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CHAPTER 1
America and Americans
Our nation is that one among all the nations of the earth which holds in its hands the fate of the coming years.
"True Americanism," The Forum, April 1894
To bear the name of American is to bear the most honorable [of] titles; and whoever does not so believe has no business to bear the name at all, and, if he comes from Europe, the sooner he goes back there the better.
"True Americanism," The Forum, April 1894
If of two families in a neighborhood one is perpetually gossiping about and criticizing the other, with a querulous, jealous insistency in faultfinding, it is in reality the gossiping family, not the other, which betrays the greater sensitiveness. The newspapers of both the United States and England are on a common — and low — level in this respect; but a comparison of the upper class of American and English magazines will show that there are in the former very few pages dealing with English morals and manners, whether for blame or for praise, whereas the latter teem with foolish and abusive articles about the United States. These articles are rarely read here unless they contain some unusually flagrant absurdity, in which case they are greedily seized by the jaded editors of the press and clipped into material for the "funny" columns. Our corresponding writers have no such morbid desire to criticise England's shortcomings. We are not interested in them. We have plenty of problems to solve for ourselves, and it is these that interest us; moreover, taking us as a whole, we care but little for foreign criticism of our methods of solution.
"A Colonial Survival," Cosmopolitan Magazine, December 1892
Our country has been populated by pioneers, and therefore it has more energy, more enterprise, more expansive power than any other in the wide world.
"National Duties," speech at Minnesota State Fair, September 2, 1901
The American people are slow to wrath, but when their wrath is once kindled it burns like a consuming flame.
First annual message to Congress, December 3, 1901
I have a great deal of faith in the average American citizen. I think he is a pretty good fellow.
Speech at Topeka, Kansas, May 1, 1903 We are the heirs of the ages....
Inaugural address, March 4, 1905
This country will not be a good place for any of us to live in if it is not a reasonably good place for all of us to live in.
"What a Progressive Is," address at Louisville, Kentucky, April 3, 1912
In the long run this country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless it is a reasonably good place for all of us to live in....
"The Recall of Judicial Decisions," address at Philadelphia, April 10, 1912
We believe that this country will not be a permanently good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a reasonably good place for all of us to live in.
"The Case Against the Reactionaries," speech at the Republican National Convention, Chicago, June 17, 1912
"America First"
The present [Wilson] Administration, with its inveterate fondness for Ephraim's diet, and its conviction that phrase-making is an efficient substitute for action, has plumed itself on the sentence, "America First." ... In practice it has acted on the theory of "America Last," both at home and abroad, both in Mexico and on the high seas.
Fear God and Take Your Own Part, 1916The American Boy Of course what we have a right to expect of the American boy is that he shall turn out to be a good American man. Now, the chances are strong that he won't be much of a man unless he is a good deal of a boy. He must not be a coward or a weakling, a bully, a shirk, or a prig. He must work hard and play hard. He must be clean-minded and clean-lived, and able to hold his own under all circumstances and against all comers. It is only on these conditions that he will grow into the kind of American man of whom America can be really proud.
"The American Boy," St. Nicholas Magazine, May 1900 A healthy-minded boy should feel hearty contempt for the coward, and even more hearty indignation for the boy who bullies girls or small boys, or tortures animals.
Ibid.
Americanism
Americanism is a question of spirit, conviction, and purpose, not of creed or birthplace.
"True Americanism," The Forum, April 1894
The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities.
"Americanism," address before the Knights of Columbus, Carnegie Hall, New York, October 12, 1915; in Fear God and Take Your Own Part, 1916
The events of the last few years have made it evident that in this country we should not only refuse to tolerate a divided allegiance but also that we should insist on one speech. We must have in this country but one flag, the American flag, and for the speech of the people but one language, the English language.
"The Children of the Crucible," in The Foes of Our Own Household, 1917
Americans Abroad
Every missionary, every traveler in wild lands, should know, and is inexcusable for not knowing, that the American Government has no power to pay the ransom of anyone who happens to be captured by brigands or savages. ... If a man goes out as a missionary he has no kind of business to venture to wild lands with the expectation that somehow the Government will protect him as well as if he stayed at home. If he is fit for his work he accepts the risk as an incident to the work and has no more right to complain of what may befall him than a soldier has in getting shot....
