The president and a poet
David H. Burton examines the life of poet Edward Arlington Robinson and the role played by President Theodore Roosevelt in rescuing him from poverty and obscurity. Burton reveals that it was Roosevelt’s son, Kermit Roosevelt, who introduced the president to Arlington’s poetry, and Burton also describes Roosevelt’s patronage of Robinson, arranging for a civil service job for which he performed no work but which allowed him ample time to write poetry.
A full page portrait of Robinson and the logo of the Theodore Roosevelt Association appear in the essay.