American Experience (1988) s09e01 Episode Script
T.R.: The Story of Theodore Roosevelt (Part I)
Narrator:
ON THE MORNING OF JULY 1, 1898
AMERICAN TROOPS IN CUBA
PREPARED TO MAKE THEIR ASSAUL
ON THE SPANISH FORCES
HOLDING SAN JUAN HILL.
IN THE JUNGLES BELOW
COLONEL THEODORE ROOSEVEL
AND HIS ROUGHRIDERS
WAITED IMPATIENTLY.
"THE INSTANT I RECEIVED
THE ORDER," ROOSEVELT REMEMBERED
"I SPRANG ON MY HORSE AND THEN
MY 'CROWDED HOUR' BEGAN."
"GENTLEMEN," HE SHOUTED
"THE ALMIGHTY GOD
AND THE JUST CAUSE ARE WITH YOU.
GENTLEMEN, CHARGE!"
WHAT HAPPENED THAT DAY
IN THE CUBAN JUNGLES
WOULD MAKE THEODORE ROOSEVEL
ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS MEN
IN AMERICA
AND CATAPULT HIM
INTO THE PRESIDENCY.
McCullough:
HE IS EXACTLY THE RIGHT MAN
FOR THE TIMES.
BURSTING WITH ALL KINDS
OF WONDERFUL EXPECTATIONS
AND NEW INVENTIONS
AND NEW WAYS OF SEEING THINGS
AND HE'S YOUNG, HE'S FRESH.
THE COUNTRY JUST EMBRACED
THE WHOLE IDEA
OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
Narrator:
THEODORE ROOSEVEL
EMBODIED AMERICA
AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY.
THE CONFIDENCE, THE EXUBERANCE,
THE AGGRESSIVENESS
IT WAS ALL THERE ALL IN HIM.
ROOSEVELT, SOMEONE SAID,
WAS A STEAM ENGINE IN TROUSERS.
COWBOY, SOLDIER,
EXPLORER, SCIENTIS
A WORLD AUTHORITY ON LARGE
MAMMALS AND SMALL BIRDS
THE AUTHOR OF 36 BOOKS
AND MORE THAN 100,000 LETTERS
HE MADE HIMSELF PRESIDEN
BY THE AGE OF 42.
NONE OF IT WAS EASY.
SHADOWED BY ILLNESS
HAUNTED BY THE DEATHS
OF THOSE MOST DEAR TO HIM
HE LEARNED EARLY,
HE SAID, "THAT LIFE WAS
"ONE LONG CAMPAIGN
WHERE EVERY VICTORY
MERELY LEAVES THE GROUND
FREE FOR ANOTHER BATTLE."
"BLACK CARE," HE WROTE,
"RARELY SITS BEHIND A RIDER
WHOSE PACE IS FAST ENOUGH."
THEODORE ROOSEVELT'S FIRS
BATTLE WAS SIMPLY TO SURVIVE.
HE WAS BORN IN NEW YORK CITY
ON OCTOBER 27, 1858.
THERE WAS SOME DOUB
THAT HE WOULD LIVE
BEYOND HIS FOURTH BIRTHDAY.
( labored breathing)
HE SUFFERED
FROM ASTHMA SO SEVERE
HE SOMETIMES COULD NO
SUMMON THE STRENGTH
TO BLOW OUT HIS BEDSIDE CANDLE.
Woman:
ASTHMA'S A TERRIBLE THING.
IT'S A TERRIBLE,
SUFFOCATING ILLNESS.
HE WOULD HAVE TO SIT UPRIGHT,
BOLT UPRIGHT IN BED
AND STRUGGLING FOR BREATH.
McCullough:
IT'S AS THOUGH YOU'RE BEING
STRANGLED TO DEATH.
IT IS THOUGH YOU'RE
BEING DENIED LIFE
SUDDENLY AND MYSTERIOUSLY
AND IT COMES
ON YOU INVOLUNTARILY.
EVERYBODY AROUND YOU
IS GALVANIZED BY THE HORROR
OF THIS EXPERIENCE
THAT YOU ARE GOING THROUGH.
IT'S AS IF THEY'RE
ATTENDING A HANGING
AND YOU ARE BEING HANGED.
Narrator:
NIGHT AFTER NIGHT,
HE STRUGGLED TO BREATHE
FRIGHTENED HE MIGHT NOT PULL
ENOUGH AIR INTO HIS LUNGS
TO MAKE IT THROUGH TO MORNING.
ONLY HIS FATHER
SEEMED ABLE TO COMFORT HIM.
DURING THE WORS
OF THEODORE'S SPELLS
HE WOULD GATHER HIS SON UP
AND WALK THE FLOOR WITH HIM.
McCullough:
THE FATHER WAS VERY MATERNAL
IN HIS WAY
BECAUSE THE FATHER REALIZED
THIS LITTLE BOY WAS DYING
IN HIS OWN ARMS.
Man:
HIS FATHER WOULD
PICK HIM UP OUT OF BED
AND GET THE CARRIAGE
HARNESSED UP
AND DRIVE THROUGH
THE STREETS OF NEW YORK
HOPING THAT AS THE BOY
GULPED IN AIR
THE BREATHING WOULD CLEAR
AND HE WOULD SURVIVE.
Narrator:
"MY FATHER GOT ME BREATH,
HE GOT ME LUNGS, STRENGTH, LIFE"
THEODORE REMEMBERED
MANY YEARS LATER.
"I COULD BREATHE, I COULD SLEEP,
WHEN HE HAD ME IN HIS ARMS."
THEODORE ROOSEVELT'S FATHER
WOULD BE HIS GUIDING SPIRI
HIS SOURCE OF INSPIRATION
AND THE YARDSTICK
BY WHICH HE WOULD MEASURE
HIMSELF HIS ENTIRE LIFE.
McCullough:
NOW, THE FATHER WAS CALLED
"GREATHEART."
IN BUNYAN'S PILGRIM'S PROGRESS
GREATHEART IS
THE CHRISTIAN WARRIOR
THE PROTECTOR.
THE FATHER
WOULD NOT TOLERATE DECEI
WOULD NOT TOLERATE COWARDICE.
EVERYBODY HAD TO MEASURE UP.
HE WAS GOD IN HIS HOUSE
AND LIKE GOD
YOU WALKED A LITTLE HUMBLY
IN HIS PRESENCE.
Narrator:
THEODORE, SR., CAME FROM
AN OLD DUTCH FAMILY
AND CUT A HANDSOME FIGURE
IN NEW YORK SOCIETY.
NEW YORK WAS A CITY OF MORE
THAN HALF A MILLION PEOPLE.
THE SELECT FEW,
LIKE THE ROOSEVELTS
WERE PROSPEROUS
AND SERENELY CONFIDENT.
THE IMMIGRANT POOR LIVED
CROWDED TOGETHER IN TENEMENTS
JUST A FEW BLOCKS
FROM THE ROOSEVELT FAMILY HOME.
THEODORE'S FATHER
CONTRIBUTED TO CHARITIES
FOR HOMELESS NEWSBOYS
AND ORPHANS.
HE TAUGHT SUNDAY SCHOOL
AND HELPED FOUND
THE CHILDREN'S AID SOCIETY.
HE HAD WHAT HE CALLED
"A TROUBLESOME CONSCIENCE."
Man:
HIS FATHER WAS
AN EXTREMELY MORAL MAN
WHO BELIEVED
IN HELPING THE POOR
AND SO YOUNG TEDDY WAS IMBUED
WITH A SENSE OF COMPASSION
ON THAT LEVEL
OR OBLIGATION MORE THAN
COMPASSION, SHALL WE SAY.
Man:
ONE TIME WHEN
THEODORE ROOSEVELT, SR.
WAS TRYING TO RAISE MONEY
HE BROUGHT SOME
OF HIS WEALTHIEST FRIENDS
IN TO HAVE DINNER.
AND HE OPENS UP THE DOORS
TO THE DINING ROOM
AND AROUND A SPLENDID
ROSEWOOD TABLE
WERE A WHOLE NUMBER OF CHILDREN
WHO WERE CRIPPLED FROM DISEASES
OR UNFORTUNATE ACCIDENTS.
AND PEOPLE TOOK
A COLLECTIVE GASP OF HORROR.
AND THEN HE SAID,
"I NOW WANT MONEY FROM YOU
SO THAT THESE CHILDREN
CAN BENEFIT FROM THE MONEY."
AND OUT OF THAT BEGAN
SOME OF HIS PHILANTHROPIC WORK.
McCullough:
THE FATHER SAID,
"GET ACTION, SEIZE THE MOMENT.
"DON'T DWELL ON
THE INNER DARKNESS OF YOURSELF.
"REACH OUT.
HIS LITTLE SON THEODORE
ADORED HIM, WORSHIPPED HIM
AND I THINK TOOK HIS ROLE
AS BEING THAT FATHER'S SON
ENTIRELY TO HEAR
BOTH WITH TREMENDOUS BENEFI
AND WITH DIFFICULTY.
Narrator:
HE WAS "THE BEST MAN
I EVER KNEW," ROOSEVELT WROTE
"AND THE ONLY MAN OF WHOM
I WAS EVER REALLY AFRAID."
THEODORE'S MOTHER
WAS FROM THE SOUTH.
McCullough:
MITTIE BULLOCH ROOSEVEL
WAS A SOUTHERN BELLE.
SHE WAS A GORGEOUS WOMAN
DARK-HAIRED, PETITE
EFFERVESCENT.
AND SHE ALWAYS WORE
A GARDENIA OR SOMETHING
BEHIND HER EAR,
TUCKED INTO HER HAIR.
IT WAS THE FIRST TIME, I BELIEVE
IN THE ROOSEVELT FAMILY,
AT LEAST IN OUR LINE
THAT SOMEBODY MARRIED
OUT OF THE NEW YORK DUTCH LINE.
SHE CAME FROM A DIFFERENT WORLD.
THE SOUTH OF MITTIE BULLOCH'S
LIFE AS A YOUNG WOMAN
WAS THE SOUTH OF PLANTATIONS,
THE SOUTH OF SLAVERY.
SHE CAME FROM
THIS WILD, ROMANTIC
SOMETIMES VIOLENT,
SOMETIMES ERRATIC FAMILY
AND FOR HER TO COME TO NEW YORK
AND MOVE INTO THIS STIFF,
RATHER PHLEGMATIC
DUTCH BURGHER FAMILY
THAT HAD BEEN ESTABLISHED
SO VERY LONG
ON THE ISLAND OF MANHATTAN
WAS AS DIFFERENT AS IF SHE'D
COME FROM A DIFFERENT PLANET.
SHE IS AS RESPONSIBLE,
IF NOT MORE SO
FOR THE WAY THEODORE TURNED OUT.
HE'S MORE A BULLOCH
THAN A ROOSEVELT.
THE ROOSEVELTS
DIDN'T HAVE THAT ENERGY.
THE ROOSEVELTS DIDN'T HAVE
THAT VITALITY, THE FLAMBOYANCE
THE LOVE OF POETRY,
THE LOVE OF ROMANCE
THE LOVE OF TRAVEL,
THE ECCENTRICITY.
Narrator:
THE SOUTHERN BELLE
AND THE NORTHERN GENTLEMAN
LOVED ONE ANOTHER
BUT IN 1861, THE CIVIL WAR
DIVIDED THE ROOSEVELTS
JUST AS IT DIVIDED THE NATION.
THEODORE'S FATHER STOOD
FIRMLY AGAINST SLAVERY.
HIS MOTHER REMAINED LOYAL
TO THE SOUTH
AND SHE DID NOT WAN
HER HUSBAND GOING TO WAR
AGAINST HER BROTHERS,
WHO FOUGHT FOR THE CONFEDERACY.
THEODORE'S FATHER
PAID A SUBSTITUTE
TO FIGHT IN HIS PLACE.
McCullough:
IN A SOCIETY OF THE KIND
WHERE THE ROOSEVELTS
CIRCULATED AND BELONGED
THIS WAS BY NO MEANS SHAMEFUL.
THIS WAS QUITE COMMONLY DONE
BUT TO THE LITTLE BOY RAISED ON
THE HEROICS OF ADVENTURE STORIES
AND ON THE HEROICS
OF HIS MOTHER'S FAMILY
THIS WAS VERY HARD TO EXPLAIN
VERY DIFFICUL
FOR HIM TO ACCEPT.
Narrator:
THEODORE'S FATHER DID PERFORM
CHARITABLE WORK
AMONG THE UNION SOLDIERS
BUT THEODORE WOULD NEVER FORGE
THAT HIS FATHER HAD NO
ENLISTED HAD NOT FOUGHT
AND THE MEMORY
OF THAT EMBARRASSMEN
WOULD ONE DAY HELP DRIVE
THEODORE HIMSELF INTO BATTLE.
THEODORE WAS OBSESSED
WITH NATURAL HISTORY
MADE METICULOUS DRAWINGS
AND DREAMED OF BECOMING
A GREAT NATURALIST.
HE WAS A PRECOCIOUS,
IRREPRESSIBLE, ODD LITTLE BOY.
HE CARRIED FROGS IN HIS HA
RAISED MICE
IN THE FAMILY ICEBOX
KEPT SNAKES IN HIS WATER PITCHER
AND BEGAN A COLLECTION OF BIRDS
WHICH HE INSISTED ON
STUFFING HIMSELF, AT HOME.
HE DEVOURED GROWN-UP BOOKS
FICTION, HISTORY, POETRY,
SCIENCE AND NOISILY REPORTED
EVERYTHING HE'D LEARNED
TO ANYONE WHO WOULD LISTEN.
( labored breathing)
BUT ASTHMA CONTINUED
TO RAVAGE HIM.
HE WAS ANXIOUS AND SUFFERED
FROM A RECURRING NIGHTMARE
THAT A WEREWOLF WAS LOOSE
IN HIS BEDROOM.
TRIED REMEDIES RECOMMENDED
BY THE BEST DOCTORS OF THE DAY.
THEODORE WAS DOSED WITH A
MEDICINE TO INDUCE VOMITING
MADE TO SWALLOW BLACK COFFEE,
EVEN FORCED TO SMOKE CIGARS.
AT ONE POINT,
HE NOTED IN HIS DIARY
HIS CHEST WAS RUBBED SO HARD
"THAT THE BLOOD CAME OUT."
WHEN HE WAS 11,
HIS FATHER TOOK HIM ASIDE.
McCullough:
HE SAID, "YOU HAVE BEEN BLESSED
WITH A WONDERFUL MIND
"BUT YOU HAVE
TO BUILD YOUR BODY.
YOU HAVE TO TAKE CHARGE
OF YOUR BODY."
IN A WAY IN THE LARGER WAY,
HE WAS SAYING
"YOU HAVE TO TAKE CHARGE
OF YOUR LIFE."
Narrator:
DETERMINED TO BE WORTHY
OF HIS FATHER
THE SICKLY BOY
SPENT HOURS EVERY DAY
TRYING TO BUILD HIMSELF
A NEW BODY
SLOWLY "WIDENING HIS CHEST,"
HIS SISTER REMEMBERED
"BY REGULAR, MONOTONOUS MOTION
DRUDGERY INDEED."
HIS FATHER EVEN PAID
A PROFESSIONAL COACH
TO TEACH HIS SON HOW TO BOX.
AND EVERY SUMMER,
HE TOOK HIM ON CAMPING TRIPS
HIKING THROUGH MAINE
AND THE ADIRONDACKS
AND AROUND
THE ROOSEVELT SUMMER HOME
AT OYSTER BAY ON THE SHORE
OF LONG ISLAND SOUND.
SLOWLY, THEODORE'S
NECK THICKENED
HIS CHEST EXPANDED, HE BEGAN
TO BREATHE A BIT MORE EASILY
BUT EVEN WHEN HE
LEFT HOME FOR HARVARD
HIS ASTHMA STUBBORNLY HUNG ON.
HE WAS 17 YEARS OLD
AND HAD NEVER BEEN AWAY
FROM HIS FAMILY BEFORE.
"AS I SAW THE LAST OF THE TRAIN
BEARING YOU AWAY"
"I REALIZED WHAT A LUXURY IT WAS
TO HAVE A BOY
"IN WHOM I COULD PLACE PERFEC
TRUST AND CONFIDENCE.
"TAKE CARE OF YOUR MORALS FIRST,
YOUR HEALTH NEX
AND FINALLY YOUR STUDIES."
AT COLLEGE, THEODORE
WAS A SERIOUS STUDEN
WITH A GROWING SENSE THAT HE
WAS DESTINED FOR GREAT THINGS.
HIS CLASSMATES DIDN'T KNOW
WHAT TO MAKE OF HIM.
HE TOOK AN EIGHT MILE WALK
EVERY AFTERNOON
RAN FROM CLASS TO CLASS, AND
COULDN'T SEEM TO STOP TALKING.
McCullough:
THERE'S A GREAT MOMENT WHERE ONE
OF HIS PROFESSORS TURNS AND SAYS
"SEE, HERE, ROOSEVELT,
I'M RUNNING THIS CLASS."
Narrator:
THEN ON FEBRUARY 9, 1878,
DURING THEODORE'S SOPHOMORE YEAR
HIS FATHER DIED SUDDENLY
OF STOMACH CANCER
AT THE AGE OF 46.
THEODORE HURRIED BACK FROM
HARVARD TO A RAIN-SOAKED CITY.
HIS FATHER'S GOOD WORKS
WERE PRAISED FROM PULPITS
ALL ACROSS NEW YORK.
"I FEEL," THEODORE WROTE, "THA
IF IT WERE NOT FOR THE CERTAINTY
THAT HE IS NOT DEAD BUT GONE
BEFORE, I SHOULD ALMOST PERISH."
SHATTERED, FOR MONTHS
HE POURED OUT HIS PAIN
AND BEWILDERMENT IN HIS DIARY.
"HOW LITTLE USE I AM
OR EVER SHALL BE."
