Colonel Roosevelt (165 page)
Authors: Edmund Morris
40
“Colonel,” somebody asked
Marshall Stimson memorandum, n.d. (TRB).
41
The article described
The Washington Post
, 15–20 Aug. 1915; Sullivan,
Our Times
, 5.184–96. Another victim of U.S. wrath was Karl Bünz, Germany’s consul general in New York, arrested on charges of financial conspiracy. Bünz had once performed a useful service to TR during the Venezuela crisis of 1902–1903. TR now sought to repay that old favor by trying, unsuccessfully, to keep him out of prison. (Morris,
Theodore Rex
, 189; Leary,
Talks with T.R.
, 43–44.) In December, Papen was expelled for complicity in acts of sabotage. He later (1932) served as Chancellor of Germany before stepping aside in favor of Adolf Hitler.
42
“The time for”
The New York Times
, 22 Aug. 1915.
43
A few days later
For the background and subsequent history of the civilian preparedness program centering on Plattsburg, see John G. Clifford,
Citizen Soldiers: The Plattsburg Training Camp Movement, 1913–1920
(Lexington, Ky., 1972).
44
“I suppose”
TR.Jr. to KR, 21 July 1915 (KRP).
45
Roosevelt was amused
TR,
Letters
, 8.962–63; Eleanor B. Roosevelt,
Day Before Yesterday
, 66. By the time TR.Jr. went to war in 1917, he had accumulated a fortune conservatively estimated at $425,000. (EBR to “mother,” 8 Jan. 1919 [TRJP].) For a compact portrait of TR.Jr., see Charles W. Snyder, “An American Original: Theodore Roosevelt, Junior,”
Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal
, 17.2 (Spring 1991). See also H. Paul Jeffers,
Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.: The Life of a War Hero
(Novato, Calif., 2002).
46
A miserly economy
TR copied this extract out by hand, along with similar pronouncements at other stages of his career, for Julian Street to quote in
The Most Interesting American
. Ms. preserved in JS.
47
The camp was run
Clifford,
Citizen Soldiers
, 48–49, 82–83; Sullivan,
Our Times
, 5.226. TR.Jr. was a founder-member of a preparedness-advocacy group, formed early in 1915, which at first called itself the American Legion (not to be confused with the permanent organization founded after World War I), then gradually took on more substantial shape and power as the Military Training Camps Association (MTCA). Eleanor B. Roosevelt,
Day Before Yesterday
, 71; Clifford,
Citizen Soldiers
, 60–69.
Historical Note:
TR was no stranger to the fantasy of a surprise invasion of the United States. Earlier in the summer of 1915, he had acted as a consultant to a film entitled
The Battle Cry of Peace
, produced and directed by his movie-mogul neighbor, J. Stuart Blackton of Vitagraph Pictures. (See 283.)
Battle Cry
, based on Hudson Maxim’s alarmist
Defenseless America
(New York, 1915), opened at the same time as the Plattsburg camp, and was a box-office smash, despite negative reviews mocking its deliberate sensationalism.
All that exists of the movie today is a 400-foot fragment, eerily showing choked and blinded New Yorkers trying to escape from a lower Manhattan dense with the smoke and rubble of firebombed buildings. For a full account of the production and phenomenal success of
Battle Cry
, and the ideological quarrel it caused between TR and Hugo Münsterberg, see chap. 2 of David A. Gerstner,
Manly Arts: Masculinity and Nation in Early American Cinema
(Durham, N.C., 2006). See also TR,
Letters
, 8.989–91.
48
It was an excellent
For the sample sufferings of one trainee, see Arthur Lubow,
The Reporter Who Would Be King: A Biography of Richard Harding Davis
(New York, 1992), 315–16.
49
Davis, the only man present
Lubow,
The Reporter Who Would Be King
, 309–12, 315–16.
50
“I like him”
Clifford,
Citizen Soldiers
, 85.
51
It was tempting
TR had shown an advance copy of his remarks to Wood and allowed the general to edit them. Charles McGrath clumsily gave the unedited version to the press.
