The Roosevelts' Obsession With
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Edward J. Renehan, Jr.. The Lion's Pride: Theodore Roosevelt and His Family in Peace and War. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. xii + 289 pp. $27.50, cloth, ISBN 978-0-19-512719-5. Reviewed by Stephen M. Streeter Published on H-Pol (April, 2000) H-Net Reviews Few fgures in U.S. history better symbolize machinist, and Ivy Leaguer alike early in life, cast‐ America's violent past than the colorful Theodore ing them together side by side and inspiring in Roosevelt. Whether leading his Rough Riders in a them a sense of egalite et fraternite that would daring charge up San Juan Hill in Cuba, hunting last a lifetime" (p. 26). Roosevelt's conviction big game in the African safari, or carrying a big about duty to country was so frm that he could stick in Latin America, Theodore Roosevelt epito‐ march off to the Spanish-American-Cuban war mized American aggressiveness during the Pro‐ while his first wife, Alice, lay on her deathbed. gressive era. Although Roosevelt's bellicosity has To show how Teddy Roosevelt's obsession been amply described by his biographers, Edward with war rubbed off on his children, Renehan in‐ J. Renehan, Jr. is one of the frst historians to try tersperses accounts of Roosevelt the warmonger‐ and explain how Roosevelt transmitted his mili‐ ing politician with descriptions of Roosevelt the tary values to the next generation. The Lion's nurturing father. At his home, known as Sag‐ Pride: Theodore Roosevelt and His Family in amore Hill on Oyster Bay, Long Island, Roosevelt Peace and War maintains that Roosevelt's chil‐ helped his children gain an appreciation for the dren readily embraced their father's patriotism. natural world by teaching them to swim, hike, All four of Teddy's sons served with distinction in hunt, and ride horses. They also listened eagerly the First World War; even his daughter Ethel, the to their father's ghost stories about "illustrious an‐ reserved "asset child," braved the horrors of Euro‐ cestors," including several of Teddy's uncles, who, pean battlefields to nurse the wounded. Military unlike Roosevelt Sr., could be depicted as re‐ honor, however, came at a high price for the Roo‐ spectable Civil War heroes (p. 12). In addition to sevelt family. Quentin, the youngest son, died in glorifying war, Theodore Roosevelt imparted in aerial combat over Germany; Ted and Archie suf‐ his children a strong sense of obligation to uphold fered debilitating wounds; while Kermit, the only the family honor. "A boy with your ancestry," Roo‐ son to escape the war physically unharmed, sank sevelt once chided a nephew who had grown into alcoholism and eventually committed suicide. homesick at parochial school, "must be worthy of The early chapters of The Lion's Pride explore his ancestry" (p. 13). the origins of Roosevelt's attachment to war. The Probably no single event made a greater most general explanation offered is that Theodore mark on the Roosevelt household than the Span‐ Roosevelt was simply a product of his time. Elite ish-American-Cuban War. Roosevelt's daughter by families in the Gilded Age such as the one in his frst marriage, "Sister," swooned merely upon which Teddy grew up tended to romanticize war‐ visualizing the gallant Rough Riders. For years af‐ fare, but the particular circumstances of Roo‐ terwards, Roosevelt's sons played war games sevelt's early life also explain why he became, as wielding the very sword that their father had Mark Twain once remarked, "insane" over the brandished in the charge up San Juan Hill. The subject of war. Teddy was ashamed that his fa‐ war fever that gripped the nation in 1898 infected ther, Theodore Roosevelt Sr., had eluded the Civil all of Roosevelt's sons, who later earned reputa‐ War by hiring a substitute. He also fretted over tions on the battlefield more for their boldness the fact that he could count many more mer‐ than their cunning. In this respect, they emulated chants than warriors among his relatives. Accord‐ their father. Child psychology, Renehan notes, has ing to Renehan, Roosevelt scorned the privileged affirmed that "attitudes are caught more than commercial classes. Universal military training, they are taught" (p. 34). he maintained, would help unify the nation by The need for Roosevelt's sons to prove their eroding social distinctions. "His ideal was a peace- valor increased dramatically after Teddy left the and wartime draft that would conscript farmer, 2 H-Net Reviews White House. As World War I approached and Roosevelt's children do not always seem to follow Roosevelt's health deteriorated, it became painful‐ logically from a discussion of Teddy's political ly clear to him that opportunities for earning fur‐ views. The appearance of choppiness seems to ther glory on the battlefield