When Trumpets Call by Theodore Roosevelt

Author:Theodore Roosevelt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2005-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

FIFTEEN

Wild Surmise

BRIEFLY, the half-god disappeared into his forest, reveling in the dog-wood and birdsong of spring. Ecstatic at Theodore’s victory, Edith hoped that he would at last “be satisfied to keep entirely out of politics, and not feel that he must carry every lame dog on his back.” For a time she had her wish. In July, Ted reported to Kermit that their father was “absolutely out of politics now and devoting his time and energy to make this country realize the need for preparedness.”

Father was pushing a large rock up a steep hill. The president had dismissed the champions of preparedness as “nervous and excited” and assured Americans that their country was well defended. Told that Major General Leonard Wood, the army’s former chief of staff, believed in maintaining an army and navy strong enough to make an invasion unthinkable, Wilson saw only the political hazards of giving generals and admirals their way. Large forces were expensive and in his view un-American, turning the nation into an armed camp and requiring young men to spend their best years as soldiers.

Privately, though, Wilson wondered how many voters shared Roosevelt’s disdain for the “too proud to fight” speech and for the diplomatic notes he sent Germany in hopes of ending the submarine attacks on merchant vessels. The first note after the sinking of the Lusitania was written in a tone that Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan, a pacifist, thought overly confrontational, and it brought the impenitent reply that the Lusitania had been sunk in self-defense. On June 8, as Wilson was putting the last touches on a second note, a sternly worded demand that Germany rededicate itself to the “rights of humanity,” Bryan resigned.

One of the president’s aides confided to Gus Karger that Wilson’s severe tone was meant to “pocket” Roosevelt, but Roosevelt was no more pocketed than Germany. Later in the summer, when his daughter Alice told him that Wilson had written yet another note, TR sarcastically asked if she had noticed the serial number. He had lost track, he said, “but I am inclined to think it is No. 11,765, Series B.” He saw the notes as “milk-and-water” and predicted that they would encourage the Germans to more “blood-and-iron.”

The dangers Roosevelt saw were largely invisible to the rest of the country. Protected by two wide moats, the Atlantic and the Pacific, Americans felt no need for more army or navy and enjoyed thinking that their goodwill and peaceable intentions enabled them to walk the world without brandishing a big stick. Congressman Gardner of Massachusetts, Lodge’s son-in-law, met rebuff in every quarter when he called for a bipartisan commission to assess the state of the nation’s defenses. The president summoned Gardner to the White House to tell him that such an inquiry might suggest hostile intentions on the part of the United States. Gardner pressed on, enlisting five former secretaries of war to explain the need for the investigation to the House Rules Committee. The committee refused to see them.

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