Collin, Richard H.

John A. Gable reviews Nathan Miller’s Theodore Roosevelt: A Life and claims that it “replaces all previous popular, general-audience biographies of TR.” Gable places Miller’s work in the context of the many other biographies of Theodore Roosevelt, such as those of Henry F. Pringle and William Henry Harbaugh, and he asserts that there is still a need for a multi-volume treatment of Roosevelt. The “Books” section also details the contents of Theodore Roosevelt: Many-Sided American, a collection of forty-two essays originally delivered at an April 1990 conference at Hofstra University. The “Book Notes” section highlights the work of Roosevelt scholars Douglas Brinkley, David G. McCullough, and Edmund Morris, and takes special note of two works on the Teddy Bear.

A photograph of Miller appears on the first page of the section.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Serge Ricard argues that there were two sides to Theodore Roosevelt’s foreign policy: “a sort of Jekyll and Hyde” approach that mixed professional diplomacy with imperialism. Ricard notes the shift in the historiography of Roosevelt’s diplomacy during the 1980s with an emphasis on placing Roosevelt’s actions in the context of his time that is more complimentary to his reputation. Ricard praises some aspects of Roosevelt’s foreign policy record, but he contends that Roosevelt could not entirely escape the racist and imperialist thinking of his time that led him to belittle nations like China and Colombia.

A photograph of Roosevelt with a large globe and a text box listing the members of the executive committee of the Theodore Roosevelt Association accompany the text.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Four books are featured in this edition of the “Books” section with a lengthy book review essay, a brief review, and two notices that act as endorsements for the respective works. In “Serge Ricard on Theodore Roosevelt’s Foreign Policy,” William N. Tilchin examines Ricard’s Theodore Roosevelt: Principles and Practice of a Foreign Policy. Tilchin notes that Ricard’s work is free of much of the ideological baggage that marked his previous work on Roosevelt’s diplomacy, and he carefully lays out the organization of the book, highlighting the main points of each part. Tilchin notes the policies and actions for which Ricard praises Roosevelt, such as his preparation of the United States Navy for war while Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and he also criticizes Ricard for some of his assertions. Tilchin concludes that Ricard’s work “is among the most ambitious and important books ever written on Roosevelt’s foreign policy.”

The section features five brief excerpts from Theodore Roosevelt: Many-Sided American and six excerpts from Nathan Miller’s biography Theodore Roosevelt: A Life. “Books” closes with an anonymous review of Matinecock Light, a history of the Oyster Bay, New York, Masonic Lodge which counted Roosevelt as one of its members. An illustration and a photograph of Roosevelt appear in the section.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

The “Book Reviews” section examines two books in detail while providing short notices of five others under the heading “New Books of Interest.” Matthew J. Glover reviews Selwa Roosevelt’s chronicle of her seven year stint as Chief of Protocol for the United States during the presidency of Ronald Reagan. New books given brief notices include a study of President Theodore Roosevelt’s diplomacy in the Caribbean basin and an examination of Roosevelt as a speaker. The section also notes the publication of a paperback version of Sylvia Jukes Morris’s biography of Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt and a paperback of Theodore Roosevelt’s Outdoor Pastimes of an American Hunter. The section praises James F. Vivian’s collection of Theodore Roosevelt’s speeches in North Dakota and closes with a review of William Davison Johnston’s history of the Oyster Bay, New York, Presbyterian Church.

Photographs of Selwa Roosevelt and Richard H. Collin appear in the section as does a text box noting that this issue of the Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal is “dedicated to the memory of Archibald B. Roosevelt, Junior,” husband of Selwa Roosevelt.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

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

Richard H. Collin’s book, Theodore Roosevelt’s Caribbean, is available for purchase. The work examines the political environment of the United States and Caribbean during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries alongside the character of Theodore Roosevelt, and considers the historical moment which saw the United States expand the principles of the Monroe Doctrine and assert itself more widely in the western hemisphere.

