The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt

The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris

My first reaction after completing this Pulitzer Prize novel from 1980 was “Wow.”.  Not “wow, this was a great book” (which it was, more on that later), but “wow, what an incredible human being.”  Let’s just say I now have a new hero.  Like most Americans, I knew what could be described as the “Cliffs Notes” version of the life of Theodore Roosevelt - a few sporadic highlights from his life, and the fact that he was one of the four faces on Mount Rushmore.  And, I mean, if he’s on Mount Rushmore, he had to have been one of the “good ones”.  Right?

This book details his life from his birth, up until he’s nominated as William McKinley’s Vice President in 1901.  In other words, before he got to the White House.  For starters, let’s just say that this man was simply incredible.  I don’t see how he could possibly have done all of the things that he did throughout his life.  The man had unorthodox energy and drive, simply couldn’t sit still, and even when his ventures were less than 100% successful, he always took his shortcomings in stride, and relished the learning experiences that these lessons would provide.

Born in New York City shortly before the beginning of the Civl War, he was fortunate to be brought into the world by an affluent, yet very kind and loving family.  Money was never a concern for the Roosevelts, yet this family was tenderhearted and very socially progressive - something you tend to not associate with wealth and privilege,  especially over a century ago when there weren’t as many laws about to protect the under privileged.

I simply can’t go into detail in terms of all of the paths and directions this man pursued.  I confess I get exhausted just thinking about the man’s life.  To be somewhat brief, he was fortunate to receive a Harvard education, began life as an amateur zoologist, travelled to Europe with his family a few times, frequently took trips out to the wild west and started a cattle ranch, became the police commissioner of New York, served as the Assistant Secretary to the U.S. Navy, became the Governor of New York, and charged up San Juan Hill with his team of Rough Riders during the brief Spanish American War - with no military background nor experience.  And he managed to write about five or six books (the first while he was still a teenager).  All of this before he became Vice President, which he was only 42 years old when he assumed the office.

In addition, author Edmund Morris also spends a lot of time detailing Roosevelt’s personal life as well.  Strangely, the focus on his family life does diminish as the book progresses, and you have to wonder if this is simply because the man had so many irons in the fire of his life.  Particular detail is paid to his courtship of his first wife, Alice.  This affair could have made a beautiful book in and of itself.  Roosevelt, in addition to being such a fastidious task master, he had a brilliant way with words.  Whereas his voice and tone was a bit high pitched and annoying (he’s one of the first Presidents to have his actual voice recorded for history), he had a masterful command of the English language, and reading his prose and observations were delightful.  Many times during my reading, I would break out in laughter while reflecting on his observations - especially when describing callous people (he briefly described one adversary as “mainly wind”.  I don’t know why I find that so humorous, but I’ll probably steal that line sometime.  I must! ) So his wooing of his first bride was a delight to read about as well, and the two were very much in love.

Of course, any life is bound to contain some sort of tragedy, and Roosevelt’s is no exception.  While his wife was giving birth to their first child, she died due to complications.  To compound the tragedy, Roosevelt lost his mother on the exact same day, which happened to be Valentine’s Day.  He would never really recover from the incident, and refused to even talk about his departed wife throughout the remainder of his life.  Ironically, his second wife was a friend of his before he married Alice, and whereas their early relationship was more platonic, there were definitely hints of courtship.  Edith Carow would bear Theodore five more children during their life together, and whereas they were deeply in love as well, you can’t help but wonder if his first marriage still held a grasp on his heart that he could never quite let go.

This books moves at a very fast pace.  It simply has to, when you consider all of the avenues that Roosevelt pursued, yet it never feels rushed and is always such a delightful read.  Each chapter in this book seems to take such an abrupt turn in the man’s life, that you feel like you’re reading about the lives of many men rather than just one.  It helps, as mentioned before, that Roosevelt was such a purveyor of decency.  As soon as he takes over as Police Commissioner of New York City, he sets out to clean up and clean out all of the corruption.  He even goes as far as to stop the sale of alcohol on Sundays.  Not very radical by today’s standards, but he always met up with several walls of opposition throughout his crusades, yet he was never daunted by anything.  The man knew what he was doing was right.  

About the only flaw that I saw in the man’s character, was he seemed to believe that the Anglo-Saxon race was the most pure, and therefore, tools such as war were necessary to keep such standards at a high rate.  There should be some amount of forgiveness in retrospect, however, as this was just common thinking at the time (along with such things as not giving women the right to vote - which he opposed).  This behavior may have lighted an inner fire of passion which help set up Cuba’s independence from mother Spain, which is where the Rough Rider phase enters the story.  Too much detail for me to go into here, but again, a fascinating story within a story.

Morris would go onto to write two more retrospectives on the live of TR.  One about his presidency, and the last one on the life after the presidency.  Although those two volumes don’t have quite the reputation as this one, they’re still regarded very highly in the literary community, and I have added them to my ever growing list of books to read in the future.