First Great Triumph: How Five Americans Made Their Country a World Power

by Warren Zimmermann

"We were sure that we would win, that we should score the first great triumph in a mighty world-movement."--Theodore Roosevelt, 1904 Americans like to think they have no imperial past. In fact, the United States became an imperial nation within five short years a century ago (1898-1903), exploding onto the international scene with the conquest of Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, and (indirectly) Panama. How did the nation become a player in world politics so suddenly-and what inspired the move toward imperialism in the first place? The renowned diplomat and writer Warren Zimmermann seeks answers in the lives and relationships of five remarkable the hyper-energetic Theodore Roosevelt, the ascetic naval strategist Alfred T. Mahan, the bigoted and wily Henry Cabot Lodge, the self-doubting moderate Secretary of State John Hay, and the hard-edged corporate lawyer turned colonial administrator Elihu Root. Faced with difficult choices, these extraordinary men, all close friends, instituted new political and diplomatic policies with intermittent audacity, arrogance, generosity, paternalism, and vision. Zimmermann's discerning account of these five men also examines the ways they exploited the readiness of the American people to support a surge of expansion overseas. He makes it clear why no discussion of America's international responsibilities today can be complete without understanding how the United States claimed its global powers a century ago.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History, Biography, 19th Century, Politics, 20th Century

576 pages, Paperback

First published October 21, 2002

Reviews

[Clif · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 2016 the United States has over 700 military bases across the world. As the sole superpower, it feels entitled to intervene anywhere it chooses and goes to great lengths to provide the network of facilities that will enable it to do so.

This situation is relatively new. When I was a young man, it was the Cold War that was used to explain American global military expansion, but as events since the end of the USSR in 1991 have shown, there has been something more driving the U.S. to dominate the world militarily, something at work, as this book describes, many decades before the Cold War.

First Great Triumph investigates the time at the turn of the 20th century when the United States took advantage of the feeble state of the Spanish Empire to make an appearance for the first time on the stage of great power deployment. The famous sinking of the U.S.S. Maine in Havana harbor, now thought to have been due to an explosion of coal fumes, provided the excuse to declare war on Spain and in short order take over authority in Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines.

Warren Zimmerman chose as the backbone of his book, five people who played important roles in turning the U.S. toward expansion. John Hay started as a young aide to Lincoln and ended up Secretary of State under Teddy Roosevelt. Alfred Mahan, a lover of history and an irritating misfit in the U.S. Navy, composed his classic "The Influence of Sea Power on History" with perfect timing for it provide a template for the expansion and deployment of sea power by the United States. Elihu Root was one of those people who succeed at everything they try, going from a lawyer representing corporations to become Secretary of War under TR. Henry Cabot Lodge, an aristocratic U.S. Senator from Massachusetts played an essential role in shepherding legislation through Congress that was necessary for the handling of the newly acquired territories won from Spain. Theodore Roosevelt unsurprisingly completes the list of characters chosen by Zimmerman. TR's zest for war did not start the Spanish-American war, coming as it did before he became president, but his relentless support for military action, enthusiasm for Mahan's recipe for sea power and his close connection with the other four principals in the book, all of whom were part of or worked with his administration, make him the centerpiece of the story.

And what a rich and deep account is provided. Opening with individual biographies, Zimmerman continues with an examination of the social conditions and ideas that dominated the times. Social Darwinism in America is examined along with the bigotry it justified, present to some extent in all of the characters. Brief histories of the lands the U.S. took from Spain are included along with a history of Hawaii, another in the chain of properties that provided stepping stones across the Pacific to the big prize of the Philippines. One thing is clear, the interests of the people of the lands the U.S. took to itself were quite secondary to American global aspirations, this being the nature of imperialism.

Above all, it is the interplay of personalities and the description of how each challenge is met by the five protagonists that make the book an enjoyable read. Zimmerman states in his introduction that the book is not written to either praise or condemn American imperialism, but to approach the times in a fair way, giving an account of all sides. The triumph in the title refers to the victory for the Unites States in the war with Spain, giving it a place at the table of major powers, the opening move in the building of an empire that is still being maintained, somewhat shakily and at huge expense, over a hundred years later.

I leave you with a few quotes I found in the book that I found thought provoking for Americans in the 21st century.

