Theodore Roosevelt
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Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt explores the personal and political life of the 26th President of the United States. It considers among other things his “manliness,” a gendered framework of traits for the Gilded Age and Progressive Period guiding him and other men in business, politics, and war, and shows how the development of these traits transformed Roosevelt’s personal and political decisions. The work covers a storied personal life and emphasizes mental and physical challenges from depression, asthma, partial blindness, and attempted assassination. Cogan addresses the political transformation from traditional, to “Square Deal” Republican, to “Bull Moose” Progressive. The text also reviews initiatives dismissing corrupt officials, closing saloons, and arresting pimps; busting monopolies and bettering workplaces and consumer products; and conserving wildlife and natural resources. Contrary to popular conception, Roosevelt’s manliness was not macho masculinity. Rather, it was an evolving framework of traits, including courage, service, and Christian morality. Supported by a series of intriguing primary source documents, this book is essential reading for understanding Roosevelt, his era, and his manliness. It is an accessible tool for students studying and instructors teaching courses on the Gilded Age and Progressive Period in American history. Neil H. Cogan is Professor at Whittier College, USA, and teaches courses in history, law, and political science. As a practicing lawyer, he specializes in racial, ethnic, and gender discrimination cases, as well as free speech. Routledge Historical Americans Series Editor: Paul Finkelman Routledge Historical Americans is a series of short, vibrant biographies that illuminate the lives of Americans who have had an impact on the world. Each book includes a short overview of the person’s life and puts that person into historical context through essential primary documents, written both by the subjects and about them. A series website supports the books, containing extra images and documents, links to further research, and where possible, multi-media sources on the subjects. Perfect for in- cluding in any course on American History, the books in the Routledge Historical Americans series show the impact everyday people can have on the course of history. Sojourner Truth: Prophet of Social Justice Isabelle Kinnard Richman Andrew Jackson: Principle and Prejudice John M. Belohlavek Patrick Henry: Proclaiming a Revolution John A. Ragosta Ida B. Wells: Social Reformer and Activist Kristina DuRocher Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet: Exploration, Encounter, and the French New World Laura Chmielewski Harvey Milk: The Public Face of Gay Rights Politics Eric Walther Joe Louis: Sports and Race in Twentieth-Century America Marcy S. Sacks Henry Kissinger: Pragmatic Statesman in Hostile Times Abraham R. Wagner Theodore Roosevelt: A Manly President’s Gendered Personal and Political Transformations Neil H. Cogan Theodore Roosevelt A Manly President’s Gendered Personal and Political Transformations NEIL H. COGAN First published 2020 by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 and by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2020 Taylor & Francis The right of Neil H. Cogan to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Cogan, Neil H. (Neil Howard), 1944– author. Title: Theodore Roosevelt : a manly president’s gendered personal and political transformations / Neil H. Cogan. Other titles: Manly president’s gendered personal and political transformations Description: New York, NY : Taylor & Francis, 2020. | Series: Routledge historical Americans | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2019051819 (print) | LCCN 2019051820 (ebook) | ISBN 9780415842839 (paperback) | ISBN 9780415842822 (hardback) | ISBN 9780203758403 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858–1919. | Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858–1919—Health. | Presidents—United States—Biography. | Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858–1919—Psychology. | Masculinity—United States— History—20th century. | Roosevelt family. Classification: LCC E757 .C64 2020 (print) | LCC E757 (ebook) | DDC 973.91/1092 [B]—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019051819 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019051820 ISBN: 978-0-415-84282-2 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-415-84283-9 (pbk) ISBN: 978-0-203-75840-3 (ebk) Typeset in Minion by Apex CoVantage, LLC For Mannette Antill, With Love and Respect, Always “One of the commonest taunts directed at men like myself is that we are armchair and parlor Jingoes who wish to see others do what we only advocate doing. I care very little for such a taunt, except as it affects my usefulness, but I cannot afford to disregard the fact that my power for good, whatever it may be, would be gone if I didn’t try to live up to the doctrines I have tried to preach.”1 Note . 1 Edmund Morris, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt (New York: Random House, 1979), pp. 637–638. Contents Contents Acknowledgments xi Preface xiii Introduction A Strenuous Life and Transformative Career; Constructs of Manliness: Through a Gender Lens and Analysis 1 PART I Theodore Roosevelt 25 Chapter 1 Acquiring Traits of Manliness: Sorting Out the Challenges of Childhood, Family, and Harvard 27 Chapter 2 Practicing Manliness: Alternating Performances as Anti-Corruption Assemblyman; Independent Rancher and Hunter; Anti-Corruption Commissioner; Anti-Corruption President of the Police Board 53 Chapter 3 Manliness Fulfilled: Ultimate Risk, Ultimate Courage, and Near-Ultimate Success; Service as Assistant Secretary of the Navy; Performance as “Rough Rider” 91 Chapter 4 Manly Progressive and “Square Dealer” 117 x • Contents Chapter 5 Manly Imperialist and Nobel Prize Laureate 145 Chapter 6 Manly Hunter and Conservationist 161 Chapter 7 Roosevelt the Progressive and His Last Transformation 169 Conclusion 185 PART II Documents 187 Bibliography 233 Index 239 Acknowledgments Acknowledgments I am grateful to Dr. Paul Finkelman, a most distinguished, insightful, and knowledgeable historian and constitutional law scholar, whose critiques immeasurably improved the manuscript. I am also grateful to Ms. Eve Mayer, editor, and Ms. Zoë Forbes, assistant editor at Routledge Press, for their patience and generous support. As always, I am so very thankful to have worked with outstanding and unstinting library staff at Whittier College – Mr. Hugh Treacy, law library director; Mr. Curtis Jones, reader services law librarian; Ms. Margot McLaren, documents librarian; and Ms. Rosalie Robles, the most excellent, tireless, and gracious faculty services assistant, bar none. As always, I am indebted to my spouse, Mannette Antill, for her ever- lasting love, partnership, and friendship, enduring through personal and family challenges. Disruptions become trivial in her presence and inconse- quential by the light of her spirit and wisdom. What manliness as an ideal or a model consistently lacked was an unalloyed respect for the other. That respect for the other we have made an enduring quality of our relationship. This biography is for her, with love and respect always and forever. Preface Preface Routledge Press’s invitation to write a biography for its “Historical Ameri- cans” series has been a challenge and a gift. It has been a challenge to write a unique biography of Theodore Roo- sevelt, so often the subject of biographies and so often lauded for historic achievements, transformative during his time and for more than a century thereafter. This biography is my response to that challenge. In this Preface, I make several points. First, this work is a biography of Theodore Roosevelt. And, indeed, this work tells Roosevelt’s story from his birth to his death. But at its core it is a biography framed by Roosevelt’s ideas, good ideas and bad ideas, moral ideas and immoral ideas. It is undeniable, as is so often remarked, that Roosevelt gained appointed and elective office through his personality. But he did not do so through personality alone but rather through a personal- ity exhorting ideas. As a historian, I wrote this work to remind readers that while personality can be charismatic, as Roosevelt’s became, it was Roo- sevelt’s ideas that were core to who Roosevelt was. It was debated during Roosevelt’s life whether his ideas were beneficial for the nation, and that debate continues. This biography helps frame that debate. Second, this work is a biography of a person with personal challenges, challenges that Roosevelt faced throughout his life. From his earliest days, Roosevelt was afflicted with an asthma-like lung ailment, an ailment that never totally disappeared. He suffered depression, sad that he was not the “best man” that his father was, sad that his father died before he showed him that he was truly “manly.” In his