"IF I HAD VERY MUCH TIME
TO THINK
I BELIEVE I SHOULD
ALMOST GO CRAZY."
ALONG THE SHORES
OF LONG ISLAND SOUND
HE SOUGHT RELIEF
IN THE NATURAL WORLD
AND IN CEASELESS
PHYSICAL EXERTION.
HE RAN, HIKED, BOXED,
HUNTED, SWAM, WRESTLED.
EXACTLY WHAT HIS FATHER
HAD PREACHED
GET ACTION, GET OUT, DO THINGS.
Narrator:
HE ROWED A BOAT ACROSS LONG
ISLAND SOUND AND BACK
IN A SINGLE DAY 25 MILES.
HE RODE HIS HORSE
ALMOST TO DEATH
AND SHOT A NEIGHBOR'S DOG
JUST BECAUSE IT SNAPPED AT HIM.
THEN HE FLED TO THE MAINE WOODS.
"OH, FATHER, MY FATHER,"
HE WROTE
NO WORDS CAN TELL HOW I SHALL
MISS YOUR COUNSEL AND ADVICE."
MANY YEARS LATER
WHEN THEODORE WAS PRESIDEN
OF THE UNITED STATES
HIS SISTER WROTE,
"HE TOLD ME FREQUENTLY
"THAT HE NEVER TOOK ANY SERIOUS
STEP OR MADE ANY VITAL DECISION
"FOR HIS COUNTRY
WITHOUT THINKING FIRS
WHAT POSITION
HIS FATHER WOULD HAVE TAKEN."
WHEN THEODORE
RETURNED TO HARVARD
HE KEPT UP HIS FURIOUS PACE.
HE JOINED NEARLY EVERY CLUB,
BEGAN A BOOK ON NAVAL HISTORY
AND FOUGHT FOR THE LIGHTWEIGH
BOXING CHAMPIONSHIP
OF THE SCHOOL WHICH HE LOST.
SOMEHOW, THEODORE ALSO FOUND
THE TIME TO FALL IN LOVE.
HER NAME WAS ALICE HATHAWAY LEE
THE TALL, GOLDEN-HAIRED COUSIN
OF A CLASSMATE.
SHE WAS JUST 17.
HER FAMILY CALLED HER
"SUNSHINE."
"SEE THAT GIRL?"
THEODORE TOLD A FRIEND
SOON AFTER HE'D MET HER.
"I'M GOING TO MARRY HER.
SHE WON'T HAVE ME,
BUT I'M GOING TO HAVE HER."
McCullough:
HE WAS HEAD OVER HEELS IN LOVE
WITH ALICE LEE.
SHE HAD WEALTH, BACKGROUND,
SHE WAS VERY APPEALING
AND SHE WAS UNATTAINABLE.
HE MUST HAVE BEEN,
KIND OF, YOU KNOW
HE HAD THIS HIGH VOICE AND
HE WAS NO GREAT SHAKES IN LOOKS
AND SHE DIDN'T THINK HE WAS
SUITABLE I DON'T THINK FOR HER.
HE PROBABLY DIDN'T DANCE,
FOR ALL I KNOW
BUT I'VE NEVER KNOWN A ROOSEVEL
WHO WAS SUCH A GREAT DANCER.
Narrator:
THEODORE DIDN'T DANCE, ONE WOMAN
FRIEND RECALLED, HE HOPPED.
HE WAS A JEALOUS SUITOR
SO FEARFUL THAT SOMEONE
MIGHT STEAL ALICE FROM HIM
THAT HE ORDERED A PAIR
OF DUELING PISTOLS FROM FRANCE.
AT LAST ON JANUARY 25, 1880,
HE NOTED IN HIS DIARY
"I DROVE OVER TO THE LEES',
AND AFTER MUCH PLEADING
MY OWN SWEET, PRETTY DARLING
CONSENTED TO BE MY WIFE."
THEY WERE MARRIED
ON OCTOBER 27, 1880.
ON A HIGH BLUFF
OVERLOOKING OYSTER BAY
THEY PLANNED
TO BUILD A BIG HOUSE.
THEODORE NAMED I
FOR HIS BRIDE "LEEHOLM."
"THERE IS HARDLY AN HOUR OF THE
24 THAT WE ARE NOT TOGETHER"
HE WROTE, "AND I AM LIVING
IN A DREAMLAND.
HOW I WISH
IT COULD LAST FOREVER."
THEODORE AND ALICE
BECAME PROMINENT MEMBERS
OF NEW YORK'S MOS
FASHIONABLE SOCIETY.
LAVISH DINNERS,
THEATER PARTIES, GALA BALLS.
HARDLY A DAY WENT BY
WITHOUT SOME GLITTERING AFFAIR.
BUT TO THE WONDER
OF MOST OF HIS FRIENDS
THEODORE WAS PAR
OF ANOTHER WORLD.
HE HAD DECIDED
TO BECOME A POLITICIAN.
Man:
IN 1880, WHEN THEODORE ROOSEVEL
GRADUATED FROM HARVARD COLLEGE
GENTLEMEN, MEN OF GOOD BIRTH
AND COMPETENCE, MONEY
SIMPLY DID NOT GO INTO POLITICS
AS A CAREER.
POLITICS WAS FOR MUCKERS.
Narrator:
"POLITICS ARE LOW, RUN BY SALOON
KEEPERS, HORSECART CONDUCTORS
AND THE LIKE,"
THEODORE'S FRIENDS TOLD HIM.
"THAT MERELY MEANS," THEODORE
REPLIED, "THAT THE PEOPLE I KNOW
"DO NOT BELONG
TO THE GOVERNING CLASS
AND I INTEND TO BE ONE
OF THE GOVERNING CLASS."
HE WENT INTO POLITICS,
IF INITIALLY PERHAPS ONLY TO SEE
WHAT IT TASTED LIKE
BASICALLY BECAUSE
HE WANTED TO GOVERN.
ROOSEVELT LOVED POWER.
Narrator:
WITH THE MONEY TO FINANCE
HIS OWN CAMPAIGN
ROOSEVELT WAS SOON RUNNING
AS A REPUBLICAN
FOR THE STATE ASSEMBLY
AND HIS WEALTH, HIS EAGERNESS,
AND HIS FATHER'S GOOD NAME
ALL HELPED HIM TO VICTORY.
HE WAS THE YOUNGEST MAN
IN THE ALBANY LEGISLATURE
JUST 23 YEARS OLD.
ALBANY HAD NEVER SEEN ANYBODY
LIKE THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
HE WORE THICK SPECTACLES
AND HE HAD A RATHER HIGH-PITCHED
PATRICIAN INTONATION.
HE WOULD STAND UP THERE
IN THE HALLS
OF THE OLD CAPITOL IN ALBANY
AND SAY, "MISTAH SPEAKAH,
MISTAH SPEAKAH."
Blum:
WHEN THAT SQUEAKY VOICE BEGAN
TO MAKE MORALISTIC STATEMENTS
ON THE FLOOR
OF THE NEW YORK ASSEMBLY
WHICH WAS FILLED WITH
COUNTRY LAWYERS, MORTICIANS
SALOON-KEEPERS, AND THE LIKE
THE NEWSPAPERMEN
MADE A LOT OF I
Narrator:
REPORTERS CALLED HIM
"HIS LORDSHIP," "A JANE-DANDY"
AND JUST PLAIN "SILLY."
McCullough:
AND THERE HE IS
AMONG SOME VERY TOUGH, PROFANE,
COLORFUL, ROUGH CHARACTERS.
Narrator:
WHEN A DRUNKEN
DEMOCRATIC ASSEMBLYMAN
THEODORE REMEMBERED THE BOXING
LESSONS HIS FATHER HAD PAID FOR.
HE KNOCKED THE MAN DOWN,
LET HIM GET UP
KNOCKED HIM DOWN AGAIN
THEN ORDERED HIM
TO GO AND WASH HIMSELF.
"WHEN YOU'RE IN THE PRESENCE
OF GENTLEMEN," HE TOLD THE MAN
"CONDUCT YOURSELF
LIKE A GENTLEMAN."
Man:
WHAT HE WANTS TO PROVE
IS THAT HE HIMSELF
AND PEOPLE LIKE HIM IN OTHER
WORDS, CHILDREN OF PRIVILEGE
CAN HOLD THEIR OWN
CAN HOLD THEIR OWN
WITH THE ROUGHS OF THE WORLD.
Narrator:
DENOUNCING THE BOSSES
IN BOTH PARTIES
THEODORE DEMANDED TO BE HEARD
ON NEARLY EVERY BILL
AND CRUSADED FOR
CIVIL SERVICE REFORM.
NEWSPAPERS BEGAN CALLING HIM
THE CYCLONE ASSEMBLYMAN.
Harbaugh:
HE WAS SO APPEALING THA
IN SPITE OF HIS GREENNESS
IN SPITE OF CHALLENGING
THE REPUBLICAN MACHINE
VIRTUALLY THE FIRST DAY HE WAS
IN THE NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY
THEY DIDN'T REALLY DISLIKE HIM.
THEY DIDN'T RUN HIM OFF.
THEY SENSED THAT THERE
WAS TOO MUCH QUALITY HERE
TO PUT THIS MAN
COMPLETELY ASIDE
AND ANYWAY, HE WOULDN'T HAVE
LET THEM DO IT, YOU SEE.
HE WAS SO VIGOROUS.
Narrator:
ROOSEVELT WAS ABOVE ALL
A MORALIST.
EVERY ISSUE BECAME A CLASH
BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL.
THE OTHER WAS THE SIDE
OF CORRUPTION OR SELF-INTEREST.
HE TOLD A FRIEND, "I HONESTLY
MEAN TO ACT ON ALL QUESTIONS
AS I THINK FATHER WOULD
HAVE DONE HAD HE LIVED."
IN 1882, WHEN A BILL
WAS INTRODUCED IN THE ASSEMBLY
TO PROTECT CIGAR WORKERS FROM
EXPLOITATION BY THEIR EMPLOYERS
THEODORE WENT TO NEW YORK'S
LOWER EAST SIDE
TO SEE FOR HIMSELF
THE CONDITIONS
UNDER WHICH THEY LIVED.
"I HAVE ALWAYS
REMEMBERED ONE ROOM
IN WHICH TWO FAMILIES WERE
LIVING," THEODORE RECALLED.
"THE TOBACCO WAS STOWED
ABOUT EVERYWHERE
"ALONGSIDE THE FOUL BEDDING
"AND IN A CORNER WHERE
THERE WERE SCRAPS OF FOOD.
"THE MEN, WOMEN AND
CHILDREN WORKED BY DAY
AND FAR INTO THE EVENING,
AND THEY SLEPT AND ATE THERE."
BROUGHT UP BY HIS FATHER
TO BELIEVE IN PRIVATE CHARITY
NOW, FOR THE FIRST TIME
THEODORE BEGAN TO SEE
HOW GOVERNMENT COULD HELP
IN WAYS THAT PHILANTHROPY
COULD NOT.
HE FOUGHT FOR THE BILL
TO PROTECT THE WORKERS
WHO MADE CIGARS AT HOME
AND IT WON, ONLY TO BE
RULED UNCONSTITUTIONAL
BY THE NEW YORK
COURT OF APPEALS
WHICH INSISTED
GOVERNMENT HAD NO RIGH
TO INTERFERE WITH BUSINESS.
THEODORE DELIGHTED IN POLITICS
AND EVERYTHING SEEMED
TO BE GOING HIS WAY.
BY 1884, HE HAD BEEN ELECTED
ASSEMBLYMAN THREE TIMES
NAMED MINORITY LEADER
AND HIS WIFE WAS PREGNANT.
HE WAS JUST 25 YEARS OLD.
ON THE MORNING OF FEBRUARY 13,
HE WAS IN ALBANY
WHEN HE RECEIVED A TELEGRAM
FROM NEW YORK.
ALICE HAD GIVEN BIRTH
TO A BABY GIRL.
A FRIEND REMEMBERED, HE WAS
"FULL OF LIFE AND HAPPINESS."
BUT THEN A SECOND,
OMINOUS TELEGRAM
HAD SENT HIM RACING
FOR THE TRAIN.
A THICK FOG HAD SETTLED
OVER THE CITY.
A MORNING PAPER CALLED I
"SUICIDE WEATHER."
GUIDED BY STREETLAMPS THA
"LOOKED AS THOUGH GRAY CURTAINS
HAD BEEN DRAWN AROUND THEM"
HE RUSHED TO THE FAMILY HOME.
McCullough:
HE PULLS UP IN A CARRIAGE,
GETS DOWN, GOES UP THE STAIRS.
RAINING, THE FOG.
HE'S FULL OF APPREHENSION.
AND THE DOOR IS SUDDENLY FLUNG
OPEN BY HIS BROTHER
WHO STANDS THERE IN ANGUISH
SAYING, "MOTHER IS DYING
AND YOUR WIFE IS, TOO."
Narrator:
THEODORE RAN UPSTAIRS.
ALICE COULD NO LONGER
RECOGNIZE HIM.
SHE WAS DYING OF BRIGHT'S
DISEASE, KIDNEY FAILURE.
HELPLESS, HE HELD HER
IN HIS ARMS.
IN A BEDROOM DOWNSTAIRS
HIS MOTHER WAS MORTALLY ILL
WITH TYPHOID FEVER.
WITHIN THE NEXT FEW HOURS,
BOTH WOMEN WERE DEAD.
HIS MOTHER WAS ONLY 48
ALICE, JUST 22.
McCullough:
AND THE CURTAIN CAME
DOWN FOR HIM.
WHAT MORE DID HE HAVE
TO LIVE FOR?
THIS TRAGEDY COMING
LIKE SLEDGEHAMMER BLOWS
WITHIN HOURS ON THE SAME NIGHT.
HE NEVER GOT OVER IT.
HE NEVER, EVER GOT OVER IT.
Narrator:
HE WAS "IN A STUNNED, DAZED
STATE," A FRIEND SAID.
"HE DOES NOT KNOW
WHAT HE DOES OR SAYS."
IN HIS DIARY HE WROTE, "THE
LIGHT HAS GONE OUT OF MY LIFE."
THE BABY SURVIVED.
THREE DAYS AFTER
HER MOTHER'S DEATH
HIS DAUGHTER WAS
CHRISTENED ALICE.
BUT THEODORE SHOWED
NO INTEREST IN HER
TURNED HER OVER
TO THE CARE OF HIS SISTER.
NO ONE EVER HEARD HIM SPEAK
OF HIS WIFE AGAIN
AND NEVER ONCE
IN ALL THE COMING YEARS
WOULD HE MENTION ALICE LEE
TO THE DAUGHTER
HE HAD NAMED IN HER MEMORY.
AFTER THE DEATH
OF HIS WIFE AND MOTHER
THEODORE ROOSEVELT FLED WES
TO THE BADLANDS
IN DAKOTA TERRITORY.
FOR THE NEXT TWO YEARS
ROOSEVELT WOULD THROW HIMSELF
INTO A LIFE
OF ALMOST CONSTANT ACTION.
"BLACK CARE," HE WROTE
"RARELY SITS BEHIND A RIDER
WHOSE PACE IS FAST ENOUGH."
McCullough:
HE GOES TO THE BADLANDS
OF NORTH DAKOTA
WHICH ARE NAMED
BECAUSE THEY ARE GRIM.
THEY LOOK BAD.
IN ONE OF HIS VIVID
FIGURES OF SPEECH
HE SAID, "THEY LOOK
LIKE POE SOUNDS."
HE WANTED TO FIND SOME
MANIFESTATION IN NATURE
OF THIS DARK, TRAGIC,
OVERWHELMING LANDSCAPE WITHIN.
Narrator:
"I GROW VERY FOND OF THIS PLACE"
THEODORE WROTE
HIS SISTER THAT SUMMER.
"IT CERTAINLY HAS
A DESOLATE, GRIM BEAUTY."
ROOSEVELT SETTLED INTO A SPREAD
ON THE LITTLE MISSOURI
AND BECAME A RANCHER
ON HIS OWN TERMS.
McCullough:
WHEN HE WENT WEST AS A COWBOY,
HE WENT ALL STOPS OUT.
HE HAD HIS SPURS
AND HIS BELT BUCKLES
AND HIS PEARL-HANDLED REVOLVERS
ALL DONE FOR HIM BY TIFFANY.
HE HAD A WOMAN MAKE HIM A COWBOY
SHIRT WITH FRINGE AND ALL
THAT COST A HUNDRED DOLLARS.
WELL, THAT WOULD BE A THOUSAND
DOLLARS OR $1,500 TODAY.
IMAGINE GETTING YOURSELF UP IN
A THOUSAND-DOLLAR COWBOY SHIRT.
Narrator:
THE COWBOYS CALLED HIM
"FOUR EYES" AND "STORM WINDOWS"
AND TEASED HIM
ABOUT HIS FANCY GRAMMAR.
McCullough:
THEY WOULD GO CHARGING OFF
BY HORSEBACK
AND HE WOULD SHOUT OVER TO THEM,
"HASTEN FORWARD QUICKLY THERE."
THEY'D JUST ABOU
FALL OUT OF THE SADDLE
IT WAS SO HILARIOUS.
Narrator:
DESPITE HIS EASTERN MANNERS
ROOSEVELT IMPRESSED
EVERYONE HE ME
WITH HIS GRIT AND DETERMINATION.
McCullough:
THEODORE ROOSEVEL
WAS NOT A VERY GOOD SHOT.
HE WASN'T A VERY GOOD RIDER.
IT'S JUST THAT HE TRIED HARDER
THAN EVERYBODY ELSE.
HE WENT ON ROUNDUPS.
HE BRAVED EVERY KIND OF WEATHER.
IN THE WINTER, IT WAS PUNISHING
SOMETIMES 35, 40
EVEN 65 BELOW ZERO.
GRADUALLY, THIS COMIC CHARACTER
WHO THEY HAD MADE SUCH SPORT OF
BECAME ADMIRED
BECAUSE HE COULD TAKE IT.