TR to Alvey August Adee, October 2, 1901, Letters
Anarchists and Anarchism
The wind has been sowed by the men who preach such doctrines, and they cannot escape their responsibility for the whirlwind that is reaped. ... If ever anarchy is triumphant, its triumph will last for but one red moment, to be succeeded for ages by the gloomy night of despotism.
First annual message to Congress, December 3, 1901
Armageddon
Our cause is the cause of justice for all in the interest of all. The present contest is but a phase of the larger struggle. Assuredly the fight will go on whether we win or lose; but it will be a sore disaster to lose. What happens to me is not of the slightest consequence; I am to be used, as in a doubtful battle any man is used, to his hurt or not, so long as he is useful, and is then cast aside or left to die. I wish you to feel this. I mean it; and I shall need no sympathy when you are through with me, for this fight is far too great to permit us to concern ourselves about any one man's welfare. If we are true to ourselves by putting far above our own interests the triumph of the high cause for which we battle we shall not lose. It would be far better to fail honorably for the cause we champion than it would be to win by foul methods the foul victory for which our opponents hope. But the victory shall be ours, and it shall be won as we have already won so many victories, by clean and honest fighting for the loftiest causes. We fight in honorable fashion for the good of mankind; fearless of the future; unheeding of our individual fates; with unflinching hearts and undimmed eyes; we stand at Armageddon, and we battle for the Lord.
Peroration of "The Case Against the Reactionaries," speech at the Republican National Convention, Chicago, Illinois, June 17, 1912
Six weeks ago, here in Chicago, I spoke to the honest representatives of a convention which was not dominated by honest men; a convention wherein sat, alas! a majority of men who, with sneering indifference to every principle of right, so acted as to bring to a shameful end a party which had been founded over a half-century ago by men in whose souls burned the fire of lofty endeavor. Now to you men, who, in your turn, have come together to spend and be spent in the endless crusade against wrong, to you who face the future resolute and confident, to you who strive in a spirit of brotherhood for the betterment of our nation, to you who gird yourselves for this great new fight in the never-ending warfare for the good of humankind, I say in closing what in that speech I said in closing: We stand at Armageddon, and we battle for the Lord.
"A Confession of Faith," address before the national convention of the Progressive Party in Chicago, August 6, 1912
Army Uniforms
The first requisite in the service uniform is absolute ease and freedom. Anything that binds the body, particularly the knees, hips and arms, and anything that confines the neck, is all wrong. ... The present shirt is all right in material, but dark blue is one of the worst possible colors for actual campaign use. The shirt should invariably be of a neutral tint, like gray or brown.
TR to William Cary Sanger, October 8, 1901, Letters
A Big Stick
I have always been fond of the West African proverb: "Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far." If I had not carried the big stick the organization would not have gotten behind me, and if I had yelled and blustered as Parkhurst and the similar dishonest lunatics desired, I would not have had ten votes. But I was entirely good-humored, kept perfectly cool and steadfastly refused to listen to anything save that [Lou] Payn [New York State superintendant of insurance] had to go, and that I would take none but a thoroughly upright and capable man in his place. Unless there is some cataclysm, these tactics will be crowned with success.
TR to Henry L. Sprague, January 26, 1900, Letters
A good many of you are probably acquainted with the old proverb: "Speak softly and carry a big stick — you will go far." If a man continually blusters, if he lacks civility, a big stick will not save him from trouble; but neither will speaking softly avail, if back of the softness there does not lie strength, power.
"National Duties," speech at Minnesota State Fair, September 2, 1901
Boasting and blustering are as objectionable among nations as among individuals, and the public men of a great nation owe it to their sense of national self-respect to speak courteously of foreign powers, just as a brave and self-respecting man treats all around him courteously. But though to boast is bad, and causelessly to insult another, worse; yet worse than all is it to be guilty of boasting, even without insult, and when called to the proof to be unable to make such boasting good. There is a homely old adage which runs: "Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far." If the American Nation will speak softly, and yet build, and keep at a pitch of the highest training, a thoroughly efficient navy, the Monroe Doctrine will go far.
"The Monroe Doctrine," speech at Chicago, Illinois, April 2, 1903
Books
I find reading a great comfort. People often say to me that they do not see how I find time for it, to which I answer them (much more truthfully than they believe) that to me it is a dissipation, which I have sometimes to try to avoid, instead of an irksome duty.
TR to George Otto Trevelyan, May 28, 1904, Letters
Personally the books by which I have profited infinitely more than by any others have been those in which profit was a by-product of the pleasure; that is, I read them because I enjoyed them, because I liked reading them, and the profit came in as part of the enjoyment.
