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Title: Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris ISBN: 0-8129-6600-7 Publisher: Modern Library Pub. Date: 01 October, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.06 (148 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Bully!
Comment: A thrilling look at the great Bull Moose at the apex of his career. Morris definitely seems to have regained his stride after his disappointing Reagan roman a clef. Among recent presidential biographies I'd rank "Theodore Rex" just behind McCullough's "Truman."
Rating: 5
Summary: The man in the arena
Comment: Morris' second book of the trilogy on Theodore Roosevelt (TR) is a most enjoyable read. This book covers TR's White House years and gives great insight into one of Americas greatest presidents and most influential men of the twentieth century. Morris gives you an in depth but not dry look at what TR accomplished in his two terms. He created the Dept. of Interior and protected more land for posterity than any other president. He created the Food and Drug Administration after reading a book written by Sinclair Lewis about the unsanitary conditions in the meat packing industry. He mediated the peace treaty between the Russians and the Japanese after the Russo-Japanese war for which he was the first president to be awarded the Nobel peace prize. He built our Navy from fourth to second place in the world and prepared us for super power status. He was instrumental in our building of the Panama Canal, which made us a two-ocean power. These are just some of the highlights of his busy administration. He wrote over 30 books in his life was fluent in six languages and was an astute politician and statesman. There is much to be learned from reading about this great American, the man who was always in the arena.
As a retired Army officer and student of political philosophy, I found this to be a great book on leadership.
Rating: 5
Summary: A MAN FOR OUR ERA
Comment: Edmund Morris has written an excellently account of Theodore Roosevelt's presidency. Arguably, Theodore Rex Roosevelt was one of the greatest United States Presidents. The author notes that Ex-President Grover Cleveland declared "Roosevelt is the most perfect politician thus far seen in the Presidency." Many contemporary historians rank Theodore Roosevelt in the "Top Five" of U.S. Presidents.
The book opens with an account of Roosevelt receiving word of McKinley's assassination and closes with Taft's inauguration on March 4, 1909. The author does an excellent job narrating the challenges Roosevelt faced during his first term including handling of the anthracite coal strike and ending the Russian-Japanese War. The text describes how the President adroitly handled all challenges including domestic political problems and crises on Wall Street. Later, Roosevelt received the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to facilitate the 1905 Treaty of Portsmouth ending the Russian-Japanese War.
The book covers his second term equally well. Roosevelt, a Republican,won a second term by a sizable majority. He had strong public support and the text quotes H.G. Wells stating "Never did a President so reflect the quality of his time" A frustrated Democratic Senator Tillman shouted " . . . the Democratic party can always be relied on to make a damn fool of itself at the critical time".
His second term was also demanding; and having publicly announced he would not run for a third term, his legislative clout was weakened. Among his second term challenges were a situation involving black soldiers in Brownsville, Texas; and anti-immigrant riots in San Francisco involving Japanese immigrants. The cooperation of the Japanese government was required but not immediately forthcoming. The author notes "Roosevelt confessed another fear . . . that of war with Japan. He did not think it would come soon, but he was sure it would one day." - how true! One reason that he sent the Great White Fleet around the world was not only to impress Europe but also to show to Japan the U.S. strength in the West Pacific. It worked and Japan became cooperative on the immigrant problem.
While handling his many second term challenges, he initiated a Governors' Conference (attended by 350 persons) covering ninety-five aspects of conservation, preservation and planned exploitation. The discussion of his relationship, during his second term, with heir apparent, William Howard Taft is revealing. In most aspects, Taft was the antithesis of Roosevelt.
It is interesting to note that many issues Theodore Roosevelt faced in both terms are issues today. For example: in his first message to Congress, regarding a ban on all political violent immigrants Roosevelt wrote "They and those like them should be kept out of this country and if found here they should be promptly deported to the country whence they came; and far-reaching provisions should be made for the punishment of those who stay." Shades of 11September 2001.
In conclusion, the author writes "Statue books and official histories would celebrate his administrative achievements: the Monroe Doctrine reaffirmed, the Old World banished from the New World, the great Canal being cut; peace established in the Far East; the Open Door swinging freely in Manchuria and Morocco; Cuba liberated (and returned to self-government...); the Philippines pacified; the Navy hugely strengthened, known literally around the world; the Army shorn of its old deadwood generals...; capital and labor balanced off, the lynch rate declining, the gospel of cleaner politics now actually gospel, and enough progressive principles established, or made part of the national debate, to keep legislative reformers busy for at lest ten years." To this should be added that he created five national parks and established sixteen national monuments plus initiated twenty federal irrigation projects in fourteen states.
The books concluding paragraph states that "...he left behind a folk consensus that he had been the most powerfully positive American leader since Abraham Lincoln."
Edmond Morris' style make this is a very readable book. For example, referring to Roosevelt's previous call for legislation in the area of employer's liability the author writes "That call had been mainly propaganda, since the lame-duck Fifty-eighth Congress had soon after quacked its last..."
Whether you like or dislike with Theodore Roosevelt, this book is a must for all American government history "buffs."
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Title: The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris ISBN: 0375756787 Publisher: Modern Library Pub. Date: 20 November, 2001 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: Truman by David McCullough ISBN: 0671869205 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 14 June, 1993 List Price(USD): $22.00 |
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Title: John Adams by David McCullough ISBN: 0743223136 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 03 September, 2002 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation by Joseph J. Ellis ISBN: 0375705244 Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 05 February, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert A. Caro ISBN: 0394528360 Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf Pub. Date: 23 April, 2002 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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