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Theodore Roosevelt As an Icon in Presidential Rhetoric Frank W Solak

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Theodore Roosevelt As an Icon in Presidential Rhetoric Frank W Solak Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2010 Theodore Roosevelt as an Icon in Presidential Rhetoric Frank W Solak Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES THEODORE ROOSEVELT AS AN ICON IN PRESIDENTIAL RHETORIC By FRANK W SOLAK A Thesis submitted to the Department of History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Degree Awarded: Summer Semester, 2010 The members of the committee approve the thesis of Frank Solak defended on April 22, 2010. ____________________________ Frederick Davis Professor Directing Thesis ____________________________ Michael Ruse Committee Member ____________________________ James Jones Committee Member The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract iv INTRODUCTION 2 CHAPTER I 8 CHAPTER II 26 CHAPTER III 49 CHAPTER IV 69 CHAPTER V 87 CONCLUSION 107 BIBLIOGRAPHY 120 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 137 iii ABSTRACT This thesis is a study of the usage of the name Theodore Roosevelt in Presidential rhetoric concerning environmental policy. From Roosevelt‟s immediate successors to the Chief Executives of today, all Presidents have found it convenient to allude to Roosevelt in order to promote a particular program or policy. Many Presidents have claimed that they or their party are the true heirs to Roosevelt and his philosophy. On occasion, competing candidates have both claimed to be representing Theodore Roosevelt‟s legacy while expounding significantly different policies. This thesis does not attempt to say who was right, but rather establishes that the legacy of Roosevelt was so complex that multiple interpretations are both possible and necessary. Each President is addressed with their use of the Roosevelt name and some possible explanations for why they choose to use him in that particular rhetorical way. The Presidents are broken down into groups in the chapters. At the end of each chapter, broader scope explanations are put forth indicating how scholars and society at large say Roosevelt (and, by extension, viewed the contemporary polices Roosevelt‟s name was being attached to). Conclusions at the end of each chapter are tied together at the end to demonstrate that the use of the Roosevelt name was far from random or solely a matter of short term expediency. Instead, the use followed the ever changing conception in America of conservation, environmentalism, and the many-faceted ideas of ecology. The overall theme of the thesis is that the rhetorical image of Roosevelt evolved over the past century along with the American idea of the environment, with Roosevelt always representing the consummate conservationist, simultaneously at one with environmental sensitivity and governmental efficiency. iv But let a portion of ethereal dew Fall on my head, and presently unmew My soul; that I may dare, in wayfaring, To stammer where old Chaucer used to sing. -John Keats, Endymion (Lines 131-4) 1 INTRODUCTION It was no mere poetic fancy which impelled the ancient Greeks to people the firmament with their mythical heroes. A great National hero, a Washington, a Lincoln, a Roosevelt, does shine like a star to the people who come after him. In them they find light, and by them they can steer their course over uncharted and stormy seas… The fame of other men may fear the onslaught of time; but the fame of Roosevelt need not fear it. -Calvin Coolidge1 The 19th Century saw many developments in the field of conservation: the world‟s first National Park (Yellowstone); introduction of scientific forestry to North America; organized protection of game animals by hunting clubs; and the birth of Theodore Roosevelt. Before Theodore Roosevelt (hereafter TR) became President of the United States, Presidents may have taken actions dealing with the environment, but they had no specific policy. TR opened a Pandora‟s Box that could never be sealed. He created so many forest preserves, laid down so many laws, made such an issue of protecting the nation‟s natural resources, that no successor could ever completely ignore the matter. Since TR, every President, for good or ill, has had a conservation policy; since the 1970s, thought of as an environmental policy. Also, every President has had something that TR did not: the legacy of TR casting a shadow over them. Sometimes it was a disadvantage, considering that Roosevelt‟s accomplishments were many, the bar was set high for future efforts. Many times, it was advantageous: the name of Roosevelt could be invoked for a conservation policy and automatically imbue the program with the fervor of a crusade. For a century now, Presidents have been using, misusing, and sometimes even abusing, the name of Theodore Roosevelt to promote their environmental policy. 