Harbaugh, William Henry, 1920-2005

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

Creator(s)

Gable, John A.

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

Creator(s)

Gable, John A.

Edward Renehan examines Theodore Roosevelt’s lifelong interest in naval affairs: naval history, strategy, and the building and deploying of a naval fleet. Renehan highlights the exploits of Roosevelt’s uncles, James Dunwoody Bulloch and Irvine S. Bulloch, and the work of Alfred Thayer Mahan as influencing Roosevelt’s views. Renehan also notes the importance of Roosevelt’s history, The Naval War of 1812, his tenure as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and his construction of battleships while president.

Two photographs, one of Roosevelt’s flag as Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, and the other of Renehan with Alexandra Roosevelt Dworkin, supplement the text.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1999-10-29

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

Creation Date

2000

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

Creation Date

2012

Tim Glas describes the activities and field trips planned for the annual meeting and dinner of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) in Washington, D.C., in October 2005. Glas highlights trips to Theodore Roosevelt Island, Grace Reformed Church, and Pine Knot in Virginia. He offers notes on the Mayflower Hotel and on the winners of the Theodore Roosevelt Distinguished Service Medal. The logo for the meeting appears at the bottom center of the article.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

2005

Creator(s)

Glas, Tim

Announcement that John A. Gable and William Henry Harbaugh will both be awarded the Theodore Roosevelt Distinguished Service Medal posthumously at the 2005 annual dinner of the Theodore Roosevelt Association. The announcement lists the medal presenters, the honorary chairs for the event, and the menu.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

2005

Creator(s)

Unknown

Obituary for William H. Harbaugh, best known for his 1961 biography of Theodore Roosevelt, Power and Responsibility: The Life and Times of Theodore Roosevelt. The obituary highlights Harbaugh’s service during World War II, his two biographies, and his teaching career at the University of Virginia. It also describes his work in preserving Pine Knot, Roosevelt’s rustic retreat in Virginia. A photograph of Harbaugh with Lawrence H. Budner of the Theodore Roosevelt Association appears at the center of the first page of the obituary, and a text box with information about Harbaugh’s pamphlet on Pine Knot appears at its conclusion.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

2005

Creator(s)

Unknown

Report on the Theodore Roosevelt Association’s Bertha B. Rose Award. The report includes a biography of Bertha Benkard Rose that emphasizes her work in historic preservation, especially at Sagamore Hill. The report also includes brief notices about the twelve past winners of the award dating back to 1982, and it highlights the work of the 2003 recipient, Michael L. Manson. A text box lists all of the winners of the Rose Award, and the report also includes a list of the seventeen colleges and universities that granted Theodore Roosevelt honorary degrees from 1899 to 1917. A paragraph on Roosevelt’s history with New York City concludes the section.

A photograph of Manson with the commander of the USS Theodore Roosevelt accompanies the report.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

2004

Seven books receive scrutiny in the “Reviews” section, including two biographies of Theodore Roosevelt, specialized studies of the White House and Memorial Day, a collection of Roosevelt’s writings, a look at the Rough Riders of Arizona, and a study of turn of the twentieth-century American foreign policy. John A. Gable notes that Stacey A. Cordery’s biography of Roosevelt serves as a comprehensive historiographical study as it draws on thirty years of Roosevelt scholarship in its quotes and analysis. Gable also offers thoughts on Kathleen Dalton’s biography of Roosevelt, and he provides excerpts from five other reviews of the work that highlight Dalton’s coverage of the role of women in Roosevelt’s life and that affirm Roosevelt as a moderate radical. Of Brian Thomsen’s collection of Roosevelt’s writings, The Man in the Arena, Gable says: “there is no reason to buy this book.”

Gable also reviews Marty F. Feess’s Theodore Roosevelt’s Arizona Boys which examines the life of the Arizona Rough Riders after the Spanish-American War and the many actions taken by their Colonel to help them succeed in their post-war lives. Henry J. Hendrix faults Warren Zimmermann’s First Great Triumph for injecting present day views into his analysis of the makers of foreign policy in Roosevelt’s presidency. Hendrix also examines A History of Memorial Day which traces the transformation of the holiday from a solemn occasion to a day of recreation. Jeremy M. Murphy highlights Gable’s chapter on the Roosevelts in his review of The White House: Actors and Observers, and he also notes the work’s use of the photographs  of Frances Benjamin Johnston.

An illustration and a photograph of Roosevelt supplement the text.

