PROGRAMMING ALERT: Bret Baier's Fox Nation series on the storied life of Teddy Roosevelt is now available to stream on Fox Nation and the Fox Nation app.
Teddy Roosevelt looked into the American heart and declared it good. And America looked at Roosevelt and saw its greatness reflected back. To this day, more than a century after his passing, Roosevelt remains one of our most admired presidents.
This week marks the publication of my latest presidential biography, "To Rescue the American Spirit: Teddy Roosevelt and the Birth of a Superpower." It was an exhilarating experience for me to live for a time in the world of our twenty-sixth president.
Born two years before the Civil War, when America would be tested as never before, Roosevelt rose to the presidency at the turn of the twentieth century, when the country was bristling with opportunity. Things could have gone a couple of different ways.
The Gilded Age had created great wealth but also crushing income inequality. There was a pattern of corruption and indifference to public life. On the world stage, the U.S. was inclined to be neutral and uninvolved — the success in the Spanish-American War a one-off. Had we continued on that path, we might have faltered. But Roosevelt broke through the malaise and inertia.
Roosevelt came into office through a presidential assassination. Everyone wanted to know if he would be loyal to the policies of his deceased predecessor, William McKinley. He wanted to ease their worries by making that promise, but it went against his nature to adhere to the status quo just as a matter of loyalty — to party or person. He set his own course — and in the process changed the course of history.
How he succeeded is a thrilling story, explored in depth in my book. But I have chosen four core reasons why Roosevelt was a great man and a great president.
Roosevelt had a strong moral core
The founders of our nation set great store by the importance of morality. John Adams declared, "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." Ben Franklin agreed. "Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom," he wrote. "As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters."
Roosevelt learned the importance of morality at his father’s knee. A prominent businessman and philanthropist known for his good works, the elder Theodore Roosevelt often told his children that morality was a higher value than status, wealth, or fame. "Take care of your morals first," he told his son as he headed off for college, and Teddy heeded the lesson. After his father died suddenly while he was at Harvard, Teddy wondered how he would measure up to his towering ethics. He spent the rest of his life trying.
In public service, Roosevelt was always mindful of the moral mandate as he grappled with the gritty affairs of men. The key for him was to be uncompromising when it came to values. He once mused, "There will be some fool who will say: ‘Well, yes, maybe he is a little crooked; but he is 'dreadful smart.' That kind of praise speaks ill for the man praised and ill for the man who praises him. We cannot afford, as citizens of this republic, to tolerate the successful scoundrel any more than the unsuccessful scoundrel."
Roosevelt believed America should lead the world
Today, when we hear America referred to as the leader of the free world, we have Roosevelt to thank. He set the course like a tall ship sailing international waters, erecting a presence for the U.S. in the world that had never existed before.
President Roosevelt’s role brokering an agreement in the Russo-Japanese war may seem like an obscure historical footnote. It isn’t talked about much. But it was America’s entre into a larger global role. Later, Roosevelt demonstrated a peaceful global dominance when he sent the nation’s "Great White Fleet" of battleships on a world tour.
Out of office as the world went to war in 1914, he became the loudest voice in favor of America’s entry into the war. Beating down resistance from the pacifist President Woodrow Wilson, he scoffed at pacifism as the equivalent of retreat from responsibility to the human race — and called it unpatriotic. He said, "Pacifism has proved the most powerful possible anesthetic of patriotism, courage and manliness. Our present business is to restore to the nation these virtues."
When America finally entered the war, Roosevelt wanted to serve, but President Wilson declared him past his prime. However, all four of his sons joined the war effort. His youngest son Quentin, a fighter pilot, died on a mission. Emotionally devastated by the loss, Roosevelt didn’t falter. He continued on with a scheduled speech in New York and praised the contribution of the fighting martyrs. "These are the torch bearers," he said through tears. "These are they who have dared the Great Adventure."
Roosevelt believed the working class should benefit from America’s success
He came from privilege but felt a strong connection to the common worker. He fought for workers’ rights, connecting the ability of workers to earn a living wage to their ability to be good citizens. Roosevelt put the matter in words everyone could understand. "No man can be a good citizen unless he has a wage more than sufficient to cover the bare cost of living, and hours of labor short enough so after his day's work is done, he will have time and energy to bear his share in the management of the community, to help in carrying the general load."
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Roosevelt always had an affinity for the common man, whether it was the ranchers or horsemen of his beloved western plains or the miners whose hardships touched him so deeply that he fought for their cause. In every case, his attention was on harnessing the great American spirit, present in its people, for the future he envisioned.
Roosevelt urged citizens to join the greatest cause on earth — as a civic duty and a calling
He did it all with a passion and joy unusual to chief executives. The White House under Roosevelt was a vibrant, noisy, happy place, full of children, animals, and the great booming laughter of the president. He embodied the daring spirit of a new century in a manner that gave permission to others to embrace adventure.
After his presidency, Roosevelt gave one of the most important calls to action of his time with a speech that still resonates. Called Citizenship in a Republic, it is known as the "Man in the Arena" speech. In a straightforward way, he laid out the fundamental premise of citizenship, stating, "It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena."
In powerful prose born of a conviction deep in his soul, Roosevelt called on his countrymen to engage fully in their citizenship — to dare greatly in a worthy cause.
Words and actions like these make Teddy Roosevelt a unique and wonderful voice — the all-American man whose life epitomized what we strive for as a nation.