1 From the preface to Frederick S. Wood, ed. Roosevelt As We Knew Him. (Philadelphia: The John C. Winston Co, 1927): vii. 2 What, then, is this thesis about? It is a history of the image created by 20th Century political figures of the man Theodore Roosevelt. That image promoted National Parks and industrial parks; justified fisheries and wilderness areas; it was painted as Muir‟s greatest friend, and a bitter enemy. The image has gone through as many evolutions in a century as the drosophila fruit fly. This thesis will trace the changes and the many facets of Roosevelt‟s image; an image that permeated throughout the conservation efforts of the past century, and extends into this one. It is a history of the utilization of the name Roosevelt. To this end, this thesis should make clear, that the use of Roosevelt‟s name has evolved along parallel lines with prevailing societal sentiments vis-à-vis mankind‟s relationship with the natural world.2 Then it may be wondered why this is being billed as a work of Environmental History, and not of say political history or biography. In many ways, this is a biography; but not a biography of a man, but of a myth (or perhaps more accurately, a mythos). It is not a political history, however. It will address laws and policies, but not in the depth expected of political history. Instead, it will look at the changing role the Presidents have found themselves in, reflecting societal demands on and about nature. Just as Presidents have cited Roosevelt to justify their conservation policies, here I shall cite Roderick Nash to justify my classification as Environmental History: Environmental history has the potential for displaying the successes and failures of our custodianship of the land in such a way that the present can benefit from the experience of the past… Moreover, in attempting to advance conservation policies today it is important to know something of the national taste in environment. One of the best places to acquire such information is from an examination of how it was formed.3 The changing attitudes of the Presidents reflect the changing attitudes of their constituents, and better understanding of the direction that environmental concern has 2 This thesis addresses not a stagnant myth, nor a cult of personality, so important to previous works. Rather, it approaches the topic from a change over time perspective. Nevertheless, credit is due to a work that helped inspire the methodology of this thesis. Darrin M. McMahon, Happiness: A History. (New York: Grove Press, 2006): traces the evolution of a concept, which keeps the same name (i.e. happiness) but changes drastically in definition. This thesis adapts the same approach, but fitted to the image of a man rather than an emotional state. 3 Roderick Frazier Nash, American Environmentalism: Readings in Conservation History. 3rd ed. (New York: McGraw-Hill Publishing Co, 1990): 7-8. 3 taken over the past century will help to put the modern environmental movement in wider historical perspective. In previous works, close conceptually to this one, the interest has been on the image of a President at a particular time. The questions asked were: What image did the President try to project? What legacy do we see today (i.e. current with publication of the book)? Or, what did the actions of the President mean to society? The commonality between the questions is that they focus on a single time (or, at best, two: the time the subject lived and the time the author wrote about it). The other universal aspect of this work is that the interest focuses on scholarly perception of the times. The changing historiography is the focus of historians; ignoring to their peril the evolving perceptions of society at large and political figures in particular.4 One duo of historians came close to a similar approach to this subject matter. They described the rhetorical strategies of Bill Clinton. They applied an idea to an individual that I have applied to an entire class (the 20th Century Presidents), but their ideas made a significant contribution to this thesis: Clinton‟s rhetorical maneuver here [in referring to the Progressive Era] is clever. Drawing historical parallels with a time that most voters would only know through history and myth as opposed to lived experience [as opposed to Dole‟s references to World War II], allowed Clinton to shape his rendition of that time nostalgically for political purposes. As such, he becomes, in this discourse, the successor to Theodore Roosevelt‟s mythological mantle. He borrowed the crusading ethos of the hero of San 4 For examples of works such as these, see Gary Alan Fine, “Reputational Entrepreneurs and the Memory of Incompetence: Melting Supporters, Partisan Warriors, and Images of President Harding,” The American Journal of Sociology Vol. 101, No. 5 (March 1996): 1159-93: which studies the image of a president generally but not over time.
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