Theodore Roosevelt

D

Assistant Secretary of the Navy

Roosevelt was eager to be involved in national affairs and hoped for military adventures. Roosevelt believed that strong nations survived and weak ones died; thus the United States had to struggle with other powerful nations for influence and territory abroad. He admired the writings of U.S. Navy Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan, whose The Influence of Sea Power Upon History (1890) advocated a strong navy as a key part of national policy. Roosevelt also dreamed of a canal through Central America, which would connect the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans, to be built and owned by the United States. During a boundary dispute in 1895 over the line between British Guiana and Venezuela, President Cleveland aggressively challenged Britain’s right to intervene in Latin America. Roosevelt was delighted and talked freely to the press in extremely warlike terms.

With the election of Ohio Governor William McKinley to the presidency in 1896, Roosevelt urged influential friends, including Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, to obtain for him the position of assistant secretary of the navy. McKinley reluctantly granted him the office. Roosevelt acted quickly and played a key role in building the Navy and preparing it for action. Roosevelt looked ahead to war, as differences mounted between the United States and Spain.

A Cuban struggle for independence from the Spanish Empire had become an active revolution in 1895 because Spain failed to institute reforms promised to the Cuban people in 1878. In December 1897 the U.S. battleship Maine was sent to the port of Havana, Cuba, to protect U.S. citizens and property. On the night of February 15, 1898, the ship was sunk by a tremendous explosion, and 266 lives were lost. Reports about the explosion pointed to sabotage, but in 1976 the U.S. Navy published a study, which suggested that spontaneous combustion in the ship’s coal bunkers caused the explosion.

On February 25, 1898, while the secretary of the navy was out of Washington, Roosevelt, as acting secretary, cabled Commodore George Dewey, who was commanding the U.S. Asiatic Squadron. He instructed Dewey to sail for Hong Kong. He hinted that war was at hand, in which case “offensive operations in Philippine Islands” should follow.

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The next month Senator Redfield Proctor of Vermont made a speech in the Senate describing the inhumane conditions he had observed in Cuba. On April 20 President McKinley approved a congressional resolution that called for immediate Spanish withdrawal from Cuba, and on April 24 the Spanish government declared war. On April 25 the Congress of the United States announced that the United States was at war with Spain, and on April 30, 1898, United States Commodore George Dewey began his “offensive operations” by attacking the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay, the Philippines (see Spanish-American War).

IV

The Rough Riders

As the war fever mounted, Roosevelt became impatient with administrative duties and eager to participate in actual combat. He had served three years in the National Guard, gaining the rank of captain. He then associated himself with Leonard Wood, who had been commissioned a colonel of the First U.S. Volunteer Cavalry.

Roosevelt resigned his Navy post in May 1898 to serve as lieutenant colonel under Wood. He raised volunteers from among both his cowboy and socialite companions. Cutting through government red tape, he organized what became known as the Rough Riders. Roosevelt again took the initiative to get them moved out of their training station in Tampa, Florida, and on transports to Cuba.

A

San Juan Hill

From June 22 to June 24, 1898, troops, including the Rough Riders, were landed in Cuba on Daiquiri Beach. In engagements at Las Guásimas, Caney, and finally San Juan Hill, outside the strategic city of Santiago de Cuba, the Rough Riders performed brilliantly under difficult conditions. The newspapers reported stories of many U.S. heroes in the Spanish-American War, and Roosevelt, who had been the subject of 15 years of newspaper fame and notoriety, became the best-known U.S. hero. Journalists reported his daring under fire and his maneuvers to avoid defeat.

Roosevelt assumed the rank of colonel and the command of his regiment on July 8, when Wood was appointed brigadier general of volunteers. Roosevelt’s determined efforts to take the soldiers home, following the Spanish surrender in Cuba, augmented his popularity. He began to be called “Teddy” in newspaper articles and cartoons.

B

Governor of New York

Soon after Roosevelt returned to New York City with his men on August 15, he accepted an invitation from the state Republican leader, U.S. Senator Thomas C. Platt, to run for governor. Senator Platt distrusted Roosevelt’s reform tendencies but needed a strong candidate for what looked like a difficult contest. Roosevelt entered the race and did not hesitate to emphasize his recent war service. Overcoming great political odds and campaigning tirelessly, he won by a small majority.

As governor, Roosevelt continued to be unpredictable. He had disturbed the reformers by promising to consult with Platt, but he had not promised to accept Platt’s views. He opposed Platt on several issues, as when he pressed independently for a tax on public-service businesses. On the other hand, Roosevelt failed to create a broad program of reform, and his assertive attitudes were disliked by many people. In 1900 he published his account of the Spanish-American War, The Rough Riders. Popular humorist Finley Peter Dunne, speaking through his fictitious bartender-philosopher Mr. Dooley, thought Roosevelt should have called his book “Alone in Cubia.” Roosevelt had the wit to appreciate Dunne’s criticism, and the two men became close friends.

C

Vice President

Platt quickly tired of the governor’s energy and feared his independence, so he conceived a plot to bury Roosevelt in the vice presidency. Roosevelt didn’t want an office that would make him politically powerless, but having no political organization of his own, he decided to follow his party’s desires. He was nominated in 1900 as McKinley’s running mate and contributed his great energy to the successful campaign.

McKinley’s victory at first seemed to be a triumph for the conservative wing of the Republican Party, but on September 6, 1901, McKinley was shot by an assassin in Buffalo, New York. Eight days later, McKinley died, and the 42-year-old Roosevelt assumed the presidency.

V

President of the United States