the Rainey Resolution Before the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives. Washington, D.C., 1913.
United States Department of State. Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States. Washington, D.C., annual.
BOOKS
Abbott, Lawrence F. Impressions of Theodore Roosevelt. New York, 1919.
Adams, Henry. The Education of Henry Adams (Boston, 1918). Modern Library edition. New York, 1996.
�
�——. The Letters of Henry Adams. Ed. J. C. Levenson, Ernest Samuels, et al. Cambridge, Mass., 1982–1988.
Alfonso, Oscar M. Theodore Roosevelt and the Philippines. New York, 1974.
Bailey, Thomas A. Theodore Roosevelt and the Japanese-American Crises. Stanford, 1934.
Baker, Ray Stannard. American Chronicle. New York, 1945.
Barry, David S. Forty Years in Washington. Boston, 1924.
Bazalgette, Léon. Théodore Roosevelt. Paris, 1905 (copy in TRB).
Beale, Howard K. Theodore Roosevelt and the Rise of America to World Power. Baltimore, 1956.
Beer, Thomas. Hanna, Crane, and the Mauve Decade. New York, 1941.
Beisner, Robert L. Twelve Against Empire: The Anti-Imperialists, 1898–1900. New York, 1968.
Bemis, Samuel Flagg. The American Secretaries of State and Their Diplomacy. New York, 1927–1929.
Bishop, Joseph Bucklin. Theodore Roosevelt and His Time: Shown in His Own Letters. New York, 1920.
Blum, John M. The Republican Roosevelt. Cambridge, Mass., 1954.
Bolles, Blair. Tyrant from Illinois: Uncle Joe Cannon’s Experiment with Personal Power. New York, 1951.
Bunau-Varilla, Philippe. From Panama to Verdun: My Fight for France. Philadelphia, 1940.
———. Panama: The Creation, Destruction, and Resurrection. London, 1933.
Burroughs, John. Camping and Tramping with Roosevelt. Boston, 1907.
Busbey, L. White. Uncle Joe Cannon: The Story of a Pioneer American. New York, 1927.
Butler, Nicholas Murray. Across the Busy Years: Recollections and Reflections. New York, 1939.
Butt, Archibald W. The Letters of Archie Butt: Personal Aide to President Roosevelt. New York, 1924.
Cassini, Marguerite. Never a Dull Moment. New York, 1956.
Chandler, Jr., Alfred P. The Visible Hand: The Managerial Revolution in American Business. Cambridge, Mass., 1977.
Cheney, Albert Loren. Personal Memoirs of the Home Life of the Late Theodore Roosevelt. Washington, D.C., 1919.
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