Autobiography, 1913
Books are all very well in their way, and we love them at Sagamore Hill; but children are better than books....
Ibid.
Bull Moose
I wish in this campaign to do whatever you think wise and advisable — whatever is likely to produce the best results for the republican ticket. I am as strong as a bull moose and you can use me to the limit....
TR to Mark Hanna, June 17, 1900, Letters
Friends, I shall ask you to be as quiet as possible. I don't know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot; but it takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose.
"The Leader and the Cause," address at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, October 14, 1912
A Bully Pulpit
I suppose my critics will call that preaching, but I have got such a bully pulpit!
Quoted in Lyman Abbott, "A Review of President Roosevelt's Administration," The Outlook, February 27, 1909
Campaign Contributions
I again recommend a law prohibiting all corporations from contributing to the campaign expenses of any party. Such a bill has already passed one House of Congress. Let individuals contribute as they desire; but let us prohibit in effective fashion all corporations from making contributions for any political purpose, directly or indirectly.
Sixth annual message to Congress, December 3, 1906
Character
And character is far more important than intellect in making a man a good citizen or successful at his calling — meaning by character not only such qualities as honesty and truthfulness, but courage, perseverance and self-reliance.
"'Professionalism' in Sports," North American Review, August 1890
It is always better to be an original than an imitation, even when the imitation is of something better than the original; but what shall we say of the fool who is content to be an imitation of something worse?
"True Americanism," The Forum, April 1894
Reading through the pages of history you come upon nation after nation in which there has been a high average of individual strength, bravery, and hardihood, and yet in which there has been nothing approaching to national greatness, because those qualities were not supplemented by others just as necessary. With the courage, with the hardihood, with the strength, must come the power of self-restraint, the power of self-mastery, the capacity to work for and with others as well as for one's self, the power of giving to others the love which each of us must bear for his neighbor, if we are to make our civilization really great.
Speech at Topeka, Kansas, May 1, 1903
It is character that counts in a nation as in a man. It is a good thing to have a keen, fine intellectual development in a nation, to produce orators, artists, successful businessmen; but it is an infinitely greater thing to have those solid qualities which we group together under the name of character — sobriety, steadfastness, the sense of obligation toward one's neighbor and one's God, hard common sense, and, combined with it, the lift of generous enthusiasm toward whatever is right. These are the qualities which go to make up true national greatness.
"Grant," speech at Galena, Illinois, April 27, 1900
A man may neglect his political duties because he is too lazy, too selfish, too short-sighted, or too timid; but whatever the reason may be it is certainly an unworthy reason, and it shows either a weakness or worse than a weakness in the man's character.
"Athletics, Scholarship, and Public Service," address to Harvard Union, Cambridge, Massachusetts, February 23, 1907 Let the watchwords of all our people be the old familiar watchwords of honesty, decency, fair-dealing, and common sense.
"National Unity versus Class Cleavage," Labor Day address at New York State Fair, Syracuse, New York, September 7, 1903
From the greatest to the smallest, happiness and usefulness are largely found in the same soul, and the joy of life is won in its deepest and truest sense only by those who have not shirked life's burdens.
Ibid.
The same qualities that make a decent boy make a decent man. They have different manifestations, but fundamentally they are the same. If a boy has not got pluck and honesty and common sense he is a pretty poor creature; and he is a worse creature if he is a man and lacks any one of those three traits.
"The Journey on the Ridge Crest," speech at the Prize-Day Exercises at Groton School, May 24, 1904
In the last analysis, the most important elements in any man's career must be the sum of those qualities which, in the aggregate, we speak of as character. If he has not got it, then no law that the wit of man can devise, no administration of the law by the boldest and strongest executive, will avail to help him. We must have the right kind of character — character that makes a man, first of all, a good man in the home, a good father, a good husband — that makes a man a good neighbor.
"The New Nationalism," speech at Osawatomie, Kansas, August 31, 1910
A man can of course hold public office, and many a man does hold public office, and lead a public career of a sort, even if there are other men who possess secrets about him which he cannot afford to have divulged. But no man can lead a public career really worth leading, no man can act with rugged independence in serious crises, nor strike at great abuses, nor afford to make powerful and unscrupulous foes, if he is himself vulnerable in his private character.
Autobiography, 1913
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "The Wisdom of the Theodore Roosevelt"
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