John A. Gable reviews the second volume of Edmund Morris’s biography of Theodore Roosevelt, Theodore Rex. Gable notes the literary character of the work, and he argues that Henry F. Pringle’s biography of Roosevelt is still read not because of its judgments, but because it is well written. Gable also compares Morris’s book to those of Lewis L. Gould and William Henry Harbaugh, and he quotes from several reviews of Theodore Rex in leading newspapers and magazines. Gable singles out the critical review of Christine Stansell, and he rebuffs some of her arguments by quoting from a response he wrote to her review. Gable concludes his essay by noting that many reviewers found parallels between the events of September 11, 2001 and the assassination of President William McKinley in September 1901. 

A photograph of Roosevelt, two of Morris, and a text box advertising a CD-ROM published by the Theodore Roosevelt Association appear in the review.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

This edition of “News and Notes” opens with an obituary for Kermit Roosevelt, grandson of Theodore Roosevelt. The obituary highlights Kermit Roosevelt’s many years of service with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), in particular his role in the overthrow of the government of Iran in 1953. The section includes a two page advertisement from the state of New York promoting visits to the state to commemorate the centennial of Theodore Roosevelt’s governorship of New York. “News and Notes” also highlights efforts by the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) to promote estate planning by its members; it lists four books recently reviewed in the TRA Journal; and it notes that the TRA recently was awarded two grants to promote conservation and to update a guide to Sagamore Hill National Historic Site. 

Two photographs, one of Kermit Roosevelt with two of his sons and one of Sarah Alden Derby Gannett, appear in the section. 

Seven books are reviewed and one title receives attention because of its reissue in this crowded edition of the “Book Reviews” section. John A. Gable, editor of the Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal, reviews three works, including an evaluation of Theodore Roosevelt as a politician, a biography of Roosevelt, and a historical novel. Gable likes David H. Burton’s Theodore Roosevelt, American Politician though he disagrees with some of Burton’s analysis, but he is less enthusiastic about H.W. Brands’s T.R.: The Last Romantic, partly because he faults Brands for never properly defining what he means by “romantic.” Gable praises The Angel of Darkness, Caleb Carr’s sequel to his very popular The Alienist, because both “successfully teach readers about various aspects of American life a century ago.” 

Henry J. Hendrix finds that in Theodore Roosevelt and the British Empire, William N. Tilchin provides a plethora of evidence to support his thesis that Roosevelt wanted to forge a closer relationship with Great Britain. Michael L. Manson commends the many illustrations used to populate Ron Ziel’s pictorial history of the Spanish-American War, Birth of the American Century. In a brief review, Elizabeth E. Roosevelt says that William T. Hagan’s Theodore Roosevelt and Six Friends of the Indian shows how a range of personalities tried to influence Roosevelt’s stance on Native Americans as both Civil Service Commissioner and President. Gregory A. Wynn criticizes George Grant for trying to pigeonhole Roosevelt as a Christian conservative in his Carry a Big Stick, and he says that the book’s factual errors and exaggerations make it of little value to Roosevelt scholars. 

“Book Reviews” notes that William H. Harbaugh’s Power and Responsibility: The Life and Times of Theodore Roosevelt, “the best one-volume complete biography,” has been reissued in a new hardcover edition. A photograph of Gable and Carr and two photographs of Roosevelt with members of the Rough Riders appear in the section.

The Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) offers nine books by or about Theodore Roosevelt for sale: six collections of Roosevelt’s writings and speeches; two deal with his homes, Sagamore Hill and Pine Knot; and one depicts his life in pictures. The TRA also offers for sale the autobiography of Selwa Roosevelt along with two documentaries about Roosevelt in the videocassette format. The ad includes an order form and illustrations of Roosevelt reading in a rocking chair and one side of the TRA medallion.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1997

Creator(s)

Theodore Roosevelt Association

This edition of “News and Notes” details the annual police awards conferred by the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) in Dallas, New York City, and on Long Island, New York. It also reviews the results of the TRA Public Speaking Contests held in New York City and Long Island. The section updates readers on the status of Pine Knot, Theodore Roosevelt’s retreat in Virginia, and it promotes a two part documentary on Roosevelt to be aired on PBS in October 1996. “News and Notes” highlights the annual Fourth of July celebration in Oyster Bay, New York, and notes the retirement of Barbara Brandt from her post at the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site in Buffalo, New York.

