Theodore Roosevelt Abroad

by J. Lee Thompson

  Theodore Roosevelt Abroad

  Previous Books by J. Lee Thompson A Wider Patriotism: Alfred Milner and the British Empire (2007)

  Forgotten Patriot: A Life of Alfred, Viscount Milner of St James’ and Cape Town (2006)

  Northcliffe: Press Baron in Politics, 1865–1922 (2000)

  Politicians, the Press and Propaganda: Lord Northcliffe and the Great War, 1914–1919 (1999)

  THEODORE ROOSEVELT ABROAD

  NATURE, EMPIRE, AND THE JOURNEY OF AN AMERICAN PRESIDENT

  J. LEE THOMPSON

  THEODORE ROOSEVELT ABROAD

  Copyright © J. Lee Thompson, 2010.

  All rights reserved.

  First published in 2010 by

  PALGRAVE MACMILLAN®

  in the United States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC,

  175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.

  Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.

  Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.

  ISBN: 978–0–230–10277–4

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Thompson, J. Lee, 1951–

  Theodore Roosevelt abroad : nature, empire, and the journey of an

  American president / by J. Lee Thompson.

  p. cm.

  Includes bibliographical references and index.

  ISBN 0–230–10277–8 (alk. paper)

  1. Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858–1919—Travel—Africa. 2. Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858–1919—Travel—Europe. 3. Africa—Description and travel. 4. Europe—Description and travel. 5. Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858–1919— Political and social views. 6. Nature conservation—Africa—History—20th century. 7. Imperialism—History—20th century. 8. United States—Foreign relations—1909–1913. 9. United States—Politics and government— 1909–1913. 10. Ex-presidents—United States—Biography. I. Title.

  E757.T47 2010

  973.91 1092—dc22 2009039961

  A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India.

  First edition: April 2010

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  Printed in the United States of America.

  To Raymond Ulrich

  Contents

  Preface and Acknowledgments ix Prologue xiii

  1 The Old Lion Departs 1

  2 The Great Adventure Begins 27

  3 A Lion Roars in East Africa 53

  4 White Rhino and Giant Eland 75

  Gallery 89

  5 Down the Nile: Khartoum to Cairo 101

  6 European Whirl 117

  7 Peace Emissary 133

  8 Last Rites: England 151

  9 The Old Lion Is Dead: Epilogue and Dramatis Personae 171

  Notes 181

  Selected Bibliography 205

  Index 215

  Preface and Acknowledgments

  A century ago, the journalist John Callan O’Laughlin published From the Jungle through Europe with Roosevelt (1910). Outside TR’s own African Game Trails that same year O’Laughlin’s work has until now remained the only other separate book-length study to seriously chronicle even part of Roosevelt’s fifteen-month post-presidential

  o d y s s e y .1 The reasons for this neglect are many. First, hunting has not been a popular subject for contemporary historians, who also have been in the main loath to admit the key role played by gentlemen hunters such as Roosevelt in the founding and preservation of the American conservation movement.2 In such natural pursuits TR had a long history, back to his boyhood studies of birds and other wildlife in New York, further stimulated at Harvard and in his brief, yet formative, “Cowboy” period in the Dakotas.

  The most dynamic president the United States has ever had, TR was also the first, and sadly only, environmentalist head of state. Roosevelt’s most lasting domestic legacy as president came in the conservation of vast tracts of wilderness for the future use and enjoyment of the nation. When he left the presidency in 1909, TR was well aware that many African species were already endangered, and he was careful to mount what was considered at the time a cutting-edge scientific safari. Stories of bloody Rooseveltian carnage have abounded ever since, yet out of hundreds of African big game trophies, the number taken for his personal collection was tiny, with almost all of the specimens going to the Smithsonian and other collections, where they are still studied by scientists today.