THERE WAS AN INCIDENT ONE NIGH
WHERE A BULLY WHO'D BEEN
DRINKING HEAVILY
CAME AT HIM IN A BAR
AND THIS YOUNG HARVARD FELLOW
WITH THE GLASSES
AND THE STRANGE WAY OF TALKING,
DECKED HIM, KNOCKED HIM COLD
AND, OF COURSE, THAT ENDEARED
HIM TO HIS COWBOYS QUITE A LOT.
Narrator:
"ALL STRANGENESS
PASSED OFF," HE WROTE.
"THE ATTITUDE OF
MY FELLOW COWPUNCHERS
"BEING ONE OF
FRIENDLY FORGIVENESS
EVEN TOWARD MY SPECTACLES."
McCullough:
HE LIKED TO SAY, "THERE WERE
ALL KINDS OF THINGS
"OF WHICH I WAS AFRAID
"MEAN HORSES, GUNFIGHTERS
AND GRIZZLY BEARS.
"BUT BY ACTING AS IF I WERE NO
AFRAID, WASN'T AFRAID AT ALL
I FOUND THAT I WASN'T AFRAID."
Narrator:
THE WEST TOUGHENED
THEODORE ROOSEVELT'S BODY.
HIS ASTHMA WOULD
ONLY RARELY RETURN
AND IT REVIVED
HIS FAILING SPIRIT.
McCullough:
THE ROBUST THEODORE ROOSEVEL
THE MAN THAT WE KNOW WHO BECOMES
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
CAME OUT OF THE BADLANDS,
RETURNED TO NEW YORK
REMADE PHYSICALLY,
EMOTIONALLY AND MENTALLY.
Williams:
IF IT HADN'T BEEN FOR THE TIME
THAT HE WAS IN THE BADLANDS
HE NEVER WOULD HAVE
BEEN PRESIDENT.
HE KNEW THAT HE HAD
TO CARRY ON
AND IT TOOK HIM QUITE
A LONG TIME TO DECIDE
I THINK THEN HE BEGAN TO THINK
MORE ABOUT MY GRANDMOTHER.
Narrator:
EDITH CAROW HAD KNOWN
THEODORE ROOSEVEL
HE HAD BEEN HER FIRST LOVE,
AND SHE HAD NEVER FORGOTTEN HIM.
Man:
EDITH HAD LIVED
JUST A FEW HOUSES AWAY
FROM THE ROOSEVELT FAMILY
AND WAS VIRTUALLY THE SAME AGE
AS THEODORE'S SISTER CORRINE.
WHEN EDITH WAS
ABOUT FOUR YEARS OLD
SHE DEVELOPED
A VERY STRONG ATTACHMEN
TO CORRINE'S
OLDER BROTHER THEODORE
WHO WAS ALL OF SEVEN YEARS OLD.
Jackson:
THEY USED TO WRITE
EACH OTHER ALL THE TIME.
HE'D TELL HER ALL ABOU
THE BUGS HE'D COLLECTED.
IT'S SO ADORABLE.
THEY REALLY KNEW
EACH OTHER WELL.
Narrator:
WHEN THEODORE NEEDED COMFOR
AFTER THE DEATH OF HIS FATHER,
IT WAS EDITH TO WHOM HE TURNED.
Kermit Roosevelt:
HIS DIARY REFLECTS SPENDING
VIRTUALLY EVERY DAY WITH HER
ROWING ONE DAY,
RIDING THE NEXT DAY
PICNICS, ETC., ETC.
AND THEN SUDDENLY, TWO WEEKS
AFTER HER 17th BIRTHDAY
THERE'S A REFERENCE
TO A MEETING IN THE SUMMER HOUSE
AND A SQUABBLE, A BLOWUP
AND NEITHER EDITH
NOR THEODORE EVER TOLD ANYBODY
WHAT HAPPENED THAT AFTERNOON.
Narrator:
THE DEATH OF ALICE LEE HAD LEF
THEODORE FREE TO MARRY AGAIN
BUT HE STRONGLY DISAPPROVED OF
SECOND MARRIAGES FOR WIDOWERS.
THEY REVEALED A "WEAKNESS
IN A MAN'S CHARACTER," HE SAID
AND IMPLIED DISLOYALTY
TO THE MEMORY OF HIS DEAD WIFE.
Tweed Roosevelt:
HE KNEW THAT EDITH WAS A THREA
AFTER ALICE'S DEATH
A THREAT IN HIS MIND TO HIS IDEA
THAT HE WOULD REMAIN CONSTAN
TO HIS FIRST WIFE.
THAT WHEN HE CAME BACK
TO NEW YORK FROM THE WES
ON HIS OCCASIONAL VISITS
TO MAKE SURE THA
EDITH WASN'T AROUND.
SISTERS DON'T ALWAYS DO
WHAT BROTHERS TELL THEM TO DO
AND IN FACT SHE HAD AN ENTIRELY
DIFFERENT THING IN MIND.
SO AFTER MAYBE HIS THIRD
OR FOURTH TRIP
CLEARLY NOT BY ACCIDEN
EDITH WAS THERE
AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRS
WHEN T.R. RETURNED FROM THE WES
AND IT WAS ALL OVER
FROM THEN ON.
Jackson:
IMMEDIATELY HE SEES EDITH, ALL
THE OLD FEELINGS SURGE UP AGAIN
AND HE'S PASSIONATELY
IN LOVE AGAIN.
McCullough:
THERE ARE MOMENTS
WHEN OTHERS WOULD HEAR HIM
PACING THE ROOM UPSTAIRS SAYING
"I HAVE NO CONSTANCY,
I HAVE NO CONSTANCY."
HE TOOK HIMSELF VERY SERIOUSLY.
Narrator:
THEIR COURTSHIP WAS
CONDUCTED IN SECRECY.
THEY KEPT THEIR ENGAGEMEN
TO THEMSELVES FOR ALMOST A YEAR.
EDITH EVEN MOVED
WITH HER FAMILY TO LONDON
WHERE SHE AND THEODORE
WERE FINALLY MARRIED
IN A QUIET CEREMONY
ON DECEMBER 2, 1886.
HER LONG WAIT FOR HIM WAS OVER.
EDITH AND THEODORE WENT TO LIVE
IN THE HILLTOP HOUSE
AT OYSTER BAY
WHICH HE RENAMED SAGAMORE HILL.
"SAGAMORE" WAS AN ABNAKI
INDIAN WORD FOR "CHIEFTAIN."
ALICE, THEODORE'S
THREE-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER
WAS FINALLY BROUGH
TO LIVE WITH HER FATHER
BUT BOTH THEODORE AND EDITH
ACTED AS IF HER REAL MOTHER
HAD NEVER EXISTED.
McCullough:
IMAGINE RAISING A CHILD AND YOU
WILL NOT TALK WITH THAT CHILD
ABOUT HER OWN MOTHER
TELL HER ABOUT HER MOTHER
WHAT DID SHE LOOK LIKE,
HOW DID SHE SPEAK
WHAT WAS THE SOUND OF HER VOICE,
WHAT WAS SO WONDERFUL ABOUT HER
WHY DID HE LOVE HER SO.
Narrator:
IN 1887, THEODORE
AND EDITH'S FIRST CHILD
THEODORE, JR., WAS BORN.
EVENTUALLY, SIX CHILDREN
WOULD TUMBLE ACROSS THE LAWNS
AT SAGAMORE HILL.
Williams:
SHE HAD A SORT OF A,
A LEVELING INFLUENCE ON HIM.
THEY WERE A PERFECTLY
SUITED COUPLE, REALLY
BECAUSE THEY HAD VERY
MANY DIFFERENT INTERESTS.
SHE LOVED MUSIC.
HE WAS TONE DEAF.
HE, OF COURSE,
LOVED THE OUTDOORS.
SHE DIDN'T DO ANY OF THE
VERY ACTIVE THINGS THAT HE DID.
McCullough:
AND I THINK SHE SAW,
AS WELL AS PERHAPS ANYONE DID
WHAT MIGHT BE IN STORE FOR HIM
THAT THIS REALLY WAS
AN EXTRAORDINARY HUMAN BEING
AND THERE WAS VERY LITTLE LIMI
TO HOW FAR HE COULD GO.
Narrator:
THEODORE LOVED MARRIED LIFE,
LOVED SAGAMORE HILL
AND HIS PRODIGIOUS ENERGY
FOUND AN OUTLET IN WRITING.
BOOK AFTER BOOK
BEGAN TO FLOW FROM HIS PEN
HUNTING TRIPS OF A RANCHMAN,
ESSAYS ON PRACTICAL POLITICS
AND A SERIES OF BOOKS THAT WOULD
EVENTUALLY BECOME A BEST SELLER:
THE WINNING OF THE WES
IN FOUR VOLUMES.
BUT ROOSEVELT COULDN'T STAY AWAY
FROM PUBLIC LIFE.
IN 1886, HE RAN IN A THREE-WAY
RACE FOR MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY
AND FINISHED THIRD.
HE WENT TO WASHINGTON
AS A CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSIONER
AND MADE THE MOST OF IT.
HE EVEN INSISTED
ON EXPOSING FRAUD
WITHIN THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE
PRESIDENT WHO HAD APPOINTED HIM.
AND THEN IN 1895, TOOK ON
A NEW KIND OF CORRUPTION.
HE WAS APPOINTED
ONE OF FOUR NEW YORK CITY
POLICE COMMISSIONERS
AND SPENT THE NEXT TWO YEARS
NOISILY CLEANING UP
THE POLICE DEPARTMENT.
INSISTED THAT THE LAW
THAT CLOSED SALOONS ON SUNDAYS
BE ENFORCED
AGAINST RICH AND POOR ALIKE
AND HE DEMANDED THA
ALL NEW YORK CITY POLICE
MEET CERTAIN STANDARDS.
Man:
THEY HAD TO BE ABLE
TO READ AND WRITE
AND THEY HAD TO HAVE TRAINING.
THERE WAS NO TRAINING
IN ORDNANCE, IN THE USE OF GUNS
NOR WAS THERE
ANY REQUIRED WEAPON
YOU SUPPLIED YOUR OWN PISTOL.
SO HE INTRODUCED STANDARD
WEAPONS, PISTOL PRACTICE
AND THAT PISTOL SCHOOL
THAT HE STARTED
IS THE BASIS
OF THE PRESENT POLICE ACADEMY
AND WAS ONE OF THE FIRS
TWO SCHOOLS FOR POLICE TRAINING
IN THE UNITED STATES.
Narrator:
COMMISSIONER ROOSEVEL
WAS TIRELESS.
HE PROWLED THE STREETS
AT NIGHT IN DISGUISE
MAKING SURE HIS MEN
WERE ON THE JOB.
"THESE MIDNIGHT RAMBLES
ARE GREAT FUN," ROOSEVELT SAID.
"MY WORK BRINGS ME INTO CONTAC
WITH EVERY CLASS OF PEOPLE.
I GET A GLIMPSE OF THE REAL LIFE
OF THE SWARMING MILLIONS."
REPORTERS TRAILED HIM
EVERYWHERE.
STRANGERS NOW SHOUTED "TEDDY!"
AS HE PASSED BY.
PAPERS AS FAR AWAY AS LONDON
HEADLINED HIS EXPLOITS
AND STREET HAWKERS BEGAN TO SELL
BIG CELLULOID TEETH
IN IMITATION OF HIS REAL ONES.
THE ROOSEVELT LEGEND
WAS GROWING.
Cooper:
THIS IS WHEN THE CARTOONISTS
REALLY BEGIN
TO TAKE UP THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
MUSTACHE, GLASSES, AND TEETH
HE IS THE CARTOONIST'S DREAM.
AND THIS IS WHAT MAKES HIM
THE FAMILIAR FIGURE.
Narrator:
"HE MUST BE PRESIDENT SOME DAY,"
ONE OBSERVER SAID
"A MAN YOU CAN'T CAJOLE,
CAN'T FRIGHTEN, CAN'T BUY."
IN 1897, ROOSEVELT WAS READY
TO MOVE ON TO BIGGER THINGS.
WHEN THE NEW REPUBLICAN
PRESIDENT, WILLIAM McKINLEY
OFFERED HIM THE POST OF
ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF THE NAVY
HE JUMPED AT THE CHANCE.
ROOSEVELT BELIEVED
IN AMERICA'S DESTINY
Cooper:
THEODORE ROOSEVELT WANTED TO BE
ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF THE NAVY
BECAUSE THAT'S WHERE
THE ACTION WAS.
HE BELIEVED THAT NO NATION
COULD BE GREA
COULD BE TRULY GREA
IN THE WORLD
UNLESS IT WAS GREAT ON THE SEAS.
FASTER SHIPS, BIGGER SHIPS
THIS IS WHERE THE GREA
ARMS RACE IS GOING ON.
Narrator:
BY THE END OF THE 19th CENTURY
AMERICA HAD BECOME THE RICHES
AND MOST PRODUCTIVE COUNTRY
IN THE WORLD
AND WAS READY TO ASSUME
THE ROLE OF A WORLD POWER.
IN THE CONTES
FOR COMMERCIAL MARKETS
WITH COUNTRIES
LIKE ENGLAND AND GERMANY
ROOSEVELT WAS PREPARED
TO LEAD THE WAY.
Man:
IN THE 1880s AND THE 1890s
ASIA, AFRICA,
EVEN PARTS OF LATIN AMERICA
WERE BEING DIVIDED
AMONG THE IMPERIAL POWERS.
THE BRITISH, THE FRENCH,
THE GERMANS WERE VERY ACTIVE
THAT IF THE UNITED STATES
DID NOT ENTER THIS RACE
IT WOULD BE LEFT BEHIND.
Blum:
IT WAS A MATTER FOR HIM
OF NATIONAL PRIDE
AND OF HIS CURIOUS CONCEP
OF MANLINESS.
MANLINESS AS A VIRTUE INVOLVED
A WILLINGNESS TO FIGHT
NOT TO BE A BULLY, NECESSARILY,
HE DIDN'T LIKE THAT WORD
BUT A WILLINGNESS TO STAND UP
AND ASSERT YOURSELF.
Narrator:
AND JUST AS A MAN NEEDED
TO STAND UP AND FIGH
SO, ROOSEVELT BELIEVED,
DID A NATION.
IN THE STRUGGLE FOR
INTERNATIONAL POWER, HE ARGUED
McCullough:
ROOSEVELT FELT THAT A WAR
WOULD BE GOOD FOR THE COUNTRY.
IT WOULD STIR UP THE BLOOD.
IT WOULD BRING US TOGETHER.
IT WAS A NOBLE ASPIRATION
RATHER THAN THE KIND
OF SELF-SERVING, GRIMY BUSINESS
OF OF COMMERCE
AND THE MERCANTILE AMBITIONS
OF THE COUNTRY.
Narrator:
JUST MONTHS AFTER
HE WAS APPOINTED
ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF THE NAVY
ROOSEVELT SPOKE
AT THE NAVAL WAR COLLEGE:
"COWARDICE," HE SAID,
"IS THE UNPARDONABLE SIN.
"NO TRIUMPH OF PEACE
IS QUITE SO GREA
"AS THE SUPREME TRIUMPHS OF WAR.
"THE NATION MUST BE WILLING
TO POUR OUT ITS BLOOD
"ITS TREASURE,
AND ITS TEARS LIKE WATER
RATHER THAN SUBMIT TO
THE LOSS OF HONOR AND RENOWN."
ROOSEVELT WOULD HAVE THE CHANCE
TO PUT HIS THEORY OF WAR
TO THE TES
IN THE JUNGLES OF CUBA.
FOR TWO YEARS,
CUBAN REVOLUTIONARIES
HAD BEEN STRUGGLING
TO OVERTHROW THE SPANISH
WHO HAD RULED THE
ISLAND FOR CENTURIES.
ROOSEVELT SIDED
WITH THE CUBAN PEOPLE
AND SET OUT TO CONVINCE
PRESIDENT McKINLEY
TO STRIKE AT THE SPANISH EMPIRE
IN BOTH CUBA
AND IN THE PHILIPPINES.
LaFeber:
THE SPANISH EMPIRE
HAD BEEN DECLINING
FOR GENERATIONS.
IT WAS SIMPLY SITTING THERE
WAITING TO BE TAKEN
AND ROOSEVELT UNDERSTOOD THA
SPAIN WOULD BE AN EASY VICTORY.
Narrator:
THEN ON FEBRUARY 15, 1898,
IN HAVANA HARBOR
THE U.S. BATTLESHIP MAINE
BLEW UP.
( explosion)
266 AMERICANS WERE KILLED.
ROOSEVELT, EAGER TO PLACE
THE BLAME, RESPONDED AT ONCE:
"THE MAINE WAS SUNK
BY AN ACT OF DIRTY TREACHERY
ON THE PART OF THE SPANISH,"
HE SAID.
"THE BLOOD OF THE MURDERED MEN
OF THE MAINE
"CALLS FOR THE FULL MEASURE
OF ATONEMEN
"WHICH CAN ONLY COME
BY DRIVING THE SPANIARD
FROM THE NEW WORLD."
BUT IN SPITE
OF THE LURID HEADLINES
IT WAS NOT AT ALL CLEAR
WHAT HAD CAUSED THE MAINE
TO EXPLODE
AND McKINLEY
HESITATED TO DECLARE WAR.
PRIVATELY, ROOSEVELT SAID
THAT THE PRESIDEN
HAD THE BACKBONE
"OF A CHOCOLATE ECLAIR."
"WE WILL HAVE THIS WAR,"
ROOSEVELT SAID
AND HE DIDN'T HESITATE
TO REACH BEYOND HIS AUTHORITY
TO PREPARE FOR IT.
ON FEBRUARY 25, 1898
WHEN ROOSEVELT'S BOSS, SECRETARY
OF THE NAVY JOHN D. LONG
TOOK THE DAY OFF
ROOSEVELT CABLED SQUADRON
COMMANDERS ALL OVER THE WORLD
PUTTING THEM
IN A STATE OF HIGH ALERT.