were rapidly dimin‐ have been exacerbated by the division of 245 ishing. After President Wilson rejected Roosevelt's pages of text into nineteen chapters. In any case, proposal to head an elite company of soldiers sim‐ much greater attention is lavished on Theodore ilar to the Rough Riders, his sons were left to car‐ Roosevelt than his offspring. This lopsided cover‐ ry the family torch into the Great War. Although age probably reflects the unevenness of sources, Roosevelt clearly took great pride in his sons' but the author fails to warn the reader in ad‐ achievements, after Quentin perished in a dog‐ vance. The unfortunate effect is that we never fight over Germany he began to doubt privately quite gain insight into the perspectives of the rest that he had been the best role model: "To feel that of the family, especially the sons. Ted, Kermit, one has inspired a boy to conduct that has result‐ Archie, and Quentin undoubtedly admired their ed in his death, has a pretty serious side for a fa‐ father and were inspired by him, yet surely other ther," he mused (pp. 5-6). Yet Theodore Roosevelt, factors influenced their upbringing. Renehan like everyone in the family, maintained a stiff up‐ barely mentions the role of Theodore's wife, per lip in public when it came to mourning the Edith, who undoubtedly spent more time with the dead. Indeed, the loss of Quentin only made it children than Teddy did. This problem reflects a even more imperative for the Roosevelts to treat more general weakness in the book, which is the the First World War as a noble venture, eminently lack of critical discussion surrounding issues of worth dying for. gender and masculinity. At frst glance, The Lion's Pride appears to be Because Renehan fails to engage in historical a fne account of one of the most intriguing fami‐ analysis (the facts apparently speak for them‐ lies in American history. The author is obviously selves in this book), an uncritical reader could comfortable with his subject and he writes skill‐ easily miss the many contradictions in the story. fully about the Roosevelts. The book seems to be The author insists, for example, that Roosevelt aimed at a popular audience, for Renehan avoids and his sons embraced military service as a social a lengthy discussion of historiography and theory, leveler. But the Roosevelt family's considerable and instead presents a straightforward narrative wealth and prestige rested upon a racial and so‐ that is pleasant to read. The story will most likely cial hierarchy that Roosevelt himself was quite appeal to those who are fascinated with Roosevelt proud of. As the historian Gail Bederman has ex‐ memorabilia and are easily moved by the heroism plained, Roosevelt worried about the declining of war. As Stephen E. Ambrose comments about birth rate among frst-generation Americans and the book on its back jacket cover: "No father, no the mixing of "old" with "new" immigrants -- what son, no mother, no daughter could read it without he and other nativists disparaged as "race sui‐ tears." cide."[1] The idea that Roosevelt somehow em‐ Unfortunately for scholars, however, Lion's braced war because he disdained the business Pride is of limited usefulness. One minor stylistic class also appears untenable. Walter LaFeber has problem is that the narrative jumps around so shown that Roosevelt energetically pursued em‐ much chronologically that a reader unfamiliar pire on behalf of U.S. commercial interests in Cen‐ with the historical period could easily get lost. tral America and the Caribbean, while Gabriel Granted, the author wanted to connect the per‐ Kolko has argued that Roosevelt did not live up to sonal with the political, but the passages about his reputation as a "trust-buster."[2] 3 H-Net Reviews The Lion's Pride may be a great book for his‐ tory buffs who want to celebrate the heroism of the Roosevelts. But those readers who want a more sophisticated understanding of Theodore Roosevelt and his family would do better to con‐ sult the masterful biography by H. W. Brands, a far better researched account that offers provoca‐ tive insights into issues that Renehan leaves large‐ ly unaddressed.[3] Notes [1]. Gail Bederman, Manliness & Civilization: A Cultural History of Gender and Race in the Unit‐ ed States, 1880-1917 (Chicago: University of Chica‐ go Press, 1995) [2]. Walter LaFeber, Cambridge History of American Foreign Relations. Vol. 2. The Search for Opportunity, 1865-1913, ed. Warren I. Cohen (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993); Gabriel Kolko, The Triumph of Conservatism (New York: Free Press of Glencoe, 1963). [3]. H. W. Brands, T.R.: The Last Romantic (New York: Basic Books, 1997). Copyright (c) 2000 by H-Net, all rights re‐ served. This work may be copied for non-profit educational use if proper credit is given to the au‐ thor and the list.