The section also features an excerpt from a speech about Roosevelt given by Elihu Root in 1919, and it features four extracts from Roosevelt’s writings and addresses under the title of “TR Said…”. Six photographs appear in the section as does an illustration of Sagamore Hill done by architect Tuck Harvey.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1996

A list of the leadership of the Theodore Roosevelt Association, including the Executive Committee and Board of Trustees. This includes the trustee classes of 1996, 1997, and 1998, as well as honorary trustees and trustees for life.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1996

Creator(s)

Theodore Roosevelt Association

The Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) offers seven books by or about Theodore Roosevelt for sale: two collections of Roosevelt’s writings and speeches; two deal with his homes, Sagamore Hill and Pine Knot; two evaluate his life in essays and pictures; and the novel The Alienist covers his time as Police Commissioner of New York City. The TRA also offers for sale the autobiography of Selwa Roosevelt. The ad includes an order form and an illustration of Roosevelt reading in a rocking chair.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1994-1995

Creator(s)

Theodore Roosevelt Association

Seven books, including two memoirs, are examined in six review essays in this edition of the “Book Notes” section. Michael L. Manson reviews two books on Theodore Roosevelt’s 1914 scientific expedition to Brazil; one penned by Roosevelt and the other by Joseph R. Ornig. Manson praises the forewords to both books written by Tweed Roosevelt, and he finds Ornig’s book provides a detailed look at the expedition and the cast of characters besides Roosevelt who made it successful. Stacy A. Cordery notes that journalist Joseph Alsop’s memoirs deal mostly with the major events and figures of the mid to late twentieth century, and she reveals Alsop’s opinions of various senators, presidents, and generals.

Richard P. Harmon faults Peter Collier’s The Roosevelts: An American Saga for focusing too much on the private lives of the two Roosevelt families, and he says that many of Collier’s assertions are not backed by evidence and that the book relies too much on a psychohistory approach. James Summerville asserts that H. Paul Jeffers’s look at Roosevelt’s tenure as Police Commissioner of New York City, Commissioner Roosevelt, disappoints and that readers should turn to Jay S. Berman’s study or to coverage of this period of Roosevelt’s career in biographies. John A. Gable provides a positive and short review of a short book, William H. Harbaugh’s fifty page history of Pine Knot, which Gable says is written with “charm and style.” Robert D. Dalziel, President of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA), reviews the memoirs of Hamilton Fish, a winner of the TRA’s Distinguished Service Medal. Dalziel says that Fish’s opinions are straightforward and blunt like their author.

Two photographs appear in the section: one shows three members of the Rio Roosevelt Expedition of 1992 and the other dignitaries of the Dutch government at the Roosevelt Study Center in the Netherlands.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

This edition of “News and Notes” covers a variety of topics such as the conferral of the Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt Naval History Prize and the results of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) Public Speaking Contests. The section also notes the seventy-fifth anniversary of the death of Theodore Roosevelt and the birth of the TRA, and it highlights the naming of a new commanding officer for the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt. Updates on Pine Knot, the TRA Journal indexing, and the need for volunteers at both Sagamore Hill and the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace are noted. An obituary for Grace Green Roosevelt McMillian also appears in the section.

Photographs in “News and Notes” include one of some of the leadership of the TRA at Pine Knot; the winner of the TRA Public Speaking Contest for New York City; and one of John Burroughs and Theodore Roosevelt in Yellowstone National Park (incorrectly identified as Yosemite). A listing of the members of the executive committee of the TRA also appears in the section.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1993-1994

Seven of the nine pages of this edition of the “News and Notes” section deal with the meeting, dinner, ceremonies, and reports from the annual meeting of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) held onboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt on October 31, 1992. Highlights of the meeting include the presentation of the Theodore Roosevelt Distinguished Service Medal to the members of the Rio Roosevelt expedition team; the conferring of the TRA’s Bertha B. Rose Award to Paul Whitney Parcells; and the inauguration of the TRA Junior Officer Leadership Award for a member of the crew of the USS Theodore Roosevelt. The section includes TRA President Robert D. Dalziel’s annual report, and it highlights the donation of Pine Knot, Theodore Roosevelt’s rustic retreat in Virginia, to the TRA by Theodore Roosevelt IV. “News and Notes” also covers programs held at the Sagamore Hill and Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Sites, and it details the performance of the cast of “Phantom of the Opera” onboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt.

Five photographs from the annual dinner and two photographs of Pine Knot supplement the text.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1992