ONE CABLE ORDERED
COMMODORE GEORGE DEWEY
TO PREPARE TO ATTACK THE
SPANISH FLEET IN THE PHILIPPINES
"THE VERY DEVIL SEEMED
TO POSSESS ROOSEVELT YESTERDAY"
LONG SAID WHEN HE RETURNED.
OUTRAGED,
LONG TOLD THE PRESIDEN
BUT McKINLEY LET ROOSEVELT'S
ORDER TO DEWEY STAND.
LaFeber:
McKINLEY WAS GOING TO WAR
ALL RIGH
BUT HE WAS DOING I
ON HIS OWN TIME
AND HE WAS GOING TO ENSURE
THAT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE
WERE BEHIND HIM.
AND I THINK THAT IT'S
A COMMENTARY ON ROOSEVEL
THAT McKINLEY WAS GOING TO WAR
BUT HE WASN'T GOING TO WAR FAS
ENOUGH FOR THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
Narrator:
TWO MONTHS LATER,
CONGRESS DECLARED WAR ON SPAIN
AND COMMODORE DEWEY STEAMED
INTO MANILA HARBOR
AND DESTROYED THE ENTIRE
SPANISH FLEET IN THE PHILIPPINES
WITHOUT LOSING
A SINGLE AMERICAN LIFE.
AMERICA, ROOSEVELT HAD SAID,
NEEDED A WAR.
NOW AMERICA HAD A WAR
AND ROOSEVELT COULDN'T WAI
TO GET INTO IT.
WHEN THE SPANISH AMERICAN WAR
BEGAN, ROOSEVELT WAS 39
THE FATHER OF A
BOISTEROUS SWARM OF CHILDREN.
HIS SIXTH CHILD
HAD JUST BEEN BORN.
HE AND EDITH NAMED HIM QUENTIN.
HE DELIGHTED IN HIS FAMILY
REVELED IN HIS JOB
AT THE NAVY DEPARTMEN
WAS PROUD OF HIS GROWING
REPUTATION AS AN AUTHOR.
BUT HE WAS WILLING
TO RISK IT ALL
FOR THE CHANCE OF GLORY
IN BATTLE.
"I HAD DETERMINED
THAT IF A WAR CAME
SOMEHOW OR OTHER I WAS GOING
TO THE FRONT," HE WROTE.
Cooper:
HE WAS GOING
TO SEE COMBAT HIMSELF.
HE SAID, "I HAVE BEEN
ADVOCATING EXPANSION.
"I HAVE BEEN ADVOCATING
THIS WAR.
I'VE GOT TO PRACTICE
WHAT I PREACH."
Narrator:
HE RESIGNED HIS POS
AND ACCEPTED
A LIEUTENANT COLONEL'S
COMMISSION IN THE ARMY.
"THEODORE IS WILD TO FIGHT AND
HACK AND HEW," A FRIEND WROTE.
Cooper:
HE AS ABSOLUTELY DETERMINED
THAT HE WAS GOING TO FIGHT,
NO MATTER WHAT.
HE SAID HE WOULD HAVE LEF
HIS WIFE'S DEATHBED
IN ORDER TO GO AND FIGHT.
McCullough:
HIS FATHER HAD NOT GONE TO WAR.
I DON'T THINK
THERE'S ANY DENYING
THAT WAS AT THE ROO
OF THE DECISION.
HE WOULD DO
WHAT HIS FATHER HADN'T DONE
BECAUSE HIS FATHER
MIGHT APPROVE OF THA
BUT ALSO BECAUSE
HE COULD DO SOMETHING
HIS FATHER HAD NEVER DONE,
IN THAT WAY OUT-DO THE FATHER.
Narrator:
WITH 12 PAIRS
OF EXTRA SPECTACLES
AND A BRAND-NEW BLUE UNIFORM
SPECIALLY RUN UP FOR HIM
BY BROOKS BROTHERS
THEODORE ROOSEVEL
WAS OFF TO WAR.
Blum:
HE WAS TERRIBLY MYOPIC.
HE WAS GOING INTO BATTLE
WITH VISION
THAT IT WOULD HAVE NO
BEEN PERMITTED
IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR
OF A PRIVATE.
Narrator:
ROOSEVELT GOT PERMISSION
TO FORM HIS OWN REGIMEN
AND CALLED FOR VOLUNTEERS.
FROM THE MORE THAN 20,000
WHO APPLIED
WHO REFLECTED HIS OWN
WIDELY VARIED CONNECTIONS.
THERE WERE IVY LEAGUERS
AND COWBOYS
YACHTSMEN AND A SCOTTISH LAIRD
FOUR NEW YORK CITY POLICEMEN,
AN ARIZONA SHERIFF
THE TENNIS CHAMPION
OF THE UNITED STATES
CHOCTAW, CHEROKEE
AND CREEK INDIANS
AND THE WORLD'S
GREATEST POLO PLAYER
ALL BROUGHT TOGETHER
BY THE PROSPECT OF FIGHTING
UNDER THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
ROOSEVELT HAILED THEM
AS "THE CHILDREN
OF THE DRAGON'S BLOOD."
THE NEWSPAPERS CALLED THEM
"ROOSEVELT'S ROUGHRIDERS."
"THE FIRST VOLUNTEER CAVALRY,
WROTE ONE REPORTER
"WAS THE SOCIETY PAGE,
FINANCIAL COLUMN
AND WILD WEST SHOW
ALL WRAPPED UP IN ONE."
ON JUNE 8, 1898,
ROOSEVELT AND HIS ROUGHRIDERS
BEGAN BOARDING SHIPS
IN TAMPA, FLORIDA
FOR THE SHORT JOURNEY TO CUBA.
Cooper:
HE HAD REPORTERS ALONG,
HE HAD PHOTOGRAPHERS
AND HE ALSO HAD A COUPLE
OF MOVIE CAMERAMEN
VERY EARLY MOVIE CAMERAMEN.
IN FACT,
HE DELIBERATELY MADE ROOM
THERE WAS SOME PROTES
FROM SOME OF THE ARMY BRASS
BUT HE MADE ROOM TO MAKE SURE
THAT THEY COME ALONG.
Narrator:
THERE WAS SO LITTLE ROOM
ON BOARD
THAT ONLY ROOSEVEL
AND OTHER SENIOR OFFICERS
WERE PERMITTED TO BRING
THEIR HORSES.
THE ROUGHRIDERS
WOULD HAVE TO FIGHT ON FOOT.
ROOSEVELT WAS IMPATIEN
TO GET HIS REGIMENT INTO ACTION.
"IT WILL BE AWFUL," HE WROTE
"IF THE GAME IS OVER
BEFORE WE GET INTO IT."
THE ROUGHRIDERS SET SAIL
FOR CUBA TO THE POPULAR TUNE
"THERE'LL BE A HOT TIME
IN THE OLD TOWN TONIGHT."
LaFeber:
THERE WERE OFTEN ORCHESTRAS,
SMALL STRINGED ORCHESTRAS
PLAYING ON THE SHIPS
AND THERE ARE ACCOUNTS WE HAVE
OF THESE WONDERFUL
MOONLIT NIGHTS
AS THE SOLDIERS ARE ANTICIPATING
COVERING THEMSELVES WITH GLORY
LISTENING TO THIS MUSIC
AS THEY SAIL INTO BATTLE.
IT WAS A WONDERFUL
ROMANTIC NOTION
AND, OF COURSE,
ROOSEVELT PERSONIFIED IT.
HE THOUGHT THAT WAR
COULD BE GLORIOUS.
Narrator:
"THE NEARING FUTURE," HE WROTE
"HELD MANY CHANCES OF DEATH,
OF HONOR AND RENOWN."
ON JUNE 22, 1898, THE
ROUGHRIDERS WENT ASHORE IN CUBA.
ROOSEVELT WROTE
IN HIS DIARY: "LANDED."
THE NIGHT BEFORE, HE AND
HIS MEN HAD DRUNK A TOAS
TO THE OFFICERS.
"MAY THEY GET KILLED,
WOUNDED OR PROMOTED."
12 MILES AWAY, THE SPANISH
WERE FORTIFYING THE HILLS
SURROUNDING THE CITY
OF SANTIAGO.
AN AMERICAN VICTORY ON
THE HILLS OVERLOOKING THE CITY
WOULD END THE WAR.
AS ROOSEVELT LED
THE ROUGHRIDERS INLAND
THROUGH THE DENSE UNDERGROWTH,
THEY WERE CAUGHT IN AN AMBUSH.
( gunfire, horses neighing)
ROOSEVELT GAVE CHASE,
AND THE SPANISH RETREATED.
EIGHT ROUGHRIDERS WERE KILLED,
34 MORE WERE WOUNDED.
ROOSEVELT WAS ENJOYING
EVERY MINUTE OF IT.
Blum:
ONE EVENING, WITHIN
THE RANGE OF SPANISH SNIPERS
HE TOOK HIS SWAGGER STICK,
THE EMBLEM OF HIS COLONEL'S RANK
AND WALKED BACK AND FORTH
IN THE TWILIGH
WITH THE ENEMY SHOOTING AT HIM.
HIS TENTMATE SAID TO HIM
WHEN HE GOT BACK
HE SAID, "COLONEL, DIDN'T YOU
REALIZE YOU COULD BE KILLED?"
AND ROOSEVELT SAID,
"OF COURSE I REALIZED I
"BUT THAT'S BEEN THE TROUBLE
ALL AFTERNOON.
"BECAUSE THE MEN WERE
AFRAID OF BEING KILLED.
I WAS GOING TO SHOW THEM THERE
WAS NOTHING TO BE AFRAID OF."
WELL, THAT WAS
THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
MOST OF US ARE AFRAID
OF BEING KILLED.
Narrator:
AFTER MORE THAN A WEEK
OF FIGHTING THEIR WAY
THROUGH THE JUNGLE
THE ROUGHRIDERS REACHED THE
HILLS OVERLOOKING SANTIAGO.
ON THE MORNING OF JULY 1,
THEY WERE ORDERED TO ATTACK.
WHILE HIS MEN WAITED
FOR HIS SIGNAL
ROOSEVELT PREPARED TO MOUN
HIS CHESTNUT STALLION, TEXAS.
McCullough:
THIS WAS TO BE
HIS "CROWDED HOUR"
HIS GREAT MOMENT.
AND THEY'RE ABOU
TO TAKE THE HILL
AND HE SAYS,
"GENTLEMEN, CHARGE."
NARRATOR:
"ALL MEN WHO FEEL ANY POWER
OF JOY IN BATTLE," HE WROTE
"KNOW WHAT IT IS LIKE WHEN
THE WOLF RISES IN THE HEART."
AS IF HE WERE DRIVEN
BY SOME ELEMENTAL FORCE
ROOSEVELT RACED UP THE SLOPE.
BULLETS NICKED HIS ELBOW,
PUNCTURED HIS BOO
CUT DOWN MEN
ON EITHER SIDE OF HIM.
NEARLY A QUARTER OF HIS MEN
WERE KILLED OR WOUNDED.
WHEN SOME HESITATED UNDER THE
DEADLY FIRE, HE SHOUTED AT THEM:
"ARE YOU AFRAID TO STAND UP
WHEN I AM ON HORSEBACK?"
COMING UPON A DYING ROUGHRIDER,
HE STOPPED, SHOOK HIS HAND
AND SAID, "WELL, OLD MAN,
ISN'T THIS SPLENDID?"
THE ROUGHRIDERS TOOK THE HILL,
BUT ROOSEVELT KEPT GOING.
HE LED ANOTHER CHARGE UP
A SECOND HILL SAN JUAN HILL.
IT WAS, HE SAID,
"THE GREAT DAY OF MY LIFE."
"I AM QUITE CONTENT TO GO NOW
AND TO LEAVE MY CHILDREN
AT LEAST AN HONORABLE NAME."
THE SANTIAGO GARRISON FELL.
THE SPANISH SURRENDERED.
WHAT REMAINED
OF THE 400-YEAR-OLD EMPIRE
THAT BEGAN WITH COLUMBUS
HAD BEEN DESTROYED
IN LESS THAN 50 DAYS.
AMERICAN SOLDIERS
WERE HEADING HOME.
LaFeber:
SECRETARY OF STATE
JOHN HAY CALLED I
BUT IN MANY RESPECTS IT WAS
A VERY CHEAP, ROMANTIC WAR.
THE UNITED STATES WON,
ESSENTIALLY, AN EMPIRE
TO THE ACCOMPANIMENT OF STRINGED
ORCHESTRAS IN ABOUT SIX WEEKS.
ROOSEVELT THOUGH
THAT THIS WAS GOING TO BE
THE WAY OF WAR IN THE FUTURE
AND HE NEVER BELIEVED
THAT THERE WOULD BE
THE KIND OF TERROR
AND HORROR AND BLOODSHED
THAT FINALLY OCCURRED
IN 1914 AND '15.
IT WAS A VERY
DIFFERENT KIND OF WAR.
Narrator:
ROOSEVELT RETURNED HOME
A NATIONAL HERO
A PERFECT CANDIDATE
FOR HIGHER POLITICAL OFFICE.
THE CALL CAME FROM SENATOR
THOMAS COLLIER PLATT.
KNOWN AS "THE EASY BOSS"
BECAUSE OF HIS POLISHED MANNERS
AND QUIET VOICE
HE RAN REPUBLICAN POLITICS
IN NEW YORK STATE
WITH A GRIP OF IRON.
JUST 33 DAYS AFTER ROOSEVEL
RETURNED FROM CUBA
PLATT SUMMONED HIM
TO THE FIFTH AVENUE HOTEL
AND OFFERED HIM THE REPUBLICAN
NOMINATION FOR GOVERNOR.
BUT THE PARTY BOSS WAS WORRIED.
HE DIDN'T LIKE THEODORE
ROOSEVELT'S RECORD AS A REFORMER
AND WANTED TO MAKE CERTAIN
THAT THE UNPREDICTABLE WAR HERO
WOULD BE A LOYAL SOLDIER
IN THE REPUBLICAN RANKS.
PLATT AND ROOSEVEL
STRUCK A DEAL.
Blum:
HE PROMISED TO CONSULT THE
MACHINE IN MAKING APPOINTMENTS.
HE DIDN'T PROMISE ALWAYS TO TAKE
THE MACHINE'S RECOMMENDATION.
HE WAS SAYING, "I'M NOT GOING
TO BE AN INDEPENDENT.
"I'M GOING TO BE
A GOOD REPUBLICAN
AND WE'RE GOING TO WORK
TOGETHER AT THIS."
ROOSEVELT CAMPAIGNED
UP AND DOWN THE STATE
ESCORTED BY UNIFORMED
ROUGHRIDERS.
EVERY SPEECH WAS PRECEDED
BY A BUGLE-BLOWING "CHARGE."
"AT CARTHAGE IN JEFFERSON
COUNTY," A FRIEND REMEMBERED
"HE SPOKE ABOUT TEN MINUTES
THE SPEECH WAS NOTHING
"BUT THE MAN'S PRESENCE
WAS EVERYTHING.
IT WAS ELECTRICAL, MAGNETIC."
HIS REPUTATION AS A WAR HERO
AND THE SHEER FORCE
OF HIS PERSONALITY
WON HIM A NARROW VICTORY.
"I HAVE PLAYED IT WITH BULL LUCK
THIS SUMMER," HE WROTE A FRIEND.
"FIRST TO GET INTO THE WAR,
THEN TO GET OUT OF I
BOSS PLATT SOON FOUND THA
HE HAD MADE A TERRIBLE MISTAKE.
AS GOVERNOR, ROOSEVELT REFUSED
TO BE CONTROLLED.
HE CHALLENGED PLATT'S
NOMINEES FOR OFFICE
SUPPORTED REGULATION OF
FACTORIES AND TENEMENT WORKSHOPS
FOUGHT TO PRESERVE STATE FORESTS
EVEN WORKED CLOSELY
WITH SOME LABOR LEADERS.
"I WANT TO GET RID OF THE
BASTARD," PLATT SAID.
"I DON'T WANT HIM RAISING HELL
IN MY STATE ANY LONGER.
ROOSEVELT HAD A SENSE OF WHA
WAS NECESSARY FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE
WHICH DIDN'T RUN QUITE
WITH THE BUSINESS INTERESTS
WHO WERE SUPPORTING PLATT.
SO PLATT THOUGH
IT WOULD BE A LOT SAFER
IF HE COULD KICK ROOSEVEL
UPSTAIRS TO THE VICE-PRESIDENCY.
Narrator:
BUT ROOSEVELT KNEW
THE VICE-PRESIDENCY
CARRIED WITH IT NO REAL POWER.
"I WOULD RATHER
BE ANYTHING," HE SAID
"SAY, A PROFESSOR OF HISTORY."
BUT AT THE REPUBLICAN
CONVENTION IN 1900
THE PARTY FAITHFUL
CLAMORED FOR HIM
AND PLATT WAS DETERMINED
TO HAVE HIS WAY.
ROOSEVELT WAS NOMINATED
OVERWHELMINGLY
WINNING EVERY VOTE
BUT ONE HIS OWN.
MARCH 4, 1901
INAUGURATION DAY.
WILLIAM McKINLEY AND THEODORE
ROOSEVELT HAD WON IN A LANDSLIDE
THE BIGGEST REPUBLICAN TRIUMPH
IN MORE THAN A QUARTER-CENTURY.
BOSS PLATT WAS IN THE CROWD.
HE WANTED, HE SAID,
TO SEE THEODORE TAKE THE VEIL.
HE HAD ENDED ROOSEVELT'S
POLITICAL CAREER FOREVER.
BUT OTHERS WERE NOT SO SURE.
McKINLEY'S CLOSES
ADVISOR WARNED:
"THERE'S ONLY ONE LIFE BETWEEN
THIS MADMAN AND THE PRESIDENCY."
