The Theodore Roosevelt Centennial CD-ROM

William W. Moir, October 10, 1898.) Roosevelt

Memorial Association Library.

ROOSEVELT, THEODORE. I am, if I am anything,

an American. I am an American from the crown of my

head to the soles of my feet. If I take office I will take it

as a free-man, as an equal to my fellow freemen, to

serve loyally, honestly, and conscientiously every

citizen of this great Commonwealth. (At Cooper Union

Hall, New York City, October 15, 1886.) Mem. Ed.

XVI, 117; Nat. Ed. XIV, 74.

____________. I am just an ordinary man without any

special ability in any direction. In most things I am just

above the average; in some of them a little under, rather

than over. I am only an ordinary walker. I can't run. I

am not a good swimmer, although I am a strong one. I

probably ride better than I do anything else, but I am

certainly not a remarkably good rider. I am not a good

shot. My eyesight is not strong, and I have to get close

to my game in order to make any shot at all. I never

could be a good boxer, although I like to box and do

keep at it, whenever I can. My eyesight prevents me

from ever being a good tennis player, even if otherwise

I could qualify.

So you see that from the physical point of view I

am just an ordinary, or perhaps a little less than

ordinary man. Now, take the things that I have done in

public life or in private life either, for that matter. I am

not a brilliant writer. I have written a great deal, but I

always have to work and slave over everything I write.

The things that I have done, in one office, or another,

are all, with the possible exception of the Panama

Canal, just such things as any ordinary man could have

done. There is nothing brilliant or outstanding in my

record, except, perhaps, this one thing. Whatever I think

it is right for me to do, I do. I do the things that I

believe ought to be done. And when I make up my

mind to do a thing, I act. (January 1909; reported by

Davis.) Oscar King Davis, Released for Publication.

(Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1925), pp. 131-132.

____________. I am not in the least a hero, my dear

fellow. I am a perfectly commonplace man and I know

it; I am just a decent American citizen who tries to

stand for what is decent in his own country and in other

countries and who owes very much to you and to

certain men like you who are not fellow countrymen of

his. (To Sir George Otto Trevelyan, May 29, 1915.)

Mem. Ed. XXIV, 211; Bishop II, 181.

ROOSEVELT AS A LEADER. I'm no orator, and in

writing I'm afraid I'm not gifted at all, except perhaps

that I have a good instinct and a liking for simplicity

and directness. If I have anything at all resembling

genius it is the gift for leadership. (To Julian Street.)

Mem. Ed. IX, 213; Nat. Ed. X, 357.

____________. I am already an old man, and the

chances are very small that I will ever again grow into

touch with the people of this country to the degree that

will make me useful as a leader; and a man who has

been a leader is very rarely useful as an adviser when

the period of his leadership has passed. (To E. A. Van

Valkenberg, September 5, 1916.) Mem. Ed. XXIV, 487;

Bishop II, 414.

ROOSEVELT DIVISION, THE. If a war should

occur while I am still physically fit, I should certainly

try to raise a brigade, and if possible a division, of

cavalry, mounted riflemen, such as those in my

regiment ten years ago. (To John St. Loe Strachey,

November 28, 1908.) Mem. Ed. XXIV, 146; Bishop II,

126.

____________. If war came, I would certainly wish you

in my division; but it would not be possible to say in

advance in just what position I could use you; and

moreover the Administration would be apt to try either

not to employ me at the front or not to give me a free

hand. (To Bacon, July 7, 1916.) James Brown Scott,

Robert Bacon. Life and Letters. (Doubleday, Page &

Co., Garden City, N. Y., 1923), p. 254.

____________. My hope is, if we are drawn into this

European war, to get Congress to authorize me to raise

a Cavalry Division, which would consist of four cavalry

brigades each of two regiments, and a brigade of Horse

Artillery of two regiments, with a pioneer battalion or,

better still, two pioneer battalions, and a field battalion

of signal troops in addition to a supply train and a

sanitary train. I would wish the ammunition train and

the supply train to be both motor trains; and I would

also like a regiment or battalion of machine guns; al-

though I should want to consult you as to just the way

in which this organization should be maintained, for of

course the machine guns would be distributed among

the troops. (To Captain Frank McCoy, July 10, 1916.)

Major- General James G. Harbord, “Theodore Roose-

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