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JOHN MILTON COOPER on TR "If TR Had Gone Down with the Titanic:
A Look at His last Decade," GIFFORD
PINCHOT AND ENVIRONMENTALISM Gifford Pinchot and the making
of Modern Environmentalism Washington: Island Press, Shearwater Books, 2001; 458 pp., illustrated, hard cover. WAR LETTERS
FROM THE PAST HOW TR, FDR,
AND ELEANOR ROOSEVELT CHANGED AMERICA LESSONS FROM
THE BULLY PULPIT
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GIFFORD
PINCHOT AND ENVIRONMENTALISM Gifford
Pinchot and the making of Modern Environmentalism One of the most important aspects of the history of environmentalism or conservation in the United States is the bitter divisiveness within the movement. Environmentalists are not one big happy family. The main and most famous division within the environmental movement has been between the followers of John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club and patron saint of the preservationists, and those of Gifford Pinchot, the first chief of the US Forest Service, prophet of the so-called "use-conservationists." Gifford Pinchot was of course a close friend of TR, served with distinction in the Roosevelt administration, and later followed TR into the Bull Moose Party. But TR was also a friend and admirer of John Muir. TR's admiration and affection for both Muir and Pinchot seems to confuse many historians. TR was in fact both a preservationist and a "use-conservationist." Roosevelt thought that preservation was appropriate in some cases, such as protecting the Grand Canyon and Muir Woods, and that planned use and development of natural resources was called for elsewhere, as seen in Arizona's Theodore Roosevelt Dam and in the forest reserves. An excellent study of environmentalism/conservation as the movement developed historically is Char Miller's new biography of Gifford Pinchot, Gifford Pinchot and the Making of Modern Environmentalism, which has already won two awards, Best Biography from the Independent Book Publishers, and Gold Award for biography in the ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year competition. Those of us who have talked with Char Miller, who have heard him lecture, or read what he has written know that he always has something new and original to say, and that what he has to say is worth hearing and pondering. Michael Beschloss syas: "Char Miller has brought us an absorbing, well-researched, and illuminating life of an American leader who now receives the full attention he deserves." This book follows Pinchot from his youth as the heir of a considerable fortune, his studies of forestry in Europe, his work at Biltmore to his years as head of the US Forest Service, his dramatic quarrel with President William Howard Taft (Taft fired Pinchot from the federal government), his Bull Moose days though to his two terms as Governor of Pennsylvania and his final years as free-lance progressive and conservationist. Writes Miller: "Born in August 1865, shortly after the close of the nation's bloodiest war, he died in October 1946, a little more than a year after the blinding flash that marked the end of World War II and the birth of the Atomic Age. Over this span, he worked for, offered counsel to, and battled with every president from Grover Cleveland to Harry S. Truman. As modern America emerged, Pinchot was among its creators." Did you know that as a logical sequel to the first national governors conference, called to consider conservation in 1908, the North American Conservation Conference of February 1909, TR and Pinchot planned, and sent out invitations for, an international conservation conference ? The sequence was meant to be nation to continent to world. But President Taft canceled the conference. Gifford Pinchot continued to promote the idea of a global conference, and Harry Truman decided to hold such a gathering through the United Nations. When the UN conference met in 1949, Gifford Pinchot was dead, but his widow, Cordelia Bryce Pinchot was an official delegate. Read all about these things in Miller's new book. We need books with the sweep and scope of this book. Dr. John Allen Gable Char Miller is professor and chair of the history department at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. He received his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins, and has been on the Trinity faculty since 1981. His previous works include Gifford Pinchot: The Evolution of an American Conservationist (1992). |
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Andrew Carroll,
