Martin, James B.

James B. Martin examines the tumultuous relationship between Lieutenant General Nelson A. Miles and President Theodore Roosevelt during the first two years of Roosevelt’s administration. Martin details Miles’s impressive record as a field officer, earning the Medal of Honor during the Civil War, and he shows how he was not as well prepared to fight bureaucratic battles in Washington, D.C., as the Commanding General of the Army. Martin looks at the issues that caused a breach between Miles and Roosevelt, including Miles’s criticism of American actions in the Philippines. Martin covers the role played by Secretaries of War Russell A. Alger and Elihu Root, and he lays most of the blame for the Miles-Roosevelt dispute at the feet of Miles, but he does note that Roosevelt’s large ego and decision not to forcibly retire Miles contributed to the feud.

Photographs of Miles and Root appear in the article. An article box on page eleven notes that this issue of the Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal is dedicated to Oliver R. Grace.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1987