A biography paper

Started by ~Ozy~ December 11th, 2004 3:37 PM
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~Ozy~

PC's Unofficial Poetry Critic

Age 34
White Sword Tower
Seen June 12th, 2012
Posted December 1st, 2006
5,246 posts
19 Years
If you care to read the whole thing, tell me what you think. Brief paper I wrote on Theodore Roosevelt last year, I'm rather proud of it.


Theodore Roosevelt rose to the Presidency of the United States of America under less than auspicious circumstances on the morning of the 14th of September, 1901, at approximately 2:15 a.m. (3). Telegrams of the previous day had informed the vice-president of the McKinley administration that the president was in critical condition after being shot by anarchist Leon Czolgosz (4). Roosevelt, knowing that he would soon attain his lifelong goal of the presidency, departed Mount Marcy, in the Adirondack Mountains, for Rock Creek Station. It was about a seven-mile drive by day, but much longer on this rainy night.

Few who knew the man were surprised by his ascendance. His old tutor in Germany said, He will surely one day be a great professor. Or, who knows, he may even become President of the United States (10). During his life, he had been nearly everything: cowboy, New York assemblyman, amateur boxer, bird watcher, lawman, and academic (he had read well over 20,000 books and written fifteen of his own). Now, the world would watch to see what he would make of his lifelong goal (10).

Roosevelt was a man of implacable force and inexhaustible energy. His early years were quite different, though. He was forced inside by a sickly demeanor and cut off from normal schoolboy life by his tutor. Slowly, though, he built up his stamina through boxing, riding, and weightlifting. As he grew, hunting became a favorite pastime and his Winchester .45 a favorite companion. During one hunt he decided to engage a cougar in a fight, using only a small skinning knife for his lack of claws (8).

On the train ride to Buffalo that morning in 1901, he reflected on his predecessors assassination, and on what he would do if someone were to attack him. If the shot came from the rear, then so be it. If the attack was frontal, well, he was confident in his own reflexes and determination to take the assailant down with him.

Obviously, it was a man different from his predecessors who came to the Oval Office. He was full of passion and ideas, and he was more than willing to use force to put those ideas into effect. He was also the youngest man to reach the White House, at a paltry age forty-two. What would he make of America?

The First Term

The new President was popular in most every social circle. His mother was a Southern lady, his father a wealthy New Englander. He had been in the army and had worked in both the the west and the east. The international community favored him for his knowledge and respect of other cultures and for his mastery of both German and French. Labor liked his moderately progressive standpoint and Capital, his economic background.

On the train ride to Buffalo, Roosevelt demonstrated his deft political skill by sending a telegram to Secretary of State John Hay, requesting him to stay on. The old-guard Republican now was trapped. On one hand, he felt that his time in office was spent; on the other, he couldnt resign without giving the impression that he had no confidence in the countrys new leader, thereby weakening the entire executive branch.

Senator Mark Hanna was a different story. The old-guard senator was the consummate Southern patron for the Republican Party and could fairly effectively control both the legislative and executive branches of government. No president had interfered with him without major political consequences. As for Roosevelt returning to office in 1904, Hanna would only say that it was something for the future to decide (16).

Alas, this political peace was not to last. On 16 September, 1901, Roosevelt took a seemingly simple action, inviting a well-known and somewhat well-liked man to the White House for dinner. As it turned out, this would raise cries of traitor in some areas. The man who caused such controversy was Booker T. Washington (52-55). At approximately 7:30 p.m., Washington entered the White House, the only African-American ever to have visited for the purposes of a dinner. The other only guest not from the Roosevelt family was a friend from Colorado, Philip B. Stewart (52).

The dinner proceeded uneventfully, with Southern politics being the main topic of discussion. Roosevelt was inclined to agree with Washington that the Negro could rise above his race and achieve recognition and political privilege through personal merit. But Roosevelt also felt that the Negro race as a whole was further behind on the evolutionary continuum than was the white one. He was firm in his Southern belief that Amendment 15, giving people of color the right to vote, was a mistake (53).

Despite Roosevelts personal beliefs, the entire South took him for a Rank Negrophilist, among other things. Although most of this political controversy puzzled the new president, it made one thing painfully clear to him: There was a significant difference between Private Citizen Roosevelt and President Roosevelt (53). The fact that he felt puzzled by this development can suggest at least one of the major influences upon Roosevelt: a man by the name of Abraham Lincoln. Both men would have felt perfectly at home inviting any outstanding private citizen to the White House for dinner, regardless of race. Roosevelts Secretary of State, John Hay, had worked under the Lincoln administration, and it was partly for this reason that Roosevelt kept Hay on.