Andrew Carroll is a remarkable man who has compiled an extraordinary book consisting of some 200 previously unpublished letters written by Americans during wartime, from the Civil War era to the recent police actions in Bosnia. Some of these letters are written by famous figures, including Clara Barton, Theodore Roosevelt, Douglas MacArthur, and Ernie Pyle, but most are letters from ordinary soldiers to their friends and family. The first two letters in the book were written by an abolitionist who was hung for his participation in John Brown's Raid at Harpers Ferry. The last letter in the book was written in 1996 by an officer in Bosnia, wishing his son a happy seventh birthday and enclosing an American flag that had flown over command headquarters, Camp Colt, in northern Bosnia-Herzegovina. The letters include all the human emotions, from joy to grief, and show human beings at their worst and their best. Many of the writers of these letters never returned home. Douglas Brinkley, Director of the Eisenhower Center at the University of New Orleans, writes in his foreword: "...Much of the correspondence collected here is the simple exchange of assurances of caring and support, mother to son, brother to sister, husband to wife, friend to friend. And it is in this communication among loved ones that those lofty ideals of liberty that make America great are passed on. As shown here, every American generation from that of the Civil War to the Bosnian intervention has wanted its progeny to know that war is cruel and to be avoided at any cost - except, that is, when conflict is the only way to preserve the integrity of our constitutional values and democratic principles." Andrew Carroll, the editor of War Letters, founded in 1998 the Legacy Project, a nonprofit organization "that works to honor and remember those who have served in wartime by seeking out and preserving their letters." Abigail Van Buren in her November 11, 1998 syndicated newspaper column announced that the Legacy Project was looking for wartime letters, and over 50,000 such letters were sent to Andrew Carroll's organization. Research in libraries and archives and talking to people turned up more letters. Eventually, the letters included in this volume were selected from the tens of thousands located. The letter by Theodore Roosevelt, not previously published, is in the files of the Theodore Roosevelt Association. Doug Brinkley, a Trustee of the TRA, knew about this letter, and gave my name and number to Andy Carroll, who called me up and asked if the letter might be good for this collection. Douglas Brinkley, in his foreword to the book, says that "the most affecting of War Letter's big-name epistles is the heart-breaking note former President Theodore Roosevelt wrote ... shortly after the death of his son, Quentin Roosevelt " in World War 1. The letter was written to a Mrs. Harvey L. Freeland, who was one of the many who sent condolences to Sagamore Hill after Quentin was shot down in 1918. All of the author's earnings from War Letters, minus limited expenses, will be donated to nonprofit organizations, memorials, and institutions, especially those "working to honor and remember the men and women who have served this nation in wartime." The Theodore Roosevelt Association is among the organizations receiving profits from War Letters. Andrew Carroll writes in his introduction to the book: "Individually, the war letters collected here are distinct, finely cut works of art, some more polished, some rougher around the edges, but each one exquisite in its own right. Together, they create a larger narrative .... It is a story of immeasurable suffering and astonishing violence. But it is also a story that encompasses tales of heroism, perseverance, integrity, honor, and reconciliation." Andrew Carroll is to be commended for saving tens of thousands of letters, precious relics of the people who have fought our nation's battles, and for giving us this book, War Letters, which Tom Brokaw calls "a priceless treasure." Indeed it is. |
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"He
Died at the Crest of Life"
Note - Quentin Roosevelt, youngest of Theodore Roosevelt's six children, was shot down and killed in air combat behind German lines in France on July 14, 1918. Letters of condolence arrived at Sagamore Hill from ordinary citizens as well as from famous figures, from friends and strangers. Two letters from a Mrs. Harvey L. Freeland so touched TR and his wife, Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt, that Roosevelt wrote Mrs. Freeland this handwritten reply. Years later, in the 1950s, Mrs. Freeland sent the letter from TR back to Sagamore Hill, where it was received by Curator Jessica Kraft. The letter is now the property of the Theodore Roosevelt Association. Sagamore Hill Aug 14th , 1918 Dear Mrs. Freeland, Last evening, as we were sitting together in the North Room, Mrs. Roosevelt handed me your two letters, saying they were such dear letters and that I must see them. As yet it is hard for her to answer even the letters she cares for most; but yours have so singular a quality that I do not mind writing you of the intimate things which one cannot speak of to strangers. Quentin was her baby, the last child