Tilchin, William N., 1950-

William N. Tilchin describes the Friends and Family Day Cruise aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt on May 30, 2009, which was attended by hundreds of members of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA). Tilchin notes the dinner and speeches of the evening before the cruise, and he relates some of the areas of the ship he visited. Tilchin also describes the air show provided by two fighter jets from the carrier. 

Eighteen photographs populate the essay, including fourteen taken during the visit of the TRA to the carrier.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

William N. Tilchin introduces a new feature, “Faithfully yours,” to the Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal. Tilchin, the editor of the Journal, notes that its title comes from a letter closing used by former Journal editor John A. Gable and Theodore Roosevelt. Tilchin highlights some of the articles in the current issue, and he discusses the painful process of reviewing James Bradley’s The Imperial Cruise. A photograph of Tilchin accompanies the editorial.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

2010

William N. Tilchin organizes, explains, and defends the diplomacy of President Theodore Roosevelt. Tilchin lays out the three guiding principles of Roosevelt’s foreign policy: that the United States needs to engage with the global community; that power must be behind the nation’s diplomacy; and the United States should cultivate a close relationship with Great Britain. Tilchin also examines Roosevelt’s style of diplomacy with an emphasis on his personal direction and informality, and he describes the precepts of “big stick diplomacy.” Tilchin also divides Roosevelt’s foreign policy into three periods during his presidency, and he cites specific examples of Roosevelt’s management of various crises and events from the acquisition of the Panama Canal to the voyage of the Great White Fleet. Tilchin highlights Roosevelt’s careful and continual cultivation of a relationship with Great Britain, and he examines Roosevelt’s legacy by looking at the foreign policy undertaken by succeeding administrations in the twentieth century. 

 

Photographs of Roosevelt as assistant secretary of the navy, army officer, and president appear in the text as does a photograph of Secretary of State George P. Schultz.

Report on the Transatlantic Studies Association Conference held in Dundee, Scotland, in July 2008. The conference featured a panel on “American Empire and the Roosevelt Legacy,” and two of the papers from that panel, by William N. Tilchin and Carl Cavanagh Hodge, appear in this issue of the journal. Four photographs of the venue in Scotland supplement the text. 

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

2009

William N. Tilchin provides a mixed review of Aida DiPace Donald’s biography of Theodore Roosevelt, Lion in the White House. Tilchin notes that there is a need for a 200 to 300-page biography of Roosevelt that is not met by the better known works of much greater length. Tilchin highlights the omissions and errors found in Donald’s biography, and he notes its lack of citations and sometimes awkward phrasing. Despite these shortcomings, Tilchin recommends the work for general readers because of its themes and its emphasis on Roosevelt’s emulation of Abraham Lincoln.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

2008

The front cover of this issue features a photograph of President Theodore Roosevelt boarding the presidential yacht USS Mayflower, and a photograph of the ship also appears on the back cover along with a picture of a plaque commemorating the Treaty of Portsmouth at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

2008

William N. Tilchin provides a detailed look at the 2007 annual meeting of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) in Boston, Massachusetts. Tilchin notes the committee and leadership meetings of the TRA, and he highlights the field trips to the USS Constitution, Harvard University, and Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Tilchin’s account also covers the awards presented by the TRA, including the police award for Boston, the Bertha B. Rose Award, and the USS Theodore Roosevelt Junior Officer Leadership Award. Tilchin also notes the various speakers and the topics they addressed in different venues during the weekend meeting.

Fifty photographs populate the report, including five pages with six photographs each, which show the various guests, dignitaries, award winners, speakers, and TRA leaders.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

William N. Tilchin examines why Theodore Roosevelt won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906 for his mediation of the Russo-Japanese War. Tilchin asserts that Roosevelt had gained a great deal of diplomatic experience prior to the 1905 negotiations at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, including his work in acquiring the rights to build the Panama Canal. Tilchin also notes that Roosevelt had a sense of the larger geopolitical stakes at hand in the war; namely, preserving the balance of power in both Asia and Europe, and he highlights how Roosevelt deployed his friendships with Kentaro Kaneko of Japan and the United States Ambassador to Russia George von Lengerke Meyer throughout the negotiations.

Three photographs appear in the essay, including one of Roosevelt with the peace commissioners from Russia and Japan and one of Tilchin at the site of the treaty negotiations at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

William N. Tilchin examines the foreign policy of President Theodore Roosevelt. Tilchin asserts that Roosevelt was not interested in practicing coercive, economic diplomacy, and he identifies the nations that Roosevelt saw as friendly, such as Great Britain, and those he treated cautiously, Germany and Japan. Tilchin looks at how Roosevelt undertook his diplomacy, identifying five elements of “big stick diplomacy,” such as strengthening the United States Navy. Tilchin identifies discrete episodes or crises in Roosevelt’s presidency, and he describes how Roosevelt resolved them, including the mediation of the Russo-Japanese War, Germany’s attempt to bully Venezuela, and the revolt in Panama. He highlights Roosevelt’s dispatch of the Great White Fleet, his reluctance to invoke the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, and his diplomacy during Morocco’s dispute with Germany.

