The president and the corpse: Theodore Roosevelt and the 1906 John Paul Jones reinternment ceremony
Lori Lyn Bogle reveals how President Theodore Roosevelt used the discovery and reinternment of the remains of naval hero John Paul Jones to publicize the navy and promote his agenda for its expansion. Bogle provides background on Roosevelt’s interest in naval matters stretching back to his childhood, and she argues that Roosevelt had an understanding of the value of publicity, public opinion, and “crowd psychology” that he used to advance his own career and, later, causes and issues that he supported, such as the United States Navy. Bogle details the discovery of Jones’s remains, the elaborate reinternment ceremony at the United States Naval Academy overseen by Roosevelt, and Jones’s return to obscurity in its wake.
Five photographs and three illustrations, including a portrait of Jones, accompany the article.