Blum, John Morton, 1921-2011

Dr. John Allen Gable, Executive Director of the Theodore Roosevelt Association, offers an address at Richland College giving an overview of the five phases he sees in the historiography of Theodore Roosevelt. Moving from the early hero-worship of Roosevelt in the years after his death, Gable sees historical opinion vary between critical perspectives of Roosevelt and more favorable representations, frequently moving in conjunction with the issues of the era the author is writing in. The most contemporary era, Gable believes, is a revival of Roosevelt’s reputation and scholarship. Further developments in the field of Roosevelt studies, Gable believes, will come from a stronger holistic understanding of the various facets of Roosevelt’s personality. Throughout his address Gable relies on a number of instances from Roosevelt’s life to illustrate his points, including the Venezuela Crisis, the Storer Controversy, and the 1912 Assassination Attempt.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association

Creation Date

1981

Dr. John Allen Gable, Executive Director of the Theodore Roosevelt Association, offers an address at Richland College giving an overview of the five phases he sees in the historiography of Theodore Roosevelt. Moving from the early hero-worship of Roosevelt in the years after his death, Gable sees historical opinion vary between critical perspectives of Roosevelt and more favorable representations, frequently moving in conjunction with the issues of the era the author is writing in. The most contemporary era, Gable believes, is a revival of Roosevelt’s reputation and scholarship. Further developments in the field of Roosevelt studies, Gable believes, will come from a stronger holistic understanding of the various facets of Roosevelt’s personality. Throughout his address Gable relies on a number of instances from Roosevelt’s life to illustrate his points, including the Venezuela Crisis, the Storer Controversy, and the 1912 Assassination Attempt.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association

Creation Date

1981

William N. Tilchin charts his intellectual and professional journey with Theodore Roosevelt from his time as a graduate student at Michigan State University and Brown University to his tenure as editor of the Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal. Tilchin credits two of his graduate school professors and John A. Gable of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) for encouraging his study of Roosevelt.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

2019

Report on the 80th annual meeting of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) held in Norfolk, Virginia, onboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, and at Pine Knot, Theodore Roosevelt’s retreat in rural Virginia. The report details the annual dinner, noting its ceremonies and speakers, including the conferring of the TRA’s Junior Officer of the Year Award for the USS Theodore Roosevelt and recognizing John A. Gable’s twenty-five years as Executive Director of the TRA. The report highlights the association’s visit to the aircraft carrier, including an air show and the results of the various TRA elections for members of the Advisory Board, Board of Trustees, and Executive Committee. The report provides brief biographies of some of those elected to various capacities, and it highlights the presentation of Theodore Roosevelt’s naval flag to the USS Theodore Roosevelt for display in its museum.

The report highlights the speech given by Tsakhia Elbegdorj, a former Prime Minister and President of Mongolia, and it provides coverage of the TRA’s visit to Pine Knot, including a history of the property and plans for its upkeep and use. Thirteen photographs populate the report, including four of Pine Knot and two of the aircraft carrier.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

At the London book launch for A Companion to Theodore Roosevelt, Douglas Eden provides an overview of Theodore Roosevelt’s foreign policy, noting its main tenets and its achievements, and he highlights how Roosevelt’s policies came to influence his presidential successors. Eden also reviews the historiography of Roosevelt, demonstrating the renewed appreciation for Roosevelt since the low point of the 1930s. Eden asserts that A Companion to Theodore Roosevelt demonstrates that many scholars are now interested in studying Roosevelt, a marked change from when he began his work.  

A photograph of four of the contributors to the book, its front cover, and its table of contents accompany the text. A text box contains the mission statement of the Theodore Roosevelt Association.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

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

Linda E. Milano reviews Betty Boyd Caroli’s The Roosevelt Women and John A. Gable examines eight books published to coincide with the centennial of the Spanish-American War in the “Book Reviews” section. Milano praises aspects of Caroli’s work, but she details what she considers the sometimes inaccurate and unfair depiction of Ethel Roosevelt Derby. Gable likes the two pictorial histories of the war by Stan Cohen and Ron Ziel, and he also admires the two works based on primary sources, Wallace Finley Dailey’s editing of Theodore Roosevelt’s war diary and Jeff Heatley’s compilation of newspaper accounts about the Rough Riders’ return to New York state. While Gable notes three other works, he devotes four paragraphs to a detailed critique of Teddy Roosevelt at San Juan by Peggy Samuels and Harold Samuels which he labels a “trashy book” for its reliance on unreliable sources and its agenda of belittling Roosevelt’s actions in the war. 