left in the home nest; on the night before he sailed, a year ago, she did as she always had done and went upstairs to tuck him into bed - the huge, laughing, gentle-hearted boy. He was always thoughtful and considerate of those with whom he came in contact; a week ago a letter from him, written two days before he was killed, came to a devoted member of the family, Mary Sweeny, the chambermaid, who loved Quentin as if she had been his nurse; a gay, merry letter. It is hard to open letters coming from those you love who are dead; but Quentin's last letters, written during his three weeks at the front, when of his squadron on an average a man was killed every day, are written with real joy in the "great adventure." He was engaged to a very beautiful girl, of very fine and high character; it is heartbreaking for her, as well as for his mother; but they both said that they would rather have him never come back than never have gone. He had his crowded hour, he died at the crest of life, in the glory of the dawn. My other three boys are just as daring; and if the war lasts they will all be killed unless they are so crippled as to be sent home. Archie has apparently been crippled by his two shell wounds, but has been struggling against being sent home. Ted has been gassed, and is now back with his gallant little wife in Paris, with two bullet wounds; he will be back at the front in a few weeks. Kermit won the British Military cross in Mesopotamia, but is now under Pershing. My son in law, Dick Derby, a major in the Medical Corps, has been knocked down by a shell, but after a week in hospital is back at the front. A good record, isn't it? All four left their wives, and their children, born and unborn. And in view of your liking the chapter of my autobiography for which I care most, I venture to say that the five boys, who as fighters have won distinction against the greatest modern military nations - I wish I could tell you some of their feats! - are so gentle, and are just as clean and good as girls. And I am just as proud of my daughters and daughters in law as of the boys. And we have such darling little grandchildren, and they are such comforts. Yes, the two anniversaries I always remember are our engagement day and our wedding day; but I have succeeded in hopelessly befogging myself as to whether my wife's birthday is on the 8th or 6th of August (it's really the latter) and every year have to be enlightened on the subject by slighty impatient offspring. Is your husband in the army? Give him my warm regards; and you mother and father and sister. I wish to see any of you or all of you out here at my house, if you ever come to New York. Will you promise to let me know?
Faithfully yours, |
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HOW TR, FDR, AND ELEANOR ROOSEVELT CHANGED AMERICA James MacGregor
Burns and Susan Dunn, Reviewed by John Allen Gable The Roosevelt Study Center in Middelburg, the Netherlands, a great institution that has done much to promote American studies throughout Europe, was opened in 1986,and dedicated to Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Eleanor Roosevelt, "three prominent Americans with Dutch roots." At the time the RSC was opened more than a few Americans found it strange, and some saw it as inappropriate, that Theodore Roosevelt's name should be linked with Franklin D. Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt, a Republican President with a Democratic President and First Lady. Now TR, FDR, and ER are again presented as a trio in The Three Roosevelts: Patrician Leaders Who Transformed America by James MacGregor Burns and Susan Dunn. TR, FDR, and ER were, of course, linked by ties of blood and close family relationships. TR's brother Elliott Roosevelt was Franklin's godfather and father-in-law. TR and Elliott were fifth cousins of FDR, members of the same generation in the Roosevelt family tree. Eleanor Roosevelt was TR's niece, and fifth cousin once removed to her husband Franklin. Yet, for many years the "Oyster Bay Roosevelts," TR's branch of the family tree, and the "Hyde Park Roosevelts," FDR's clan, were bitter political enemies. Burns and Dunn believe that this rivalry was largely circumstantial, resulting from the collision of the political careers of FDR and Theodore Roosevelt, Junior after TR's death, and that this feud obscured the essential unity of belief and public purpose in the careers of Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Eleanor Roosevelt. For Burns and Dunn, this Roosevelt trinity stood for basically the same goals of economic, social, and political reform. Burns and Dunn quote the Kansas editor William Allen White, who knew both TR and FDR, as saying: "When the New Deal came with its program, it went little further than Colonel Roosevelt's Progressive Party had gone twenty years before." For instance, in 1912 TR advocated government unemployment