Name: To Rescue the American Spirit
Author: Bret Baier

Introduction

What’s in it for me? Discover the remarkable life and political legacy of Theodore Roosevelt.

To this day, Theodore Roosevelt is regularly ranked by historians among the top four U.S. presidents. Perhaps that’s because, unlike many of today’s polarized politicians, he managed to be both conservative and progressive at once. In many ways, Roosevelt’s era wasn’t so different from our own: geopolitical instability dominated the world stage, and society grappled with how to use the new technologies born of 19th-century capitalism – and who should benefit from them.

Born into a wealthy family, Roosevelt spent much of his life fighting against the notion that the United States should be governed by elites. He championed the working and middle classes – those he famously praised as “the man in the arena.”

Even President Donald Trump has voiced admiration for Roosevelt. The two shared a belief in the expansive use of executive power; Roosevelt himself issued more than a thousand executive orders during his presidency.

Yet above all, one mission defined his career: elevating the United States to the status of a world power. In pursuing that goal, Roosevelt helped usher in what became known as the American Century.

But this Blink begins long before he coined his famous phrase, “Speak softly and carry a big stick.” To understand how it all started, we travel back to Manhattan, five years before the Civil War – where Roosevelt’s remarkable story begins.

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The frail boy with an iron will

On October 27, 1858, Theodore Roosevelt entered the world in a four-story brownstone in New York City. His mother Martha – or Mittie for short – lay exhausted in the upstairs bedroom. His aunt Anna moved through the house, attempting to manage the chaos that comes with any birth. Outside, the streets of Manhattan hummed with the hustle and bustle of a rapidly growing city.

The nation was growing – and straining – too. The Civil War was still three years away, but its shadow already stretched across the Roosevelt household. Theodore Senior – “Thee” to his family – was a staunch supporter of Abraham Lincoln and the Union cause. His wife, Mittie, however, remained unreconstructed to her core, loyal to her Southern roots until the day she died. Young “Teedie” thus grew up in a home divided by the very tensions that would soon tear the nation apart.

But that was the future. For now, Teedie was simply a child struggling with severe asthma attacks. They took away his ability to breathe, often in the middle of the night. His father would have to pace up and down the hallway with him, sometimes for an hour at a time, sometimes more, holding Teedie against his chest while the boy gasped for air.

Doctors threw all sorts of potential cures at the disease. They even forced the young boy to smoke cigars – and got him to drink disgustingly strong coffee, all in an attempt to frighten the asthma away. But nothing worked, at least, not for long.

Unlike his son, Theodore Senior was blessed with good health, as well as being tall and handsome to boot. He was a man who was passionately devoted to his family, as well as the good of the community. He was also the man who once told his seven-year-old son that although the boy had the mind, he did not have the body – and that without a strong body, his mind would never truly thrive.

Young Teedie took up his father’s challenge relentlessly. He dedicated himself to building physical strength with an obsessive energy that he applied to everything in his life. His father installed a small gym on the back porch of their building, and Teedie didn’t hesitate. He even started boxing his brother Elliott, swinging at each other until their knuckles could take no more.

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A boy becomes a man

It was around the age of thirteen that it finally became apparent that Teedie could barely see. It turned out his terrible eyesight had gone undiagnosed for years. Upon obtaining glasses, the world suddenly revealed itself to him in ways he had never imagined. He could finally hit what he was aiming at with his new rifle.

The specimens started arriving soon after. Teedie established a “Roosevelt Museum of Natural History” in his bedroom, filling it with dead birds, pressed plants, and the bones of small animals. He found the skull of a dead seal at a local market and brought it home to measure and clean, despite the awful smell and mess. His mother tolerated the growing collection with varying degrees of patience.

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The spoilsmen and the streets

In 1889, Roosevelt returned to the political arena as civil service commissioner. The work was unglamorous. So, he made it his mission to wage war against the corrupt patronage system, where politicians sought office only to enrich themselves and their friends – and not to help their constituents. Roosevelt had no patience for such immoral behavior.

With him at the helm, the Commission became a force to be reckoned with. He was known to storm into offices to ensure laws were being enforced. And he refused any leniency towards the corrupt “spoilsmen” who had become wealthy due to any sort of patronage. Roosevelt even used the newspapers to keep his work in the spotlight. He understood, even then, the power of going viral.

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The crusader unleashed

The fateful day would be February 15th, 1898. The USS Maine, stationed in Havana Harbor, exploded, killing 268 American sailors. Roosevelt was convinced the explosion was no accident. He declared that the blood of the murdered men called for what he termed “the full measure of atonement” against the Spanish.

Ten days later, Roosevelt’s boss, Secretary of the Navy John D. Long took a day off. Roosevelt seized the moment. Acting as Secretary, he sent a brazen cable to Commodore George Dewey, ordering him to prepare for offensive operations in the Philippines against the Spanish Empire.

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A cowboy in the White House

Victory in Cuba was still fresh when talk turned to Roosevelt running for governor. But to get there, he had to deal with Thomas Collier Platt, the powerful boss of New York’s Republicans.

Platt could barely hide his resentment for Roosevelt, and his intention to block him from seeking nomination. But the Republican Party was in tough shape – and needed a winner. The hero of Santiago was untouchable. So, Platt deferred to the judgment of his advisors – Roosevelt was the only man who could be elected to save the party.

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The world builder

Roosevelt had been dreaming of building a canal in Panama for some time. He saw it as what he called the “indispensable path” to America’s global destiny. By joining the two oceans together, he would expand America’s global footprint. But it was a tall order to say the least.

The French had tried. But the jungle swallowed their workers by the thousands. Yellow fever and malaria moved through the labor camps like a scythe. The machinery rusted in the rain. By 1889 the whole enterprise had collapsed into bankruptcy and scandal, leaving behind a muddy, half-dug trench.

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When a Bull Moose slows down

Roosevelt’s presidency ended on March 4th, 1909. At fifty years old, he was America’s youngest former president. He was anxious to take a break from politics and give William Taft – his anointed successor – space to govern. So, ever the naturalist, he decided to go on an African safari sponsored by the Smithsonian.

Upon his return a year later, Roosevelt found that Taft’s policies had grown increasingly conservative. It wasn’t long until his misgivings spilled out into acrimony. When Taft used the Sherman Anti-Trust Act to sue U.S. Steel for an action that President Roosevelt had explicitly approved, outrage commenced.

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To Rescue the American Spirit summary