Tilchin, William N., 1950-

Harry N. Lembeck interviews James Bruns, the new President of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA). Bruns discusses his background in museum and historical society work, especially his tenure with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. and his work with the Atlanta, Georgia, Historical Society. Most of the interview focuses on the TRA’s plans to build a Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Museum and Research Center. Bruns discusses the purposes of the museum, its possible location, financing, and its importance to the future of the TRA. A photograph of Bruns appears on the first page of the interview.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

2007-04-03

Harry N. Lembeck describes the events surrounding the 2006 annual meeting, symposium, and dinner of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) in Atlanta, Georgia. Lembeck notes the meetings of the executive committee, Board of Trustees, and other committees, and he highlights Bulloch Hall, site of some of the events and childhood home of Martha Bulloch Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt’s mother. Lembeck gives a brief description of each of the four symposium presentations, and he provides coverage of the conferring of three TRA awards: the USS Theodore Roosevelt Junior Officer Award, the Bertha B. Rose Award, and the Theodore Roosevelt Distinguished Service Medal. Lembeck emphasizes the latter, noting the warm reception accorded the winner, Colonel George E. “Bud” Day.

Ten photographs of the various events accompany the report.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

David H. Burton reviews Artists of Power: Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and Their Enduring Impact on U.S. Foreign Policy. Burton notes the contributions of eight historians to the work, and he stresses that although Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson are often seen at odds, the two presidents both wanted to see the establishment of some kind of international organization to secure global peace after World War I. Burton acknowledges that Roosevelt and Wilson had major impacts on American diplomacy and security and that their policies led to a larger role for the United States in global affairs.

A photograph of Roosevelt with his right hand resting on a large globe illustrates the review.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

The Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) updates its membership on changes in the leadership of the TRA. Norman Parsons will continue to serve as President until a replacement is found by a search committee and the positions of Treasurer and Secretary have also changed hands, and William N. Tilchin has been appointed as the editor of the Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal. The article notes that this issue of the journal is dedicated to Regina Louisa Haase Jeffries. A text box with the revised leadership team supplements the article.

 

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Report on the joint history conference, “The Big Stick and the Square Deal: The Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt,” and annual meeting of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) held in Buffalo, New York, in October 2002. The report has three parts: a report on the conference and meeting; a full-page of thirteen photographs showing speakers, attendees, and dignitaries; and a full-page listing of patrons, supporters, and sponsors of the weekend’s events. The report highlights the conferring of the TRA’s Bertha B. Rose Award and its Distinguished Service Medal. The Rose Award was given to three members of Congress who helped secure Theodore Roosevelt’s Medal of Honor while the Distinguished Service Medal was given to the crew of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt. 

 

An additional photograph on the first page of the report shows eleven of the conference speakers.

Report on some of the ceremonies and academic conferences held in 1998 to mark the centennial of the Spanish-American War. The report highlights three academic conferences held at the University of New Orleans, Southern Methodist University, and Siena College, and it provides an update on efforts to secure the Medal of Honor for Theodore Roosevelt. An illustration of the Battle of Las Guasimas by Howard Christy Chandler and a photograph of Roosevelt speaking to Leonard Wood supplement the text.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1998

Seven books are reviewed and one title receives attention because of its reissue in this crowded edition of the “Book Reviews” section. John A. Gable, editor of the Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal, reviews three works, including an evaluation of Theodore Roosevelt as a politician, a biography of Roosevelt, and a historical novel. Gable likes David H. Burton’s Theodore Roosevelt, American Politician though he disagrees with some of Burton’s analysis, but he is less enthusiastic about H.W. Brands’s T.R.: The Last Romantic, partly because he faults Brands for never properly defining what he means by “romantic.” Gable praises The Angel of Darkness, Caleb Carr’s sequel to his very popular The Alienist, because both “successfully teach readers about various aspects of American life a century ago.” 

 

Henry J. Hendrix finds that in Theodore Roosevelt and the British Empire, William N. Tilchin provides a plethora of evidence to support his thesis that Roosevelt wanted to forge a closer relationship with Great Britain. Michael L. Manson commends the many illustrations used to populate Ron Ziel’s pictorial history of the Spanish-American War, Birth of the American Century. In a brief review, Elizabeth E. Roosevelt says that William T. Hagan’s Theodore Roosevelt and Six Friends of the Indian shows how a range of personalities tried to influence Roosevelt’s stance on Native Americans as both Civil Service Commissioner and President. Gregory A. Wynn criticizes George Grant for trying to pigeonhole Roosevelt as a Christian conservative in his Carry a Big Stick, and he says that the book’s factual errors and exaggerations make it of little value to Roosevelt scholars. 

 

Report on the 78th annual meeting of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) held at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. The report details the field trips, dinner, speakers, and elections that marked the weekend meeting. The report highlights the reelection of Lawrence H. Budner as President of the TRA, the address of William N. Tilchin, and the conferring of the Junior Officer Leadership Award for the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt. Jesse Shapiro, winner of the TRA Public Speaking Contest for the New York City public schools, also addressed the dinner gathering. 

 

Eight photographs of some of the assembled guests, speakers, and dignitaries, including four commanders of USS Theodore Roosevelt, populate the report. 

Buildings connected to Theodore Roosevelt make up much of this edition of the “News and Notes” section. The Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) acquired Roosevelt’s presidential retreat in Virginia, Pine Knot, and the federal government renamed the building housing the Office of Personnel Management the Theodore Roosevelt Federal Building. “News and Notes” also highlights the premiere of a PBS documentary on the 1992 Rio Roosevelt Expedition; discusses the foreign policy focus of this issue TRA Journal; and notes the inauguration of President Bill Clinton.

Two photographs of Pine Knot and three photographs of the ceremonies at the Theodore Roosevelt Federal Building appear in the section.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Awards, award ceremonies, and award winners dominate this edition of the “News and Notes” section. Twelve different awards, ten of them directly involving the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA), are discussed across five pages of the section. The Theodore Roosevelt Police Award, the Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt Naval History Prize, the Theodore Roosevelt Public Speaking Contest, and the John Paul Jones Award won by the commander of the USS Theodore Roosevelt are all discussed in their own subsections. A Christopher Award given to the documentary “The Indomitable Teddy Roosevelt” and the research grants awarded from the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Fund at the American Museum of Natural History also merit detailed coverage.

“News and Notes” also touches on the speaking engagements of the TRA’s Executive Director John A. Gable, the passing of Horace M. Albright, a TRA Trustee and former Director of the National Park Service, and a change in the leadership of the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural Site Foundation.

A photograph of the students, judges, and coaches at the Theodore Roosevelt Public Speaking Contest, a photograph of a smiling Theodore Roosevelt, and a photograph of Captain Paul W. Parcells and his family appear in the section along with an illustration of both sides of the TRA medallion.