ON THE MORNING OF JULY 1, 1898
AMERICAN TROOPS IN CUBA
PREPARED TO MAKE THEIR ASSAUL
ON THE SPANISH FORCES
HOLDING SAN JUAN HILL.
IN THE JUNGLES BELOW
COLONEL THEODORE ROOSEVEL
AND HIS ROUGHRIDERS
WAITED IMPATIENTLY.
"THE INSTANT I RECEIVED
THE ORDER," ROOSEVELT REMEMBERED
"I SPRANG ON MY HORSE AND THEN
MY 'CROWDED HOUR' BEGAN."
"GENTLEMEN," HE SHOUTED
"THE ALMIGHTY GOD
AND THE JUST CAUSE ARE WITH YOU.
GENTLEMEN, CHARGE!"
WHAT HAPPENED THAT DAY
IN THE CUBAN JUNGLES
WOULD MAKE THEODORE ROOSEVEL
ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS MEN
IN AMERICA
AND CATAPULT HIM
INTO THE PRESIDENCY.
McCullough:
HE IS EXACTLY THE RIGHT MAN
FOR THE TIMES.
BURSTING WITH ALL KINDS
OF WONDERFUL EXPECTATIONS
AND NEW INVENTIONS
AND NEW WAYS OF SEEING THINGS
AND HE'S YOUNG, HE'S FRESH.
THE COUNTRY JUST EMBRACED
THE WHOLE IDEA
OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
Narrator:
THEODORE ROOSEVEL
EMBODIED AMERICA
AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY.
THE CONFIDENCE, THE EXUBERANCE,
THE AGGRESSIVENESS
IT WAS ALL THERE ALL IN HIM.
ROOSEVELT, SOMEONE SAID,
WAS A STEAM ENGINE IN TROUSERS.
COWBOY, SOLDIER,
EXPLORER, SCIENTIS
A WORLD AUTHORITY ON LARGE
MAMMALS AND SMALL BIRDS
THE AUTHOR OF 36 BOOKS
AND MORE THAN 100,000 LETTERS
HE MADE HIMSELF PRESIDEN
BY THE AGE OF 42.
NONE OF IT WAS EASY.
SHADOWED BY ILLNESS
HAUNTED BY THE DEATHS
OF THOSE MOST DEAR TO HIM
HE LEARNED EARLY,
HE SAID, "THAT LIFE WAS
"ONE LONG CAMPAIGN
WHERE EVERY VICTORY
MERELY LEAVES THE GROUND
FREE FOR ANOTHER BATTLE."
"BLACK CARE," HE WROTE,
"RARELY SITS BEHIND A RIDER
WHOSE PACE IS FAST ENOUGH."
THEODORE ROOSEVELT'S FIRS
BATTLE WAS SIMPLY TO SURVIVE.
HE WAS BORN IN NEW YORK CITY
ON OCTOBER 27, 1858.
THERE WAS SOME DOUB
THAT HE WOULD LIVE
BEYOND HIS FOURTH BIRTHDAY.
( labored breathing)
HE SUFFERED
FROM ASTHMA SO SEVERE
HE SOMETIMES COULD NO
SUMMON THE STRENGTH
TO BLOW OUT HIS BEDSIDE CANDLE.
Woman:
ASTHMA'S A TERRIBLE THING.
IT'S A TERRIBLE,
SUFFOCATING ILLNESS.
HE WOULD HAVE TO SIT UPRIGHT,
BOLT UPRIGHT IN BED
AND STRUGGLING FOR BREATH.
McCullough:
IT'S AS THOUGH YOU'RE BEING
STRANGLED TO DEATH.
IT IS THOUGH YOU'RE
BEING DENIED LIFE
SUDDENLY AND MYSTERIOUSLY
AND IT COMES
ON YOU INVOLUNTARILY.
EVERYBODY AROUND YOU
IS GALVANIZED BY THE HORROR
OF THIS EXPERIENCE
THAT YOU ARE GOING THROUGH.
IT'S AS IF THEY'RE
ATTENDING A HANGING
AND YOU ARE BEING HANGED.
Narrator:
NIGHT AFTER NIGHT,
HE STRUGGLED TO BREATHE
FRIGHTENED HE MIGHT NOT PULL
ENOUGH AIR INTO HIS LUNGS
TO MAKE IT THROUGH TO MORNING.
ONLY HIS FATHER
SEEMED ABLE TO COMFORT HIM.
DURING THE WORS
OF THEODORE'S SPELLS
HE WOULD GATHER HIS SON UP
AND WALK THE FLOOR WITH HIM.
McCullough:
THE FATHER WAS VERY MATERNAL
IN HIS WAY
BECAUSE THE FATHER REALIZED
THIS LITTLE BOY WAS DYING
IN HIS OWN ARMS.
Man:
HIS FATHER WOULD
PICK HIM UP OUT OF BED
AND GET THE CARRIAGE
HARNESSED UP
AND DRIVE THROUGH
THE STREETS OF NEW YORK
HOPING THAT AS THE BOY
GULPED IN AIR
THE BREATHING WOULD CLEAR
AND HE WOULD SURVIVE.
Narrator:
"MY FATHER GOT ME BREATH,
HE GOT ME LUNGS, STRENGTH, LIFE"
THEODORE REMEMBERED
MANY YEARS LATER.
"I COULD BREATHE, I COULD SLEEP,
WHEN HE HAD ME IN HIS ARMS."
THEODORE ROOSEVELT'S FATHER
WOULD BE HIS GUIDING SPIRI
HIS SOURCE OF INSPIRATION
AND THE YARDSTICK
BY WHICH HE WOULD MEASURE
HIMSELF HIS ENTIRE LIFE.
McCullough:
NOW, THE FATHER WAS CALLED
"GREATHEART."
IN BUNYAN'S PILGRIM'S PROGRESS
GREATHEART IS
THE CHRISTIAN WARRIOR
THE PROTECTOR.
THE FATHER
WOULD NOT TOLERATE DECEI
WOULD NOT TOLERATE COWARDICE.
EVERYBODY HAD TO MEASURE UP.
HE WAS GOD IN HIS HOUSE
AND LIKE GOD
YOU WALKED A LITTLE HUMBLY
IN HIS PRESENCE.
Narrator:
THEODORE, SR., CAME FROM
AN OLD DUTCH FAMILY
AND CUT A HANDSOME FIGURE
IN NEW YORK SOCIETY.
NEW YORK WAS A CITY OF MORE
THAN HALF A MILLION PEOPLE.
THE SELECT FEW,
LIKE THE ROOSEVELTS
WERE PROSPEROUS
AND SERENELY CONFIDENT.
THE IMMIGRANT POOR LIVED
CROWDED TOGETHER IN TENEMENTS
JUST A FEW BLOCKS
FROM THE ROOSEVELT FAMILY HOME.
THEODORE'S FATHER
CONTRIBUTED TO CHARITIES
FOR HOMELESS NEWSBOYS
AND ORPHANS.
HE TAUGHT SUNDAY SCHOOL
AND HELPED FOUND
THE CHILDREN'S AID SOCIETY.
HE HAD WHAT HE CALLED
"A TROUBLESOME CONSCIENCE."
Man:
HIS FATHER WAS
AN EXTREMELY MORAL MAN
WHO BELIEVED
IN HELPING THE POOR
AND SO YOUNG TEDDY WAS IMBUED
WITH A SENSE OF COMPASSION
ON THAT LEVEL
OR OBLIGATION MORE THAN
COMPASSION, SHALL WE SAY.
Man:
ONE TIME WHEN
THEODORE ROOSEVELT, SR.
WAS TRYING TO RAISE MONEY
HE BROUGHT SOME
OF HIS WEALTHIEST FRIENDS
IN TO HAVE DINNER.
AND HE OPENS UP THE DOORS
TO THE DINING ROOM
AND AROUND A SPLENDID
ROSEWOOD TABLE
WERE A WHOLE NUMBER OF CHILDREN
WHO WERE CRIPPLED FROM DISEASES
OR UNFORTUNATE ACCIDENTS.
AND PEOPLE TOOK
A COLLECTIVE GASP OF HORROR.
AND THEN HE SAID,
"I NOW WANT MONEY FROM YOU
SO THAT THESE CHILDREN
CAN BENEFIT FROM THE MONEY."
AND OUT OF THAT BEGAN
SOME OF HIS PHILANTHROPIC WORK.
McCullough:
THE FATHER SAID,
"GET ACTION, SEIZE THE MOMENT.
"DON'T DWELL ON
THE INNER DARKNESS OF YOURSELF.
"REACH OUT.
HIS LITTLE SON THEODORE
ADORED HIM, WORSHIPPED HIM
AND I THINK TOOK HIS ROLE
AS BEING THAT FATHER'S SON
ENTIRELY TO HEAR
BOTH WITH TREMENDOUS BENEFI
AND WITH DIFFICULTY.
Narrator:
HE WAS "THE BEST MAN
I EVER KNEW," ROOSEVELT WROTE
"AND THE ONLY MAN OF WHOM
I WAS EVER REALLY AFRAID."
THEODORE'S MOTHER
WAS FROM THE SOUTH.
McCullough:
MITTIE BULLOCH ROOSEVEL
WAS A SOUTHERN BELLE.
SHE WAS A GORGEOUS WOMAN
DARK-HAIRED, PETITE
EFFERVESCENT.
AND SHE ALWAYS WORE
A GARDENIA OR SOMETHING
BEHIND HER EAR,
TUCKED INTO HER HAIR.
IT WAS THE FIRST TIME, I BELIEVE
IN THE ROOSEVELT FAMILY,
AT LEAST IN OUR LINE
THAT SOMEBODY MARRIED
OUT OF THE NEW YORK DUTCH LINE.
SHE CAME FROM A DIFFERENT WORLD.
THE SOUTH OF MITTIE BULLOCH'S
LIFE AS A YOUNG WOMAN
WAS THE SOUTH OF PLANTATIONS,
THE SOUTH OF SLAVERY.
SHE CAME FROM
THIS WILD, ROMANTIC
SOMETIMES VIOLENT,
SOMETIMES ERRATIC FAMILY
AND FOR HER TO COME TO NEW YORK
AND MOVE INTO THIS STIFF,
RATHER PHLEGMATIC
DUTCH BURGHER FAMILY
THAT HAD BEEN ESTABLISHED
SO VERY LONG
ON THE ISLAND OF MANHATTAN
WAS AS DIFFERENT AS IF SHE'D
COME FROM A DIFFERENT PLANET.
SHE IS AS RESPONSIBLE,
IF NOT MORE SO
FOR THE WAY THEODORE TURNED OUT.
HE'S MORE A BULLOCH
THAN A ROOSEVELT.
THE ROOSEVELTS
DIDN'T HAVE THAT ENERGY.
THE ROOSEVELTS DIDN'T HAVE
THAT VITALITY, THE FLAMBOYANCE
THE LOVE OF POETRY,
THE LOVE OF ROMANCE
THE LOVE OF TRAVEL,
THE ECCENTRICITY.
Narrator:
THE SOUTHERN BELLE
AND THE NORTHERN GENTLEMAN
LOVED ONE ANOTHER
BUT IN 1861, THE CIVIL WAR
DIVIDED THE ROOSEVELTS
JUST AS IT DIVIDED THE NATION.
THEODORE'S FATHER STOOD
FIRMLY AGAINST SLAVERY.
HIS MOTHER REMAINED LOYAL
TO THE SOUTH
AND SHE DID NOT WAN
HER HUSBAND GOING TO WAR
AGAINST HER BROTHERS,
WHO FOUGHT FOR THE CONFEDERACY.
THEODORE'S FATHER
PAID A SUBSTITUTE
TO FIGHT IN HIS PLACE.
McCullough:
IN A SOCIETY OF THE KIND
WHERE THE ROOSEVELTS
CIRCULATED AND BELONGED
THIS WAS BY NO MEANS SHAMEFUL.
THIS WAS QUITE COMMONLY DONE
BUT TO THE LITTLE BOY RAISED ON
THE HEROICS OF ADVENTURE STORIES
AND ON THE HEROICS
OF HIS MOTHER'S FAMILY
THIS WAS VERY HARD TO EXPLAIN
VERY DIFFICUL
FOR HIM TO ACCEPT.
Narrator:
THEODORE'S FATHER DID PERFORM
CHARITABLE WORK
AMONG THE UNION SOLDIERS
BUT THEODORE WOULD NEVER FORGE
THAT HIS FATHER HAD NO
ENLISTED HAD NOT FOUGHT
AND THE MEMORY
OF THAT EMBARRASSMEN
WOULD ONE DAY HELP DRIVE
THEODORE HIMSELF INTO BATTLE.
THEODORE WAS OBSESSED
WITH NATURAL HISTORY
MADE METICULOUS DRAWINGS
AND DREAMED OF BECOMING
A GREAT NATURALIST.
HE WAS A PRECOCIOUS,
IRREPRESSIBLE, ODD LITTLE BOY.
HE CARRIED FROGS IN HIS HA
RAISED MICE
IN THE FAMILY ICEBOX
KEPT SNAKES IN HIS WATER PITCHER
AND BEGAN A COLLECTION OF BIRDS
WHICH HE INSISTED ON
STUFFING HIMSELF, AT HOME.
HE DEVOURED GROWN-UP BOOKS
FICTION, HISTORY, POETRY,
SCIENCE AND NOISILY REPORTED
EVERYTHING HE'D LEARNED
TO ANYONE WHO WOULD LISTEN.
( labored breathing)
BUT ASTHMA CONTINUED
TO RAVAGE HIM.
HE WAS ANXIOUS AND SUFFERED
FROM A RECURRING NIGHTMARE
THAT A WEREWOLF WAS LOOSE
IN HIS BEDROOM.
TRIED REMEDIES RECOMMENDED
BY THE BEST DOCTORS OF THE DAY.
THEODORE WAS DOSED WITH A
MEDICINE TO INDUCE VOMITING
MADE TO SWALLOW BLACK COFFEE,
EVEN FORCED TO SMOKE CIGARS.
AT ONE POINT,
HE NOTED IN HIS DIARY
HIS CHEST WAS RUBBED SO HARD
"THAT THE BLOOD CAME OUT."
WHEN HE WAS 11,
HIS FATHER TOOK HIM ASIDE.
McCullough:
HE SAID, "YOU HAVE BEEN BLESSED
WITH A WONDERFUL MIND
"BUT YOU HAVE
TO BUILD YOUR BODY.
YOU HAVE TO TAKE CHARGE
OF YOUR BODY."
IN A WAY IN THE LARGER WAY,
HE WAS SAYING
"YOU HAVE TO TAKE CHARGE
OF YOUR LIFE."
Narrator:
DETERMINED TO BE WORTHY
OF HIS FATHER
THE SICKLY BOY
SPENT HOURS EVERY DAY
TRYING TO BUILD HIMSELF
A NEW BODY
SLOWLY "WIDENING HIS CHEST,"
HIS SISTER REMEMBERED
"BY REGULAR, MONOTONOUS MOTION
DRUDGERY INDEED."
HIS FATHER EVEN PAID
A PROFESSIONAL COACH
TO TEACH HIS SON HOW TO BOX.
AND EVERY SUMMER,
HE TOOK HIM ON CAMPING TRIPS
HIKING THROUGH MAINE
AND THE ADIRONDACKS
AND AROUND
THE ROOSEVELT SUMMER HOME
AT OYSTER BAY ON THE SHORE
OF LONG ISLAND SOUND.
SLOWLY, THEODORE'S
NECK THICKENED
HIS CHEST EXPANDED, HE BEGAN
TO BREATHE A BIT MORE EASILY
BUT EVEN WHEN HE
LEFT HOME FOR HARVARD
HIS ASTHMA STUBBORNLY HUNG ON.
HE WAS 17 YEARS OLD
AND HAD NEVER BEEN AWAY
FROM HIS FAMILY BEFORE.
"AS I SAW THE LAST OF THE TRAIN
BEARING YOU AWAY"
"I REALIZED WHAT A LUXURY IT WAS
TO HAVE A BOY
"IN WHOM I COULD PLACE PERFEC
TRUST AND CONFIDENCE.
"TAKE CARE OF YOUR MORALS FIRST,
YOUR HEALTH NEX
AND FINALLY YOUR STUDIES."
AT COLLEGE, THEODORE
WAS A SERIOUS STUDEN
WITH A GROWING SENSE THAT HE
WAS DESTINED FOR GREAT THINGS.
HIS CLASSMATES DIDN'T KNOW
WHAT TO MAKE OF HIM.
HE TOOK AN EIGHT MILE WALK
EVERY AFTERNOON
RAN FROM CLASS TO CLASS, AND
COULDN'T SEEM TO STOP TALKING.
McCullough:
THERE'S A GREAT MOMENT WHERE ONE
OF HIS PROFESSORS TURNS AND SAYS
"SEE, HERE, ROOSEVELT,
I'M RUNNING THIS CLASS."
Narrator:
THEN ON FEBRUARY 9, 1878,
DURING THEODORE'S SOPHOMORE YEAR
HIS FATHER DIED SUDDENLY
OF STOMACH CANCER
AT THE AGE OF 46.
THEODORE HURRIED BACK FROM
HARVARD TO A RAIN-SOAKED CITY.
HIS FATHER'S GOOD WORKS
WERE PRAISED FROM PULPITS
ALL ACROSS NEW YORK.
"I FEEL," THEODORE WROTE, "THA
IF IT WERE NOT FOR THE CERTAINTY
THAT HE IS NOT DEAD BUT GONE
BEFORE, I SHOULD ALMOST PERISH."
SHATTERED, FOR MONTHS
HE POURED OUT HIS PAIN
AND BEWILDERMENT IN HIS DIARY.
"HOW LITTLE USE I AM
OR EVER SHALL BE."
"IF I HAD VERY MUCH TIME
TO THINK
I BELIEVE I SHOULD
ALMOST GO CRAZY."
