Presidents in Retirement: Theodore Roosevelt
When Theodore Roosevelt ran for President in 1904 he pledged that he would not run for re-election. He had already completed William McKinley's second term in office following McKinley's assassination in September of 1901, so Roosevelt had already almost served a full term in office before winning re-election to a second, and serving more than two full terms was allowed, but frowned upon because of the precedent set by George Washington. But Roosevelt enjoyed being president and was still relatively youthful and definitely vigorous. However Roosevelt decided to stick to his 1904 pledge not to run for a third term.
His first choice for a successor was Secretary of State Elihu Root. But Root had health problems, so he was not up to the task. New York Governor Charles Evans Hughes was someone who shared Roosevelt's progressivism, but Roosevelt considered Hughes to be too independent, and Roosevelt wanted someone he had some influence over. The ideal candidate was Secretary of War William Howard Taft. Roosevelt and Taft had been friends since 1890, and Taft had consistently supported Roosevelt's policies. At the 1908 Republican convention, the cry went up for "four years more" for a Roosevelt presidency, but Taft won the nomination with Roosevelt's support and influence. In the 1908 election, Taft easily defeated Democratic nominee William Jennings Bryan.
Taft was a progressive, but he strongly supported the rule of law. He believed that judges, not politicians, should decide questions of fairness, and he was not the politician that Roosevelt was. Soon the President and Past President differed on a number of issues. They differed on lowering tariffs. Taft pressed reformers to fight for lower rates, but he deals with conservative leaders that kept rates high. The resulting Tariff of 1909 was too high for most reformers, and Taft's handling of the tariff alienated all sides.
In March 1909, Roosevelt left to go on the Smithsonian-Roosevelt African Expedition. His party landed in Mombasa and traveled to the Belgian Congo before following the Nile River to Khartoum. Roosevelt's party hunted for specimens of wild game for the Smithsonian Institution and the American Museum of Natural History. Roosevelt's team killed or trapped 11,400 animals, including 1,000 large animals. Their carcasses and skins were shipped to Washington where it took years for taxidermists to mount them all. Roosevelt wrote a detailed account in African Game Trails about his adventures on safari.
After completing this adventure, Roosevelt traveled north on a tour of Europe, stopping first in Egypt. He refused a meeting with the Pope, but he met with Emperor Franz-Joseph of Austria-Hungary, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, King George V of Great Britain and other European leaders. In Oslo, Roosevelt delivered an address in which he called for limitations on naval armaments, a strengthening of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, and for the creation of a "League of Peace" among the world powers. He delivered a series of lectures at Oxford, in which he denounced those who sought parallels between the evolution of animal life and the development of society.
While still in Europe, Roosevelt met with his old friend Gifford Pinchoy, who had been fired as head of the forest service after clashing with Taft's Interior Secretary Richard Ballinger. Roosevelt returned to the US in June of 1910 where he was honored with a reception luncheon on the roof of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York. Four months later, Roosevelt became the first US president to fly in a plane, flying for 4 minutes in a plane designed by the Wright Brothers, near St. Louis.
Roosevelt became increasingly displeased with his protege Taft. He was further alienated when Taft did not consult him about cabinet appointments, and gave Roosevelt no credit for his election. Roosevelt and other progressives were upset with Taft's conservation policies and his handling of the tariff, as well as his alliance with conservative party leaders in Congress. The two also differed over the courts, as Roosevelt had ideas about controlling the judiciary, while Taft was a strong supporter of judicial independence.
Roosevelt urged progressives to take control of the Republican Party, but he was also aware that division might hand the presidency to the Democrats in 1912. Roosevelt gave speeches in the West in the late summer and early fall of 1910 in which he severely criticized the nation's judiciary. He accused federal courts of undermining democracy, especially in their tendency to strike down progressive reform legislation. Roosevelt joined other progressives, including Democrat William Jennings Bryan, in calling for the "judicial recall," which would enable popular majorities to remove judges from office and reverse unpopular judicial decisions. This horrified Taft, who was an adamant believer in judicial authority preserving constitutional government.
In August 1910, Roosevelt gave a speech at Osawatomie, Kansas, which marked his public break with Taft and conservative Republicans. Roosevelt emphasized the priority of labor over capital interests, and the need to control corporate creation and combination. He called for a ban on corporate political contributions. . Roosevelt campaigned for the Republicans in the 1910 mid-terms in New York State, but the Democrats gained control of the House for the first time since 1892.
In 1911, Senator Robert La Follette of Wisconsin joined with Pinchot, William White, and California Governor Hiram Johnson to create the National Progressive Republican League. Roosevelt expressed general support for progressive principles. Between January and April 1911, Roosevelt wrote articles for The Outlook, defending what he called "the great movement of our day, the progressive nationalist movement against special privilege, and in favor of an honest and efficient political and industrial democracy."