In sharp contrast to the outrage of the conservative white population that put Roosevelt into office, the African-American population and the more liberally-minded white population of the United States regarded Roosevelt as their president after the dinner with Washington. Still, the negative voices cried louder, and the entire dinner was regarded as a political disaster. It would take a lot of work to gain Southern votes in the 04 election. Roosevelt asked that in the future, Washington to come around to the White House during normal business hours, or, preferably, communicate solely by letter (57-58).

Another potential disaster came in the seemingly innocuous form of a dinner at Yale. Unfortunately, a Southern newspaper found out that the president and Dr. Washington were to dine together there. Yale University denied it, saying that Washington was only to march behind Roosevelt in the academic procession, but it was too late. The president had further alienated himself from the crucial Southern vote. Still, Supreme Court Justice David J. Brewer heartened both men when he said, Thank God, there have always been men in this country, college men who can recognize a true Washington, though his first name be not George (56).

Theodore Roosevelt was a man of profound moral integrity and believed wholeheartedly in the democratic process. Events such as McKinleys assassination angered him to no end as attacks on the Constitution itself. It was not that he was worried about individual people, but these substrates of American culture were a never ending annoyance to him, wasps attacking a bull, as it were (8). In the end though, these small, oftentimes progressive units of society were to impact many of his later decisions.

Like many Americans of the time, Roosevelt saw his nation as the worlds leading power, a young colossus standing watch over two seas. He also felt the need for a navy to represent this profound status. Indeed, the as former Assistant Secretary of the Navy, he was involved deeply with the military might of the United States at sea for all his life. So when trouble came along in the form of big, bad Germany (and Kaiser Wilhelm II) with a neat little South American package (Venezuela) in tow, the emphasis on updating Americas ramshackle little fleet was clear. The entire issue had started over repayment of debts owed to Britain and Germany by the South American nation. When she couldnt repay those debts, even after her currency was severely devalued, Germany instigated a blockade of the Venezuelan seacoast. Although this incident occurred after the height of Imperialism, Roosevelt feared that the blockade would suddenly turn into a ninty-nine-year lease. This would be a clear violation of one of Roosevelts more treasured ideals, the Monroe Doctrine, which he would later reinforce with the Roosevelt Collorary (187).

Wilhelm II was at the moment, the most dangerous man on the planet. The German Navy was, ton for ton, the largest in the world, and General Leonard Wood couldn't decide with which to be more impressed: the kaisers personality (much akin to Roosevelts in many ways) or his mechanically efficient army (186). In any confrontation, the United States would surely be the loser, yet in Roosevelts mind, it would be worse to violate the Monroe Doctrine. It led closer to war than any citizen knew about. The whole matter was kept entirely out of the papers (183-192).

The situation was not as inevitable as it appeared. Although the kaisers navy was among the best in the world, it was currently dispersed, and the Americans could deal a severe blow to Teutonic pride before Germanys maritime forces were collected and on the correct side of the American continent. Roosevelt, shrewd as ever, had already noted this. He set a deadline of December 17 for complete withdrawal of German forces from the Venezuelan coastline. The Germans obliged, not knowing if it was typical Rooseveltian bluster or a serious threat. From all evidence (of which there is not much; both nations agreed it would be better for their respective prides to mention nothing), it was the latter (190-192).

The Accidental President had passed his first major hurdle in office. Now, an even greater one beckoned: that of the Isthmian Canal route. French efforts in this area had already failed, across the Panamanian sector of the isthmus. Now, with the United States to take up the effort, a debate remained over which route would be taken. In Panama, the U.S. could take advantage of French construction efforts, along with a shorter distance, but a majority of both the House and Senate favored cutting through Nicaragua (111). The issue was actually resolved before the German tensions, at least with the French. The Senate and House had both approved, after much arguing, the Panama route, and the United States had purchased French holdings in Panama for $40,000,000, the largest amount ever paid for land in the history of the world. Had the Panama route not been approved, however, it would still have been chosen, due to a little noticed amendment tacked onto the approval bill. It provided that as long as the cost did not exceed $40,000,000, the president could purchase land from the French government for the purpose of a canal. The measure was unnecessary, though, as the bill had passed and the land was bought (111-113).