"America does not go abroad in search of monsters to destroy"
- John Quincy Adams

"There is a wide difference between taking a suitable part and bearing responsibility in world affairs and plunging the United States into every conflict on the face of the globe"
- Henry Cabot Lodge

"Our chief usefulness to humanity rests on our combining power with high purpose."
-Theodore Roosevelt

[Pam Walter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Warren Zimmermann gives a fresh look at American politicians at the turn of the 20th Century. He describes political attitudes not taught in schools and looks at the (then) Imperialistic nature of America. He tells of the American acquisition of Hawaii, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and The Philippines. At the same time, some social reform was legislated, largely control of trusts and better management of tariffs. Americans believed that after conquering America, Manifest Destiny applied to American acquisitions overseas. They saw us as a Great World Power and envisioned an American Empire, whose goal was world domination. Zimmermann has shown me another side of Teddy Roosevelt that I did not know. Roosevelt, along with his cabinet, friends, and political allies worked toward overtaking the Spanish Colonies as well as simply overthrowing small monarchies, as with Hawaii. They included John Hay, Alfred T. Mahan, Henry Cabot Lodge, and Elihu Root. An excellent and highly readable true history.

[Urey Patrick]

I have mixed emotions about this book. The author argues that the US is, and has always been, an Imperialist nation. He cites the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the Westward Expansion across the continent as proof of his premise... and the Spanish-American War as the fruition of American Imperialism that has since matured throughout the 20th Century. I think his analysis deeply flawed, although an argument can certainly be made that the Spanish-American War was in fact an American dalliance with Imperialism. That said, and I think it to be true, that does not validate America's Imperialist tendencies before the war, nor did it lead to continued American Imperialism.



On the other hand, his history is informative, detailed and greatly interesting. He lays out extensive biographies of his five principal "Imperialists" - John Hay, Alfred Thayer Mahan, Theodore Roosevelt, Henry Cabot Lodge and Elihu Root - that are revealing and informative. I was especially interested in the personal histories of John Hay and Alfred Thayer Mahan - much here you may not find elsewhere, and concisely presented. I question the overarching primacy of these five men in creating the Imperialist outburst of 1898. They were important and influential figures, to be sure - but not the only ones.



Also, his recounting of the events, personalities, politics, diplomatic maneuverings, strategies, tactics and cultural influences surrounding the war with Spain, the annexation of Hawaii, the takings of Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines is excellent. Disappointingly, the actual war with Spain gets fairly short shrift in one chapter. And clearly the author disapproves of the Imperialist tendencies of the US - even when they are being exercised at the expense of other Imperialist powers. He recognizes, but quickly glosses over, the certain fates of Hawaii, Guam and the Philippines at the hands of the Germans, the French and particularly the Japanese - all of which were REAL Imperialist powers looking for more acquisitions. It is his analysis of underlying causes and meanings that is flawed, so read the history - don't spend a lot of time on the rest.



The author would also benefit from better editing. There are frequent annoying errors, and inexplicable word choices, that shouldn't be there. For example, discussing General Miles of the American forces in Cuba, the author mentions that he was an Indian fighter and had captured the great "Sioux" chieftain Geronimo - except Geronimo was Apache. A second reference much later in the text correctly identifies Geronimo as Apache. Another example, he dotes on the word "filibuster" - using it repeatedly as a verb to describe fleet movements. That is an esoteric definition that will puzzle most readers - the word can mean a "free-booter" in the sense of one engaging in unauthorized warfare, but the author uses it in a more general sense perhaps in accordance with his palpable disapproval of the Navy's authorized maneuvers... i.e., the US Naval ships "filibustered" from Key West towards Cuba... it just doesn't fit.

[James Henderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Writing en route to Cuba during the Spanish-American War, Theodore Roosevelt envisioned the coming campaign as "the first great triumph in what will be a world movement." That movement—the emergence of the United States as a world power—is the subject of this thoughtful approach to the history and diplomacy of the era of the Spanish American War. The first half of the book, after an overview of the United States in 1898, consist of essays on five men who exemplified the expansionist movement and played a part in its development. They include the poet, journalist, and diplomat John Hay; Alfred T. Mahan, theorist of sea power; Elihu Root, corporation lawyer, government administrator, and presidential adviser; Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, expansionist spokesman and mentor of Theodore Roosevelt, and finally, TR himself. Mahan narrates the stories of these lives of the leaders of this era with attention to their accomplishments and, in the cases of Alfred T. Mahan and Elihu Root, these were a revelation to me.

