Roosevelt the Reformer: Theodore Roosevelt as Civil Service Commissioner, 1889-1895

by Richard D. White Jr.

Roosevelt the Reformer sheds light on an important chapter in the biography of the flamboyant 26th president of the United States. From 1889 to 1895--before he was a Rough Rider in the Spanish-American War and before he oversaw the building of the Panama Canal and won the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize--"Teddy" Roosevelt served as one of three civil service commissioners. This was a significant period of his life because he matured politically and learned how to navigate through Washington politics. He sparred with powerful cabinet officers and congressmen and survived their attempts to destroy him. He cultivated important friendships and allegiances, flourished intellectually, and strengthened his progressive views of social justice, racial theory, and foreign relations. It was a period altogether significant to the honing of administrative talent and intellectual acuity of the future president. Richard White Jr. situates young Roosevelt within the exciting events of the Gilded Age, the Victorian era, and the gay nineties. He describes Roosevelt's relationships with family, friends, colleagues, and adversaries. Many of these people, such as Henry Cabot Lodge, Cecil Spring-Rice, Alfred Mahan, Henry Adams, and John Hay would significantly influence Roosevelt when he later occupied the White House. White explores TR's accomplishments in civil service reform, the effect of the commission experience on his presidency a decade later, and his administrative legacy. In addition to Harvard University's immense collection of Roosevelt correspondence, White drew from original sources such as the Civil Service Commission files in the National Archives, the Library of Congress, the National Park ServiceRoosevelt Historical Site at Sagamore Hill, and the records of the National Civil Service Reform League.

280 pages, Hardcover

First published November 10, 2003

About the author

A native of Williamsburg, Virginia, Richard D. White, Jr., is Dean of LSU's E. J. Ourso College of Business. Dr. White is a Pulitzer-nominated political biographer and author of Kingfish: The Reign of Huey P. Long; Roosevelt the Reformer: Theodore Roosevelt as Civil Service Commissioner, 1889-1895; and Will Rogers: A Political Life. Dr. White received his PhD in Public Administration from Pennsylvania State University, MBA from Purdue University, and BA in Political Science from Old Dominion College. He was a Research Fellow at Harvard University where he studied leadership and ethics and taught a public policy seminar within Harvard’s Institute of Politics. Dr. White has published dozens of scholarly articles in prominent journals, including Public Administration Review, Policy Studies Review, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, and Public Integrity. He was elected to Pi Sigma Alpha (Political Science), Pi Alpha Alpha (Public Administration), and Pi Gamma Mu (Social Sciences) honorary societies.

Prior to his academic career, Dr. White was a senior officer in the U.S. Coast Guard. He served over ten years at sea, including voyages to both the Antarctic and Arctic Oceans. He commanded an icebreaker, as well as a large cutter performing drug interdiction operations in South American waters. He served in the White House, the U.S. State Department, and the Central Intelligence Agency. In his final assignment in the Coast Guard, Dr. White directed the enforcement of narcotics, immigration, fisheries, and environmental laws on the Atlantic Icean. Dr. White retired from the Coast Guard in 1994 at the rank of Captain (O-6).