Nothing much happened towards the end of Roosevelt's first term in office. A lynching took place, and the president condemned such vigilante justice (250). A well-to-do American citizen was taken hostage in Morocco, and a small force of the much-improved United States Navy was sent to the North African nation, much to the chagrin of the State Department when it was discovered that the hostage was not American at all, but Greek (323). Nearing the convention, Roosevelt had a large enough majority to guarantee the nomination, though shortly before the convention took place, there was a strong counteroffensive by Senator Mark Hanna, one of the few remaining old-guard Republicans. The majority was enough though, and the Accidental President had the chance to take the office in his own right. He crushed the Democratic nominee, Judge Alton B. Parker with relative ease.

The Second Term

Roosevelts second term began almost as uneventfully as the first had ended, although the Japanese were crushing the Russians in one of the centurys lesser-known wars, the Russo-Japanese War. It was getting to the point that to prevent an Alliance Domino effect, the United States would have to intervene. The recently reelected president was extremely cautious, though, in how he went about this intervention. To preserve Russian pride and U.S. standing he could neither appear to have solicited these actions, nor could he appear to have dealt underhandedly with the Japanese. With the capture of the city of Mukden, the Russian army was beginning to grow weary. Combined with low morale after the complete decimation of the Russian Navy, they could not seriously hope to hold on to recent territorial gains. On the other hand, Japan could not invade Siberia without having its army crushed by the nearly limitless manpower of the full Russian army. The war was rapidly headed for deadlock. Neither side would back down for fear of losing face, but neither could advance any further. For all practical effects, arbitration was necessary, and who better than the giant who stood between the two powers (378).

The Japanese were the first to be willing to talk, sending a request to President Roosevelt for peace talks, with him as an impartial judge. The Japanese could not send a direct request, for fear of showing weakness, but the war had hit hard on the Japanese home front. With their ever-dwindling supplies, they could not keep the war going for much longer. He made the offer to the tsar, cautious not to make it sound like an offer. Before any response came, he left town to give his niece, Eleanor Roosevelt, away to his fifth-cousin Franklin (378).

Although many today regard the Panama Canal as the first Roosevelts greatest accomplishment, he felt it insignificant (although not unimportant) compared to the Russo-Japanese peace agreement. After months of negotiation to even get the two warring powers to talk, he finally got them to sit down at the peace table at the roughly equidistant point of Oyster Bay, on the east coast of the United States. Roosevelt himself had several conditions for arbitrating the agreement, first and foremost the continuation of an Open Door policy in Manchuria and the return of Manchuria to China. The two nations agreed (378-402).

Finally, these two most stubborn of nations agreed to a set of terms including Russias loss of southern Sakhalin to the Japanese and partial compensation for the war by Russia, but no indemnity, at first a key Japanese demand. Russia lost many of her Asian holdings, but the motherland itself was not cut into. Under the supervision of Roosevelt, the Russo-Japanese war was ended (414).

The last big issue remaining in Roosevelts presidency was that of Progressivism. After reading Upton Sinclairs The Jungle, the President ordered an investigation into the meatpacking industry. After the Northern Securities vs. United States antitrust suit of the first administration, this investigation fairly reeked of government interference in free-market society to many old-guard Republicans. Most of them vowed never to support Roosevelt again. The investigation, however, found that Sinclairs work did not even begin to portray the horrors of the meatpacking industry. Reform bill after reform bill was posed to Congress; the most important ones (the Pure food and Drug Act among them) passed (439-491). In addition, Roosevelt hosted a conservation forum, with many senators and most governors attending. He also turned national land management over from the Department of Agriculture to Forest Services, effectively preserving forested ares. He founded five national parks and fifteen national monuments (514).

Towards the end of his term (Roosevelt adamantly refused to run again, despite wide support everywhere but Wall Street), the president began to make more and more radical statements. Some began to question his sanity, particularly with the Cuban Fever of the Rough Riders running in his veins. The radical statements, were, of course, a political tactic, as was nearly everything he did. In this case, he was trying to make his heir, William Howard Taft, look more moderate and gain both the corporate vote (hes better than Roosevelt) and the common vote (hes Roosevelt's successor). Roosevelt, after declining his almost definite third term, began to plan a hunting trip to Africa. Taft was busy managing his candidacy. One last decision of import was made, however. In a response to increased Japanese interests in the Pacific a Great White Fleet was sent on a trip around the world. It was one of the largest fleets ever seen in the modern day, comprised of sixteen heavy-gun battleships. They made a point of stopping to refuel in Yokohama. All-in-all though, it was a delaying tactic. Roosevelt regarded conflict between Japan and the United States as inevitable. If all went according to plan, the fleet would arrive a scant ten days before Roosevelt left politics (492).