The second half of the book was a more traditional history of the era and in it the author, while decrying the advent of American imperialism, betrayed his own preference for big government. He concludes with an analysis of the legacy on the twentieth century of the expansion led by these five men: the creation of an authentic American Imperialism (for better or worse), the preparation of the United States to be a great power, the first comprehensive assertion of of U. S. security interests abroad, the creation of foreign policy priorities in human rights and stability, and finally strengthening the American presidency. This final legacy has grown unwieldy at the beginning of our new century. Overall Zimmermann's book was an excellent historical overview of a formative period for American foreign relations.

[Eric Atkisson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good read I'd strongly recommend to anyone with an interest in the major events of the McKinley and Roosevelt administrations and the rise of the United States as a global power. Zimmermann offers brief but incisive biographies of John Hay, Henry Cabot Lodge, Alfred Thayer Mahan, Theodore Roosevelt, and Elihu Root and offers a compelling portrayal of their influence on events before, during, and after the Spanish-American War--including what happened in Cuba, Hawaii, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico. The final chapters do an excellent job tying it all together and showing the lasting influence these five men had on American foreign policy.

[Lauren Hiebner · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book by Zimmermann has an interesting approach in providing a brief biography of the five individuals that he says are the “founding fathers” of US modern imperialism at the turn of the century. Each brief biography includes not just personal information but political and intellectual developments of each person. They are: John Hay, Alfred T. Mahan, Elijhu Root, Henry Cabot Lodge, and Theodore Roosevelt. The second half of the book looks at the first imperialist actions in Hawaii, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. Zimmermann gives a fair evaluation of imperialism, it’s pros and cons which includes the anti-imperialists and their viewpoints. He does rightly say that imperialism is at heart racist. Then later he stretches it a bit to say that if it wasn’t for these five people Hitler may have won in World War II and the Communists would have won the Cold War. However, Zimmerman does accurately identify five legacies of imperialism that guided American foreign policy in the 20th Century and beyond. A very good read.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Took a while to get through this one, but that's OK; its style lends itself to that. Zimmerman presents this as a single narrative that tells the story of "How Five Americans Made Their Country a World Power" (the book's subtitle), but it's by no means that integrated. The first 200 pages or so are the interlocking biographies of the five men in question, imperialists all: Theodore Roosevelt; TR's Secretary of State, John Hay; his Secretary of War, Elihu Root; Massachusetts Senator Henry Cabot Lodge; and naval strategist Alfred Mahan. Zimmerman clearly admires what these men accomplished, but he is by no means a hagiographer; Hay comes off as ineffectual, lazy, and decadent;, Lodge as vain, ambitious, and cold; and Roosevelt as a blustering bully (Root, however, comes away unscathed; Mahan just fades into the background in the presence of these bigger, more epoch-making personalities). Dispensing with their biographies, Zimmerman moves on to the Spanish-American War and the entry of the U.S. onto the world stage as an imperial power. This history he tells well, from the Establishment reluctance to go to war to the war itself to the political and diplomatic problems encountered as the U.S. tried to think through how to govern colonies. It's a fine read and could stand alone, without the long biographical intro (or perhaps different bios; by the time he's done, what he really made me hungry for was a good biography of William McKinley, who becomes far more fascinating in Zimmerman's hands than he ever has to me before). Zimmerman, himself a former U.S. diplomat, is most taken with the policy and bureaucracy of imperialism, but that's in no way bad; it makes his work more balanced and intricate than a simple triumphalist (or condemnatory) narrative. On the whole quite interesting, though I think he could have lost the 200-ish pages of biographical material and still had a fine book.

[Bill Gawne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zimmerman provides us with a great look at the United States around the turn of the 20th century, seen through the lives of five men: Theodore Roosevelt, Alfred T. Mahan, Henry Cabot Lodge, John Hay, and Elihu Root. Excellent history and great insight into how the actions and decisions of these men influenced American policies for the following century.

[Grindy Stone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Starts out promising, with thumbnail bios of Roosevelt, Lodge, Root, Mahan, and Hay, before bogging down in a description of the Spanish-American War. It seemed to take longer to wade through the second half of the book than the war actually lasted.