ALONG THE SHORES
OF LONG ISLAND SOUND
HE SOUGHT RELIEF
IN THE NATURAL WORLD
AND IN CEASELESS
PHYSICAL EXERTION.
HE RAN, HIKED, BOXED,
HUNTED, SWAM, WRESTLED.
EXACTLY WHAT HIS FATHER
HAD PREACHED
GET ACTION, GET OUT, DO THINGS.
Narrator:
HE ROWED A BOAT ACROSS LONG
ISLAND SOUND AND BACK
IN A SINGLE DAY 25 MILES.
HE RODE HIS HORSE
ALMOST TO DEATH
AND SHOT A NEIGHBOR'S DOG
JUST BECAUSE IT SNAPPED AT HIM.
THEN HE FLED TO THE MAINE WOODS.
"OH, FATHER, MY FATHER,"
HE WROTE
NO WORDS CAN TELL HOW I SHALL
MISS YOUR COUNSEL AND ADVICE."
MANY YEARS LATER
WHEN THEODORE WAS PRESIDEN
OF THE UNITED STATES
HIS SISTER WROTE,
"HE TOLD ME FREQUENTLY
"THAT HE NEVER TOOK ANY SERIOUS
STEP OR MADE ANY VITAL DECISION
"FOR HIS COUNTRY
WITHOUT THINKING FIRS
WHAT POSITION
HIS FATHER WOULD HAVE TAKEN."
WHEN THEODORE
RETURNED TO HARVARD
HE KEPT UP HIS FURIOUS PACE.
HE JOINED NEARLY EVERY CLUB,
BEGAN A BOOK ON NAVAL HISTORY
AND FOUGHT FOR THE LIGHTWEIGH
BOXING CHAMPIONSHIP
OF THE SCHOOL WHICH HE LOST.
SOMEHOW, THEODORE ALSO FOUND
THE TIME TO FALL IN LOVE.
HER NAME WAS ALICE HATHAWAY LEE
THE TALL, GOLDEN-HAIRED COUSIN
OF A CLASSMATE.
SHE WAS JUST 17.
HER FAMILY CALLED HER
"SUNSHINE."
"SEE THAT GIRL?"
THEODORE TOLD A FRIEND
SOON AFTER HE'D MET HER.
"I'M GOING TO MARRY HER.
SHE WON'T HAVE ME,
BUT I'M GOING TO HAVE HER."
McCullough:
HE WAS HEAD OVER HEELS IN LOVE
WITH ALICE LEE.
SHE HAD WEALTH, BACKGROUND,
SHE WAS VERY APPEALING
AND SHE WAS UNATTAINABLE.
HE MUST HAVE BEEN,
KIND OF, YOU KNOW
HE HAD THIS HIGH VOICE AND
HE WAS NO GREAT SHAKES IN LOOKS
AND SHE DIDN'T THINK HE WAS
SUITABLE I DON'T THINK FOR HER.
HE PROBABLY DIDN'T DANCE,
FOR ALL I KNOW
BUT I'VE NEVER KNOWN A ROOSEVEL
WHO WAS SUCH A GREAT DANCER.
Narrator:
THEODORE DIDN'T DANCE, ONE WOMAN
FRIEND RECALLED, HE HOPPED.
HE WAS A JEALOUS SUITOR
SO FEARFUL THAT SOMEONE
MIGHT STEAL ALICE FROM HIM
THAT HE ORDERED A PAIR
OF DUELING PISTOLS FROM FRANCE.
AT LAST ON JANUARY 25, 1880,
HE NOTED IN HIS DIARY
"I DROVE OVER TO THE LEES',
AND AFTER MUCH PLEADING
MY OWN SWEET, PRETTY DARLING
CONSENTED TO BE MY WIFE."
THEY WERE MARRIED
ON OCTOBER 27, 1880.
ON A HIGH BLUFF
OVERLOOKING OYSTER BAY
THEY PLANNED
TO BUILD A BIG HOUSE.
THEODORE NAMED I
FOR HIS BRIDE "LEEHOLM."
"THERE IS HARDLY AN HOUR OF THE
24 THAT WE ARE NOT TOGETHER"
HE WROTE, "AND I AM LIVING
IN A DREAMLAND.
HOW I WISH
IT COULD LAST FOREVER."
THEODORE AND ALICE
BECAME PROMINENT MEMBERS
OF NEW YORK'S MOS
FASHIONABLE SOCIETY.
LAVISH DINNERS,
THEATER PARTIES, GALA BALLS.
HARDLY A DAY WENT BY
WITHOUT SOME GLITTERING AFFAIR.
BUT TO THE WONDER
OF MOST OF HIS FRIENDS
THEODORE WAS PAR
OF ANOTHER WORLD.
HE HAD DECIDED
TO BECOME A POLITICIAN.
Man:
IN 1880, WHEN THEODORE ROOSEVEL
GRADUATED FROM HARVARD COLLEGE
GENTLEMEN, MEN OF GOOD BIRTH
AND COMPETENCE, MONEY
SIMPLY DID NOT GO INTO POLITICS
AS A CAREER.
POLITICS WAS FOR MUCKERS.
Narrator:
"POLITICS ARE LOW, RUN BY SALOON
KEEPERS, HORSECART CONDUCTORS
AND THE LIKE,"
THEODORE'S FRIENDS TOLD HIM.
"THAT MERELY MEANS," THEODORE
REPLIED, "THAT THE PEOPLE I KNOW
"DO NOT BELONG
TO THE GOVERNING CLASS
AND I INTEND TO BE ONE
OF THE GOVERNING CLASS."
HE WENT INTO POLITICS,
IF INITIALLY PERHAPS ONLY TO SEE
WHAT IT TASTED LIKE
BASICALLY BECAUSE
HE WANTED TO GOVERN.
ROOSEVELT LOVED POWER.
Narrator:
WITH THE MONEY TO FINANCE
HIS OWN CAMPAIGN
ROOSEVELT WAS SOON RUNNING
AS A REPUBLICAN
FOR THE STATE ASSEMBLY
AND HIS WEALTH, HIS EAGERNESS,
AND HIS FATHER'S GOOD NAME
ALL HELPED HIM TO VICTORY.
HE WAS THE YOUNGEST MAN
IN THE ALBANY LEGISLATURE
JUST 23 YEARS OLD.
ALBANY HAD NEVER SEEN ANYBODY
LIKE THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
HE WORE THICK SPECTACLES
AND HE HAD A RATHER HIGH-PITCHED
PATRICIAN INTONATION.
HE WOULD STAND UP THERE
IN THE HALLS
OF THE OLD CAPITOL IN ALBANY
AND SAY, "MISTAH SPEAKAH,
MISTAH SPEAKAH."
Blum:
WHEN THAT SQUEAKY VOICE BEGAN
TO MAKE MORALISTIC STATEMENTS
ON THE FLOOR
OF THE NEW YORK ASSEMBLY
WHICH WAS FILLED WITH
COUNTRY LAWYERS, MORTICIANS
SALOON-KEEPERS, AND THE LIKE
THE NEWSPAPERMEN
MADE A LOT OF I
Narrator:
REPORTERS CALLED HIM
"HIS LORDSHIP," "A JANE-DANDY"
AND JUST PLAIN "SILLY."
McCullough:
AND THERE HE IS
AMONG SOME VERY TOUGH, PROFANE,
COLORFUL, ROUGH CHARACTERS.
Narrator:
WHEN A DRUNKEN
DEMOCRATIC ASSEMBLYMAN
THEODORE REMEMBERED THE BOXING
LESSONS HIS FATHER HAD PAID FOR.
HE KNOCKED THE MAN DOWN,
LET HIM GET UP
KNOCKED HIM DOWN AGAIN
THEN ORDERED HIM
TO GO AND WASH HIMSELF.
"WHEN YOU'RE IN THE PRESENCE
OF GENTLEMEN," HE TOLD THE MAN
"CONDUCT YOURSELF
LIKE A GENTLEMAN."
Man:
WHAT HE WANTS TO PROVE
IS THAT HE HIMSELF
AND PEOPLE LIKE HIM IN OTHER
WORDS, CHILDREN OF PRIVILEGE
CAN HOLD THEIR OWN
CAN HOLD THEIR OWN
WITH THE ROUGHS OF THE WORLD.
Narrator:
DENOUNCING THE BOSSES
IN BOTH PARTIES
THEODORE DEMANDED TO BE HEARD
ON NEARLY EVERY BILL
AND CRUSADED FOR
CIVIL SERVICE REFORM.
NEWSPAPERS BEGAN CALLING HIM
THE CYCLONE ASSEMBLYMAN.
Harbaugh:
HE WAS SO APPEALING THA
IN SPITE OF HIS GREENNESS
IN SPITE OF CHALLENGING
THE REPUBLICAN MACHINE
VIRTUALLY THE FIRST DAY HE WAS
IN THE NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY
THEY DIDN'T REALLY DISLIKE HIM.
THEY DIDN'T RUN HIM OFF.
THEY SENSED THAT THERE
WAS TOO MUCH QUALITY HERE
TO PUT THIS MAN
COMPLETELY ASIDE
AND ANYWAY, HE WOULDN'T HAVE
LET THEM DO IT, YOU SEE.
HE WAS SO VIGOROUS.
Narrator:
ROOSEVELT WAS ABOVE ALL
A MORALIST.
EVERY ISSUE BECAME A CLASH
BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL.
THE OTHER WAS THE SIDE
OF CORRUPTION OR SELF-INTEREST.
HE TOLD A FRIEND, "I HONESTLY
MEAN TO ACT ON ALL QUESTIONS
AS I THINK FATHER WOULD
HAVE DONE HAD HE LIVED."
IN 1882, WHEN A BILL
WAS INTRODUCED IN THE ASSEMBLY
TO PROTECT CIGAR WORKERS FROM
EXPLOITATION BY THEIR EMPLOYERS
THEODORE WENT TO NEW YORK'S
LOWER EAST SIDE
TO SEE FOR HIMSELF
THE CONDITIONS
UNDER WHICH THEY LIVED.
"I HAVE ALWAYS
REMEMBERED ONE ROOM
IN WHICH TWO FAMILIES WERE
LIVING," THEODORE RECALLED.
"THE TOBACCO WAS STOWED
ABOUT EVERYWHERE
"ALONGSIDE THE FOUL BEDDING
"AND IN A CORNER WHERE
THERE WERE SCRAPS OF FOOD.
"THE MEN, WOMEN AND
CHILDREN WORKED BY DAY
AND FAR INTO THE EVENING,
AND THEY SLEPT AND ATE THERE."
BROUGHT UP BY HIS FATHER
TO BELIEVE IN PRIVATE CHARITY
NOW, FOR THE FIRST TIME
THEODORE BEGAN TO SEE
HOW GOVERNMENT COULD HELP
IN WAYS THAT PHILANTHROPY
COULD NOT.
HE FOUGHT FOR THE BILL
TO PROTECT THE WORKERS
WHO MADE CIGARS AT HOME
AND IT WON, ONLY TO BE
RULED UNCONSTITUTIONAL
BY THE NEW YORK
COURT OF APPEALS
WHICH INSISTED
GOVERNMENT HAD NO RIGH
TO INTERFERE WITH BUSINESS.
THEODORE DELIGHTED IN POLITICS
AND EVERYTHING SEEMED
TO BE GOING HIS WAY.
BY 1884, HE HAD BEEN ELECTED
ASSEMBLYMAN THREE TIMES
NAMED MINORITY LEADER
AND HIS WIFE WAS PREGNANT.
HE WAS JUST 25 YEARS OLD.
ON THE MORNING OF FEBRUARY 13,
HE WAS IN ALBANY
WHEN HE RECEIVED A TELEGRAM
FROM NEW YORK.
ALICE HAD GIVEN BIRTH
TO A BABY GIRL.
A FRIEND REMEMBERED, HE WAS
"FULL OF LIFE AND HAPPINESS."
BUT THEN A SECOND,
OMINOUS TELEGRAM
HAD SENT HIM RACING
FOR THE TRAIN.
A THICK FOG HAD SETTLED
OVER THE CITY.
A MORNING PAPER CALLED I
"SUICIDE WEATHER."
GUIDED BY STREETLAMPS THA
"LOOKED AS THOUGH GRAY CURTAINS
HAD BEEN DRAWN AROUND THEM"
HE RUSHED TO THE FAMILY HOME.
McCullough:
HE PULLS UP IN A CARRIAGE,
GETS DOWN, GOES UP THE STAIRS.
RAINING, THE FOG.
HE'S FULL OF APPREHENSION.
AND THE DOOR IS SUDDENLY FLUNG
OPEN BY HIS BROTHER
WHO STANDS THERE IN ANGUISH
SAYING, "MOTHER IS DYING
AND YOUR WIFE IS, TOO."
Narrator:
THEODORE RAN UPSTAIRS.
ALICE COULD NO LONGER
RECOGNIZE HIM.
SHE WAS DYING OF BRIGHT'S
DISEASE, KIDNEY FAILURE.
HELPLESS, HE HELD HER
IN HIS ARMS.
IN A BEDROOM DOWNSTAIRS
HIS MOTHER WAS MORTALLY ILL
WITH TYPHOID FEVER.
WITHIN THE NEXT FEW HOURS,
BOTH WOMEN WERE DEAD.
HIS MOTHER WAS ONLY 48
ALICE, JUST 22.
McCullough:
AND THE CURTAIN CAME
DOWN FOR HIM.
WHAT MORE DID HE HAVE
TO LIVE FOR?
THIS TRAGEDY COMING
LIKE SLEDGEHAMMER BLOWS
WITHIN HOURS ON THE SAME NIGHT.
HE NEVER GOT OVER IT.
HE NEVER, EVER GOT OVER IT.
Narrator:
HE WAS "IN A STUNNED, DAZED
STATE," A FRIEND SAID.
"HE DOES NOT KNOW
WHAT HE DOES OR SAYS."
IN HIS DIARY HE WROTE, "THE
LIGHT HAS GONE OUT OF MY LIFE."
THE BABY SURVIVED.
THREE DAYS AFTER
HER MOTHER'S DEATH
HIS DAUGHTER WAS
CHRISTENED ALICE.
BUT THEODORE SHOWED
NO INTEREST IN HER
TURNED HER OVER
TO THE CARE OF HIS SISTER.
NO ONE EVER HEARD HIM SPEAK
OF HIS WIFE AGAIN
AND NEVER ONCE
IN ALL THE COMING YEARS
WOULD HE MENTION ALICE LEE
TO THE DAUGHTER
HE HAD NAMED IN HER MEMORY.
AFTER THE DEATH
OF HIS WIFE AND MOTHER
THEODORE ROOSEVELT FLED WES
TO THE BADLANDS
IN DAKOTA TERRITORY.
FOR THE NEXT TWO YEARS
ROOSEVELT WOULD THROW HIMSELF
INTO A LIFE
OF ALMOST CONSTANT ACTION.
"BLACK CARE," HE WROTE
"RARELY SITS BEHIND A RIDER
WHOSE PACE IS FAST ENOUGH."
McCullough:
HE GOES TO THE BADLANDS
OF NORTH DAKOTA
WHICH ARE NAMED
BECAUSE THEY ARE GRIM.
THEY LOOK BAD.
IN ONE OF HIS VIVID
FIGURES OF SPEECH
HE SAID, "THEY LOOK
LIKE POE SOUNDS."
HE WANTED TO FIND SOME
MANIFESTATION IN NATURE
OF THIS DARK, TRAGIC,
OVERWHELMING LANDSCAPE WITHIN.
Narrator:
"I GROW VERY FOND OF THIS PLACE"
THEODORE WROTE
HIS SISTER THAT SUMMER.
"IT CERTAINLY HAS
A DESOLATE, GRIM BEAUTY."
ROOSEVELT SETTLED INTO A SPREAD
ON THE LITTLE MISSOURI
AND BECAME A RANCHER
ON HIS OWN TERMS.
McCullough:
WHEN HE WENT WEST AS A COWBOY,
HE WENT ALL STOPS OUT.
HE HAD HIS SPURS
AND HIS BELT BUCKLES
AND HIS PEARL-HANDLED REVOLVERS
ALL DONE FOR HIM BY TIFFANY.
HE HAD A WOMAN MAKE HIM A COWBOY
SHIRT WITH FRINGE AND ALL
THAT COST A HUNDRED DOLLARS.
WELL, THAT WOULD BE A THOUSAND
DOLLARS OR $1,500 TODAY.
IMAGINE GETTING YOURSELF UP IN
A THOUSAND-DOLLAR COWBOY SHIRT.
Narrator:
THE COWBOYS CALLED HIM
"FOUR EYES" AND "STORM WINDOWS"
AND TEASED HIM
ABOUT HIS FANCY GRAMMAR.
McCullough:
THEY WOULD GO CHARGING OFF
BY HORSEBACK
AND HE WOULD SHOUT OVER TO THEM,
"HASTEN FORWARD QUICKLY THERE."
THEY'D JUST ABOU
FALL OUT OF THE SADDLE
IT WAS SO HILARIOUS.
Narrator:
DESPITE HIS EASTERN MANNERS
ROOSEVELT IMPRESSED
EVERYONE HE ME
WITH HIS GRIT AND DETERMINATION.
McCullough:
THEODORE ROOSEVEL
WAS NOT A VERY GOOD SHOT.
HE WASN'T A VERY GOOD RIDER.
IT'S JUST THAT HE TRIED HARDER
THAN EVERYBODY ELSE.
HE WENT ON ROUNDUPS.
HE BRAVED EVERY KIND OF WEATHER.
IN THE WINTER, IT WAS PUNISHING
SOMETIMES 35, 40
EVEN 65 BELOW ZERO.
GRADUALLY, THIS COMIC CHARACTER
WHO THEY HAD MADE SUCH SPORT OF
BECAME ADMIRED
BECAUSE HE COULD TAKE IT.