Taft won the election in November. On the day he took office (4 March, 1909), a heavy blizzard hit Washington. Roosevelt joked that, I knew there would be a blizzard when I went out (551). As president, Theodore Roosevelt had done more for American power across the globe than any other man in the entire history of the nation since the founding fathers. He rebuilt the American navy, reformed industry in general, and redefined the role of government in the economy. He successfully ended a war and cut inter-oceanic travel times by weeks. He was not so much a man as a force, an irresistible, unstoppable force. Washington D.C. felt vacant without him.

Roosevelt too, had grown and changed with the nation. The raw, jumpy enthusiasm that had marked his youth was now muted under the weight of political cautions and the onset of old age. He had become less jumpy, settling into more predictable paths than before, although many still found everything he did a surprise. Over his two administrations, he had become more friendly with Labor and harsher on Capital. He now seemed prepared to settle gently into semi-anonymity.
Eternally devoted and wed to my darling pet, Nagoyaka Aikouka.


"Your Grace, all that you say is true. On the Trident, Rhaegar fought valiantly, Rhaegar fought honorably, Rhaegar fought nobly, and Rhaegar died.
Seen July 7th, 2008
Posted April 5th, 2006
2,943 posts
19.7 Years
You wrote all that, dear? LOL I didn't think it was possible. As for myself, I have never really written anything that long. My my, and this is considered brief? XD Anyways, on to my report. :)

Correct grammar - 8.6%
Use of words - 9.7% (note: good vocabulary)
Use of detail - 8.9%
On-Topic - 9.5%
Attention Lure - 9.3%

*Overall Rating - 9.6%


Good report :)

*dies*

~Ozy~

PC's Unofficial Poetry Critic

Age 34
White Sword Tower
Seen June 12th, 2012
Posted December 1st, 2006
5,246 posts
19 Years
Yeah, this was cut down from around 20 (cut from a 600-page biography I read) or so pages, I had to do a lot the night before it was due (the teacher said at the last minute he wanted no more than ten pages). I originally had a lot more on the founding of the National Park Service and the Russo-Japanese peace treaty.
Eternally devoted and wed to my darling pet, Nagoyaka Aikouka.


"Your Grace, all that you say is true. On the Trident, Rhaegar fought valiantly, Rhaegar fought honorably, Rhaegar fought nobly, and Rhaegar died.

Kyosuke

.·Simple Complexity

Age 34
Pickering, On
Seen August 8th, 2018
Posted May 17th, 2014
2,485 posts
19.7 Years
It sounded just like a narrator for a biography time of thing, I don't really know much about Theodore Roosevelt, but by the length of writing (and proberly research), you covered him very well.

There's not much else I can say about this, seeing how it is a biography and you can't really judge the writing, but I enjoyed the history lesson XD.
"Life isn't perfect, but sometimes you have to make the best of it."

After 7 years, Xbox Live is Still Amazing

·!¦[·Latest pieces of Writing·]¦!·
Age 35
In a box, where do you think?
Seen December 4th, 2006
Posted November 26th, 2006
4,294 posts
18.9 Years
It sounded just like a narrator for a biography time of thing, I don't really know much about Theodore Roosevelt, but by the length of writing (and proberly research), you covered him very well.

There's not much else I can say about this, seeing how it is a biography and you can't really judge the writing, but I enjoyed the history lesson XD.
Definetly agreed :P

Good work though

~Ozy~

PC's Unofficial Poetry Critic

Age 34
White Sword Tower
Seen June 12th, 2012
Posted December 1st, 2006
5,246 posts
19 Years
Thanks, both of you. I do like it a lot, glad to hear you agree.

And researched? Oh yeah. It was a semester-long project.
Eternally devoted and wed to my darling pet, Nagoyaka Aikouka.


"Your Grace, all that you say is true. On the Trident, Rhaegar fought valiantly, Rhaegar fought honorably, Rhaegar fought nobly, and Rhaegar died.