Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography

Without a doubt, Theodore Roosevelt is one of my all-time favorite US Presidents. Not only for the policies he enacted, but for the large life he led—frontiersman, commissioner of police, governor, Vice President, President, explorer, Nobel Peace Prize laureate. This man did it all, and wrote about it in a very straightforward style in “Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography.”In telling his life’s story, Theodore Roosevelt (TR) compiles each chapter around a “role” in his life. For instance, a chapter on his childhood, one on his time in the American frontier, one on his work as police commissioner in New York City, and so forth. Not only does he tell what he did, but he explains why he did it and the lessons he learned along the way.Other people played important roles in his life, and TR was quick to recognize competent and loyal people, make them his friends for life, and then put them in positions where they could do the most good for the most people. I have a hunch that this was started by the way his father raised him. Very early in the book TR writes about his father—“My father, Theodore Roosevelt, was the best man I ever knew. He combined strength and courage with gentleness, tenderness, and great unselfishness. He would not tolerate in us children selfishness or cruelty, idleness, cowardice, or untruthfulness. As we grew older he made us understand that the same standard of clean living was demanded for the boys as for the girls; that what was wrong in a woman could not be right in a man. … I never knew anyone who got greater joy out of living than did my father, or anyone who more whole-heartedly performed every duty.”TR truly lived an oversized life and left an indelible stamp on the American landscape that can still be seen and felt today. This is truly an enjoyable book to read!

I thought Roosevelt's autobiography was interesting in some parts but dragged in others. My two thoughts were "Wow this is interesting" and like Jeffy in the Family Circus cartoon that takes place at Independence Hall where he is,asking his mother if our forefathers had roller coasters. This is a scholarly book and it was hard to read at times, but I am.A better person for reading it since it stretched me mentally.

That was Theodore Roosevelt's description of the plutocrats of his era - bankers and railroad barons chiefly - and it suits the bankers and oil barons of our era just as aptly. What a bizarre moment it was, last night, watching the second presidential debate between John McCain and Barack Obama, to hear McCain declare that Theodore Roosevelt was his "hero"! Of course, only a few minutes earlier, he'd proclaimed Ronald reagan as his "hero," but he had a lot of bases to touch. One has to wonder if McCain knows anything about TR apart from the quote about carrying a big stick. One of the uses of that big stick was to flog those malefactors of great wealth, Senator McCain. Roosevelt was a regulator. There's no doubt which side he would have taken in the recent debate; he would firmly have urged Congress to enact a package of regulations that would make Obama's plans seem quite moderate.To confirm my impressions of Thoedore Roosevelt as the direct progenitor of much of the New Deal and of Democratic platforms from Wilson's to Obama's, I turned directly to his Autobiography, published in 1913, after he left the White House and around the time when he abandoned the Republican Party to join the Progressives. Chapter XII - The Big Stick and the Square Deal - or chapter XIII - 'Social and Industrial Justice' - are both good places to start examining Roosevelt's thoughts about America's subjection to plutocracy, about the necessity of a strong labor movement, and about financial regulation in general. Here are some of his words:"By the time I became President I had grown to feel...that government agencies must find their justification in the way in which they are used for the practical benefit of living and working conditions among the mass of the people.... For this reason I felt that all that the government could do in the interest of labor should be done." "We passed a good law protecting the lives and health of miners... We provided for safeguarding factory employees... We passed a workman's compensation law...which did not go as far as I wished, but which was the best i could get, and which committed the Government to the right policy. We provided for an investigation of woman and child labor in the United States. Where we had the most difficulty was with the railway companies engaged in inter-State business.""It is unjust that a law which has been declared public policy by the representatives of the people should be submitted to the possibility of nullification because the Government leaves the enforcement of it to the private initiative... It should be the business of Government to enforce laws of this kind [regulations! Think ahead to the second Roosevelt's issues with the Supreme Court!] Ever since the Civil War very many decisions of the courts...as regards the application of great governmental policies for social and industrial justice, had been nothing more than ingenious justifications of the theory that these policies were mere high-sounding abstractions... The tendency of the courts had been, in the majority of cases, jealously to exert their great power in protecting thsoe who least needed protection and hardly to use their power at all in the interest of those who most needed protection." "It was an instance of the largely unconscious way in which the courts had been twisted into the exaltation of property rights over human rights, and the subordination of the welfare of the laborer when compared with the profit of the man for whom he labored."If you have access to this book, I'd also suggest reading Appendix B, Roosevelt's essay "The Control of Corporations and 'The New Freedom'." For John McCain to identify Teddy Roosevelt as his "hero" demonstrates either utter ignorance of Roosevelt's thought or else utter political opportunism and sloganeering.Roosevelt's Autobiography is spacious, a five-hundred page volume in the somewhat pontifical literary style of his era, but many readers have found it enjoyable and enlightening, myself included. Except for his benighted attitudes concerning race, reflecting the near-universal 'social Darwinist' racism of his era, Roosevelt was economically and environmentally a good deal closer to the positions of Barack Obama than to John McCain. If Roosevelt is to be someone's hero, I claim him for myself.

Amazing book. Fills your blood with American pride that such a man should have not only lived, but held office in our lands. But the story-like narration of his words often gets broken by awkward breaths, chokes or untimely sighs as if the reader doesn't wish to be reading me the words.

Great book, lots of wisdom throughout.

I like the information the book gives about Theodore Roosevelt. I learned a lot about the man.

Looks good but the front is extremely small poor choice

This book has been on my list for many years. I finally got to it and was instantly struck with the sense that now is perhaps the best time of reading it. Although recounting activities of over 100 years, the issues and message is as important, maybe more so, today as then. We need more leaders like Theodore Roosevelt today.

Good read.He is one of the best Presidents in the US. He promoted progressive policies, many of which were passed in Congress. He won the Nobel Prize in 1906 for bringing peace to end Russian Japanese War. He was an orator and a couple of his sayings captured me:______________On critics: "It is not the critic who counts. ... The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly ... who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat."On corporations: "Our aim is not to do away with corporations; on the contrary, these big aggregations are an inevitable development of modern industrialism. ... We are not hostile to them; we are merely determined that they shall be so handled as to subserve the public good. We draw the line against misconduct, not against wealth."

From being ignorant of his achievements, the book showed me why (some) American presidents are as they are.

It's a great view into the philosophy and lifestyle that Teddy Roosevelt encompassed. Very detailed chapters from everything involving underground politics, life on the ranch, and his time as Police Commissioner. Should be a must read for anyone interested in American politics and/or Roosevelt's life.

biography of Teddy Roosevelt. Very good.

Very interest part of USA history