  Another reason TR’s tour has been given relatively little attention is simply that it represents a calm between the relative storms of his preceding presidency and the soon to follow 1912 Bull Moose campaign. Roosevelt attempted to leave politics behind in 1909, and

  xPREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  wanted to allow his anointed successor and friend William Howard Taft to plow his own furrow. However, even in Africa, he could not escape the fight that soon developed at home between President Taft, who had promised to carry on the “Roosevelt policies” unchanged, and a band of insurgent Republicans who picked up TR’s fallen progressive banner. This work argues that the impetus to make the 1912 Bull Moose fight against Taft, which for all practical purposes handed the presidency to Woodrow Wilson, was firmly established before Roosevelt ever returned to America’s shores in June 1910.

  Another theme in the following has to do with Roosevelt’s postexpansionist imperialism, or as he would have preferred to call it, “Democratic Nationalism.” The great majority of his 1909–1910 journey was spent in Britain’s African Empire, and then ended in its seat, London. This affords an opportunity for a comparative glimpse of American and British imperialism as it was in the period just before World War I. As president, Roosevelt charted a new imperial and great power course for America. He also believed deeply in the destiny of what he called the English-Speaking peoples as a positive and civilizing force in the world. He both laid the foundation and solidified AngloAmerican amity in a threatening new century.

  The final major thread followed in this book is the little noticed peace mission Roosevelt carried out in Europe in 1910, in speeches and unofficial diplomacy, most importantly with his doppelganger Wilhelm II, Emperor of the “quasi-autocratic” German Empire.3 Both men practiced a personal brand of diplomacy and interacted with each other through crises in Venezuela, Morocco, and the Far East, before they ever met in 1910. TR was famous for his foreign policy creed, borrowed from a West African proverb: “Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.” Wilhelm’s motto might have been: “Speak loudly; and you will scare ancient enemies into each other’s arms”— for this is exactly what he did with England, France, and Russia in the years before World War I. Wilhelm and his brethren in Europe fully expected that Roosevelt would once again be president of the United States, as did he in his heart of hearts, whatever protestations he made at the time.

  The following work reveals Roosevelt’s post-presidential journey largely through his words, in his letters and speeches, which remain eloquent and compelling today, and in the words of those who wrote to and about him, without overwhelming authorial prodding and

  PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xi

  comment. Luckily for the historian and biographer, TR carried on an immense private and public correspondence. The great majority of Roosevelt’s papers and diaries are in two locations: the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress, Washington, and Th
e Theodore Roosevelt Collection at the Houghton Library, Harvard. In addition to these, research for this work was undertaken at the Smithsonian Institution Archives; the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History; the Parliamentary Archives, London; The Courtauld Institute, London; the Churchill Archives Centre, Churchill College, Cambridge; and the Cambridge University Library. In addition to the various Roosevelt collections, the papers of numerous contemporaries were also consulted for this work, which has been based, in part, on evidence not previously published.

  * * *

  I must express my thanks to the following individuals and institutions who made materials available to me, gave assistance or permissions without which this study could not have been completed: Mr. Wallace Finley Dailey, Theodore Roosevelt Collection, Houghton Library, Harvard University; Jennifer Brathovde, The Library of Congress, Manuscripts Division; The Smithsonian Institution Archives; Dr. Hans-Dieter Sues, Associate Director for Research and Collections, Linda Gordon, James Dean, Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History; The Clerk of the Records of the Parliamentary Archives, on behalf of the Beaverbrook Foundation; The Churchill Archives Centre, Churchill College, Cambridge; The British Library Board; The Courtauld Institute of Art; The National Army Museum; Fauna and Flora International; and the Syndics of the Cambridge University Library. If I have unwittingly infringed on the copyright of any persons or institutions, I hope they will accept my sincerest apologies and notify me of the oversight. This work was supported by a Lamar University Research Enhancement Grant and much of the research was carried out while I was a Visiting Fellow at Wolfson College, Cambridge University.