and old age insurance (and federal health insurance), and of course FDR signed the Social Security Act in 1935, carrying out TR's vision. All three, as Burns and Dunn repeatedly note, were considered "traitors to their class." FDR's hero worship of TR, and his attempt to pattern his career after TR's, has been well-documented by Geoffrey Ward and other historians; and Eleanor Roosevelt often wrote and spoke admiringly of her uncle. When Eleanor Roosevelt died, by the way, the contents of her pocket book included her membership card in the Theodore Roosevelt Association. Burns and Dunn document parallels and connections in the political beliefs of the three famous Roosevelts, including their fights to regulate big business, abolish child labor, and promote conservation. TR advocated women's suffrage, and much of Eleanor Roosevelt's career was devoted to women's rights. Burns and Dunn see a continuous tradition of reform, the "Roosevelt century," beginning with TR's election to the New York State Assembly in 1881 and ending with Ronald Reagan's inauguration in 1981. Burns and Dunn write: "The genius of the three leaders lay in their recognizing the needs of the people early on, sensing their political mood, mobilizing their support, and then - above all - acting. And that is what these three leaders did. By doing so, they transformed American society and reshaped history for the United States and the rest of the world. The impetus and momentum of their leadership carried over through the administrations of John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Jimmy Carter - up until the rise of Reagan conservatism. For a hundred years - from 1881, when TR first ran for the New York State Assembly, until 1981, when Carter left office - the three Roosevelt's charted the course of progressive reform in America." It should be noted that in spite of the fact that TR and FDR belonged to different political parties, and were active on the political scene at the same time, starting with FDR's election to the New York State Senate in 1910, there really were no quarrels between TR and FDR, or between the Oyster Bay and Hyde Park clans, until 1920. Burns and Dunn recall that in 1915 FDR was one of the few politicians from any party willing to testify on TR's behalf at the Barnes libel trial during TR's Bull Moose years. TR was always fond of FDR and Eleanor. Then in 1920, after TR's death, the break between Oyster Bay and Hyde Park came when FDR was nominated for Vice President by the Democrats. Theodore Roosevelt, Junior, then a Republican in the NY State Assembly, campaigned around the country against FDR, saying, "He does not have the brand of our family." Eleanor retaliated in 1924 when TR, Jr. ran for Governor of New York, campaigning against her cousin in a truck shaped like a large teapot, recalling the Teapot Dome scandal of the Republicans. But TR, Jr. had been one of those who helped expose the Teapot Dome mess, and was entirely innocent of any wrongdoing. Eleanor Roosevelt later admitted that this was a "rough stunt." Burns and Dunn write: "..In the wake of Ted Jr.'s attacks on Franklin in 1920 and Eleanor's hounding of Ted, the two branches of the Roosevelt family considered themselves at war." The feud was on, and lasted until the 1980s, when the hatchet was finally buried-in the Netherlands at the time of the dedication of the Roosevelt Study Center, in the nation where the Roosevelt family had originated. The thesis that TR, FDR, and Eleanor Roosevelt had essentially the same political beliefs may surprise some present-day conservatives who are admirers TR and some liberals who hold FDR and Eleanor as their heroes. Perhaps such people will be convinced by the evidence presented by Burns and Dunn; perhaps not. But Burns and Dunn do present a convincing case for their thesis. Burns and Dunn in The Three Roosevelts make two major contributions to our understanding of American history. First, they see TR, FDR, and ER as linked in a continuing reform tradition, as part of the same continuum. David McCullough says of this new book by Burns and Dunn: "To see the three Roosevelts as a combined chronicle is to see them anew, and with greater understanding." The second major contribution Burns and Dunn make is to see Theodore Roosevelt as a "moderate radical." This view is contrary to the opinions of several noted historians, including the influential Richard Hofstadter, who have seen TR as basically conservative or simply a sham progressive. Burns and Dunn write: "..TR's prescient moderate radicalism, synthesizing different strains in American political and economic thought, contributed mightily to pushing the country toward transformational change. The man whom Richard Hofstadter described as a conservative posing as a progressive was, in truth, the opposite - an upper-class progressive with radical tendencies posing occasionally as a