A photograph of Roosevelt with Emperor William II of Germany, and pictures of the Great White Fleet and Secretary of State Elihu Root supplement the text, as does a political cartoon of Roosevelt.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

William N. Tilchin asserts that President Theodore Roosevelt was guided in his policies by a strong sense of morality, one that had been instilled in him by his father. Tilchin examines four areas of Roosevelt’s presidency–the control of corporations, the status of African-Americans in the Jim Crow South, the conservation of natural resources, and diplomacy–and argues that in each Roosevelt’s sense of morality, of right and wrong, guided his approach. Tilchin states that Roosevelt’s greatest moral shortcoming in his policies occurred over race, noting Roosevelt’s failure to adequately curtail lynching and his treatment of African-American soldiers in Brownsville, Texas. On the other hand, Tilchin says that in his conservation policies, Roosevelt “was the very model of an effective moral leader,” and he praises Roosevelt for his foreign policy that had as one of its underpinnings that the United States acted as a “morally upright” and civilized nation.

A political cartoon and three photographs of Roosevelt supplement the essay.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

William N. Tilchin examines why Theodore Roosevelt won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906 for his mediation of the Russo-Japanese War. Tilchin asserts that Roosevelt had gained a great deal of diplomatic experience prior to the 1905 negotiations at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, including his work in acquiring the rights to build the Panama Canal. Tilchin also notes that Roosevelt had a sense of the larger geopolitical stakes at hand in the war; namely, preserving the balance of power in both Asia and Europe, and he highlights how Roosevelt deployed his friendships with Kentaro Kaneko of Japan and the United States Ambassador to Russia George von Lengerke Meyer throughout the negotiations. 

 

A silhouette illustration and three photographs of Roosevelt accompany the article as does a text box acknowledging the financial firm Roosevelt & Cross for its support of the Theodore Roosevelt Association.

William N. Tilchin argues that President Theodore Roosevelt understood the importance of maintaining a friendly diplomatic relationship with Great Britain, and he further recognized that British naval power did not threaten American power or interests. Tilchin asserts that by maintaining cordial relations with Great Britain, the United States did not have to match or exceed British naval strength and that if the two nations interests were aligned, American naval power could complement the British fleet. Tilchin closely examines a diplomatic row that occurred between Great Britain and the United States after a devastating earthquake in Jamaica in early 1907. Tilchin says that Roosevelt’s handling of this incident, which could have upset relations between the two nations, demonstrated his deft diplomacy and underscored the realignment of naval power in the western hemisphere. 

 

Two photographs of Roosevelt onboard the presidential yacht USS Mayflower and a photograph of Tilchin appear in the text. 

William N. Tilchin surveys the major works on President Theodore Roosevelt’s foreign policy from 1956 to 1986, looking at nine books and one article. Tilchin provides detailed reviews of eight of the books, and highlights the discussion of diplomacy in the ninth. In doing so, Tilchin addresses the historiography of Roosevelt and his foreign policy, and he demonstrates how Roosevelt’s reputation as a diplomat grew from the low point it reached with Henry F. Pringle’s biography of 1931. Tilchin touches on the major international crises and issues of Roosevelt’s presidency, including the Philippine American War, the creation of the Panama Canal, and the voyage of the Great White Fleet. The essay is supported by 183 endnotes and includes a listing of publications about Roosevelt’s diplomacy not addressed in the text.

The article also contains three text boxes: one lists the leadership of the Theodore Roosevelt Association; another, “About the Author,” notes Tilchin’s work as a teacher and historian; and a third says that this issue of the journal “is dedicated to the people of the State of North Dakota.” A portrait of Roosevelt and a photograph of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt with elements of her air wing illustrate the article.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

William N. Tilchin examines the foreign policy views of President Theodore Roosevelt and President Harry S. Truman. Tilchin provides an overview of the major crises and decisions faced by both presidents, and he also looks at the administrations between Roosevelt and Truman and how each president approached the practice of diplomacy. Tilchin notes the importance of four Secretaries of State: John Hay and Elihu Root under Roosevelt and George C. Marshall and Dean Acheson under Truman, and he outlines their core beliefs and how they influenced each president. Tilchin concludes by comparing aspects of Roosevelt’s and Truman’s foreign policies and by asserting that each understood the primacy of power in international affairs.

A photograph of Roosevelt on horseback, without an accompanying caption, supplements the text. A listing of the officers of the Theodore Roosevelt Association along with the members of its executive, finance, and Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace committees is found on page two of the essay.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal