Decker, Joe F.

William Davison Johnston, President of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA), opens this lengthy and crowded edition of the “News and Notes” section by praising the documentary “The Indomitable Teddy Roosevelt,” noting the opening of the Roosevelt Study Center in the Netherlands, and discussing the role of the TRA in the commissioning of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt. The section covers the conferring of two awards sponsored by the TRA: the TRA Police Award and the Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt Naval History Prize. Officer Vivian F. Picciarelli won the Police Award for 1986 and was the first woman to do so while Ronald H. Spector won the Naval History Prize for his book Eagle Against the Sun. “News and Notes” also discusses the work of historians Edmund Morris and Joe F. Decker on Theodore Roosevelt’s political language, and it notes the recent publications of TRA Executive Director John A. Gable on Roosevelt, Gifford Pinchot, and Amos Pinchot.

 

“News and Notes” also covers the death of David Russell Roosevelt, a great grandson of Theodore Roosevelt, the reprinting of Sagamore Hill: An Historical Guide by the TRA, efforts to mark the spot of Roosevelt’s famous bear hunt of 1902 in Mississippi, and the various student contests and awards for high school students sponsored by the TRA. The section also examines the donation of letters to Harvard University by Joanna Sturm, Alice Roosevelt Longworth’s granddaughter. Letters to and from Theodore Roosevelt with Alice Hathaway Lee, his first wife, and Longworth, his daughter, make up most of the donation. An exhibit at Harvard and an article, both based on the correspondence, are also covered. The section closes with a report on three benefits, two balls and a reception, held in July and August 1986, to benefit the USS Theodore Roosevelt. The historic locations for the events, the involvement of the Roosevelt family, and the officers of the ship who attended are all discussed.

 

This edition of the “News and Notes” section features a report on an exhibition entitled Theodore at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum. The report lists the various entities that donated materials to the exhibition, quotes from the catalog introduction written by John A. Gable of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA), and notes some of the other exhibitions hosted by the Johnson Library. Readers are also reminded that two documentary films about Roosevelt, My Father the President and The Indomitable Teddy Roosevelt, are available for sale. The report provides more information about each film as well as contact information to enable purchases.

“News and Notes” also highlights the lectures and appearances of Gable and TRA President William Davison Johnston at various schools, notes the passing of Jean Schermerhorn Roosevelt, and praises the work of Nicholas LaBella, the Superintendent of Youngs Memorial Cemetery in Oyster Bay, New York. This issue of the Journal is dedicated to LaBella. The section closes with a reminder that there are still aspects of Roosevelt’s life that need study, and it declares that the TRA is open to helping those who wish to pursue this work.

Two photographs are found in the section: one of Roosevelt standing in the back of an open car and another of LaBella. A detail of the Roosevelt photograph appears on the front cover of this issue.