conservative." Burns and Dunn downplay the opposition of many old Progressives to the New Deal. Alf Landon, FDR's opponent in 1936, was in the Bull Moose Party, as was Hamilton Fish, perhaps FDR's least favorite member of the House of Representatives. Gifford Pinchot liked the New Deal, but his brother Amos Pinchot did not. As Otis L. Graham, Jr. has demonstrated, the progressive legacy was/is fairly complex. TR advocated unemployment insurance and regulation of the market place, but he did not believe in or advocate a policy of deficit spending. And deficit spending was one of the most notable and controversial of the New Deal policies. Still, no two periods are or can be identical, and Burns and Dunn do show very real parallels between the Square Deal and the New Deal. The method used by Burns and Dunn in The Three Roosevelts is to present overlapping biographies of TR, FDR, and ER, supplemented by analysis of the meaning of their lives. The veteran White House official and journalist David Gergen writes: "No one has done more to shape modern American political life than the three Roosevelts and no one understands their magic better than James MacGregor Burns and Susan Dunn. TR, FDR, and Eleanor all spring freshly to life in these pages as we see them growing as leaders and then changing the course of history. This book is a wonderful read, one to mark and study for years to come." James MacGregor Burns is the author of a two-volume biography of FDR, Roosevelt: The Lion and the Fox (1956) and Roosevelt: The Soldier of Freedom, 1940-1945 (1970). The Soldier of Freedom won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. He is Professor of Government Emeritus at Williams College, Senior Scholar at the Academy of Leadership at the University of Maryland, a prolific and respected author, and one of the most distinguished political scientists and historians of our times. Susan Dunn is Professor of Literature and the History of Ideas at Williams College and Senior Scholar at the Academy of Leadership at the University of Maryland. She is the author of several books, and her recent comparative study of the American and French Revolutions, Sister Revolutions: French Lightning, American Light, has received much attention and praise. Professor Bums and Professor Dunn jointly taught a course on the Roosevelts at Williams College in 2000 and again in 2001. The Three Roosevelts is destined to be a widely discussed and influential book. |
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James
M. Strock, Reviewed by John Allen Gable James M. Strock has written the book that many students and admirers of Theodore Roosevelt have been waiting for – a book that clearly and concisely spells out TR’s philosophy of life and work. In most biographies of and monographs about TR, the general principles of Roosevelt’s philosophy must be inferred by the reader. Insofar as TR’s thinking has been analyzed by historians and writers, attention is usually given to Roosevelt’s views on government and the political issues of his day rather than to his more general philosophy of life. James M. Strock, however, is interested in identifying the broad, general principles that girded TR’s conduct and career. Strock presents ideas that are timeless and relevant to virtually everyone in daily life. Strock’s Theodore Roosevelt on Leadership has 13 topical chapters, covering such subjects as “Leading – Wherever You Are,” “Ceasing to Be Afraid,” “Working Bravely in the Darkness,” “Getting the Best from Your Team,” and “Putting Words into Action.” Each chapter includes analyses of events and actions in TR’s life, anecdotes from TR’s contemporaries, and quotations from TR’s speeches, letters, and writings. Strock has read widely and absorbed much, and his judgments are balanced and informed. At the end of each chapter, Strock presents TR’s “lessons from the bully pulpit,” a list of conclusions and principles related to the topic covered in the particular chapter. For instance, at the end of chapter 2, “Ceasing to Be Afraid,” Strock presents the following “lessons from the bully pulpit”:
The lessons listed at the end of each chapter sometimes include direct quotations from TR, but usually are Strock’s words summing up what he takes to be TR’s beliefs and principles. TR is quoted often, however, in the course of every chapter. Strock’s title speaks of “executive lessons,” and indeed Theodore Roosevelt on Leadership belongs to the genre of management and business books. Business gurus like Warren Bennis and Peter Drucker are quoted side by side with historians and TR’s contemporaries. The book has broad appeal, interest, and utility, as is obvious from the endorsements Theodore Roosevelt on Leadership has received from such diverse people as the historians Richard Norton Smith and Douglas Brinkley, Colonel David H. Hackworth, the Hollywood director John Milius, Carla A. Hills, former