Aida D. Donald Lion in the White House, A Life of Theodore Roosevelt (2007)

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.Glorious details about how he entered politics, his rise andplans, his soldiering, and his philosophy of governing,which was more practical than ideological, are all un-matched compared with the writings of other presidents.The volume is quietly defensive of an extraordinary lifelived in several worlds.It is what Roosevelt wanted futurepublic men to learn from, if they were daring enough.Itwas here he put meat on the bones of two of his most mem-orable statements, made in 1899: The virtue that is worthhaving is the virtue that can sustain the rough shock of ac-tual living. Evil cannot be done away with through onespasm of virtue.During these months, Roosevelt also kept up with hisjournalistic articles on topical subjects.Then he acceptedinvitations rejected earlier to lecture in South America.With Edith for part of the trip, Roosevelt visited several2550465010240-Donald.qxd:Layout 1 8/25/08 5:37 PM Page 256lion in the white housecountries, among them Brazil, Chile, and Argentina.In hislectures, the traveler suggested an evolutionary philosophicchange to the Roosevelt corollary of the Monroe Doc-trine an astonishing multilateralism.He suggested that itmight be possible for large and vital countries of SouthAmerica, like some he was visiting, to help police the Mon-roe Doctrine. As soon as any country of the New Worldstands on a sufficiently high footing of orderly liberty andachieved success, of self-respecting strength, he said, itbecomes a guarantor of the doctrine on a footing of com-plete equality. Roosevelt had been unwilling, until now, toshare power with Caribbean powers.He had always recog-nized European balance-of-power politics.Of course, hehad no choice in the latter case, but he didn t have to take aliberal stance.As he and the republics of the South ma-tured, he looked to multipolar solutions to problems.It wasa futuristic vision that would not be realized until his cousinFranklin Roosevelt was president.Writing, speechmaking, keeping the Progressivesunited, and traveling were not enough to tame Roosevelt sstill-bursting energy.In the fall of 1913, he returned tocombat in nature s wars.The intrepid explorer venturedinto the Brazilian jungle, staying away for about ninemonths.Roosevelt trekked into a heart of darkness withhis redoubtable son, Kermit, and a score of men to engagein scientific work for the American Museum of NaturalHistory.The ex-president mapped the longest river afterthe Rhine and Elbe and, perhaps, the fiercest unexploredwild river the 1500-mile River of Doubt, later called RioRoosevelt south of the Amazon.Always writing, Roose-velt later published an engaging book on the expedition,2560465010240-Donald.qxd:Layout 1 8/25/08 5:37 PM Page 257Too Much FameThrough the Brazilian Jungle, which quickly made him theequivalent of his annual salary as president.But there was an almost fatal side to this adventure.Roosevelt caught malaria and had dysentery.He injured aleg that became infected and caused a raging 105-degreefever.He was so sick that, in one version of this journey,he contemplated suicide and asked Kermit to leave himbehind so as not to impede the effort to get out of the rag-ing waters.Ultimately, he decided not to give up, writingthat it is [a man s] duty to go forward, if necessary on allfours, until he drops. Roosevelt lost fifty-seven poundsfrom the struggle in his Cuban adventure he had lostonly twenty and he remained debilitated for some time.He never wholly recovered his robust health, and germslay hidden in his compromised body.Roosevelt returned home in May 1914 to neither drumsnor trumpets.He had become a private citizen at last.Butworld events would not allow him to stay at home with hisbooks, family, and comforts.The guns of August 1914boomed out war in Europe.Not since Napoleon s imperialistactions a hundred years before had war on such a scale andhorror visited Europe.Many of the antagonisms Roosevelthad striven so hard and successfully to mediate as presidentquickly exploded.He could not contain himself, as he wit-nessed Germany s belligerent behavior and warmongering.Roosevelt lacked confidence in President Wilson to manageinternational affairs, referring to him in private letters as aprize jackass. He likened Wilson to Jefferson and Madison,who he believed were excessively pacific.Because of theirlack of preparedness, he charged, Madison had allowed thecountry to be invaded by England in 1812 and the White2570465010240-Donald.qxd:Layout 1 8/25/08 5:37 PM Page 258lion in the white houseHouse to be burned.Of the three political parties, only theProgressive Party favored measures for preparedness, surely atribute to Roosevelt for whom preparedness meant the hopefor peace and the certainty of victory in war.The off-year elections of 1914 reflected the peacefulpredilections of the majority of Americans, however, andthey shattered the Progressive Party.Progressive candi-dates, except in California, were defeated.Roosevelt wasnot downcast, but he thought the reform impulse wasdead.He would continue to enjoy a private life.In the summer of 1914, Germany invaded the smallbrave nation of Belgium, whose neutrality was protected bya Hague treaty.The kaiser wrote to Roosevelt hoping hewould gain his support, but the ex-president, who was al-ways wary of William II, would not nod his way.President Wilson thought it his duty to follow publicopinion and not lead it, in staunch opposition to Roose-velt s presidential proclivities.Then Roosevelt gave hisverdict that justice was on invaded Belgium s side.Had hebeen president, he would have looked to the Hague treaty,which guaranteed Belgium s neutrality, and he would havebeen willing to back up the guarantee with war against theaggressor.Certainly by the winter of 1915, Roosevelttended to favor an American entry into the war on theside of the Allies, but he thought there was, as yet, nocasus belli.But then, on May 6, 1915, the world turned upside downand went spinning sideways with the horrific sinking ofthe Cunard liner Lusitania by a German U-boat [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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