Pringle, Henry F. (Henry Fowles), 1897-1958

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.

Comments and Context

For more information on some of the episodes in Theodore Roosevelt’s life that Dr. Gable mentions, see the Theodore Roosevelt Center’s encyclopedia articles on the Dear Maria Controversy, the Venezuela Debt Crisis and Roosevelt Corollary, or some of the multiple blog posts and articles about the political campaign of 1912, John Flammang Schrank and his attempt to assassinate Theodore Roosevelt.

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.

Comments and Context

For more information on some of the episodes in Theodore Roosevelt’s life that Dr. Gable mentions, see the Theodore Roosevelt Center’s encyclopedia articles on the Dear Maria Controversy, the Venezuela Debt Crisis and Roosevelt Corollary, or some of the multiple blog posts and articles about the political campaign of 1912, John Flammang Schrank and his attempt to assassinate Theodore Roosevelt.

Gregory A. Wynn interviews the author of Theodore Roosevelt’s Ghost, Michael Patrick Cullinane. Cullinane describes his book as a work of historiography, and he addresses issues such as the efforts to memorialize Theodore Roosevelt that failed in the immediate years after his death. Cullinane also touches on the evolving reputation of American presidents, and he highlights the importance of the work of historians Henry F. Pringle and Elting Elmore Morison. Cullinane recommends that the Theodore Roosevelt Association continue to spend money on projects that further research on Roosevelt. A photograph of Wynn, Cullinane, and Tweed Roosevelt accompanies the text of the interview.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

2018

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

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Gregory A. Wynn addresses the role that the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) and the Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal (TRAJ) have played in shaping the historiography of Theodore Roosevelt. Wynn dwells on the work and contributions of John A. Gable, a long-time editor of the TRAJ in both fostering scholarship on Roosevelt and producing his own. Wynn highlights the work of Roosevelt biographers such as Edmund Morris, Kathleen Dalton, and Henry F. Pringle, and he identifies deficits in the study of Roosevelt that need to be addressed such as his presidency and his intellect.

A photograph of Wynn, the front cover of Dalton’s biography, and an excerpt of a letter from Gable to Wynn accompany the address.

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

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

Wallace Finley Dailey, curator of the Theodore Roosevelt Collection at Harvard University, recreates an exhibit on Theodore Roosevelt’s involvement with Harvard from his days as a student to his work as an overseer. The exhibit was displayed at Harvard in 1977, 1980, 1996, 2005, and 2012. The exhibit in article form consists of twenty-five photographs, including thirteen of Roosevelt, and numerous documents including letters, certificates, diary and notebook entries, and publications by and about Roosevelt. The accompanying text identifies each photograph and document, noting its source and providing context. 

Tweed Roosevelt provides two lists of books about Theodore Roosevelt. He lists what he considers to be the five best books to introduce Roosevelt to newcomers, and he also lists fifty books that he classifies as essential to those wanting “a well-rounded education” on Roosevelt. He lists the five books for newcomers in a a paragraph in the text, but the fifty essential books are numbered and placed in alphabetical order by the author’s or editor’s last name with publication dates ranging from 1906 to 2010. The front cover illustrations to four titles supplement the text.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

2011

Gregory A. Wynn describes the nineteen page book produced by the Roosevelt Memorial Association to promote the construction of a Theodore Roosevelt memorial in Washington, D.C. Wynn also examines other projects undertaken in the nation’s capital by the project’s architect, John Russell Pope.  Wynn discusses why the proposed memorial failed to be built, and he compares its design to the National World War II Memorial. A photograph of Wynn and photographs of the book’s cover and title page appear in the article. 

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

2011

Gregory A. Wynn examines the status of “perhaps the rarest of all presidential publications,” the memorial tribute book for Alice Lee Roosevelt and Martha Bulloch Roosevelt written by Theodore Roosevelt after the women’s deaths in February 1884. Wynn notes the discovery and use of the rare copies of this work by Roosevelt biographers, and he highlights the five known copies by noting who donated or purchased them, and he lists the libraries or private collections where the copies are housed. Four photographs and the logo of the Theodore Roosevelt Association supplement the text.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

2011

In his review of Daniel Ruddy’s Theodore Roosevelt’s History of the United States, Harry N. Lembeck highlights Roosevelt’s thoughts on several of his presidential predecessors, including Thomas Jefferson, John Tyler, and Grover Cleveland. Lembeck admires Ruddy’s collection of Roosevelt’s writings which serve as a history of the United States from the American Revolution through World War I, and he asserts that Roosevelt was both a good writer and “a serious thinker.” Lembeck points out that Roosevelt’s thoughts on topics from foreign policy to the size of government can be gleaned from his historical writings. The book’s front cover supplements the text.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

2010

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 Stacy 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.