The section includes a text box containing the mission statement of the Theodore Roosevelt Association. 

The conferring of the annual Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) police awards for New York City, Boston, and Western New York state opens this edition of the “News and Notes” section. The accomplishments of each of the winners are detailed as are the ceremonies marking each award. A report on the TRA’s annual meeting and dinner follows with details of its speakers, field trips, and annual elections. The conferring of the TRA’s Junior Officer Leadership Award for a member of the crew of the USS Theodore Roosevelt is highlighted, and the section reprints an address by Edith Derby Williams given at the annual meeting.

Other news from the section includes the marking of twenty years as Executive Director of the TRA by John A. Gable; the awarding of the annual natural history research grants by the American Museum of Natural History; and the passing of TRA Trustee Oren Root. New York Governor George E. Pataki’s admiration for Theodore Roosevelt is noted as are the accomplishments of Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. and his son, Quentin, on the fiftieth anniversary of the invasion of Normandy in World War II. “News and Notes” also trumpets recent works on Theodore Roosevelt by Caleb Carr, H. Paul Jeffers, and Joseph R. Ornig.

Eleven photographs appear in the section, including eight from the annual meeting, two from the police awards ceremonies, and one of Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. with his son Quentin.

Advertisement and order form from the University Press of Kansas for Lewis L. Gould’s The Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt. The ad features endorsements from four historians.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1991

John A. Gable reviews Lewis L. Gould’s The Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt and Jean Fritz’s Bully for You, Teddy Roosevelt! in the “Book Reviews” section. Gable provides a detailed look at Gould’s work and compares and contrasts Gould’s assessments with those of other historians. Gable notes that Gould has a mostly favorable impression of President Theodore Roosevelt’s foreign and domestic policies, but he faults Gould for not adequately addressing Roosevelt’s achievements in conservation, and he disagrees with Gould’s assertion that McKinley was the first “‘modern President.'” Gable praises Fritz’s biography of Roosevelt for children, stating that it is a good starting point to learn about Roosevelt. Stephen W. Zsiray provides the first ever review of a software program in the Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal with a look at a program that allows players to recreate the election of 1912. “Book Reviews” closes with a listing of ten Roosevelt related titles that are currently in print or have been reissued in paperback.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1991

Two books undergo scrutiny in this edition of the “Book Reviews” section while ten others are mentioned in a “Book Notes” subsection that lists recently released or reissued titles. Elizabeth E. Roosevelt reviews Richard H. Collin’s Theodore Roosevelt’s Caribbean and gives a brief overview of each of the work’s four sections, praising the book for its portraits of key players involved in the various diplomatic tussles of the Roosevelt administration in the Caribbean basin. The review is followed by seven excerpts from Collin’s book, ranging from a single sentence to short paragraphs. Donald F. Kirkpatrick reviews Ralph H. Lutts’s The Nature Fakers which chronicles Theodore Roosevelt’s fight with William J. Long and other nature writers who attributed human traits to animals.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1991

This edition of “News and Notes,” seven pages in length, is divided into six sections. “TR Quasquicentennial Year Ends” covers events marking the 125th anniversary of Theodore Roosevelt’s birth at venues in Indianapolis, Indiana, Oyster Bay and Buffalo, New York, Harvard University, and the National Archives in Washington, D.C. It notes that the final event of the celebration year was appropriately held at the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace in New York City, and it highlights some of the lectures and interviews given by John A. Gable, Executive Director of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA), during 1983. An illustration of both sides of the TRA medallion and a photograph from the 125 Anniversary Dinner in New York City supplement the section.

The “Annual Meeting of the TRA Board of Trustees” examines the financial health of the TRA and notes that there needs to be an increase of revenue for the Association. It also covers changes to the By-Laws of the TRA regarding membership categories and terms for members of the Board of Trustees. It closes by noting the governance of the TRA and listing its officers and members of the Executive Committee.

