Teddy Roosevelt. Is there something that this forum can agree on?

[ElisabethWhispers]

I was just reading a short article about Theodore Roosevelt last evening and I thought to myself, perhaps this is ONE person that the participants of this forum might agree about.

Any TR fans out there? I really didn't know that the teddy bear was named after this President!!!

EW

[i'va biggen]

He was a rough rider, the providers hated him.........LOL

[ElisabethWhispers]

A few of us might like that at times.

[TheDaliLama]

Great Man, great President.

Pretty much started the Progressiveness that has evolved into the disaster we have today.

He is very popular for the gusto that he lived his life,

More of a liberal icon today.

Mixed bag of nuts.

[JD Barleycorn]

The modern liberal would hate him for how he got the US into the Spanish American War.

The modern liberal would hate him for being an imperialist.

The modern liberal would hate him for hunting wildlife.

The modern conservative would hate him for putting so much land into federal management. Of course, TR didn't know what the government would do to his ideas 100 years later. So we can give him a pass and blame Clinton and Obama for being shits.

[Jackie S]

Agree, yes, to a certain extent.

Teddy Roosevelt was born an Aristocrat. When he decided to enter Politics instead of the Business World, he knew he would have to te-invent his image.

He did. At first through a slick promotion campaign, (he had a portrait done of him dressed in frontier cloths, with a $500 Tiffinay Knife in the belt), but later proved his worth when he answered the call and joined the Army to fight in the Spanish American War, were he did distinguish himself.

He became President by shear accident. The four Robber Barron's of the era actually paid the system off in order to make home William MKinnley's VP, more or less neutralizing him. They ha no idea that MKInnley would be assassinated, making their worst fears a reality.

Roosevelt then went after Rockefeller, Carnegie, Morga, and Vanderbuilt with a vengeance, basically paving the way for the breakup of their empires.

He is the father of the Progressive Movement. But his version has little in common with the modern "from tit to grave" social welfare system that permeates the Progressive/liberal/socialist ideas of today.

Yes, Teddy Roosevely was a good President. He was also a flawed man. Whether his good outweighs his flaws depends on your personal perspective.

[JD Barleycorn]

Originally Posted by Jackie S

Agree, yes, to a certain extent.

Teddy Roosevelt was born an Aristocrat. When he decided to enter Politics instead of the Business World, he knew he would have to te-invent his image.

He did. At first through a slick promotion campaign, (he had a portrait done of him dressed in frontier cloths, with a $500 Tiffinay Knife in the belt), but later proved his worth when he answered the call and joined the Army to fight in the Spanish American War, were he did distinguish himself.

He became President by shear accident. The four Robber Barron's of the era actually paid the system off in order to make home William MKinnley's VP, more or less neutralizing him. They ha no idea that MKInnley would be assassinated, making their worst fears a reality.

Roosevelt then went after Rockefeller, Carnegie, Morga, and Vanderbuilt with a vengeance, basically paving the way for the breakup of their empires.

He is the father of the Progressive Movement. But his version has little in common with the modern "from tit to grave" social welfare system that permeates the Progressive/liberal/socialist ideas of today.

Yes, Teddy Roosevely was a good President. He was also a flawed man. Whether his good outweighs his flaws depends on your personal perspective.

A few corrections; Roosevelt never joined the US Army. He created the 1st American Volunteer Group and was it's second in command (until he got promoted) but that was not the US Army.

Roosevelt was a sickly child who wore glasses. Instead of having to "reinvent himself", he put himself throught a tough regimen of exercise and outdoor living to toughen himself up. Just because the knife was a Tiffany, don't think that he was fake or born in Kenya.

I would hardly call him the father of the progressive movement. He was one of it's biggest supporters but it existed long before he became the president. As for going after the monopolies...when the US went into a depression, TR went to those rich people and asked for a bailout for the country. He got it. Kind of the opposite of Obama.

FYI, that is Carnegie, Morgan, Vanderbilt, and Rockefeller.

[I B Hankering]

Originally Posted by Jackie S

Agree, yes, to a certain extent.

Teddy Roosevelt was born an Aristocrat. When he decided to enter Politics instead of the Business World, he knew he would have to te-invent his image.

He did. At first through a slick promotion campaign, (he had a portrait done of him dressed in frontier cloths, with a $500 Tiffinay Knife in the belt), but later proved his worth when he answered the call and joined the Army to fight in the Spanish American War, were he did distinguish himself.

He became President by shear accident. The four Robber Barron's of the era actually paid the system off in order to make home William MKinnley's VP, more or less neutralizing him. They ha no idea that MKInnley would be assassinated, making their worst fears a reality.

Roosevelt then went after Rockefeller, Carnegie, Morga, and Vanderbuilt with a vengeance, basically paving the way for the breakup of their empires.

He is the father of the Progressive Movement. But his version has little in common with the modern "from tit to grave" social welfare system that permeates the Progressive/liberal/socialist ideas of today.

Yes, Teddy Roosevely was a good President. He was also a flawed man. Whether his good outweighs his flaws depends on your personal perspective.

Yup! TR was a Republican who had enormous public appeal but a Republican other Republicans didn't want to become president. He was a Republican who shook up the party, and the Republican who ran on a third party ticket and gave the White House to the Democrat contender, Wilson, in 1912. He was outspoken, and his foreign policy was, "Speak softly, but carry a big stick," AKA "gunboat diplomacy". Is there anyone like that in today's field of contenders?

[S]ome of the best-known imperial words have come out of the Panama experience, the most pungent spoken a few years ago when then-Sen. S. I. Hayakawa of California, talking about the Panama Canal, insisted: "It's ours. We stole it fair and square."

Shortly before the American-supported rebellion that gave Panama independence from Colombia in 1903, Roosevelt was preaching "an old adage which runs, 'Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.' "

The rupture of Panama from Colombia was the first incarnation of the adage.

When Roosevelt later proclaimed that, in the rebellion against Colombia, the people of Panama "rose literally as one man," a skeptical senator remarked: "Yes, and the one man was Roosevelt."

After leaving office, Roosevelt had no modesty about his role in Panama. "I took the isthmus," he boasted to a University of California meeting in Berkeley in 1911. (LA Times)

Nevertheless, his face is permanently carved into Mt Rushmore ... put there by a Democrat.

[Guest123018-4]

There is no way in hell he could ever be elected in this day and age.
Funny how people have changed

[ElisabethWhispers]

He had such a manly type of personae but I wonder if he had any mistresses or lovers? Guess during that time, a man's personal business was his personal business.

I haven't read much about his marriages or children, on just a brief search.

Why would he not have been elected at this time? He seemed HIGHLY educated. Liked to read poetry. Was fluent in classical literature. Very aware of current politics and foreign issues.

Was exceptionally well traveled, from youth on, even for today.

Had a wonderful education. Gosh ... there is SO much to read about this person.

Anyone have a biography that they would recommend?

Thanks for the input thus far!!!

EW

[Stanfeld]

If you haven't read it, David McCullough's Mornings on Horseback is a good read on his early life.


http://www.amazon.com/Mornings-Horse.../dp/0671447548

[Stanfeld]

And in his short tenure as NYC Police Commissioner, to crack down on prostitution he publicly humiliated the johns that were caught... some things never change...

[ElisabethWhispers]

Originally Posted by Stanfeld

And in his short tenure as NYC Police Commissioner, to crack down on prostitution he publicly humiliated the johns that were caught... some things never change...

Oh, he was one of those folks. Oh well, you're right. Things never change.

EW

[ElisabethWhispers]

Originally Posted by Stanfeld

If you haven't read it, David McCullough's Mornings on Horseback is a good read on his early life.


http://www.amazon.com/Mornings-Horse.../dp/0671447548

Just added it to my wishlist! Thanks for the suggestion!

Sincerely,
Elisabeth

[Rey Lengua]

Originally Posted by ElisabethWhispers

He had such a manly type of personae but I wonder if he had any mistresses or lovers? Guess during that time, a man's personal business was his personal business.

I haven't read much about his marriages or children, on just a brief search.

Why would he not have been elected at this time? He seemed HIGHLY educated. Liked to read poetry. Was fluent in classical literature. Very aware of current politics and foreign issues.

Was exceptionally well traveled, from youth on, even for today.

Had a wonderful education. Gosh ... there is SO much to read about this person.

Anyone have a biography that they would recommend?

Thanks for the input thus far!!!

EW

One of his sons , T.R. Jr. , was a General in the Army during WW2. The son was involved in some of the D-Day action. I believe the son was killed during the war.