The New York Times
, commenting on this release, allowed that TR “could use more moderation in his expression,” but nevertheless praised him for performing “a service to his country” in drawing attention to the need for national preparedness. TR,
Letters
, 8.965;
The New York Times
, 26 Aug. 1915.
52
“Let him get out”
The New York Times
, 26 Aug. 1915.
53
“As the Colonel”
Street,
The Most Interesting American
, 5.
54
a reprimand to General Wood
Garrison’s furious telegram, which left Wood apologetic but secretly unrepentant, is quoted in Clifford,
Citizen Soldiers
, 86–87. Dudley F. Malone, a WW appointee who attended Plattsburg as an observer for the administration, denounced TR’s speech as “both novel and treasonable.”
The New York Times
, 27 Aug. 1915.
55
the Colonel dictated
“I am, of course, solely responsible for the whole speech,”
TR declared, avoiding comment on his unscripted remarks at Plattsburg station. “General Wood had no more idea than Secretary Garrison what I was going to say.”
The New York Times
, 27 Aug. 1915.
56
“It was not”
Street,
The Most Interesting American
, 9–10.
57
The young man was convinced
Street in TR,
Works
, 9.203.
58
“The Master of the house”
Julian Street, “Mrs. Roosevelt Edits a Statement of Her Husband’s,” ts. (JS).
59
He had to explain
TR’s deposition, dated 24 Sept. 1915, is printed as an appendix in TR,
Works
, 4.604–6.
60
Shaken by the
Wood,
Roosevelt As We Knew Him
, 395.
61
Washburn observed
Ibid.; Adams,
Letters
, 6.702; Spring Rice to TR, 10 Oct. 1915 (TRP).
62
a “shifty, adroit”
TR to Edith Wharton, 1 Oct. 1915 (EW).
63
“Terse, clear”
Bourne,
British Documents
, pt. 1, ser. C, 15.149.
64
“All these letters”
Street,
The Most Interesting American
, 15.
65
the President’s most recent
The New York Times
, 22 July 1915.
66
On 5 October
Bailey,
A Diplomatic History
, 580–81.
67
Representatives of all
Ibid., 581; New York
World
, 6 Oct. 1915.
68
On the day after
Cooper,
Woodrow Wilson
, 302–3. WW married Mrs. Galt on 18 Dec. 1915.
69
“I am giving”
TR to QR, 18 Oct. 1915 (TRC).
70
It was obvious
TR quoted in Street,
The Most Interesting American
, 31–32; TR to KR, 15 Oct. 1915 (TRC).
Chronological Note:
An important chapter in TR’s life came to an end on 14 Nov. 1915, when Booker T. Washington died. TR spoke at the memorial service in Tuskegee, Ala., on 12 Dec., and lobbied successfully for the appointment of Robert R. Moton to succeed Washington as principal of the Tuskegee Institute. In private correspondence he showed no resentment against Washington for supporting WW in 1912, calling the black educator “a genius such as does not arise in a generation.” Wood,
Roosevelt As We Knew Him
, 345–46; TR,
Letters
, 8.996–97.
71
Roosevelt had been pleased
TR,
Letters
, 8.1455, 829; TR to KR, 8 Apr. 1915 (TRC).
72
As a token
TR to QR, 18 Oct. 1915 (TRC).
73
The extermination of
TR,
Works
, 4.226–27.
23: T
HE
M
AN
A
GAINST THE
S
KY
1
Epigraph
Robinson, “The Revealer (Roosevelt),”
The Town Down the River
, 127.
2
“With T.R.”
Baker, notebook VIII.63, 11 Jan. 1916 (RSB).
3
“In the present crisis”
Ibid. Contributing to the “crisis” atmosphere was the recent sinking, by an Austrian-flagged submarine, of the Italian liner
Ancona
, with 25 American citizens aboard. The submarine was actually German, but this inflammatory fact was kept secret for years.
4
“I can understand”
Baker, notebook VIII.63–64, 11 Jan. 1916 (RSB).
5
Roosevelt was regretfully
Street,
The Most Interesting American
, 32–33; TR to KR, 27 May 1915 (TRC).