Secretary of HUD, and businessmen and consultants like Malcolm R. Currie, Dave Anderson, and George M. Scalise. This book should have a wide audience and sell for years to come. You won’t find it, however, in the history or nonfiction sections of the bookstore, but rather in the business, management, or self-help sections. It is good that TR is now invading new sections of the bookstores! Even if you are not interested in the principles of management or in business, you will like Theodore Roosevelt on Leadership for Jim Strock’s clear, crisp, and compelling exposition of TR’s thought. James M. Strock was the first secretary for environmental protection for the state of California (that was under Governor Pete Wilson), and he has served as the chief law enforcement officer of the US Environmental Protection Agency, and general counsel to the US Office of Personnel Management. His firm, James Strock & Company, based in San Francisco, offers management consulting, communications, and dispute resolution services. Strock is the author of Reagan on Leadership (1998). He is a senior fellow at the Pacific Research Institute, a director on corporate and nonprofit boards, and an active member of the Theodore Roosevelt Association. |
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John Milton Cooper, Jr., Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin, has written much on Theodore Roosevelt over the years. Cooper is one of the foremost historians of the Progressive Era, and his respected survey of that period, Pivotal Decades: The United States, 1900-1920 (1990), has been widely used in college courses. In Pivotal Decades as well as his other writings on the Progressive Era, such as The Vanity of Power: American Isolationism and the First World War (1969), Theodore Roosevelt is discussed; and what Cooper says about TR is worth reading. But two of his works particularly focus on TR, and should be given serious attention by anyone who wants to understand Roosevelt: Cooper's brilliant essay "If TR Had Gone Down with the Titanic: A Look at His last Decade," which is in Natalie A. Naylor, Douglas Brinkley, John Allen Gable, editors, Theodore Roosevelt: Many-Sided American (Interlaken, NY: Heart of the Lakes Publishing, 1992); and John Milton Cooper, Jr., The Warrior and the Priest: Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt ( Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1983). The Warrior and the Priest is available in paperback, and Theodore Roosevelt: Many-Sided American (in hard cover) may be purchased from the Theodore Roosevelt Association. In "If TR Hade Gone Down with the Titanic," Cooper looks at the importance of the often misunderstood final years of Roosevelt's life, which seem to some a tragic anti-climax to a brilliant career. But Cooper rightly notes that though out of office and without power, it was TR who still set the public agenda of issues and policies. If TR thought that some issue was important, then he convinced the American people that it was something to consider. He advocated progressive policies in 1912 that Woodrow Wilson adopted in the next four years. TR advocated intervention in World War I, and the isolationist United States did enter the war. "Theodore Roosevelt is the only president who made a more significant impact on the nation and on the world after he left the White House than while he sat in the seat of power," writes Professor Cooper. "He was and remains America's greatest ex-president." Few historians have written so perceptively about TR's last years as has John Milton Cooper in this essay and elsewhere. The Warrior and the Priest is a dual biographical study of those two arch-rivals and giants of American history, TR and Woodrow Wilson. Their lives and careers, and their beliefs and characteristics, are considered in parallel and in chronological sequence. This is a favorite book of many who have read widely about TR and Wilson, and like Edward Wagenknecht's Seven Worlds of Theodore Roosevelt this is a unique book. The trouble with people who write books about TR is that they know relatively little about Wilson, except what they learn from TR in his speeches and books, and yet one cannot write a biography of TR without discussing at some length the man who beat Roosevelt for president in 1912. The same is true of people who write books about Woodrow Wilson. Take Arthur Walworth's Pulitzer-Prize winning biography of Wilson. If you look up the references to TR, you won't learn much , and if you know something about TR, you won't even recognize the Roosevelt that is presented. But John Milton Cooper knows much about both leaders, and, moreover, he has respect for both men, which is something rare indeed among historians and writers. The Warrior and the Priest is one of those books you will want to come back to again and again, a good read and good re-reading! John Allen Gable |