  In addition I wish to thank professors R. J. Q. Adams, Thomas Kennedy, and William Lubenow, and Dr. Hans-Dieter Sues, who read all or parts of the manuscript and whose gentle and insightful comments have greatly enriched the work. Thanks are also due to my

  xii PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  research assistant, Tom Caraway. Special appreciation once again goes to my wife Diane, who has with good humor for many years shared her husband with various historical figures. Finally, I wish to dedicate this book to Diane’s father Raymond Ulrich, both for his role in providing such an exemplary wife, and for his own example of a life well-lived and full.

  Prologue

  The fog lifted at New York harbor on the morning of June 18, 1910, to reveal beautiful summer weather, just in time to grace the arrival of the S.S. Kaiserin Auguste Victoria on which Theodore Roosevelt returned from a fifteen-month post-presidential odyssey that an enraptured American public had followed as though it were a serial story. Pandemonium reigned on land and sea and “such a shout went up from the shore as to waken the stones” when TR showed himself on the bridge of the revenue cutter ferrying him to the pier. It was the welcome home of a conquering hero rather than a private citizen in a frock coat. The impresario Flo Ziegfield cabled for a “line to the people” for his annual review set to include “within the limits of a stage spectacle” Roosevelt’s triumphant return, recreating the scene of mounted Rough Riders, West Point Cadets, and other celebrities on hand to acclaim the near-legendary world traveler. After being greeted by Mayor Gaynor, and making a brief speech at the Battery, TR received “one continuous heartfelt ovation” from the hundreds of thousands who crowded the red, white and blue decorated streets to gain a view of their “Teddy” in his carriage as he rode up Broadway and Fifth Avenue.1

  Roosevelt’s great adventure in Africa fulfilled a long-held dream for the hunter-naturalist aspect of his multifaceted character. However, besides big game rifles, TR also brought along his “bully pulpit” and accompanying ideals. While he shot lion and elephant and rhino through their East African possessions, Roosevelt could not refrain from also lecturing Britain’s Liberal government on the proper methods of keeping up their lion’s share of the “White Man’s Burden” of Empire, returning the sentiment his friend Rudyard Kipling had urged on America a decade before during the Spanish-American War.2

  Once his safari was done, TR extended his preachments to Europe in pursuit of another dream—world peace. Andrew Carnegie, whose peace ambassador Roosevelt became abroad, in particular with the

  xiv PROLOGUE

  German Kaiser, gushed that never was there “such a chance for mortal man to immortalize himself,” as was now available to the former president. Writing from Skibo Castle in Scotland, the world’s richest man went on, “You have only to approach Britain with the League of Peace idea to be welcomed.” No party in England could afford to reject “such an invitation as you will now be able to give them, with the American people behind you.” After TR’s meeting with Kaiser Wilhelm, if he did no more than to reveal to the world that Germany was “responsible for the present unbearable position. Much will have been gained.” What pleased Carnegie was that “our country is now leader in the movement to abolish war as a means of settling disputes.” He dreaded TR’s “descent into party politics as inevitably lowering the position you have now attained.” Smaller men, in his opinion, could “fight political questions.”3

  The major “political question” on practically everyone’s mind that June was the attitude Roosevelt would take toward his chosen successor, William Howard Taft. Theodore had gone abroad in part so that his friend Will could chart his own presidential course without the appearance of interference. Everyone assumed, and Taft declared, that he would continue TR’s policies. In this they all, Roosevelt first, were wrong. The African trip was a tonic for him, but leaving Taft to his own devices in the wilds of Washington proved a huge error with devastating political results including an acrimonious split between the two that fatally divided the party and led directly to the election of Woodrow Wilson and eight years of Democratic rule.