Roosevelt was initially unwilling to run against Taft in 1912, but he did have thoughts about running for President again in 1916. The two would clash again over the issue of the ratification of treaties with Great Britain and France providing that differences be arbitrated at the Hague Court or another tribunal. These were signed in August 1911, but had to be ratified by a two-thirds vote of the Senate. Many Republicans were opposed to Taft, and the Senate added amendments Taft could not accept, killing them. A faction, led by Roosevelt, ridiculed arbitration as foolhardy idealism, and insisted that war as the only solution to serious international disputes.
In November 1911, a group of Ohio Republicans endorsed Roosevelt for the party's nomination for president. This endorsement was significant because it was made by leaders from Taft's home state. Roosevelt declined to make a statement he would refuse a nomination. Privately he was critical of Taft, stating, "I am really sorry for Taft. I am sure he means well, but he means well feebly, and he does not know how! He is utterly unfit for leadership and this is a time when we need leadership."
In January 1912, Roosevelt declared "if the people make a draft on me I shall not decline to serve". Roosevelt spoke before the Constitutional Convention in Ohio, identifying as a progressive and endorsing progressive reforms, including popular review of state judicial decisions. In response, Taft said, "Such extremists are not progressives-they are political emotionalists or neurotics".
In February 1912, speaking in Boston, Roosevelt said, "I will accept the nomination for president if it is tendered to me. I hope that so far as possible the people may be given the chance through direct primaries to express who shall be the nominee." The 1912 primaries represented the first extensive use of the presidential primary, a reform created by the progressive movement. In the South, where party regulars dominated, the Republican Primaries went for Taft, as they did in New York, Indiana, Michigan, Kentucky, and Massachusetts. Roosevelt won in Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota, California, Maryland, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. At the 1912 Republican National Convention, held in Chicago, Taft won the nomination on the first ballot.
Following his convention defeat, Roosevelt announced that he would "accept the progressive nomination on a progressive platform and I shall fight to the end, win or lose." He predicted that the Democrats would win the election they nominated a progressive, and this would prove correct. Roosevelt left the Republican Party and created the Progressive Party. Leadership of the new party included a range of reformers from Jane Addams, Gifford Pinchot, publisher Frank Munsey, and Wall Street financier George Perkins. The new party was popularly known as the Bull Moose Party after Roosevelt told reporters, "I'm as fit as a bull moose". California Governor Hiram Johnson was chosen as Roosevelt's running mate.
On October 14, 1912, while arriving at a campaign event in Milwaukee, Roosevelt was shot in front of the Gilpatrick Hotel by saloonkeeper John Schrank, who claimed that the ghost of assassinated president William McKinley had directed him to kill Roosevelt. The bullet lodged in his chest after penetrating his steel eyeglass case and passing through a 50-page single-folded copy of his speech. Schrank was disarmed and captured as he attempted to fire a second time. Roosevelt shouted for Schrank to remain unharmed. He assured the crowd he was all right, then ordered police to take Schrank and make sure no violence was done to him. Roosevelt concluded that since he was not coughing blood, the bullet had not reached his lung. He declined suggestions to go to hospital immediately and instead delivered a 90 minute speech with blood seeping into his shirt. He received medical attention only after he was finished his speech. An x-ray showed that the bullet had lodged in Roosevelt's chest muscle, but did not penetrate the lung. Doctors concluded it would be less dangerous to leave it than attempt to remove it, and Roosevelt carried the bullet in him for the rest of his life.
Taft and Democratic nominee Woodrow Wilson suspended their campaigning until Roosevelt resumed his. Roosevelt spent two weeks recuperating before returning to campaign. He wrote a friend about the bullet, "I do not mind it any more than if it were in my waistcoat-pocket."
Roosevelt won 4.1 million votes (27%), compared to Taft's 3.5 million (23%). Wilson received 6.3 million votes (42%), and scored a massive landslide in the Electoral College, winning 435 electoral votes. Roosevelt won 88, while Taft won 8. Pennsylvania was the only eastern state won by Roosevelt. in the Midwest, he carried Michigan, Minnesota, and South Dakota; in the West, California, and Washington. Roosevelt won a higher share of the popular vote than any other third-party presidential candidate in history.
In 1913, Roosevelt was one of the leaders of an expedition into the Brazilian jungle called the Roosevelt-Rondon Scientific Expedition, co-named after its leader, Brazilian Candido Rondon. The expedition had an ambitious goal: finding the headwaters of the river Duvida and tracing it north to theMadeira River and then to the Amazon River. Duvida was later renamed the Roosevelt River. Roosevelt was joined by his son Kermit, Colonel Rondon, naturalist George Kruck Cherrie, Brazilian Lieutenant João Lira, physician José Antonio Cajazeira, and 16 skilled paddlers and porters. The initial began on December 9, 1913, at the height of rainy season. The trip down Duvida started on February 27, 1914.