[Brandy Montgomery · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had to read this book for my Historiography class but ended up really enjoying it. It's a great read for anyone who enjoys reading about history.

[Jfarley]

Just the first thrd of the book, biographies of the principal personalities, makes this worth reading.

[Malena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just a bit dense for a summer read, but really interesting history.

[Joe Stack · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a well-written comprehensive history of a period that most readers, if I use myself as an example, know only superficially with the annexation of Hawaii, the sinking of the MAINE, Teddy Roosevelt & the Rough Riders, and a victory against Spain that turned over Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines to the U.S. Anchoring this history on five influential figures of this period, the author gives readers a thorough narrative of the years 1898-1902 when the U.S. at its best and worst comes to dominate the Caribbean and becomes an important power in Asia by possessing Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines.

I liked how the author structured his narrative. Each chapter of first part is a biography of the five men the author considers the most influential in making the U.S. a world power during the McKinley presidency. These chapters are so well written and informative that this part of the book rates at least 4 stars.

The second part of the book details the events of the late 19th Century and the roles and influences of Hays, Lodge, Root, Mahan, & Roosevelt.

It was a revelation to this reader how prevalent in American politics of the late 19th Century was the obsession to annex Cuba. I was aware of the desire to annex Cuba earlier in the 1800s, but had thought this idea disappeared after the Civil War.

Revealing too is the author’s portrayal of Theodore Roosevelt. Even though this reader was well aware of TR’s fighting spirit, the bellicosity and grandiosity TR displayed during this period stood out to me as not always being his best character trait.

A glaring aspect of this period that the author includes is the racism of the policy makers and many Americans in general. For policy makers, such as Hays, Root, & Roosevelt, racism showed up in contradictory aspects of their personalities and in the policies they sought. They were men of their period, and sometimes they tried to be better. Fortunately, as the author points out, the men President McKinley appointed “made a genuine effort to carry out McKinley’s wish that the United States should govern for the benefit of the native populations. . . . The inspiration for their progressive approach came from William McKinley, who translated his own common decency and generous spirit into a genuine concern for the island peoples. Many of the best elements of the American colonist are traceable to this modest President.”

Garnishing 5 stars from this reader are the last two chapters, Chapter 11, “The Imperial Presidency,” and Chapter 12, “America’s Century.” These two chapters wrap up the lives of Hays, Lodge, Root, Mahan, & Roosevelt with a thorough review of their legacies that have endured throughout the 20th Century and into the 21st. These chapters of the achievements and ramifications (good and bad) of the McKinley & Roosevelt administrations in expanding America’s status could be called the triumphs and tribulations of the U.S. as a world power.

The author is convincing in his presentation of the influence these five men had. Pivotal too, though, is President McKinley and while not at the influential level of the author’s five subjects, the author does give McKinley proper recognition. McKinley, the author points out, had doubts about the U.S. taking the path of imperialism because of the contradiction that came with being a colonial power: Americans as liberators and Americans as oppressors.

McKinley, the author writes, “died as he had lived, an enigmatic figure. The most pacific and civil of men, he had nevertheless launched a war that led to the subjugation of Cuba and Puerto Rico and to a three-year conflict in the Philippines. . . . he confided to his former private secretary that ‘the declaration of war against Spain was an act which has been and will always be the greatest grief of my life.’”

The author draws a line from McKinley to future administrations. Out of political necessity to justify intervention in Cuba, perhaps also to justify starting a war he didn’t want, President McKinley spoke of the right of the U.S. to intervene when another country abuses its citizens. This, the author claims, “birthed the doctrine that a country’s sovereignty cannot protect it from outside intervention on human rights grounds. . . . The priority given human rights by later presidents from Jimmy Carter through Bill Clinton owes its inspiration to a president who . . . regardless of other motives, felt a personal concern for Cubans under oppression.”

How the U.S. got to the position where the president could set forth this policy is a good enough reason to read this book. How the American victory in 1898 made the U.S. a world power and was a catalyst for the “imperial presidency” of TR and his successors is another reason to read this fine history book.

[GrandpaBooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

The First Great Triumph refers to the birth of American imperialism found in the run-up, fighting, and long-term consequences of the Spanish-American War in 1898 with short biographies of five men determined by the author to have been instrumental in that process: Alfred Mahan, John Hay, Elihu Root, Henry Cabot Lodge, and of course Teddy Roosevelt. The book, published in 2002 was written by Warren Zimmerman, a career American foreign service officer who served as the last Ambassador to Yugoslavia. The author died in 2004.

