Heroes

A series of nine vignettes shows men putting themselves at risk in one way or another. One man gets up in the middle of the night to attend to a screaming infant, another tests breakfast cereals, a third dares to enter the kitchen to reprimand the cook, others survive the street railroads, one suffers the attack of mosquitoes, while others endure rude opera attendees, rural life, and a tour guide. At center, each “hero” receives a pension from Andrew Carnegie who is wearing a traditional Scottish kilt.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Cartoonist Ehrhart drew these center-spread vignettes as news commentary on the announcement 1904 by Andrew Carnegie of the creation of the Carnegie Hero Fund with an initial endowment of $5-million.

German Emperor Wilhelm II holds the strings to a wooden jumping toy identified as “V. Waldersee,” field marshal in China; the latter wears a military uniform, decorated with many medals, and saluting with his left hand.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Field Marshall Alfred Ludwig Heinrich Karl Graf von Waldersee, Chief of the Imperial German General Staff, was appointed to lead the eight-nation coordinated military effort against the Boxer Rebellion in China. Among other aspects of their revolt, the Boxers had besieged the colony of international embassies. In fact his arrival in China followed the relief of the embassy compounds, but von Waldersee did pursue elements of the Boxers and defeated those pockets of rebellion. The German Kaiser found much to brag about in the person of von Waldersee.

A cavalry of African American troops marching in the Inaugural Parade.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1905-03-20

Theodore Roosevelt looks forward to reading about Truxton Beale’s father, Edward Fitzgerald Beale, as he was a hero.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-06-06

Theodore Roosevelt thanks Mrs. Thomas Wallace for the coin and will carry it for luck. Roosevelt admires men like Timoleon, John Hampden, Abraham Lincoln, and George Washington.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-06-04

Theodore Roosevelt received Mary Patterson Elkinton Nitobé’s letter and magazine article featuring the tale of Lieutenant Sakuma. He agrees there should be a book about the heroism of Japanese soldiers for Japanese school children, and adds that American school children and the world would benefit from these lessons.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-01-10

Theodore Roosevelt never spoke about Cromwell as one of his “four heroes” along with Washington and Lincoln. Roosevelt has always avoided referring to any men as “[his] heroes.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1915-03-23

Theodore Roosevelt offers his sympathy to Mary Washington Cabell Early on the death of her son, Jubal A. Early. Roosevelt knows that at least Early has the satisfaction of knowing that her son died “giving away his life in the effort to rescue another.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1914-10-02

President Roosevelt thanks Ludwig Salvator, Archduke of Austria, for the volume he sent and notes that he has always been fascinated about the history and modern heroism of the Balkan Peninsula. The archduke’s compliments are appreciated, and Roosevelt reflects on the difficulty for leaders to balance “fealty to an ideal” with the practical matters of governance.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-11-27

President Roosevelt was pleased to hear what Quartermaster Taylor did at Apia, Somoa.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-07-06

Robert B. Jennings approves of Theodore Roosevelt’s recent speech at Grand Rapids, Michigan, on the occasion of Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, and has observed that this approval is shared with people from every political party. Jennings recalls his service in the Civil War, but opines that in the future, war heroes will be obsolete, and the heroes of the people will be men like Roosevelt and Andrew Carnegie, who work to stop or prevent wars. He suggests that the reservoir which will be created by Roosevelt Dam should be stocked with fish.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-02-23

French Ensor Chadwick thanks President Roosevelt for the copy of the book Rough Riders, but stands his ground regarding what constitutes heroism. Chadwick puts a great deal of emphasis on the different characters of Americans and Spaniards, writing of the “fatalism and fanaticism” of the Spanish character, and how this was shown in the actions of Pascual Cervera y Topete.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-07-06

John A. Gable examines the influence that Theodore Roosevelt’s service as a Rough Rider in the Spanish-American War had on the rest of his career. Gable argues that Roosevelt’s service was vital to his election as Governor of New York and as Vice President. He also contends that it made Roosevelt a more effective and convincing Commander-in-Chief as President, but Gable also believes that the power of the Rough Rider image overshadowed Roosevelt’s considerable talents as a writer and intellectual. Gable concludes by asserting that Roosevelt’s record as a Rough Rider made him the last member of a “Heroic Line” in American history stretching back to the Revolutionary War. 