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

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

Three book reviews, a book notice, and a look at Paul Russell Cutright’s career comprise the “Book Reviews” section. In “TR: The Making of a Conservationist,” Lewis L. Gould reviews Cutright’s Theodore Roosevelt: The Making of a Conservationist and notes that the work covers the formative years of Roosevelt’s life better than his first work on Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt: The Naturalist. Gould says that Cutright challenges some of the assumptions made by David McCullough about Roosevelt’s childhood asthma. John A. Gable discusses Cutright’s two works on Roosevelt, lists his publications in the Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal, and reviews his teaching career and publications in “Paul Russell Cutright: Historian of Natural History.” 

 

In “Presidential Children,” Gable gives a scathing review of Sandra L. Quinn and Sanford Kanter’s America’s Royalty: All the Presidents’ Children. Gable notes that the book is riddled with factual errors and that it has a “truly pathetic” bibliography. Gable also reviews Richard H. Collin’s Theodore Roosevelt, Culture, Diplomacy, and Expansion and notes that Roosevelt’s foreign policy was impacted by American culture and by the need to counter the imperialism of the leading European states. The section concludes with a notice about the publication of Between Ocean and Empire: An Illustrated History of Long Island which includes an essay on Roosevelt and Sagamore Hill written by Gable. 

 

This edition of the “News and Notes” section opens with a report on the annual meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA). The report notes the election of new members and classes of the Board of Trustees and of the TRA’s leadership for 1985-1986. The section also covers the TRA’s involvement in the Outward Bound program and the granting of the first Theodore Roosevelt Scholarship for that program, the results of the Theodore Roosevelt Public Speaking Contest for the New York City public high schools, and the passing of Philippa Jeffries Roosevelt. 

 

The section also covers the “first scholarship conference devoted entirely to TR” at Canisius College in Buffalo, New York, which was held in October 1985. It also notes new works on Theodore Roosevelt, a panel on Roosevelt’s foreign policy to be held at the meeting of the Organization of American Historians, and highlights the work of Frederick W. Marks and Serge Ricard on Roosevelt’s diplomacy found in this issue. The section closes with a notice that Edmund Morris has signed a contract to write a biography of President Ronald Reagan. 

 

In “Collin on TR, Culture, and Foreign Policy,” Elizabeth E. Roosevelt reviews Richard H. Collin’s Theodore Roosevelt, Culture, Diplomacy, and Expansion: A New View of American Imperialism. Roosevelt notes that Collin places President Theodore Roosevelt’s foreign policy in a larger cultural and global affairs context, stressing cultural changes in the United States and the threat posed by the imperialism of European powers. 

 

This book was also reviewed by John A. Gable, the editor of the Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal, in the Winter, 1986 issue. An editorial note says that Collin’s work is so important “that this second review is warranted.”

Joyce M. Bisso opens this edition of “News and Notes” with a report on the effort to gather library books from the greater Oyster Bay, New York, area to build a library for the sailors aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt. The task fell to students from Oyster Bay High School and local public libraries. Bisso quotes the two sailors from the ship, Petty Officer Timothy L. Blackstone and Senior Chief Edward J. Tessier, who came to Oyster Bay to collect the books and other materials gathered by the community. The article also reprints a letter from Captain Paul W. Parcells, Commanding Officer of USS Theodore Roosevelt, to William Davison Johnston, the President of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA). A photograph of students examining books; one of Blackstone and Tessier; and another of the two sailors with Oyster Bay High School students appear in the article. 

 

The section also contains a report on the natural history research grants awarded from the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Fund by the American Museum of Natural History in New York City for 1986. The report notes the members of the TRA who serve on the awards committee, lists the winner of the largest award, Mark L. McKnight, and it provides a history of the involvement of Theodore Roosevelt and his father with the museum. A chart listing the number of award applications, the number of awards, and the value of the grants from 1961 to 1986 appears in this section.

 

Report on a number of activities and ceremonies in and around Buffalo, New York, October 25 -27, 1985, to mark Theodore Roosevelt’s birthday and to highlight his presence in the Buffalo area. The report details the proceedings of a symposium on Roosevelt at Canisius College, listing the presenters and their topics as well as the other guest speakers. It also touches on the dedication of a plaque at a museum and a sign at an intersection to Roosevelt as well as the birthday dinner held in his honor. A photograph of four members of the leadership of the Theodore Roosevelt Association in Buffalo appears in the report.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1986

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.