THE BUllY PUlPlT Bully Pulpit A TEDDRYO OSEVELBTO OK OF QUOTATIONS e&& H. PAUL JEFFERS TAYLOTRR ADPEUB LISHING La~zhani New l$rk Oxjbnl Words with me are instruments. I wish to impress upon the people to whom I talk [hef act that I am sincere, that Imean exactly what I say, and that I stand for things that are elemental in civilization. -THEODORE ROOSEVELT First Taylor Trade Publishing paperback edition 2002 This 'laylor Trade Publishing paperback edition of 711e Bully Pulpit is an unabridged republication of the edition first published in Dallas, Texas in 1998, with the addition of one textual emendation. It is reprinted by arrangement with the author. Copynght O 1998 by H. Paul Jeffers All photos O Archive Photos Designed by Davld Timmons All rights reserved. No part of this book my be reproduced in any form or by any plectronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permissions from the publisher, except by reviewer who may quote passages in a review. Published by Taylor Trade Publishing, Inc. A Member of the Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group 4720 Boston Way, Lanham, MD 20706 Distributed by National Book Network A previous edition of this book was cataloged as follows by the Library of Congress: Roosevelt, Theodore, i 858--1919 The bully pulpit: a Teddy Roosevelt book of quotations / edited by H Paul Jeffers. p. cm. includes bibliographical references. :. Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1 9 19-Quotations. 2. Quotations, Awerican. I. Jeffers, H. Paul (Hany Paul), 1934- 11. Title. Eb60.R72 1998 973.91 ' 1' 092 dc21 9749388 ISBN 978-0-87833-149-9 @wl'he paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSLNISO 239.48-1992. Manufactured in the I lnited States of America. Introduction A hundred years ago, as Americans prepared to begin a new century, the most talked-about and quotable personality in the country was a short, reddish-haired, spectacle-wearing, robust middle-aged Inan named Theodore Roosevelt. Today, as we prepare for not only a new century, but also a new millennium, our language is rich n-ith phrases he added to it. They include "the square deal," "the lunatic fringe," "bully," 'Ltrustb uster," "~nuckraking,"" hyphenated American," "speak softly and carry a big stick," "the strenuous life," "weasel words," and a description of the White House as an address from which a president has the duty to shape public opinion: "the bully pulpit." Historians are unanimous in describing TR as the inven- tor of the n nod ern presidency, that is, an activist chief executive of a strong federal government whose chief duties are the peo- ple's welfare and a strong natioilal defense. As to how he was addressed (the stuffed toy bear named after him notwithstanding), no one close to hirn called him "Teddy." As a child he was "Teedie." As an adult he was "Theodore" or "TR." At forty years of age (in 1898) he already had been a leader of the ATewl brk State Legislature, a candidate for mayor of New York City (defeated in 1886), a xnember of the THE BULLY PULPIT U.S. Civil Service Commission, and president of the New York Board of Police Commissioners (189 j-1897). Upon Roosevelt's appointment as assistant secretary of the navy in 1897 by President WTilliamM cKinley, the Washington correspondent of the Chicago Times-Herald wrote that Theodore Roosevelt "is by long odds one of the most interesting of the younger men seen here in recent years." After he was appointed to the Navy post, he used the position to almost single-handedly lead the United States into a war to kick Spain out of the Western Hemisphere and then went on to become the hero of that war as he led his cavalry unit, the Rough Riders, who fought without horses, up San Juan Hill to win a stunning victory that made Theodore Roosevelt the most famous man in all of America. A prolific writer, he had established himself as an essayist and author of books, including The Naval War of I 81 2 in I 882, The Winning of the West, published in four volumes between 1889 and 1896, and numerous volumes on hunting and other ways of enjoying what he called "the strenuous life." (A com- plete list may be found at the end of this book.) He also wrote scores of magazine articles and editorials and delivered dozens of speeches while campaigning either on behalf of himself or others. And throughout his life he turned out a prodigious amount of correspondence (one estimate placed the total at more than I jo,ooo pieces). Elected governor of New York after returning in triumph from the Spanish-American War, he found himself in 1900 chosen to be vice president in \Villiam McKinley's second term. Although he had said that being vice president was akin to being a fifth wheel on a wagon, he was well on his way to THEODORE ROOSEVELT fulfilling a prophecy offered by the famed and respected editor of the Emporia, Kansas, Gazette. William Allen White had described Roosevelt as "the new American for the Twentieth Century." When a man with a pistol in his hand assassinated McKinley in 1901, TR moved into the presidential mansion, officially gave it the name "the White House," ordered exten- sive renovations to the old mansion (adding the West Wing, a tennis court, and a room for reporters), and immediately con- verted it into a bully pulpit on almost every issue on his public and private agendas. Twenty years had passed since he made his debut as a speaker during his freshman year as a lawmaker in Albany when a veteran of the legislature observed that he had appeared to speak with some difficulty, "as if he had an imped- iment in his speech." What he had was asthma, so that his delivery was marked by moments of breathlessness that seemed to convey nervousness. Another observer of TR's first speech as an elected official noted that Roosevelt had "a wealth of mouth." That mouth was big and wide, dominated by a set of teeth so remarkable in their appearance that they, a bushy mustache, and the nose glasses he wore for acute nearsightedness were to become hallmarks of the Roosevelt image and the perennial favorites of newspaper and magazine cartoonists. (A vivid description of TR's teeth will be found in the section "Quotations about Roosevelt.") Historian H. G. Wells looked at him and saw a "friendly, peering snarl of a face." Speeches by TRw ere also notable for their body language.