“Filming ‘The Indomitable Teddy Roosevelt'” discusses the production of this documentary film and highlights the narration provided by actor George C. Scott and the music of John Philip Sousa. It notes its fluid mixing of reenactments and archival film footage. A photograph of the Roosevelt family as portrayed by actors and descendants and one of Gable in a cameo role accompany the section.

In “TR and the Wall Street Journal,” Gable attacks an article written by Art Pine of the Journal about the history of debt collection from foreign nations because of its sometimes “misleading” and “false” statements about Roosevelt. Gable enlists the work of historians Barbara Tuchman and Frederick W. Marks to refute some of Pine’s reporting.

John A. Gable gives a detailed report on the annual dinner of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) held on the 125th anniversary of Theodore Roosevelt’s birth on October 27, 1983, at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Gable provides some history about the Museum, quotes from the address given by President Ronald Reagan, and lists some of the various dignitaries and politicians who sent messages to the assembled guests. An excerpt from the speech given by the TRA President, William Davison Johnston, the presentation of a check to the American Museum of Natural History, and the awarding of the Theodore Roosevelt Distinguished Service Medal to four individuals are also covered in detail. Gable also lists many of the guests, including members of the Roosevelt family, and closes with remarks on some of the other events held to mark the 125th anniversary of Roosevelt’s birth.

Seven photographs of various guests, speakers, award winners, and members of the TRA leadership accompany the article. Photographs of the equestrian statue of Theodore Roosevelt in front of the American Museum of Natural History and of President Ronald Reagan addressing the dinner guests on a video screen are also found in the article.

A listing of the officers of the TRA, along with the members of its executive, finance, and Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace committees, is found on the article’s second page.

This four page edition of “News and Notes” is divided into six sections and is mostly concerned with a series of celebrations and commemorations of the 125th anniversary of Theodore Roosevelt’s birth. The article details the celebrations held in Indianapolis, Indiana, in New York State in New York City, Oyster Bay, and Buffalo, and at Harvard University. The Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace hosted events as did the American Museum of Natural History. Oyster Bay held a parade while the Indianapolis gathering saw the planting of a tree at the home of Roosevelt’s Vice President, Charles W. Fairbanks. The meeting at the American Museum of Natural History saw the awarding of the Theodore Roosevelt Distinguished Service Medal to four recipients. A dinner was held in Buffalo while at Harvard, John Morton Blum gave a lecture.

The article also discusses the 1983 Theodore Roosevelt Public Speaking Contest for the New York City public high schools held at the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace, and it details the premiere of the documentary film The Indomitable Teddy Roosevelt at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. “News and Notes” closes with an obituary for Helen M. MacLachlan who worked for both the Theodore Roosevelt Association and the National Park Service at the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace in New York City.

A photograph from the Oyster Bay parade and two photographs of members of the Roosevelt family at Theodore Roosevelt Island in Washington, D.C., are included in the article.

Five book reviews on six different books comprise this edition of the “Book Notes” column. In his review, Richard H. Collins focuses on Kathleen Dalton’s contribution to Robert J. Brugger’s Our Selves/Our Past, Psychological Approaches to American History. Dalton embraces a psychohistory approach to understanding Theodore Roosevelt, emphasizing his commitment to overcoming his childhood asthma and living the strenuous life. Collins argues that this approach is misguided and ignores Roosevelt’s class and his formidable intellect. Patrick C. Gable commends John Morton Blum for his appraisal of Roosevelt in The Progressive Presidents, but he faults him for blaming Roosevelt for the misdeeds and excesses of his Democratic successors.

