Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography

Product Description

Theodore Roosevelt’s writing has the same verve, panache, and energy as the life he lived. Perhaps no president in U.S. history—not even Jefferson—had so many opinions and intellectual interests, believed in so many causes, or worked so hard to translate his beliefs into action. A hard-headed idealist, an unabashed interventionist, a crusader on behalf of environmental preservation and against big business ”trusts,” he was also a writer of uncommon grace and passion with a gift for the memorable phrase. His autobiography, one of the two or three finest ever written by a U.S. president, abounds in exciting episodes of personal transformation and insights into the bitter politics of the day. Roosevelt was a sickly youth who steeled himself for a life of vigor, growing up surrounded by wealth in nineteenth-century Manhattan but vacationing in the West, where he rode with cowboys and learned to revere and study the natural world. His book describes his early failures in his political career and his ascent from the New York City police board to assistant secretary of the Navy where he advocated war with Spain, to his brief stint and public renown as a Rough Rider; and on to the governorship of New York, vice presidency under McKinley, and finally the presidency itself. Elting Morison’s new introduction analyzes what Roosevelt has included—and not included—about his many political conflicts, his role in the acquisition of the Panama Canal, and the deaths of his wife and his mother.As everywhere in his writing, the personality of T.R.—alert, voluble, forceful, compassionate—shines forth from this book, which remains a singular study of a dynamic and, in many respects, exemplary man who was also a key figure in the Age of Reform.

Product Details

* Amazon Sales Rank: #637997 in Books
* Published on: 1985-03-21
* Original language: English
* Number of items: 1
* Binding: Paperback
* 636 pages

Customer Reviews

Remember the "Malefactors of Great Wealth"5
That was Theodore Roosevelt's description of the plutocrats of his era - bankers and railroad barons chiefly - and it suits the bankers and oil barons of our era just as aptly. What a bizarre moment it was, last night, watching the second presidential debate between John McCain and Barack Obama, to hear McCain declare that Theodore Roosevelt was his "hero"! Of course, only a few minutes earlier, he'd proclaimed Ronald reagan as his "hero," but he had a lot of bases to touch. One has to wonder if McCain knows anything about TR apart from the quote about carrying a big stick. One of the uses of that big stick was to flog those malefactors of great wealth, Senator McCain. Roosevelt was a regulator. There's no doubt which side he would have taken in the recent debate; he would firmly have urged Congress to enact a package of regulations that would make Obama's plans seem quite moderate.

To confirm my impressions of Thoedore Roosevelt as the direct progenitor of much of the New Deal and of Democratic platforms from Wilson's to Obama's, I turned directly to his Autobiography, published in 1913, after he left the White House and around the time when he abandoned the Republican Party to join the Progressives. Chapter XII - The Big Stick and the Square Deal - or chapter XIII - 'Social and Industrial Justice' - are both good places to start examining Roosevelt's thoughts about America's subjection to plutocracy, about the necessity of a strong labor movement, and about financial regulation in general. Here are some of his words:

"By the time I became President I had grown to feel...that government agencies must find their justification in the way in which they are used for the practical benefit of living and working conditions among the mass of the people.... For this reason I felt that all that the government could do in the interest of labor should be done."

"We passed a good law protecting the lives and health of miners... We provided for safeguarding factory employees... We passed a workman's compensation law...which did not go as far as I wished, but which was the best i could get, and which committed the Government to the right policy. We provided for an investigation of woman and child labor in the United States. Where we had the most difficulty was with the railway companies engaged in inter-State business."

"It is unjust that a law which has been declared public policy by the representatives of the people should be submitted to the possibility of nullification because the Government leaves the enforcement of it to the private initiative... It should be the business of Government to enforce laws of this kind [regulations! Think ahead to the second Roosevelt's issues with the Supreme Court!] Ever since the Civil War very many decisions of the courts...as regards the application of great governmental policies for social and industrial justice, had been nothing more than ingenious justifications of the theory that these policies were mere high-sounding abstractions... The tendency of the courts had been, in the majority of cases, jealously to exert their great power in protecting thsoe who least needed protection and hardly to use their power at all in the interest of those who most needed protection."

"It was an instance of the largely unconscious way in which the courts had been twisted into the exaltation of property rights over human rights, and the subordination of the welfare of the laborer when compared with the profit of the man for whom he labored."

If you have access to this book, I'd also suggest reading Appendix B, Roosevelt's essay "The Control of Corporations and 'The New Freedom'." For John McCain to identify Teddy Roosevelt as his "hero" demonstrates either utter ignorance of Roosevelt's thought or else utter political opportunism and sloganeering.

Roosevelt's Autobiography is spacious, a five-hundred page volume in the somewhat pontifical literary style of his era, but many readers have found it enjoyable and enlightening, myself included. Except for his benighted attitudes concerning race, reflecting the near-universal 'social Darwinist' racism of his era, Roosevelt was economically and environmentally a good deal closer to the positions of Barack Obama than to John McCain. If Roosevelt is to be someone's hero, I claim him for myself.

Sorry Teddy1
Sorry to be the pooper but this party is so extremely overrated it's sad. Teddy Roosevelt is a man's man and one of my favorite presidents but, at least in this instance, he's a pretty poor writer. I'm sorry to say that I just couldn't stomach the book it was so poorly written and I had to close it after choking down a little over half its contents. I know it must have been very painful for Teddy but he doesn't even mention his first wife, the love of his life, Alice. How can an autobiography be complete with valuable pieces of information missing?

If you're looking for a good book try his biography written by Nathan Miller, "Theodore Roosevelt, A Life." Miller is a far better writer and seems to capture the Roosevelt that we all know and love. I have passed this book on to several friends and they have all come away with a heaping helpin' of respect for our 26th President.

Again, I have to apologize to Teddy but there are just some folks who should not put pen to paper.

A last Renaissance man5
I've loved Theodore Roosevelt since my wonderful 11th-grade American History class 10 years ago. This great President was quite possibly one of the last true Renaissance men: politician yes, but scientist, conservationist, businessman, soldier, and, heavens yes! writer (he published, I have heard, nearly 50 books on many different themes). TR belongs to the end of an era when one could actually aspire to "doing it all," and he succeeded brilliantly.

Teddy's _Autobiography_ is a fun, conversational read. The formatting for the Kindle is good, but not great, and a table of contents would be greatly appreciated.