  At the heart of the problems between the two old friends, one who felt betrayed and one who felt abandoned, was the course Taft pursued in conservation policy culminating in the firing of TR’s man Gifford Pinchot from his post as Chief Forester of the United States. Not long after Roosevelt’s return, Pinchot confided to him, “you and I agree about Taft. We both realize his weakness, his disloyalty to you, and his incapacity to understand or to lead the people.” He went on “you are progressive—Taft is not, and never had been or will be except under orders.” The country was as progressive as TR and, in Pinchot’s estimation, “wholly irrespective of whether you are to be President again or not, it wants you to lead it where in any event it is bound to go.” Renominating Taft would give the special interests control of the Republican party and “check the forward movement” which was the “central result of your work.” Taft had deceived them all once. That

  PROLOGUE xv

  was his fault. If he did it again it would be their fault. And if he should be renominated and elected, “what else can we expect?”4

  So what follows is a tale of daring adventure, of international celebrity and, sadly, of friendship lost and political legacy transformed. But there is also a more private story of true love and family devotion— the love of Theodore and Edith Roosevelt, and the deep bonds of affection TR held for his children, particularly his son Kermit who came along on the safari. All these remarkable and fascinating aspects are revealed in the following account of Theodore Roosevelt’s 1909–1910 journey—a story almost as multi-faceted as TR’s own personality. And one never before as fully told.

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  Chapter 1

  The Old Lion Departs

  On March 1, 1909, three days before he passed along the presidency, and with it the safekeeping of his progressive policies, to his friend Will Taft, Theodore Roosevelt held a first and last luncheon at the White House for his loose “tennis cabinet” of friends and advisors. At this affair the core of Washington insiders who had actually done battle with TR on the dirt White House court were intermixed with honorary members—western wolf-hunters, “two-gun” men, and others who came to the capital for the occasion. So that the various elements w
ould get to know one another the thirty-one men were seated irrespective of precedence and rank. The press had made a good deal of fun of this group of presidential “playmates” but had never known just how extensive it was or how important a role it held in the administrations. Roosevelt meant the gathering to be his only official recognition of their contributions.

  Those present were, among the Washington tennis players, James Rudolph Garfield, son of the twentieth president, secretary of the interior and considered the leader of the group; Gifford Pinchot, the patrician Chief Forester of the United States; Jean Jules Jusserand, the dapper ambassador of France; and TR’s close advisor Elihu Root, until recently secretary of state. The honorary members from the West and elsewhere included Luther “Yellowstone” Kelly, who Roosevelt had first met on the Little Missouri River and was now an Indian Agent in Arizona, the wolf-hunter “Catch ‘Em Alive Jack” Abernathy, and the Dakotas Marshal Seth Bullock of Deadwood fame, who TR had known since the 1880s “cowboy” years. The president’s military aide, Captain Archie Butt, himself a member of the company, was frankly amazed by the contrasting crew of wolf catchers, fox hunters, and one or two men who had been arrested some time in the past for holding up trains.1

  Near the end of the luncheon, when TR rose and called the meeting to order, the clatter of knives and forks promptly stopped. The President surveyed the men in the room and then delivered what amounted to a funeral oration for his administration, while praising each man in turn. He paid particularly glowing tributes to Garfield and Jusserand. The first, who was soon to be replaced at the interior department in the new administration, Roosevelt called “one of the most useful Cabinet members who ever sat at the Cabinet table.” The president noted that Garfield, who was not a wealthy man, symbolized those who would leave government with him. He had answered TR’s call seven years before to join the administration as a civil service commissioner. When the Bureau of Corporations was created in 1903 to combat big business combinations, Roosevelt had entrusted Garfield to head it, and then three years later he had taken over the Interior Department and, with Gifford Pinchot, led the fight for conservation. All of this was done at great personal sacrifice to Garfield’s promising legal career. Turning to the diminutive, bearded Jusserand, his ally in heading off the threatening Moroccan crisis between France and Germany four years before, TR declared that there had never been such a relationship between an ambassador and a president, “they were friends and playmates—and the help, the courage which the ambassador had imparted to him at times could not be estimated.”2 Uncharacteristically, the loquacious little Frenchman, the acknowledged “vice-president” of the group, was unable to find the words to reply.