THERE WAS AN INCIDENT ONE NIGH
WHERE A BULLY WHO'D BEEN
DRINKING HEAVILY
CAME AT HIM IN A BAR
AND THIS YOUNG HARVARD FELLOW
WITH THE GLASSES
AND THE STRANGE WAY OF TALKING,
DECKED HIM, KNOCKED HIM COLD
AND, OF COURSE, THAT ENDEARED
HIM TO HIS COWBOYS QUITE A LOT.
Narrator:
"ALL STRANGENESS
PASSED OFF," HE WROTE.
"THE ATTITUDE OF
MY FELLOW COWPUNCHERS
"BEING ONE OF
FRIENDLY FORGIVENESS
EVEN TOWARD MY SPECTACLES."
McCullough:
HE LIKED TO SAY, "THERE WERE
ALL KINDS OF THINGS
"OF WHICH I WAS AFRAID
"MEAN HORSES, GUNFIGHTERS
AND GRIZZLY BEARS.
"BUT BY ACTING AS IF I WERE NO
AFRAID, WASN'T AFRAID AT ALL
I FOUND THAT I WASN'T AFRAID."
Narrator:
THE WEST TOUGHENED
THEODORE ROOSEVELT'S BODY.
HIS ASTHMA WOULD
ONLY RARELY RETURN
AND IT REVIVED
HIS FAILING SPIRIT.
McCullough:
THE ROBUST THEODORE ROOSEVEL
THE MAN THAT WE KNOW WHO BECOMES
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
CAME OUT OF THE BADLANDS,
RETURNED TO NEW YORK
REMADE PHYSICALLY,
EMOTIONALLY AND MENTALLY.
Williams:
IF IT HADN'T BEEN FOR THE TIME
THAT HE WAS IN THE BADLANDS
HE NEVER WOULD HAVE
BEEN PRESIDENT.
HE KNEW THAT HE HAD
TO CARRY ON
AND IT TOOK HIM QUITE
A LONG TIME TO DECIDE
I THINK THEN HE BEGAN TO THINK
MORE ABOUT MY GRANDMOTHER.
Narrator:
EDITH CAROW HAD KNOWN
THEODORE ROOSEVEL
HE HAD BEEN HER FIRST LOVE,
AND SHE HAD NEVER FORGOTTEN HIM.
Man:
EDITH HAD LIVED
JUST A FEW HOUSES AWAY
FROM THE ROOSEVELT FAMILY
AND WAS VIRTUALLY THE SAME AGE
AS THEODORE'S SISTER CORRINE.
WHEN EDITH WAS
ABOUT FOUR YEARS OLD
SHE DEVELOPED
A VERY STRONG ATTACHMEN
TO CORRINE'S
OLDER BROTHER THEODORE
WHO WAS ALL OF SEVEN YEARS OLD.
Jackson:
THEY USED TO WRITE
EACH OTHER ALL THE TIME.
HE'D TELL HER ALL ABOU
THE BUGS HE'D COLLECTED.
IT'S SO ADORABLE.
THEY REALLY KNEW
EACH OTHER WELL.
Narrator:
WHEN THEODORE NEEDED COMFOR
AFTER THE DEATH OF HIS FATHER,
IT WAS EDITH TO WHOM HE TURNED.
Kermit Roosevelt:
HIS DIARY REFLECTS SPENDING
VIRTUALLY EVERY DAY WITH HER
ROWING ONE DAY,
RIDING THE NEXT DAY
PICNICS, ETC., ETC.
AND THEN SUDDENLY, TWO WEEKS
AFTER HER 17th BIRTHDAY
THERE'S A REFERENCE
TO A MEETING IN THE SUMMER HOUSE
AND A SQUABBLE, A BLOWUP
AND NEITHER EDITH
NOR THEODORE EVER TOLD ANYBODY
WHAT HAPPENED THAT AFTERNOON.
Narrator:
THE DEATH OF ALICE LEE HAD LEF
THEODORE FREE TO MARRY AGAIN
BUT HE STRONGLY DISAPPROVED OF
SECOND MARRIAGES FOR WIDOWERS.
THEY REVEALED A "WEAKNESS
IN A MAN'S CHARACTER," HE SAID
AND IMPLIED DISLOYALTY
TO THE MEMORY OF HIS DEAD WIFE.
Tweed Roosevelt:
HE KNEW THAT EDITH WAS A THREA
AFTER ALICE'S DEATH
A THREAT IN HIS MIND TO HIS IDEA
THAT HE WOULD REMAIN CONSTAN
TO HIS FIRST WIFE.
THAT WHEN HE CAME BACK
TO NEW YORK FROM THE WES
ON HIS OCCASIONAL VISITS
TO MAKE SURE THA
EDITH WASN'T AROUND.
SISTERS DON'T ALWAYS DO
WHAT BROTHERS TELL THEM TO DO
AND IN FACT SHE HAD AN ENTIRELY
DIFFERENT THING IN MIND.
SO AFTER MAYBE HIS THIRD
OR FOURTH TRIP
CLEARLY NOT BY ACCIDEN
EDITH WAS THERE
AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRS
WHEN T.R. RETURNED FROM THE WES
AND IT WAS ALL OVER
FROM THEN ON.
Jackson:
IMMEDIATELY HE SEES EDITH, ALL
THE OLD FEELINGS SURGE UP AGAIN
AND HE'S PASSIONATELY
IN LOVE AGAIN.
McCullough:
THERE ARE MOMENTS
WHEN OTHERS WOULD HEAR HIM
PACING THE ROOM UPSTAIRS SAYING
"I HAVE NO CONSTANCY,
I HAVE NO CONSTANCY."
HE TOOK HIMSELF VERY SERIOUSLY.
Narrator:
THEIR COURTSHIP WAS
CONDUCTED IN SECRECY.
THEY KEPT THEIR ENGAGEMEN
TO THEMSELVES FOR ALMOST A YEAR.
EDITH EVEN MOVED
WITH HER FAMILY TO LONDON
WHERE SHE AND THEODORE
WERE FINALLY MARRIED
IN A QUIET CEREMONY
ON DECEMBER 2, 1886.
HER LONG WAIT FOR HIM WAS OVER.
EDITH AND THEODORE WENT TO LIVE
IN THE HILLTOP HOUSE
AT OYSTER BAY
WHICH HE RENAMED SAGAMORE HILL.
"SAGAMORE" WAS AN ABNAKI
INDIAN WORD FOR "CHIEFTAIN."
ALICE, THEODORE'S
THREE-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER
WAS FINALLY BROUGH
TO LIVE WITH HER FATHER
BUT BOTH THEODORE AND EDITH
ACTED AS IF HER REAL MOTHER
HAD NEVER EXISTED.
McCullough:
IMAGINE RAISING A CHILD AND YOU
WILL NOT TALK WITH THAT CHILD
ABOUT HER OWN MOTHER
TELL HER ABOUT HER MOTHER
WHAT DID SHE LOOK LIKE,
HOW DID SHE SPEAK
WHAT WAS THE SOUND OF HER VOICE,
WHAT WAS SO WONDERFUL ABOUT HER
WHY DID HE LOVE HER SO.
Narrator:
IN 1887, THEODORE
AND EDITH'S FIRST CHILD
THEODORE, JR., WAS BORN.
EVENTUALLY, SIX CHILDREN
WOULD TUMBLE ACROSS THE LAWNS
AT SAGAMORE HILL.
Williams:
SHE HAD A SORT OF A,
A LEVELING INFLUENCE ON HIM.
THEY WERE A PERFECTLY
SUITED COUPLE, REALLY
BECAUSE THEY HAD VERY
MANY DIFFERENT INTERESTS.
SHE LOVED MUSIC.
HE WAS TONE DEAF.
HE, OF COURSE,
LOVED THE OUTDOORS.
SHE DIDN'T DO ANY OF THE
VERY ACTIVE THINGS THAT HE DID.
McCullough:
AND I THINK SHE SAW,
AS WELL AS PERHAPS ANYONE DID
WHAT MIGHT BE IN STORE FOR HIM
THAT THIS REALLY WAS
AN EXTRAORDINARY HUMAN BEING
AND THERE WAS VERY LITTLE LIMI
TO HOW FAR HE COULD GO.
Narrator:
THEODORE LOVED MARRIED LIFE,
LOVED SAGAMORE HILL
AND HIS PRODIGIOUS ENERGY
FOUND AN OUTLET IN WRITING.
BOOK AFTER BOOK
BEGAN TO FLOW FROM HIS PEN
HUNTING TRIPS OF A RANCHMAN,
ESSAYS ON PRACTICAL POLITICS
AND A SERIES OF BOOKS THAT WOULD
EVENTUALLY BECOME A BEST SELLER:
THE WINNING OF THE WES
IN FOUR VOLUMES.
BUT ROOSEVELT COULDN'T STAY AWAY
FROM PUBLIC LIFE.
IN 1886, HE RAN IN A THREE-WAY
RACE FOR MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY
AND FINISHED THIRD.
HE WENT TO WASHINGTON
AS A CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSIONER
AND MADE THE MOST OF IT.
HE EVEN INSISTED
ON EXPOSING FRAUD
WITHIN THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE
PRESIDENT WHO HAD APPOINTED HIM.
AND THEN IN 1895, TOOK ON
A NEW KIND OF CORRUPTION.
HE WAS APPOINTED
ONE OF FOUR NEW YORK CITY
POLICE COMMISSIONERS
AND SPENT THE NEXT TWO YEARS
NOISILY CLEANING UP
THE POLICE DEPARTMENT.
INSISTED THAT THE LAW
THAT CLOSED SALOONS ON SUNDAYS
BE ENFORCED
AGAINST RICH AND POOR ALIKE
AND HE DEMANDED THA
ALL NEW YORK CITY POLICE
MEET CERTAIN STANDARDS.
Man:
THEY HAD TO BE ABLE
TO READ AND WRITE
AND THEY HAD TO HAVE TRAINING.
THERE WAS NO TRAINING
IN ORDNANCE, IN THE USE OF GUNS
NOR WAS THERE
ANY REQUIRED WEAPON
YOU SUPPLIED YOUR OWN PISTOL.
SO HE INTRODUCED STANDARD
WEAPONS, PISTOL PRACTICE
AND THAT PISTOL SCHOOL
THAT HE STARTED
IS THE BASIS
OF THE PRESENT POLICE ACADEMY
AND WAS ONE OF THE FIRS
TWO SCHOOLS FOR POLICE TRAINING
IN THE UNITED STATES.
Narrator:
COMMISSIONER ROOSEVEL
WAS TIRELESS.
HE PROWLED THE STREETS
AT NIGHT IN DISGUISE
MAKING SURE HIS MEN
WERE ON THE JOB.
"THESE MIDNIGHT RAMBLES
ARE GREAT FUN," ROOSEVELT SAID.
"MY WORK BRINGS ME INTO CONTAC
WITH EVERY CLASS OF PEOPLE.
I GET A GLIMPSE OF THE REAL LIFE
OF THE SWARMING MILLIONS."
REPORTERS TRAILED HIM
EVERYWHERE.
STRANGERS NOW SHOUTED "TEDDY!"
AS HE PASSED BY.
PAPERS AS FAR AWAY AS LONDON
HEADLINED HIS EXPLOITS
AND STREET HAWKERS BEGAN TO SELL
BIG CELLULOID TEETH
IN IMITATION OF HIS REAL ONES.
THE ROOSEVELT LEGEND
WAS GROWING.
Cooper:
THIS IS WHEN THE CARTOONISTS
REALLY BEGIN
TO TAKE UP THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
MUSTACHE, GLASSES, AND TEETH
HE IS THE CARTOONIST'S DREAM.
AND THIS IS WHAT MAKES HIM
THE FAMILIAR FIGURE.
Narrator:
"HE MUST BE PRESIDENT SOME DAY,"
ONE OBSERVER SAID
"A MAN YOU CAN'T CAJOLE,
CAN'T FRIGHTEN, CAN'T BUY."
IN 1897, ROOSEVELT WAS READY
TO MOVE ON TO BIGGER THINGS.
WHEN THE NEW REPUBLICAN
PRESIDENT, WILLIAM McKINLEY
OFFERED HIM THE POST OF
ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF THE NAVY
HE JUMPED AT THE CHANCE.
ROOSEVELT BELIEVED
IN AMERICA'S DESTINY
Cooper:
THEODORE ROOSEVELT WANTED TO BE
ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF THE NAVY
BECAUSE THAT'S WHERE
THE ACTION WAS.
HE BELIEVED THAT NO NATION
COULD BE GREA
COULD BE TRULY GREA
IN THE WORLD
UNLESS IT WAS GREAT ON THE SEAS.
FASTER SHIPS, BIGGER SHIPS
THIS IS WHERE THE GREA
ARMS RACE IS GOING ON.
Narrator:
BY THE END OF THE 19th CENTURY
AMERICA HAD BECOME THE RICHES
AND MOST PRODUCTIVE COUNTRY
IN THE WORLD
AND WAS READY TO ASSUME
THE ROLE OF A WORLD POWER.
IN THE CONTES
FOR COMMERCIAL MARKETS
WITH COUNTRIES
LIKE ENGLAND AND GERMANY
ROOSEVELT WAS PREPARED
TO LEAD THE WAY.
Man:
IN THE 1880s AND THE 1890s
ASIA, AFRICA,
EVEN PARTS OF LATIN AMERICA
WERE BEING DIVIDED
AMONG THE IMPERIAL POWERS.
THE BRITISH, THE FRENCH,
THE GERMANS WERE VERY ACTIVE
THAT IF THE UNITED STATES
DID NOT ENTER THIS RACE
IT WOULD BE LEFT BEHIND.
Blum:
IT WAS A MATTER FOR HIM
OF NATIONAL PRIDE
AND OF HIS CURIOUS CONCEP
OF MANLINESS.
MANLINESS AS A VIRTUE INVOLVED
A WILLINGNESS TO FIGHT
NOT TO BE A BULLY, NECESSARILY,
HE DIDN'T LIKE THAT WORD
BUT A WILLINGNESS TO STAND UP
AND ASSERT YOURSELF.
Narrator:
AND JUST AS A MAN NEEDED
TO STAND UP AND FIGH
SO, ROOSEVELT BELIEVED,
DID A NATION.
IN THE STRUGGLE FOR
INTERNATIONAL POWER, HE ARGUED
McCullough:
ROOSEVELT FELT THAT A WAR
WOULD BE GOOD FOR THE COUNTRY.
IT WOULD STIR UP THE BLOOD.
IT WOULD BRING US TOGETHER.
IT WAS A NOBLE ASPIRATION
RATHER THAN THE KIND
OF SELF-SERVING, GRIMY BUSINESS
OF OF COMMERCE
AND THE MERCANTILE AMBITIONS
OF THE COUNTRY.
Narrator:
JUST MONTHS AFTER
HE WAS APPOINTED
ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF THE NAVY
ROOSEVELT SPOKE
AT THE NAVAL WAR COLLEGE:
"COWARDICE," HE SAID,
"IS THE UNPARDONABLE SIN.
"NO TRIUMPH OF PEACE
IS QUITE SO GREA
"AS THE SUPREME TRIUMPHS OF WAR.
"THE NATION MUST BE WILLING
TO POUR OUT ITS BLOOD
"ITS TREASURE,
AND ITS TEARS LIKE WATER
RATHER THAN SUBMIT TO
THE LOSS OF HONOR AND RENOWN."
ROOSEVELT WOULD HAVE THE CHANCE
TO PUT HIS THEORY OF WAR
TO THE TES
IN THE JUNGLES OF CUBA.
FOR TWO YEARS,
CUBAN REVOLUTIONARIES
HAD BEEN STRUGGLING
TO OVERTHROW THE SPANISH
WHO HAD RULED THE
ISLAND FOR CENTURIES.
ROOSEVELT SIDED
WITH THE CUBAN PEOPLE
AND SET OUT TO CONVINCE
PRESIDENT McKINLEY
TO STRIKE AT THE SPANISH EMPIRE
IN BOTH CUBA
AND IN THE PHILIPPINES.
LaFeber:
THE SPANISH EMPIRE
HAD BEEN DECLINING
FOR GENERATIONS.
IT WAS SIMPLY SITTING THERE
WAITING TO BE TAKEN
AND ROOSEVELT UNDERSTOOD THA
SPAIN WOULD BE AN EASY VICTORY.
Narrator:
THEN ON FEBRUARY 15, 1898,
IN HAVANA HARBOR
THE U.S. BATTLESHIP MAINE
BLEW UP.
( explosion)
266 AMERICANS WERE KILLED.
ROOSEVELT, EAGER TO PLACE
THE BLAME, RESPONDED AT ONCE:
"THE MAINE WAS SUNK
BY AN ACT OF DIRTY TREACHERY
ON THE PART OF THE SPANISH,"
HE SAID.
"THE BLOOD OF THE MURDERED MEN
OF THE MAINE
"CALLS FOR THE FULL MEASURE
OF ATONEMEN
"WHICH CAN ONLY COME
BY DRIVING THE SPANIARD
FROM THE NEW WORLD."
BUT IN SPITE
OF THE LURID HEADLINES
IT WAS NOT AT ALL CLEAR
WHAT HAD CAUSED THE MAINE
TO EXPLODE
AND McKINLEY
HESITATED TO DECLARE WAR.
PRIVATELY, ROOSEVELT SAID
THAT THE PRESIDEN
HAD THE BACKBONE
"OF A CHOCOLATE ECLAIR."
"WE WILL HAVE THIS WAR,"
ROOSEVELT SAID
AND HE DIDN'T HESITATE
TO REACH BEYOND HIS AUTHORITY
TO PREPARE FOR IT.
ON FEBRUARY 25, 1898
WHEN ROOSEVELT'S BOSS, SECRETARY
OF THE NAVY JOHN D. LONG
TOOK THE DAY OFF
ROOSEVELT CABLED SQUADRON
COMMANDERS ALL OVER THE WORLD
PUTTING THEM
IN A STATE OF HIGH ALERT.