Roosevelt suffered a minor leg wound after he jumped in to try to prevent canoes from smashing against the rocks. But the cut he received soon led to tropical fever similar to malaria. His health worsened and weakened Roosevelt so greatly that six weeks in, he had to be constantly attended to by the expedition's physician and Kermit. He could not walk because of the infection and he had chest pains and a fever that soared to 103 °F which made him delirious. Roosevelt told his companions that she should be left behind to allow the poorly provisioned expedition to proceed. He proposed committing suicide with morphine, but Kermit was able to persuade him to continue.
Roosevelt lost approximately 50 pounds but he was able to survive the experience. Upon Roosevelt's return to New York, friends and family were startled by his physical appearance. Roosevelt wrote that his ordeal had cut his life short by ten years and this was probably an accurate comment. He continued to suffer flare-ups of malaria and leg inflammations so severe as to require surgery. When he had recovered sufficiently, he addressed a standing-room-only convention organized in Washington, by the National Geographic Society.
Roosevelt was outraged when the Wilson Administration had signed a treaty that expressed "sincere regret" for the way in which the US had acquired the Panama Canal Zone, but otherwise he was pleased by many of the progressive reforms passed by Wilson. Roosevelt campaigned for the Progressive Party in the 1914 mid-terms, but the party performed poorly. Roosevelt considered running for president again, this time with himself at the head of the Republican Party. He knew that this was unlikely to happen in 1916 because conservative party leaders remained opposed to him and others in the party blamed him for the split that allowed Wilson to win the election. Roosevelt thought that a joint nomination between the Republicans and the Progressives was possible, but when the Republicans nominated Charles Evans Hughes, Roosevelt declined the Progressive nomination and urged his Progressive followers to support the Republican candidate. Roosevelt disliked Hughes, but he disliked Wilson even more, and campaigned energetically for the Hughes. Wilson won the election by a narrow margin.
When the First World War began in 1914, Roosevelt strongly supported the Allies and demanded a harsher policy against Germany, especially because of that country's submarine warfare. Roosevelt publicly denounced the foreign policy of Wilson, calling it a failure. In 1916, while campaigning for Hughes, Roosevelt repeatedly denounced Irish Americans and German Americans whom he described as unpatriotic, saying they put the interests of Ireland and Germany ahead of America's by supporting neutrality. He insisted that one had to be 100% American, not a "hyphenated American."
In March 1917, Congress gave Roosevelt the authority to raise a maximum of four divisions similar to the Rough Riders he had organized during the Spanish-American War. However, President Wilson announced to the press that he would not send Roosevelt and his volunteers to France. Instead he would send an American Expeditionary Force under the command of General John J. Pershing.
Roosevelt's youngest son, Quentin, a pilot with the American forces in France, was killed when shot down behind German lines on July 14, 1918, aged 20. Roosevelt's grief was deep for this loss.
Roosevelt had been an early supporter of the modern view that called for a global order. In his Nobel prize address of 1910, he said, "it would be a master stroke if those great Powers honestly bent on peace would form a League of Peace, not only to keep the peace among themselves, but to prevent, by force if necessary, its being broken by others." When World War I broke out, Roosevelt proposed "a World League for the Peace of Righteousness", in September 1914, which would preserve sovereignty but limit armaments and require arbitration. Roosevelt had some concerns about the impact on United States sovereignty, but he insisted that such a league would only work if the United States participated as one of the "joint guarantors".
Woodrow Wilson developed his own plans for a different League of Nations. It became reality along Wilson's lines at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. Roosevelt denounced Wilson's plan but died before it was adopted. The United States never joined the League of Nations.
Roosevelt attacked Wilson's Fourteen Points, calling instead for the unconditional surrender of Germany. He was seen as a leading contender for the 1920 Republican nomination. He wrote journalist William Allen White, "I wish to do everything in my power to make the Republican Party the Party of sane, constructive radicalism, just as it was under Lincoln." While his political profile remained high, Roosevelt's physical condition deteriorated throughout 1918. He was hospitalized for seven weeks and never fully recovered from his illness.
On the night of January 5, 1919, Roosevelt suffered breathing problems. After receiving treatment from his physician, George W. Faller, he felt better and went to bed. Roosevelt's last words were "Please put out that light, James" to his family servant James Amos. Sometime between 4:00 and 4:15 the next morning, Roosevelt died at the age of 60 in his sleep at his home of Sagamore Hill. He had suffered a blood clot in his lungs.
Upon receiving word of his death, his son Archibald telegraphed his siblings: "The old lion is dead." Woodrow Wilson's vice president Thomas Marshall said, "Death had to take Roosevelt sleeping, for if he had been awake, there would have been a fight." Following a private farewell service in the North Room at Sagamore Hill, a simple funeral was held at Christ Episcopal Church in Oyster Bay. Vice President Thomas R. Marshall, Charles Evans Hughes, Warren Harding, Henry Cabot Lodge and William Howard Taft all attended. Roosevelt was buried on a hillside overlooking Oyster Bay.