Teddy Roosevelt has been thoroughly written about in multitudes of books, and John Hay, personal secretary to President Lincoln and eventually Secretary of State under Presidents McKinley and Roosevelt was the subject of a 2013 biography by John Taliaferro. The remaining three men have not been subject of recent biographies so this book serves as an introduction to the three who had such an important impact on the country's history overseas going into the 20th century (a new biography of Elihu Root would be especially welcome, imo).

The biographies take up the first half of the book. The second half lays out the history of the drive for the 'splendid little war' that Roosevelt and Lodge desired, and the result of the Spanish defeat with the American possession of Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines. Also covered are the American annexation of Hawaii, the 'theft' of Panama from Colombia, the continual desire for Canada and the evolution of the American relationship with Great Britain.

The book also covers the evils of American imperialism such as manifest destiny, Anglo-Saxonism (white supremacy), Social Darwinism, eugenics, and the vilification and eventual suppression of immigration especially from Eastern Europe, Japan and China.

Although now 17 years old, the book still serves as a very good overview of the birth and eventual passing of the 'American Century.' The author ends with the 9/11 attacks and the war in Afghanistan. It's unfortunate that he wasn't able to live long enough to provide his insights to the American failures since the book was published, although I believe he would find that it was part and parcel of the decline he did address in the ending of his book.

A recommended read, especially for my fellow members of the Deep State Radio Book Club, especially as a follow-up to "Safe Passage" by Kori Schake.

[Caitlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

This five way split biography overemphasizes the relationship between the major players of the Spanish American war. The relationship between Hearst and Roosevelt, for example, is laid on thick here but supported nowhere in the works of Edmund Morris on Roosevelt. I think Zimmerman is somewhat clouded by his professorship and belief in the virtue of the US, and his reasoning is hard to swallow at times.

Asserts that entering “the Great War was not a diversion from 1898 but an extension of it” because of the characteristics Roosevelt, Mahan, and Lodge instilled for the U.S. (military preparedness as a virtue, conspicuous naval power, Monroe doctrine).

Beneficial that the U.S. never established colonial corps like the Brits- commonwealths weren’t to be permanent charges. “At its best, American imperialism was an inspired amateurism, whose practitioners did not feel comfortable if the constitution, in Root’s figure of speech, lagged too far behind the flag.” Zimmermann notes the Americans haven t been systematically attacked by American Indian, Black, Cuban, or Filipino populations, asserting that “ Americans are not particularly unpopular among the peoples they have ruled.” Wild.

Zimmermann asserts that the legacies of 1898 are “the confidence in America’s founding principles, the generosity of spirit, the conviction that America is a natural leader in the world, a clear sense of U.S. interests, and, most of all, the understanding that power must be combined with high purpose.” I don’t know that Aguinaldo would have considered the slaughter of entire villages “generosity of spirit” but here we are.

“ a basic factor contributing to the erosion of American imperialism has been the weakening of the US presidency, the one institution indispensable to the conduct of an energetic and coherent foreign policy.”

[Terry Warco · Rating 4 out of 5]

A readable history of a formative time for our country. Great insight into 5 individuals who had visions and implemented those visions. This book fairly shows the good and the bad of these formative years.

[Erik Tolvstad · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well done overview history that links five of the most critical US imperialists at the turn of the previous century and how each of their world views came to shape US policy

[James Cronic · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun to read but more of a hagiography of the five than a history. Zimmerman isn’t a historian, but for what this book is his insight as a career diplomat is a boon.

[Edwin Putman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned a lot. It was well written and never lost my interest.

[Johns · Rating 2 out of 5]

I benefited from learning about Elihu Root and Alfred Mahan. I knew nothing about either before reading their respective bios in this book.

But I have two problems with author Zimmerman: (1) Undoubtedly the "first great triumph" of our republic is that it was founded at all and did not sink into the chaos so markedly displayed in France throughout their butchered revolution. (2) Also I detect a subtle sneer throughout this book that any and all empires are a bad thing. I reject that notion and declare that not every empire through history was/is a bad thing. Some are bad news, yes, but not all.

(With an abiding interest in naval strategy, I have Alfred Mahan's book, The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, on order. For this mention I thank the author.)