Peter R. Fischer finds Charles C. Goetsch’s Essays on Simeon E. Baldwin “a worthwhile collection,” but he thinks the confrontation between Roosevelt and Baldwin over a federal labor law may not merit the importance that Goetsch assigns it. Elizabeth E. Roosevelt praises Mary Helen Dohan’s Mr. Roosevelt’s Steamboat for its depictions of life along the Mississippi River and for not overlooking the contributions of Lydia Latrobe Roosevelt to her husband’s success. Dennis Wood reviews Paul Schullery’s The Grand Canyon and Old Yellowstone Days. Theodore Roosevelt has an essay in each of these collections of writings about iconic American landscapes.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

John A. Gable begins the “Book Notes” column with a review of Sylvia Jukes Morris’s biography Edith Kermit Roosevelt: Portrait of a First Lady. In doing so, he provides a shorter, but still complete examination of Roosevelt’s life, and highlights the research Morris did utilizing letters, Roosevelt’s diary, and interviews.

Three pictures of Edith Roosevelt are included in the review: one considered the favorite of her husband, Theodore Roosevelt; a drawing by John Singer Sargent; and a third of Edith Roosevelt with Lou Henry Hoover, the wife of Herbert Hoover.

In Gable’s following review of Frederick W. Mark’s Velvet on Iron: The Diplomacy of Theodore Roosevelt, Gable places the work in the context of other studies of Roosevelt and argues that it represents a further step in an ongoing reappraisal of Roosevelt. He quotes extensively from Marks and from Edmund Morris’s review of the work.

A picture of Roosevelt at his desk at Sagamore Hill accompanies the review.

John A. Gable opens this edition of the “News and Notes” column by quoting extensively from an article in Psychohistory Review by Kathleen Dalton that addresses why Theodore Roosevelt was so popular with the American people. He talks about Roosevelt related gatherings in Buffalo, New York, Tampa, Florida, and Harvard University, and he notes the winner of the Theodore Roosevelt Association Essay Contest at Long Island University. Gable notes one of his recent speaking engagements and closes with a further endorsement of Frederick W. Marks’s study of Roosevelt’s diplomacy, Velvet on Iron.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1980

John A. Gable reviews Nathan Miller’s The Roosevelt Chronicles, a history of the Roosevelt family in America. He acknowledges that Miller covers the lives of the well known Roosevelts: Theodore, Franklin, Eleanor, and Alice Longworth, but he believes that the real value of the book comes from its examination of lesser known members of the famous family. Gable looks at four of these figures: Nicholas Roosevelt, a pioneer in steamboats; James Roosevelt Bayley, an important figure in the hierarchy of the Catholic Church; Robert B. Roosevelt, Theodore’s uncle, who was a conservationist; and Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., Theodore’s son, who would earn the Medal of Honor for his actions on D-Day, 1944.

Frederick W. Marks describes the research he undertook for his book Velvet on Iron, and surveys the historiography of Theodore Roosevelt beginning in the 1920s. He argues that there persists a divide between his record as a restrained diplomat and the perception “of him as bellicose and impulsive.

A photograph of Marks accompanies his article.

Alan R. Havig explores the ways in which Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) used the memory and legacy of Theodore Roosevelt (TR) to advance his own political career and causes. In doing so, he actually helped burnish the reputation of Theodore Roosevelt as a Progressive reformer. He looks closely at the 1920 campaign when FDR, the Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate, attacked the Republican nominee, Warren G. Harding, for denouncing TR and the Progressives in 1912. Havig examines how FDR attacked the Republicans for abandoning TR’s Progressive legacy and how FDR’s adoption of TR’s mantle led to a long feud between the two wings of the Roosevelt family. He also looks at how FDR supported the construction of the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Hall at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. 

Havig also looks at how FDR used TR in 1936 to argue that the latter’s Square Deal had been a predecessor to his New Deal program. FDR, on the occasion of the dedication of the Roosevelt Memorial Hall in January 1936, quoted extensively from TR to demonstrate that he would have supported FDR’s extensive use of government to address the problems faced by the nation in the 1930s.

Theodore Roosevelt Association Executive Director John A. Gable announces the forthcoming publication of Edmund Morris’s The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt and argues that it “fills in the gap” in the existing literature about Theodore Roosevelt’s life and career before the presidency. He praises the book and predicts that it “is destined to be a classic.” He also announces that works by David McCullough on the Panama Canal and John Morton Blum on Roosevelt have been issued in paperback versions. 

An advertisement for the Roosevelt Savings Bank with a listing of its branch offices in the greater New York City area follows the “Book Notes” column.