The Rough Rider and the Professor by Laurence Jurdem

Author:Laurence Jurdem
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pegasus Books
Published: 2023-07-04T00:00:00+00:00

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Throughout the rest of 1906 and 1907 Roosevelt was inundated with a series of challenges that pushed his abilities and temperament to the limit. In October 1906 the president ordered the deployment of American troops to quell a military insurgency in Cuba. Instability in the Philippines had increased as well. The development had prompted the president to send his old Rough Rider companion, Leonard Wood, out to the Pacific to subdue a resistance movement by members of an Islamic sect known as the Moro people.34

As one who enjoyed a display of power on the battlefield, Wood was determined to give the Moros “a good spank.” The two-year battle to subdue the indigenous tribe culminated in an incident resulting in the deaths of more than six hundred women and children. Those moments of international turmoil all paled to the president’s disgraceful treatment of African American troops following a disturbance in Brownsville, Texas, in the summer of 1906.35

Following a riot in the community that left one man dead, many of the town’s white citizens placed responsibility for the disturbance on a regiment of Black soldiers stationed at Fort Brown. Despite a local investigation absolving the soldiers of blame, an air of suspicion remained over the African American troops. As inquiries continued, the situation grew more contentious following the refusal by members of the regiment to testify against their comrades.36

Roosevelt viewed the troops’ refusal to name names as a blemish on the honor of the United States military. As punishment, the president demanded a dishonorable discharge of all 167 members of the regiment. The decision, which resulted in the expulsion of six winners of the Congressional Medal of Honor, polarized the nation.37

Ohio’s Senator Joseph B. Foraker, a staunch opponent of the president’s attacks on the nation’s corporate class, demanded a congressional investigation. The Republican was considering a run for the presidency in 1908 and Roosevelt believed the Midwestern politico was using the incident to enhance his name recognition among African American voters. The situation between the two men grew worse during a fiery confrontation over the Brownsville affair at Washington’s annual Gridiron Dinner in January 1907. During Roosevelt’s comments, his remarks became so heated that the following day, editorialist Albert J. Taylor of the Los Angeles Times visually depicted T. R. chasing Foraker through the Senate door with a hot poker.38

Lodge worried that Foraker’s investigation was causing great dissension within the Republican Party. “Is there no way in the world in which we can put a detective or a Secret Service man on these fellows?” the senator inquired in June 1907 as he considered how to discover what Foraker was planning to reveal in his report on the Brownsville issue. Always trying to temper any controversy before it became unmanageable, the senator hoped to shut down the investigation as soon as possible. Lodge’s reasoning was not only political but also personal. With only a brief period left in Roosevelt’s presidency, Lodge did not want his friend to lose focus on portions of his agenda that remained unfulfilled.

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