Tweed Roosevelt asks why there has been so little consideration of Theodore Roosevelt’s record as a conservationist. He reviews some of the major biographies and histories of Roosevelt and his time and finds that their examination of Roosevelt as a conservationist is scanty at best. Tweed Roosevelt identifies Roosevelt’s father, Theodore Roosevelt, and his uncle, Robert Barnwall Roosevelt, as important figures in shaping Roosevelt’s interest in the natural world, and he surveys the actions taken by Roosevelt as Governor of New York and President of the United States to safeguard rivers, forests, birds, and natural wonders such as the Grand Canyon. 

Two photographs of Theodore Roosevelt and one of Robert Barnwall 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.

John A. Gable reviews Nathan Miller’s Theodore Roosevelt: A Life and claims that it “replaces all previous popular, general-audience biographies of TR.” Gable places Miller’s work in the context of the many other biographies of Theodore Roosevelt, such as those of Henry F. Pringle and William Henry Harbaugh, and he asserts that there is still a need for a multi-volume treatment of Roosevelt. The “Books” section also details the contents of Theodore Roosevelt: Many-Sided American, a collection of forty-two essays originally delivered at an April 1990 conference at Hofstra University. The “Book Notes” section highlights the work of Roosevelt scholars Douglas Brinkley, David G. McCullough, and Edmund Morris, and takes special note of two works on the Teddy Bear.

A photograph of Miller appears on the first page of the section.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

William N. Tilchin surveys the major works on President Theodore Roosevelt’s foreign policy from 1956 to 1986, looking at nine books and one article. Tilchin provides detailed reviews of eight of the books, and highlights the discussion of diplomacy in the ninth. In doing so, Tilchin addresses the historiography of Roosevelt and his foreign policy, and he demonstrates how Roosevelt’s reputation as a diplomat grew from the low point it reached with Henry F. Pringle’s biography of 1931. Tilchin touches on the major international crises and issues of Roosevelt’s presidency, including the Philippine American War, the creation of the Panama Canal, and the voyage of the Great White Fleet. The essay is supported by 183 endnotes and includes a listing of publications about Roosevelt’s diplomacy not addressed in the text.

The article also contains three text boxes: one lists the leadership of the Theodore Roosevelt Association; another, “About the Author,” notes Tilchin’s work as a teacher and historian; and a third says that this issue of the journal “is dedicated to the people of the State of North Dakota.” A portrait of Roosevelt and a photograph of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt with elements of her air wing illustrate the article.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

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. 

Joe F. Decker provides a comprehensive bibliography of the various accounts of Theodore Roosevelt’s attempt to form a volunteer division during World War I. Decker begins with Roosevelt’s own first account in 1917 and concludes with John Milton Cooper’s version in The Warrior and the Priest of 1983. Decker examines books, book chapters, and articles on the subject, and finds that the story still has not been “dealt with satisfactorily.” Decker points out the biases and the shortcomings of some of the authors, and notes that many of the accounts strongly favor either Roosevelt or his antagonist President Woodrow Wilson.

A full page-photograph of Roosevelt and General Leonard Wood accompanies the article. A photograph of Harrison Engle and Sidney D. Kirkpatrick who directed documentary films on Roosevelt is featured, along with three photographs of Roosevelt from newsreel footage used in the film The Indomitable Teddy Roosevelt.

A listing of the officers of the Theodore Roosevelt Association as well as the members of its executive, finance, and Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace committees is on page two of the article.

Five book reviews on six different books comprise this edition of the “Book Notes” column. In his review, Richard H. Collins focuses on Kathleen Dalton’s contribution to Robert J. Brugger’s Our Selves/Our Past, Psychological Approaches to American History. Dalton embraces a psychohistory approach to understanding Theodore Roosevelt, emphasizing his commitment to overcoming his childhood asthma and living the strenuous life. Collins argues that this approach is misguided and ignores Roosevelt’s class and his formidable intellect. Patrick C. Gable commends John Morton Blum for his appraisal of Roosevelt in The Progressive Presidents, but he faults him for blaming Roosevelt for the misdeeds and excesses of his Democratic successors.

Peter R. Fischer finds Charles C. Goetsch’s Essays on Simeon E. Baldwin “a worthwhile collection,” but he thinks the confrontation between Roosevelt and Baldwin over a federal labor law may not merit the importance that Goetsch assigns it. Elizabeth E. Roosevelt praises Mary Helen Dohan’s Mr. Roosevelt’s Steamboat for its depictions of life along the Mississippi River and for not overlooking the contributions of Lydia Latrobe Roosevelt to her husband’s success. Dennis Wood reviews Paul Schullery’s The Grand Canyon and Old Yellowstone Days. Theodore Roosevelt has an essay in each of these collections of writings about iconic American landscapes.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal