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The Republican Roosevelt
This is an interpretation of the purposes and methods use in the career of Roosevelt. It covers some biography information and some career information.
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1977
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About the author
John Morton Blum
54 books2 followersJohn Morton Blum was an American historian, active from the 1950 to 1991. He was a specialist in 20th-century American political history and a senior advisor to Yale officials.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 21, 2022
I liked the idea of this book more than the book itself. Blum did not set out to write a biography, but an analysis, a character study, what some have called an interpretation of TR. Having read several biographies on him already, this is what I was looking for. Something higher, something deeper—higher up and farther in. This book was just the ticket.
Or so I thought.
The problem is that Blum seems more concerned with making sure we know he has something important to say rather than saying it; with appearing smart rather than writing smart analysis. Big words fill every page. The thesaurus gets a workout. Simple points are made in the most roundabout ways. As such, Blum is always in the way, so much so that he crowds out TR—imagine the irony! Crowding out TR!
Where Blum does succeed is in conveying the sense that TR was a politician's politician. He is typically portrayed as one who ascended by sheer force of will backed by an ebullient personality. He did. But there was more. He was shrewd. He worked angles and greased wheels and stacked decks. He was controlled by his moral convictions to be sure, but he was convinced that the best way to enforce those principles was by acquiring power.
So, if you're looking for an introduction to TR, I would not recommend that you start here. It may not even be the second, or third, or fourth book you read about him. But if you're wanting to see a familiar face through a new lens, and are willing to put in some work, you will in fact find some illuminating insights here.
Or so I thought.
The problem is that Blum seems more concerned with making sure we know he has something important to say rather than saying it; with appearing smart rather than writing smart analysis. Big words fill every page. The thesaurus gets a workout. Simple points are made in the most roundabout ways. As such, Blum is always in the way, so much so that he crowds out TR—imagine the irony! Crowding out TR!
Where Blum does succeed is in conveying the sense that TR was a politician's politician. He is typically portrayed as one who ascended by sheer force of will backed by an ebullient personality. He did. But there was more. He was shrewd. He worked angles and greased wheels and stacked decks. He was controlled by his moral convictions to be sure, but he was convinced that the best way to enforce those principles was by acquiring power.
So, if you're looking for an introduction to TR, I would not recommend that you start here. It may not even be the second, or third, or fourth book you read about him. But if you're wanting to see a familiar face through a new lens, and are willing to put in some work, you will in fact find some illuminating insights here.
March 22, 2015
http://bestpresidentialbios.com/2015/...
“The Republican Roosevelt” is John Blum’s 1954 analysis of Theodore Roosevelt which was largely responsible for establishing TR’s reputation as a serious and consequential president. Blum was a historian focused on 20th-century politics, a professor at Yale for thirty-four years and the author of numerous books. He died in 2011 at the age of ninety.
Although often described as an early biography of Roosevelt, there is very little in Blum’s work that falls within that genre. Only in the vaguest sense does it attempt to chronologically, or comprehensively, cover TR’s life. Instead, it is an extremely skillful and often fascinating analysis of Roosevelt and his motivations.
In fact, Blum’s work is far more a series of essays on various aspects of Roosevelt’s moral and political philosophies than anything else. Occasionally it resembles a collection of lecture notes by a political scientist focused on Roosevelt’s career and times. But never will the reader mistake “The Republican Roosevelt” for a cradle-to-grave survey of Roosevelt’s life.
Blum’s investigation gets off to a fast start – the first chapter appears to be a rapid-fire brainstorm of important and revealing observations about Roosevelt and his virtues. There was so much content in the first two-dozen pages that I seriously considered pausing for a day or two, if only to reflect on what I had learned.
In some ways, Blum’s early tone seems a response to Henry Pringle’s 1931 biography criticizing Roosevelt as a blustering politician who never completely outgrew his childhood. But if this is not really a biography of Roosevelt, neither is it a hagiography filled with incessant and exaggerated praise. Blum often criticizes Roosevelt for misdirecting his energy to issues of no lasting significance and for focusing on matters which obstructed his reform-oriented agenda.
In contrast to many biographers, Blum is not a natural writer; his style is neither elegant nor smooth. Instead, his sentences are often awkward and clunky and force the reader to sip rather than drink freely. But nearly every paragraph of this 161-page book is full of prescient observations and witticisms. And if a few sentences are boring, virtually none seems unimportant or inconsequential.
Readers new to this president will often find that Blum assumes too much previous knowledge of Roosevelt and the politics of his era. But in no way is Blum’s study intended as an introduction to Roosevelt – it is best enjoyed as a second, or third, book on this president. Only then can its wisdom be fully revealed and appreciated.
Overall, John Blum’s “The Republican Roosevelt” proves inadequate as a biography but exemplary as an interpretation of this extraordinary and complicated man. Readers seeking an introduction to Roosevelt will hardly find him here. What is revealed in these pages is the software coded into his brain rather than scenic images from his journey through life. While incapable of serving as an effective introduction to Roosevelt, Blum’s book is a surprisingly cogent distillation of what made TR tick.
Overall rating: “Unrated” as a biography
“The Republican Roosevelt” is John Blum’s 1954 analysis of Theodore Roosevelt which was largely responsible for establishing TR’s reputation as a serious and consequential president. Blum was a historian focused on 20th-century politics, a professor at Yale for thirty-four years and the author of numerous books. He died in 2011 at the age of ninety.
Although often described as an early biography of Roosevelt, there is very little in Blum’s work that falls within that genre. Only in the vaguest sense does it attempt to chronologically, or comprehensively, cover TR’s life. Instead, it is an extremely skillful and often fascinating analysis of Roosevelt and his motivations.
In fact, Blum’s work is far more a series of essays on various aspects of Roosevelt’s moral and political philosophies than anything else. Occasionally it resembles a collection of lecture notes by a political scientist focused on Roosevelt’s career and times. But never will the reader mistake “The Republican Roosevelt” for a cradle-to-grave survey of Roosevelt’s life.
Blum’s investigation gets off to a fast start – the first chapter appears to be a rapid-fire brainstorm of important and revealing observations about Roosevelt and his virtues. There was so much content in the first two-dozen pages that I seriously considered pausing for a day or two, if only to reflect on what I had learned.
In some ways, Blum’s early tone seems a response to Henry Pringle’s 1931 biography criticizing Roosevelt as a blustering politician who never completely outgrew his childhood. But if this is not really a biography of Roosevelt, neither is it a hagiography filled with incessant and exaggerated praise. Blum often criticizes Roosevelt for misdirecting his energy to issues of no lasting significance and for focusing on matters which obstructed his reform-oriented agenda.
In contrast to many biographers, Blum is not a natural writer; his style is neither elegant nor smooth. Instead, his sentences are often awkward and clunky and force the reader to sip rather than drink freely. But nearly every paragraph of this 161-page book is full of prescient observations and witticisms. And if a few sentences are boring, virtually none seems unimportant or inconsequential.
Readers new to this president will often find that Blum assumes too much previous knowledge of Roosevelt and the politics of his era. But in no way is Blum’s study intended as an introduction to Roosevelt – it is best enjoyed as a second, or third, book on this president. Only then can its wisdom be fully revealed and appreciated.
Overall, John Blum’s “The Republican Roosevelt” proves inadequate as a biography but exemplary as an interpretation of this extraordinary and complicated man. Readers seeking an introduction to Roosevelt will hardly find him here. What is revealed in these pages is the software coded into his brain rather than scenic images from his journey through life. While incapable of serving as an effective introduction to Roosevelt, Blum’s book is a surprisingly cogent distillation of what made TR tick.
Overall rating: “Unrated” as a biography
June 15, 2020
More of a somewhat chaotic impression of Theodore Roosevelt's thoughts & ideas on politics, his political philosophy, as well as leadership, particularly his almost Lyndon Johnson-esque wrangling of Congress, rather than a biography. If you are unfamiliar with Roosevelt's presidency in detail I really would not recommend this book to you as it assumes you have that background. As I said, the book is very chaotic & sometimes feels like some prof's lecture notes turned into a book form without much further organization, which it very well may be. It is however one of the first books (1954), if not the first, to take Roosevelt seriously - Roosevelt fell out of favour in the 1920's "proto-Hayekian" economic & governmental attitudes, then got swamped by his cousin's massive & more recent legacy, as well as Pringle's acidic & pompously sneering biography in the early 1930's. My main objection with Blum is he seems to be the progenitor of the fantastically silly argument that TR was actually a conservative because.... hold onto your butts, as Samuel L. Jackson says in Jurassic Park ....while he instituted huge extremely nonconservative increases in the power of the federal state to regulate capitalism, he did so to prevent an eventual Marxist revolution or some other violent insurrection & thus is a conservative. I'm being slightly glib here, but this is the gist of the argument. I really have nothing nice to say about this argument. If we are gonna compare older impressions or interpretations of Roosevelt, I much prefer the one in Richard Hofstadter's Anti-intellectualism in American Life, where Roosevelt is portrayed as an intellectual of John Adams' or Thomas Jefferson's caliber who triumphed over America's innate anti-intellectual tendencies through sheer force of character, honesty, & skill as a politician to pass some of the most radical reforms in American history & utterly change America's conception of our democratic Hobbesian state - skills TR's cousin Franklin also had. So there we are, tirade over. Blum is also a very poor writer. Some of the most clunky prose I have ever had the misfortune of coming across. Fortunately it is mercifully short!
July 28, 2023
Like others have said, this book is a bit too wordy but provides a good overview of Teddy Roosevelt's politics, told through specific stories about sagas like his patronage rivalry with Mark Hanna, his regulation of trusts, and his brilliant use of tariff reform as a bargaining chip in Congress. I emerged with a better understanding of why so many see Teddy as an American legend, and also deeper comprehension of why he appeals to some on the modern-day right.
Like many of our more successful Presidents, Teddy Roosevelt possessed a brilliant political instinct, deeply attuned both to the needs of the country and to the prevailing political winds. He emerged at a moment of upheaval, a time that could have ended up becoming far more tumultuous than it did. Roosevelt was not, as some portray him, a strident progressive for the sake of progress. He was not a radical, but a sort of progressive-conservative (to pull language from the Canadian context) whose number one goal was order. Blum notes that Roosevelt defined himself as a conservative, with his conservatism marked by thoughtful progress.
Thus, his understanding of order was predicated on the idea that maintaining order required reform. This reform particularly had to aid the working-class and the poor, in part to keep them away from dangerous ideologies like socialism. This quest for order was accompanied by faith in power. (126) During the Gilded Age, both parties embraced a relatively small state, which empowered large businesses to essentially rule the country. Roosevelt felt that these elites were corrupting and weakening the country, but did not oppose wealth or concentration as such. He also maintained a mixed relationship with labor unions. Instead of taking the broader anti-elite stance espoused by figures like Fighting Bob or WJB, Roosevelt believed that bad actions and actors simply needed to be tamed by men of good character. (35) Teddy's "supreme belief" was "in character, individual character and national character." (33) This informed his preference for regulation by a centralized administrative state over trustbusting.
Yet while he could sometimes be egotistical and believe that might and right accompany one another, Roosevelt knew how to compromise. Blum argues that Roosevelt's approach could be summed up by practicability, popularity, and process. (86) This was almost always cleverly done. For example, Roosevelt wielded discussions about tariff reform in order to get his way on railroad regulation. Blum does a great job laying out the partisan landscape--regionalism and factionalism made the President's job complicated, but Roosevelt brilliantly navigated these complexities. Even within the GOP, Roosevelt outfoxed Mark Hanna and the more conservative elements of the Republican machine, building his own patronage network with largely qualified individuals and smoothing over state-level conflicts.
Teddy's view of power and character led him to envision global involvement as sustaining America's national interest. His foreign policy was more nationalist than internationalist, as Roosevelt spurned grandiose idealism. Instead, he straightforwardly applied his guiding principle of using power to secure order on the international stage. (130) Roosevelt's mentality led him to intervene in Panama and Santo Domingo, although he curiously would have rather left the Philippines than inadequately defended them. (127-129) This curious mix of hawkishness and nationalism seems to re-emerge with today's "National Conservatives", who often cite Roosevelt as an influence. It all reminds me of what Walter Russell Mead calls the "Jacksonian" foreign policy orientation, based on power and the national interest.
But as Blum recognizes, at times Roosevelt's belief in power led to excess, such as threats of invading Mexico or xenophobia towards the end of his career. Teddy could also be egotistical; his 1912 campaign and the Bull Moose Party were personalistic vehicles. Blum's assessment of Roosevelt is mediated by this acknowledgment and ends up taking a nuanced view of the 26th President. A brief book, but a useful picture of an important historical figure.
Like many of our more successful Presidents, Teddy Roosevelt possessed a brilliant political instinct, deeply attuned both to the needs of the country and to the prevailing political winds. He emerged at a moment of upheaval, a time that could have ended up becoming far more tumultuous than it did. Roosevelt was not, as some portray him, a strident progressive for the sake of progress. He was not a radical, but a sort of progressive-conservative (to pull language from the Canadian context) whose number one goal was order. Blum notes that Roosevelt defined himself as a conservative, with his conservatism marked by thoughtful progress.
Thus, his understanding of order was predicated on the idea that maintaining order required reform. This reform particularly had to aid the working-class and the poor, in part to keep them away from dangerous ideologies like socialism. This quest for order was accompanied by faith in power. (126) During the Gilded Age, both parties embraced a relatively small state, which empowered large businesses to essentially rule the country. Roosevelt felt that these elites were corrupting and weakening the country, but did not oppose wealth or concentration as such. He also maintained a mixed relationship with labor unions. Instead of taking the broader anti-elite stance espoused by figures like Fighting Bob or WJB, Roosevelt believed that bad actions and actors simply needed to be tamed by men of good character. (35) Teddy's "supreme belief" was "in character, individual character and national character." (33) This informed his preference for regulation by a centralized administrative state over trustbusting.
Yet while he could sometimes be egotistical and believe that might and right accompany one another, Roosevelt knew how to compromise. Blum argues that Roosevelt's approach could be summed up by practicability, popularity, and process. (86) This was almost always cleverly done. For example, Roosevelt wielded discussions about tariff reform in order to get his way on railroad regulation. Blum does a great job laying out the partisan landscape--regionalism and factionalism made the President's job complicated, but Roosevelt brilliantly navigated these complexities. Even within the GOP, Roosevelt outfoxed Mark Hanna and the more conservative elements of the Republican machine, building his own patronage network with largely qualified individuals and smoothing over state-level conflicts.
Teddy's view of power and character led him to envision global involvement as sustaining America's national interest. His foreign policy was more nationalist than internationalist, as Roosevelt spurned grandiose idealism. Instead, he straightforwardly applied his guiding principle of using power to secure order on the international stage. (130) Roosevelt's mentality led him to intervene in Panama and Santo Domingo, although he curiously would have rather left the Philippines than inadequately defended them. (127-129) This curious mix of hawkishness and nationalism seems to re-emerge with today's "National Conservatives", who often cite Roosevelt as an influence. It all reminds me of what Walter Russell Mead calls the "Jacksonian" foreign policy orientation, based on power and the national interest.
But as Blum recognizes, at times Roosevelt's belief in power led to excess, such as threats of invading Mexico or xenophobia towards the end of his career. Teddy could also be egotistical; his 1912 campaign and the Bull Moose Party were personalistic vehicles. Blum's assessment of Roosevelt is mediated by this acknowledgment and ends up taking a nuanced view of the 26th President. A brief book, but a useful picture of an important historical figure.
May 6, 2024
First published in the 1950s, nothing about this interpretation of Roosevelt’s politics is new at this point thought it does provide a good overview, is easy to read, and would make a good introductory text for students
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews