Presidents--Rating of

Creation Date

1907-09-21

Creator(s)

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Henry Waldo Coe

Theodore Roosevelt asks Dr. Coe to not make any of the letters Roosevelt has written to him made public. Coe speaks favorably of President Wilson, and Roosevelt believes he is the worst president since President Buchanan. Wilson’s attitude on foreign affairs and regard over national defense is scandalous.

Collection

Creation Date

1914-12-12

Creator(s)

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to William Roscoe Thayer

President Roosevelt thanks William Roscoe Thayer for the letter. He is unsure about Thayer’s proposition concerning Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin, and while he supports understanding between the United States and Great Britain, he does not think it is correct to say that Americans and Englishmen are the same people. While Roosevelt does not contradict Thayer’s statement that Lincoln was the greatest English-speaking statesman of the nineteenth century, or that Darwin was the greatest English-speaking scientist of the nineteenth century, Roosevelt thinks that there might be a significant contingent of people who do not accept either one or the other of these ideas.

Collection

Creation Date

1908-06-24

Creator(s)

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Stella McKnight Hoffa Lake

President Roosevelt appreciates what Stella McKnight Hoffa Lake says about “children instead of dogs and clubs are the fashion.” Roosevelt also professes his admiration of President Andrew Jackson, and his assessment of Jackson has only increased since becoming president himself.

Collection

Creation Date

1907-10-23

Creator(s)

Letter from Herman Henry Kohlsaat to Theodore Roosevelt

Herman Henry Kohlsaat tells President Roosevelt about a recent conversation he had with William Randolph Hearst, in which Hearst praised Roosevelt. Kohlsaat met with Fred A. Busse, mayor of Chicago yesterday, to withdraw his name as a delegate to the Republican National Convention, as he will not vote for Joseph Gurney Cannon, even for a complimentary vote. Busse, while publicly declaring himself for Cannon, told Kohlsaat that he is privately in favor of Secreatary of War William H. Taft, and expects to vote for him after the first ballot. Kohlsaat has met a delegation of men from the Board of Trade who wish for him to introduce them to Roosevelt to talk about his message.

Collection

Kohlsaat, Herman Henry, 1853-1924

Creation Date

1908-02-25

Creator(s)

Telegram from Hugo Münsterberg to Theodore Roosevelt

Hugo Münsterberg explains to President Roosevelt that the sensational press coverage of a speech he made is inaccurate. Münsterberg describes the actual facts of the matter.

Collection

Münsterberg, Hugo, 1863-1916

Creation Date

1905-03-18

Creator(s)

Book review

Gregory A. Wynn writes that his criticisms of Michael Cullinane’s Theodore Roosevelt’s Ghost: The History and Memory of an American Icon amount to “merely quibbles,” and he states that it is thoroughly researched and well-written. Wynn highlights the work of Kathleen Dalton, Henry F. Pringle, and John A. Gable in his review, and he describes the wide ranging topics addressed by Cullinane, including the work of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) in safeguarding the memory of Theodore Roosevelt. Wynn notes that Cullinane’s work should serve as an inspiration to members of the TRA to continue the organization’s work.

Two photographs, including one of Cullinane, supplement the text.

Collection

Creation Date

2018

Faithfully yours

William N. Tilchin challenges the assertions of political scientist Justin S. Vaughn made on the editorial page of the New York Times regarding the best and worst former United States presidents. Tilchin contends that Herbert Hoover and Jimmy Carter do not meet the standard of the best category while Theodore Roosevelt does not belong in the worst category. Tilchin criticizes the field of political science for its lack of historical knowledge, and he chastises the New York Times for publishing a poor piece of scholarship.

Collection

Creation Date

2015

“The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt”

Report on the results of a poll taken by the C-SPAN television network of presidential historians and C-SPAN viewers. The report highlights the rankings accorded Theodore Roosevelt–ranked fourth by historians and third by viewers–and it traces the evolution of Roosevelt’s reputation through the decades from its low point in the 1930s. The report also discusses the rankings of other presidents and highlights some of the historians who participated, in particular those who are associated with the study of Roosevelt. The report includes a listing of the top ten presidents in both the historians and viewers polls, and it includes a list of most of the presidential historians involved in the study.

Collection

Creation Date

2000

Creator(s)

Unknown

News and notes

This section of the journal covers twelve topics including a brief report on the 1998 annual meeting which saw the conferring of the Theodore Roosevelt Distinguished Service Medal to former President George Bush and his wife Barbara Bush. It also highlights a revival of the play Bully! starring actor John Davidson, the results of a survey of historians rating twentieth-century presidents, and the opening of an exhibition on Theodore Roosevelt at the National Portrait Gallery. “News and Notes” also discusses whether Roosevelt believed in the legend of a Sasquatch or Bigfoot creature, relays news from the The Friends of Sagamore Hill cooperating association, and notes the launching of a Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) website. The section closes with a listing of the members of the executive committee of the TRA along with the members of the Board of Trustees classes of 1999, 2000, and 2001, and with a text box indicating that this issue of the journal is dedicated to P. James Roosevelt.

Five photographs of President Bush at the annual meeting appear in the section.

Collection

Book Reviews

This edition of the “Book Reviews” section examines four works. “How Does TR Rate?” focuses on the poll numbers assigned to Theodore Roosevelt in The Rating Game in American Politics and finds that Roosevelt places in the great or near great categories. The review gives an overview of the essays in the collection, and highlights those on Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, and Dwight D. Eisenhower. William Davison Johnston reviews Edward L. Beach’s The United States Navy: 200 Years and notes that it is not a narrative history, and he stresses that it was awarded the Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt Naval History Prize for 1987.

In “The Independent Progressives,” John A. Gable reviews Eugene M. Tobin’s Organize or Perish: America’s Independent Progressives, 1913-1933 which studies former members of the Bull Moose Party like Amos Pinchot and George L. Record. Gable notes that these figures operated outside of elected offices and built organizations, but that they lacked the strength and numbers to build a political party. Gable notes how Tobin’s work adds to our understanding of the larger Progressive era. The section concludes with a notice that the Naval War College has published a comprehensive bibliography of the writings of Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan.

A photograph of Johnston and Beach shaking hands at a Theodore Roosevelt Association event in October 1983 appears in the section.

Collection

The Two TRs – Mythic and Real

John A. Gable explores the two Theodore Roosevelts, the mythic “Teddy Roosevelt” and the real Roosevelt. Gable says that there are three kinds of mythic Roosevelts: the Boy Scout, the American Mussolini, and the Teddy Brewster which represent the inspirational leader, the macho imperialist, and the cartoonish buffoon. Gable examines the real Roosevelt by looking at his many accomplishments as president in conservation and foreign affairs and by highlighting his intellectual life, especially his numerous books and essays. He argues that Roosevelt sought to achieve Jeffersonian goals of democracy through Hamiltonian means, and he asserts that both liberals and conservatives can find things to embrace in Roosevelt’s record.

A photograph of Gable with author Tom Wolfe and a photograph of P. James Roosevelt, Ruth Stafford Peale, Reverend Norman Vincent Peale, and Brigadier General Chuck Yeager at the Theodore Roosevelt Distinguished Service Medal Awards Dinner accompany the text.

Collection

About Theodore Roosevelt…

Two quotations about Theodore Roosevelt from Josiah Bunting and Elihu Root.

Collection