Jeffers, H. Paul (Harry Paul), 1934-2009

Twelve books compete for space and attention in this crowded edition of the “Book Reviews” section which includes four feature reviews, two brief children’s book reviews, and notices about six other titles. Matthew Glover counters some of the assertions made by Louis Auchincloss in his Theodore Roosevelt by citing the work of historian John Milton Cooper. John A. Gable provides profiles of Alice Roosevelt Longworth and Eleanor Roosevelt, the subjects of Linda Donn’s The Roosevelt Cousins, and he notes the outsize influence that Theodore Roosevelt had on the extended Roosevelt clan. An anonymous review of Theodore Roosevelt, the U.S. Navy, and the Spanish-American War lists the nine chapters that resulted from a conference of the same name, and it notes some of the authors’ ties to the Theodore Roosevelt Association. 

Gable identifies four themes found in the ten essays that make up European Perceptions of the Spanish-American War of 1898, including most European nations’ hostility to the United States in the conflict, and he emphasizes the role played by the Roosevelt Study Center in fostering the emergence of a cohort of European scholars of American history. Two books aimed at children are reviewed in the “Kids Corner” section, and “Other New Books” highlights six titles published in 2001-2002, including new paperback editions of the Roosevelt biographies written by Edmund Morris and his wife Sylvia Jukes Morris. 

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Biography dominates the “Reviews” section of this issue: five biographies are considered, including those of four Roosevelts and one of Gifford Pinchot. Charles W. Snyder finds H. Paul Jeffers’s examination of Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt’s life to be less than complete, and he notes that the work focuses on Roosevelt’s military career, especially his service during World War II. John A. Gable revisits the work of husband and wife biographers Edmund Morris and Sylvia Jukes Morris in his essays on their biographies of Theodore Roosevelt and Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt. Gable compares The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt with Theodore Rex, and he asserts that the endnotes in both works are worth reading. He notes that paperback editions of both of the Morris biographies have been issued to coincide with the release of Theodore Rex. 

Gable reviews Char Miller’s Gifford Pinchot and the Making of Modern Environmentalism, and he describes the split in the environmental movement between the followers of Pinchot and John Muir. Gable highlights Pinchot’s career after his service in the Roosevelt administration, and he notes that Miller’s work has won two book awards for biography. “In Medal of Honor Revisited,” Gregory A. Wynn examines the arguments of two acclaimed military historians who take opposing views on Theodore Roosevelt’s Medal of Honor award. Wynn summarizes the arguments of  Edward M. Coffman and Allan Reed Millett, and he finds more merit in Coffman’s assertions based on eyewitness accounts of Roosevelt’s actions in battle. 

Two father-son photographs–Brigadier General Roosevelt with his son Quentin and Pinchot with his son Gifford B. Pinchot–appear in the section along with four text boxes highlighting various aspects of the Theodore Roosevelt Association such as its vision statement and website.

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. 

This edition of “News and Notes” opens with news of the History Channel’s production of another documentary film about Theodore Roosevelt. The report provides some details about its production and highlights members of the Roosevelt family who have roles in the film. “News and Notes” highlights the journey of “Bully” the moose from Alaska to Colorado to the USS Theodore Roosevelt; the trophy mount was acquired by members of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA). A posthumous award for Roosevelt from the United States Navy Memorial Foundation and a conservation roundtable sponsored by the TRA receive attention as do a number of personnel changes at Roosevelt related historic sites like Sagamore Hill.

The section promotes the TRA’s website, its Theodore Roosevelt CD-ROM, and the association’s next annual meeting. Two photographs from the production of the History Channel documentary and a photograph of Bully the moose with the commander of the USS Theodore Roosevelt appear in the section. 

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.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

This edition of “Book Notes” lives up to its billing as it features two brief reviews and notes about five other works previously reviewed in the Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal. The section praises two new works, a biography of Alice Lee Roosevelt and a study of the Rough Riders from New Mexico, and it promotes Joseph R. Ornig’s study of the River of Doubt expedition and three books on Theodore Roosevelt’s tenure as Police Commissioner of New York City.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1994-1995

Creator(s)

Unknown

Michael L. Manson opens this edition of “Book Notes” with a review of H. Paul Jeffers’s look at Theodore Roosevelt’s role in starting and prosecuting the Spanish-American War. Manson writes that Colonel Roosevelt: Theodore Roosevelt Goes to War, 1897-1898 portrays Roosevelt as the driving force behind American entry into the war. The section also promotes three books written by two members of the Theodore Roosevelt Association, and it praises recent works on Roosevelt by Joan Paterson Kerr and Joseph R. Ornig. The section also contains a text box with information about a poster and booklet honoring Roosevelt produced by the New York State Department of Labor.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1996

Creator(s)

Manson, Michael L., 1936-; Unknown

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

The “Book Notes” column features reviews of two historical novels. The Adventures of the Stalwart Companions pairs a young Theodore Roosevelt with Sherlock Holmes to solve a murder in Gilded Age New York City. Marvin R. Morrison outlines the plot of the novel in some detail and says that it “is good reading.” The Bad Lands is a western based on Roosevelt and the Marquis de Mores though neither is a character in the novel. Elizabeth E. Roosevelt provides a very brief review, says the book is not very good, and asks readers to instead read Hermann Hagedorn’s Roosevelt in the Bad Lands.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1979

Creator(s)

Morrison, Marvin R.; Roosevelt, Elizabeth E.

The sixtieth annual meeting of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) was held at Sagamore Hill National Historic Site on October 27, 1979. The article details the various reports given by the leadership of the TRA covering topics such as the state of the association’s finances, the election of officers and committee members, and the surge of interest in Theodore Roosevelt as evidenced by the many new books published about him in 1978-1979. The meeting concluded with talks by historians Edmund and Sylvia Morris about their biographies of Theodore and Edith Roosevelt.

Photographs of the Old Orchard Museum at Sagamore Hill, site of the annual meeting, and of Edmund and Sylvia Morris accompany the article.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1980