ONE CABLE ORDERED
COMMODORE GEORGE DEWEY
TO PREPARE TO ATTACK THE
SPANISH FLEET IN THE PHILIPPINES
"THE VERY DEVIL SEEMED
TO POSSESS ROOSEVELT YESTERDAY"
LONG SAID WHEN HE RETURNED.
OUTRAGED,
LONG TOLD THE PRESIDEN
BUT McKINLEY LET ROOSEVELT'S
ORDER TO DEWEY STAND.
LaFeber:
McKINLEY WAS GOING TO WAR
ALL RIGH
BUT HE WAS DOING I
ON HIS OWN TIME
AND HE WAS GOING TO ENSURE
THAT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE
WERE BEHIND HIM.
AND I THINK THAT IT'S
A COMMENTARY ON ROOSEVEL
THAT McKINLEY WAS GOING TO WAR
BUT HE WASN'T GOING TO WAR FAS
ENOUGH FOR THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
Narrator:
TWO MONTHS LATER,
CONGRESS DECLARED WAR ON SPAIN
AND COMMODORE DEWEY STEAMED
INTO MANILA HARBOR
AND DESTROYED THE ENTIRE
SPANISH FLEET IN THE PHILIPPINES
WITHOUT LOSING
A SINGLE AMERICAN LIFE.
AMERICA, ROOSEVELT HAD SAID,
NEEDED A WAR.
NOW AMERICA HAD A WAR
AND ROOSEVELT COULDN'T WAI
TO GET INTO IT.
WHEN THE SPANISH AMERICAN WAR
BEGAN, ROOSEVELT WAS 39
THE FATHER OF A
BOISTEROUS SWARM OF CHILDREN.
HIS SIXTH CHILD
HAD JUST BEEN BORN.
HE AND EDITH NAMED HIM QUENTIN.
HE DELIGHTED IN HIS FAMILY
REVELED IN HIS JOB
AT THE NAVY DEPARTMEN
WAS PROUD OF HIS GROWING
REPUTATION AS AN AUTHOR.
BUT HE WAS WILLING
TO RISK IT ALL
FOR THE CHANCE OF GLORY
IN BATTLE.
"I HAD DETERMINED
THAT IF A WAR CAME
SOMEHOW OR OTHER I WAS GOING
TO THE FRONT," HE WROTE.
Cooper:
HE WAS GOING
TO SEE COMBAT HIMSELF.
HE SAID, "I HAVE BEEN
ADVOCATING EXPANSION.
"I HAVE BEEN ADVOCATING
THIS WAR.
I'VE GOT TO PRACTICE
WHAT I PREACH."
Narrator:
HE RESIGNED HIS POS
AND ACCEPTED
A LIEUTENANT COLONEL'S
COMMISSION IN THE ARMY.
"THEODORE IS WILD TO FIGHT AND
HACK AND HEW," A FRIEND WROTE.
Cooper:
HE AS ABSOLUTELY DETERMINED
THAT HE WAS GOING TO FIGHT,
NO MATTER WHAT.
HE SAID HE WOULD HAVE LEF
HIS WIFE'S DEATHBED
IN ORDER TO GO AND FIGHT.
McCullough:
HIS FATHER HAD NOT GONE TO WAR.
I DON'T THINK
THERE'S ANY DENYING
THAT WAS AT THE ROO
OF THE DECISION.
HE WOULD DO
WHAT HIS FATHER HADN'T DONE
BECAUSE HIS FATHER
MIGHT APPROVE OF THA
BUT ALSO BECAUSE
HE COULD DO SOMETHING
HIS FATHER HAD NEVER DONE,
IN THAT WAY OUT-DO THE FATHER.
Narrator:
WITH 12 PAIRS
OF EXTRA SPECTACLES
AND A BRAND-NEW BLUE UNIFORM
SPECIALLY RUN UP FOR HIM
BY BROOKS BROTHERS
THEODORE ROOSEVEL
WAS OFF TO WAR.
Blum:
HE WAS TERRIBLY MYOPIC.
HE WAS GOING INTO BATTLE
WITH VISION
THAT IT WOULD HAVE NO
BEEN PERMITTED
IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR
OF A PRIVATE.
Narrator:
ROOSEVELT GOT PERMISSION
TO FORM HIS OWN REGIMEN
AND CALLED FOR VOLUNTEERS.
FROM THE MORE THAN 20,000
WHO APPLIED
WHO REFLECTED HIS OWN
WIDELY VARIED CONNECTIONS.
THERE WERE IVY LEAGUERS
AND COWBOYS
YACHTSMEN AND A SCOTTISH LAIRD
FOUR NEW YORK CITY POLICEMEN,
AN ARIZONA SHERIFF
THE TENNIS CHAMPION
OF THE UNITED STATES
CHOCTAW, CHEROKEE
AND CREEK INDIANS
AND THE WORLD'S
GREATEST POLO PLAYER
ALL BROUGHT TOGETHER
BY THE PROSPECT OF FIGHTING
UNDER THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
ROOSEVELT HAILED THEM
AS "THE CHILDREN
OF THE DRAGON'S BLOOD."
THE NEWSPAPERS CALLED THEM
"ROOSEVELT'S ROUGHRIDERS."
"THE FIRST VOLUNTEER CAVALRY,
WROTE ONE REPORTER
"WAS THE SOCIETY PAGE,
FINANCIAL COLUMN
AND WILD WEST SHOW
ALL WRAPPED UP IN ONE."
ON JUNE 8, 1898,
ROOSEVELT AND HIS ROUGHRIDERS
BEGAN BOARDING SHIPS
IN TAMPA, FLORIDA
FOR THE SHORT JOURNEY TO CUBA.
Cooper:
HE HAD REPORTERS ALONG,
HE HAD PHOTOGRAPHERS
AND HE ALSO HAD A COUPLE
OF MOVIE CAMERAMEN
VERY EARLY MOVIE CAMERAMEN.
IN FACT,
HE DELIBERATELY MADE ROOM
THERE WAS SOME PROTES
FROM SOME OF THE ARMY BRASS
BUT HE MADE ROOM TO MAKE SURE
THAT THEY COME ALONG.
Narrator:
THERE WAS SO LITTLE ROOM
ON BOARD
THAT ONLY ROOSEVEL
AND OTHER SENIOR OFFICERS
WERE PERMITTED TO BRING
THEIR HORSES.
THE ROUGHRIDERS
WOULD HAVE TO FIGHT ON FOOT.
ROOSEVELT WAS IMPATIEN
TO GET HIS REGIMENT INTO ACTION.
"IT WILL BE AWFUL," HE WROTE
"IF THE GAME IS OVER
BEFORE WE GET INTO IT."
THE ROUGHRIDERS SET SAIL
FOR CUBA TO THE POPULAR TUNE
"THERE'LL BE A HOT TIME
IN THE OLD TOWN TONIGHT."
LaFeber:
THERE WERE OFTEN ORCHESTRAS,
SMALL STRINGED ORCHESTRAS
PLAYING ON THE SHIPS
AND THERE ARE ACCOUNTS WE HAVE
OF THESE WONDERFUL
MOONLIT NIGHTS
AS THE SOLDIERS ARE ANTICIPATING
COVERING THEMSELVES WITH GLORY
LISTENING TO THIS MUSIC
AS THEY SAIL INTO BATTLE.
IT WAS A WONDERFUL
ROMANTIC NOTION
AND, OF COURSE,
ROOSEVELT PERSONIFIED IT.
HE THOUGHT THAT WAR
COULD BE GLORIOUS.
Narrator:
"THE NEARING FUTURE," HE WROTE
"HELD MANY CHANCES OF DEATH,
OF HONOR AND RENOWN."
ON JUNE 22, 1898, THE
ROUGHRIDERS WENT ASHORE IN CUBA.
ROOSEVELT WROTE
IN HIS DIARY: "LANDED."
THE NIGHT BEFORE, HE AND
HIS MEN HAD DRUNK A TOAS
TO THE OFFICERS.
"MAY THEY GET KILLED,
WOUNDED OR PROMOTED."
12 MILES AWAY, THE SPANISH
WERE FORTIFYING THE HILLS
SURROUNDING THE CITY
OF SANTIAGO.
AN AMERICAN VICTORY ON
THE HILLS OVERLOOKING THE CITY
WOULD END THE WAR.
AS ROOSEVELT LED
THE ROUGHRIDERS INLAND
THROUGH THE DENSE UNDERGROWTH,
THEY WERE CAUGHT IN AN AMBUSH.
( gunfire, horses neighing)
ROOSEVELT GAVE CHASE,
AND THE SPANISH RETREATED.
EIGHT ROUGHRIDERS WERE KILLED,
34 MORE WERE WOUNDED.
ROOSEVELT WAS ENJOYING
EVERY MINUTE OF IT.
Blum:
ONE EVENING, WITHIN
THE RANGE OF SPANISH SNIPERS
HE TOOK HIS SWAGGER STICK,
THE EMBLEM OF HIS COLONEL'S RANK
AND WALKED BACK AND FORTH
IN THE TWILIGH
WITH THE ENEMY SHOOTING AT HIM.
HIS TENTMATE SAID TO HIM
WHEN HE GOT BACK
HE SAID, "COLONEL, DIDN'T YOU
REALIZE YOU COULD BE KILLED?"
AND ROOSEVELT SAID,
"OF COURSE I REALIZED I
"BUT THAT'S BEEN THE TROUBLE
ALL AFTERNOON.
"BECAUSE THE MEN WERE
AFRAID OF BEING KILLED.
I WAS GOING TO SHOW THEM THERE
WAS NOTHING TO BE AFRAID OF."
WELL, THAT WAS
THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
MOST OF US ARE AFRAID
OF BEING KILLED.
Narrator:
AFTER MORE THAN A WEEK
OF FIGHTING THEIR WAY
THROUGH THE JUNGLE
THE ROUGHRIDERS REACHED THE
HILLS OVERLOOKING SANTIAGO.
ON THE MORNING OF JULY 1,
THEY WERE ORDERED TO ATTACK.
WHILE HIS MEN WAITED
FOR HIS SIGNAL
ROOSEVELT PREPARED TO MOUN
HIS CHESTNUT STALLION, TEXAS.
McCullough:
THIS WAS TO BE
HIS "CROWDED HOUR"
HIS GREAT MOMENT.
AND THEY'RE ABOU
TO TAKE THE HILL
AND HE SAYS,
"GENTLEMEN, CHARGE."
NARRATOR:
"ALL MEN WHO FEEL ANY POWER
OF JOY IN BATTLE," HE WROTE
"KNOW WHAT IT IS LIKE WHEN
THE WOLF RISES IN THE HEART."
AS IF HE WERE DRIVEN
BY SOME ELEMENTAL FORCE
ROOSEVELT RACED UP THE SLOPE.
BULLETS NICKED HIS ELBOW,
PUNCTURED HIS BOO
CUT DOWN MEN
ON EITHER SIDE OF HIM.
NEARLY A QUARTER OF HIS MEN
WERE KILLED OR WOUNDED.
WHEN SOME HESITATED UNDER THE
DEADLY FIRE, HE SHOUTED AT THEM:
"ARE YOU AFRAID TO STAND UP
WHEN I AM ON HORSEBACK?"
COMING UPON A DYING ROUGHRIDER,
HE STOPPED, SHOOK HIS HAND
AND SAID, "WELL, OLD MAN,
ISN'T THIS SPLENDID?"
THE ROUGHRIDERS TOOK THE HILL,
BUT ROOSEVELT KEPT GOING.
HE LED ANOTHER CHARGE UP
A SECOND HILL SAN JUAN HILL.
IT WAS, HE SAID,
"THE GREAT DAY OF MY LIFE."
"I AM QUITE CONTENT TO GO NOW
AND TO LEAVE MY CHILDREN
AT LEAST AN HONORABLE NAME."
THE SANTIAGO GARRISON FELL.
THE SPANISH SURRENDERED.
WHAT REMAINED
OF THE 400-YEAR-OLD EMPIRE
THAT BEGAN WITH COLUMBUS
HAD BEEN DESTROYED
IN LESS THAN 50 DAYS.
AMERICAN SOLDIERS
WERE HEADING HOME.
LaFeber:
SECRETARY OF STATE
JOHN HAY CALLED I
BUT IN MANY RESPECTS IT WAS
A VERY CHEAP, ROMANTIC WAR.
THE UNITED STATES WON,
ESSENTIALLY, AN EMPIRE
TO THE ACCOMPANIMENT OF STRINGED
ORCHESTRAS IN ABOUT SIX WEEKS.
ROOSEVELT THOUGH
THAT THIS WAS GOING TO BE
THE WAY OF WAR IN THE FUTURE
AND HE NEVER BELIEVED
THAT THERE WOULD BE
THE KIND OF TERROR
AND HORROR AND BLOODSHED
THAT FINALLY OCCURRED
IN 1914 AND '15.
IT WAS A VERY
DIFFERENT KIND OF WAR.
Narrator:
ROOSEVELT RETURNED HOME
A NATIONAL HERO
A PERFECT CANDIDATE
FOR HIGHER POLITICAL OFFICE.
THE CALL CAME FROM SENATOR
THOMAS COLLIER PLATT.
KNOWN AS "THE EASY BOSS"
BECAUSE OF HIS POLISHED MANNERS
AND QUIET VOICE
HE RAN REPUBLICAN POLITICS
IN NEW YORK STATE
WITH A GRIP OF IRON.
JUST 33 DAYS AFTER ROOSEVEL
RETURNED FROM CUBA
PLATT SUMMONED HIM
TO THE FIFTH AVENUE HOTEL
AND OFFERED HIM THE REPUBLICAN
NOMINATION FOR GOVERNOR.
BUT THE PARTY BOSS WAS WORRIED.
HE DIDN'T LIKE THEODORE
ROOSEVELT'S RECORD AS A REFORMER
AND WANTED TO MAKE CERTAIN
THAT THE UNPREDICTABLE WAR HERO
WOULD BE A LOYAL SOLDIER
IN THE REPUBLICAN RANKS.
PLATT AND ROOSEVEL
STRUCK A DEAL.
Blum:
HE PROMISED TO CONSULT THE
MACHINE IN MAKING APPOINTMENTS.
HE DIDN'T PROMISE ALWAYS TO TAKE
THE MACHINE'S RECOMMENDATION.
HE WAS SAYING, "I'M NOT GOING
TO BE AN INDEPENDENT.
"I'M GOING TO BE
A GOOD REPUBLICAN
AND WE'RE GOING TO WORK
TOGETHER AT THIS."
ROOSEVELT CAMPAIGNED
UP AND DOWN THE STATE
ESCORTED BY UNIFORMED
ROUGHRIDERS.
EVERY SPEECH WAS PRECEDED
BY A BUGLE-BLOWING "CHARGE."
"AT CARTHAGE IN JEFFERSON
COUNTY," A FRIEND REMEMBERED
"HE SPOKE ABOUT TEN MINUTES
THE SPEECH WAS NOTHING
"BUT THE MAN'S PRESENCE
WAS EVERYTHING.
IT WAS ELECTRICAL, MAGNETIC."
HIS REPUTATION AS A WAR HERO
AND THE SHEER FORCE
OF HIS PERSONALITY
WON HIM A NARROW VICTORY.
"I HAVE PLAYED IT WITH BULL LUCK
THIS SUMMER," HE WROTE A FRIEND.
"FIRST TO GET INTO THE WAR,
THEN TO GET OUT OF I
BOSS PLATT SOON FOUND THA
HE HAD MADE A TERRIBLE MISTAKE.
AS GOVERNOR, ROOSEVELT REFUSED
TO BE CONTROLLED.
HE CHALLENGED PLATT'S
NOMINEES FOR OFFICE
SUPPORTED REGULATION OF
FACTORIES AND TENEMENT WORKSHOPS
FOUGHT TO PRESERVE STATE FORESTS
EVEN WORKED CLOSELY
WITH SOME LABOR LEADERS.
"I WANT TO GET RID OF THE
BASTARD," PLATT SAID.
"I DON'T WANT HIM RAISING HELL
IN MY STATE ANY LONGER.
ROOSEVELT HAD A SENSE OF WHA
WAS NECESSARY FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE
WHICH DIDN'T RUN QUITE
WITH THE BUSINESS INTERESTS
WHO WERE SUPPORTING PLATT.
SO PLATT THOUGH
IT WOULD BE A LOT SAFER
IF HE COULD KICK ROOSEVEL
UPSTAIRS TO THE VICE-PRESIDENCY.
Narrator:
BUT ROOSEVELT KNEW
THE VICE-PRESIDENCY
CARRIED WITH IT NO REAL POWER.
"I WOULD RATHER
BE ANYTHING," HE SAID
"SAY, A PROFESSOR OF HISTORY."
BUT AT THE REPUBLICAN
CONVENTION IN 1900
THE PARTY FAITHFUL
CLAMORED FOR HIM
AND PLATT WAS DETERMINED
TO HAVE HIS WAY.
ROOSEVELT WAS NOMINATED
OVERWHELMINGLY
WINNING EVERY VOTE
BUT ONE HIS OWN.
MARCH 4, 1901
INAUGURATION DAY.
WILLIAM McKINLEY AND THEODORE
ROOSEVELT HAD WON IN A LANDSLIDE
THE BIGGEST REPUBLICAN TRIUMPH
IN MORE THAN A QUARTER-CENTURY.
BOSS PLATT WAS IN THE CROWD.
HE WANTED, HE SAID,
TO SEE THEODORE TAKE THE VEIL.
HE HAD ENDED ROOSEVELT'S
POLITICAL CAREER FOREVER.
BUT OTHERS WERE NOT SO SURE.
McKINLEY'S CLOSES
ADVISOR WARNED:
"THERE'S ONLY ONE LIFE BETWEEN
THIS MADMAN AND THE PRESIDENCY."