6
“I’m a domestic”
Street,
The Most Interesting American
, 33.
7
“Most certainly”
Ibid., 53.
8
the possibility of uniting
On 11 Jan. 1915, the Progressive National Committee,
strong-armed by George W. Perkins, had publicly indicated a willingness to unite with the GOP under “a common leadership,” if Republicans would adopt a sufficiently Rooseveltian (i.e., patriotic, pro-preparedness, and socially fair) platform for the coming campaign. See TR,
Letters
, 8.1000, and Mowry,
TR
, 331.
9
persons lacking manly qualities
For the effeminacy imputed to pacifists by TR and his fellow interventionists in World War I, see Gerstner,
Manly Arts
, 53ff.
10
“The way to treat”
Sullivan,
Our Times
, 5.202.
11
the winter so far
Gilbert,
A History of the Twentieth Century
, 391–93;
The New York Times
, 28, 21 Jan. 1916.
12
an appreciable minority
The phrase is TR’s, in
Letters
, 8.1013.
13
Owen Wister’s bestselling
Wister,
The Pentecost of Calamity
, chap. 14. For TR’s influence on the draft of this elegant little book, see Wister,
Roosevelt
, 349ff.
14
millions of
poilus
Edith Wharton,
Fighting France: From Dunkerque to Belfort
(New York, 1915), 238. Mrs. Wharton begged TR in the fall of 1915 to visit the Western Front and publicize the plight of the French. He declined, saying he would do so only when allowed to fight there. “But I won’t have the chance to try. The shifty, adroit and selfish logothete in the White House cannot be kicked into war.” (1 Oct. 1915 [EW].) She replied that she felt the same way about WW. “I think it was the saddest moment of my life when I realized that my country
wanted
him to be what he is.” (19 Oct. 1915 [ERDP].) Later TR wrote the introduction to Wharton’s
The Book of the Homeless
(New York, 1916), an anthology raising funds for war refugees.
15
“Does anybody understand”
The New York Times
, 28 Jan. 1916.
16
“a proper and reasonable”
Ibid. At another dinner at the Biltmore later that evening, WW, speaking extemporaneously, made an obtuse reference to certain “humbugs” who had “been at large a long time,” and could be silenced only by allowing them to expose themselves to public ridicule. His audience of movie producers listened mystified as the President rambled on about watching himself on film, in tones that implied he had drunk one toast too many.
17
Wilson proceeded
Heckscher,
Woodrow Wilson
, 376–79; Sullivan,
Our Times
, 5.228–30, 277–78;
The New York Times
, 30 Jan., 4 Feb. 1916. Actually WW had asked Congress to double the size of the standing army to 140,000, and to increase the size of the fleet to 27 battleships, plus ancillary vessels—the largest defense appropriations yet requested in American history.
18
“Each of these”
Sullivan,
Our Times
, 5.230.
19
epithets like “skunk”
TR,
Letters
, 7.809.
20
“a Byzantine logothete”
TR,
Works
, 20.243.
21
“If any individual”
Ibid., 20.245–46.
22
“jungle fever”
TR.Jr. to KR, 8 Mar. 1916 (KRP).
23
mountains of Allied money
Mowry,
TR
, 333, notes that the earnings of the Dupont Company of Delaware increased from $5.6 million in 1914 to $57.8 million in 1915. For a detailed account of TR’s swing to the right, 1915–1916, see ibid., chap. 13.
24
Roosevelt still talked
Ibid., 334–35.
25
He allowed Judge Elbert
The New York Times
, 19, 21 (editorial), and 22 Dec. 1915.
26
“Behind it all”
Leary,
Talks with T.R.
, 49–50.
27
“I dislike”
Ibid., 51.
28
When Roosevelt stepped
The following account is based on Louis Achille,
Visite de M. et de Mme. Roosevelt à la Martinique, 22 février 1916
(Fort-de-France, 1916), 1–14. Previously the Roosevelts had toured the islands of St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. Kitts, Antigua, Guadeloupe, and Dominica, where TR was hailed (as he
had been in British East Africa) as the “King of America.”
The New York Times
, 8, 4 Mar. 1915.
