Widenor, William C.

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

Creation Date

1989

This edition of the “News and Notes” section opens with a report on the annual meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA). The report notes the election of new members and classes of the Board of Trustees and of the TRA’s leadership for 1985-1986. The section also covers the TRA’s involvement in the Outward Bound program and the granting of the first Theodore Roosevelt Scholarship for that program, the results of the Theodore Roosevelt Public Speaking Contest for the New York City public high schools, and the passing of Philippa Jeffries Roosevelt. 

 

The section also covers the “first scholarship conference devoted entirely to TR” at Canisius College in Buffalo, New York, which was held in October 1985. It also notes new works on Theodore Roosevelt, a panel on Roosevelt’s foreign policy to be held at the meeting of the Organization of American Historians, and highlights the work of Frederick W. Marks and Serge Ricard on Roosevelt’s diplomacy found in this issue. The section closes with a notice that Edmund Morris has signed a contract to write a biography of President Ronald Reagan. 

 

Photographs of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site, and of Edmund Morris are included in the section.

The “Book Reviews” section features three separate review essays. In “Wagenknecht’s Many Worlds,” John A. Gable compares Edward Wagenknecht’s American Profile, 1900-1909, a study of American life during Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency, to Wagenknecht’s The Seven Worlds of Theodore Roosevelt. Gable highly recommends both works. In “Presidents and the Press,” Bruce L. Tulgan reviews George Juergens’ News From the White House which examines the relationship that Roosevelt, William H. Taft, and Woodrow Wilson cultivated, or neglected in Taft’s case, with the press. In “Henry Cabot Lodge, Theodore Roosevelt, and American Foreign Policy,” Gable examines William C. Widenor’s Henry Cabot Lodge and the Search for an American Foreign Policy. Gable looks at Lodge’s relationship with Roosevelt, the importance of history to their worldviews, and Lodge’s opposition to the League of Nations.

An illustration of Roosevelt in a dynamic speaking pose accompanies the Tulgan review.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1983