A photograph of Roosevelt in his Rough Rider uniform appears in the article.

Sheet music for “American Heroes,” a march celebrating American military heroes from the Revolutionary War to the Spanish-American War. The cover features illustrations of seventeen of the heroes, including Theodore Roosevelt.

Collection

Dr. Danny O. Crew Theodore Roosevelt Sheet Music Collection

Creation Date

1901

Sheet music for “Our Heroes of To-Day,” a patriotic song celebrating Theodore Roosevelt and other American heroes. The cover features an illustration of Lady Liberty and photographs of Theodore Roosevelt, Admiral Dewey, Admiral Schley, and Wilbur Wright.

Collection

Dr. Danny O. Crew Theodore Roosevelt Sheet Music Collection

Creation Date

1909

Sheet music for “Teddy Our Hero,” a two-step and song by H. L. Berger. Cover is red, white, and blue with a drawing of Theodore Roosevelt in Rough Rider uniform on horseback.

Collection

Dr. Danny O. Crew Theodore Roosevelt Sheet Music Collection

Creation Date

1903

President Roosevelt leads a group on horseback, brandishing a whip and charging. Following him are several figures from history and legend including a Roman warrior, the drunken Tam O’Shanter, Paul Revere, Don Quixote, and Sancho Panza. Also following the charge, in silhouette, are Ichabod Crane from Washington Irving’s Legend of Sleepy Hollow, a member of the Pony Express, and Lady Godiva. All the riders except Roosevelt are weary or exhausted.

comments and context

Comments and Context

The context of this illustration of a poem in Puck Magazine was the famous horseback ride of President Roosevelt in the last months of his presidency. Convinced that the leadership ranks of the United States Army were too “soft,” he demonstrated the sort of mettle he considered a minimum requirement for men in uniform. On the night of January 13, 1909, the 50-year-old president and three aides — his Military Aide Captain Archibald Butt; Naval Surgeon General Presley M Rixey; and Dr. Cary Grayson, Naval Surgeon —  rode on horseback to and from Warrenton, Farquier County, Virgina. They made the trip in record time, through storms of sleet and ice, much of the ride in the dark. They stopped for 10-minute “rests” and change of horses, except in Warrenton where they stopped for a full meal. Roosevelt made his point — a Rough Ride, certainly — and arrived at the White House about 4:00 the next morning, alone, covered in ice, and ready for a full breakfast and a day of work.

Based on the findings of the Court of Inquiry, the author directs the Department of the Navy to nominate Chief Gunner’s Mate Mons Monssen for a Medal of Honor or other appropriate recognition for his heroism during the incident on the battleship Missouri.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-05-14

Based on the findings of the Court of Inquiry, the author directs the Department of the Navy to nominate Acting Gunner Cox for a Medal of Honor or other appropriate recognition for his heroism during the incident on the battleship Missouri. Cox was awarded the Medal of Honor on April 14, 1921.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-05-16

Hugh Gordon Miller addresses the Annual Lincoln Dinner of the Republican Club of the City of New York. He jokes about his previous speaking engagement in New York. He describes the historical and contemporary relationship between Virginians and New York. He celebrates the rebuilt union of states. Miller reviews the accomplishments of the United States and New South since the American Civil War. He teases about Kentucky’s politics. He pays tribute to Abraham Lincoln, Robert E. Lee, William McKinley, and Rough Riders. Miller regrets that the South is aligned with the Democratic Party and calls on Republicans in the North to help settle “the problem of the suffrage and of the races.” Miller concludes with a vision of the ideal United States. Club President Henry Edwin Tremain introduces Senator John M. Thurston.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1901-02-12