What do you think?
Rate this book
Theodore Roosevelt: A Biography
Henry F. Pringle's Pulitzer Prize biography of Theodore Roosevelt is an important and durable contribution to Rooseveltian literature. Not only does it chronicle the incidents that shaped Roosevelt's career but it offers insight into the character and mind of this colorful American president as well. A childhood illness, asthma, may have played a role in shaping his political personality. Teased and taunted for his physical weakness, Roosevelt compensated for this and other humiliations by taking up boxing, leading the Rough Riders, brandishing the Big Stick, and hunting lions. T.R. remarked that the presidency was a "bully pulpit," and he preached on such topics as art, literature, nature, football, marriage, childrearing, and birth control. He relished the controversies that his words incited, and when public opinion was against him, he retreated by speaking out on a different subject. As the author states in his forward, "Theodore Roosevelt" was never dull.
Paperback
First published January 1, 1931
13 people are currently reading
542 people want to read
About the author
Henry F. Pringle
26 booksHenry Fowles Pringle was an American biographer and journalist. In 1932 he won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography for his 1931 biography of Theodore Roosevelt.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
May 24, 2020
I enjoyed reading about TR's outsized personality and his political accomplishments & legacies. He was such a character that it would be difficult to write a boring book about him, and Pringle was a thorough researcher and decent writer. I feel though, that Pringle was perhaps overly critical, bordering on deprecating at times. He could have included more of TR's family life and personal writings. Roosevelt left extensive writings and I believe was more thoughtful than how he is characterized in these pages. No doubt he possessed inconsistencies and shortcomings of character, and the author gleefully dwells on them. He was complicated and fascinating, and a fair deal of that can be seen in these pages. One thing that annoyed me was the author's habit of constantly jumping back and forth in time, which I felt disrupted the flow and compromised the readability of this biography. That and what I felt was an overly critical as opposed to balanced tone, were why I rate this generally very interesting book at 3.5 to 4 stars.
March 12, 2015
http://bestpresidentialbios.com/2015/...
“Theodore Roosevelt: A Biography” is Henry Pringle’s Pulitzer Prize winning biography of the twenty-sixth president. Published in 1931, just twelve years after Roosevelt’s death, it was considered the definitive biography of Roosevelt for many years. Pringle was a journalist and biographer, and also authored a two-volume biography of William Howard Taft in 1939.
One thing is immediately obvious when reading this biography: the author is not one of Teddy Roosevelt’s most adoring fans. Rather than providing a fawning or worshipful review of Roosevelt’s life, this book sets an early tone that ranges between skeptical and critical.
Far from embracing Roosevelt’s large reputation, Pringle knocks TR off his pedestal, reminding the reader that every silver lining belongs to a cloud. Where his contemporaries remember a decisive leader, Pringle sees snap decisions; where history savors the Panama Canal, historic wilderness conservation and an early move against monopolies, Pringle focuses on his concomitant weaknesses.
One begins to wonder if this could possibly be the same Theodore Roosevelt who historians rank so highly in the Presidential Pantheon. But by the book’s second half the criticism becomes more more balanced and the bias less severe. Pringle never buys into the popular view of TR’s greatness, but his disapproval becomes less strident and far more thought-provoking.
Despite its age – the book is nearly eighty-five years old – its writing style is not stiff and it reads like a much younger book. Though occasionally dense, it is rarely dull and is liberally infused with insightful observations.
But much is missing from Pringle’s work. Despite the fact it is ostensibly comprehensive, there is almost no discussion of Roosevelt’s family. Here, Pringle ignores a critical dimension of TR’s life. The author also rushes past much else: his time in the Dakotas, his early career in Washington and New York City, his “Rough Rider” campaign and his trips to Africa and South America.
While avoiding the look and feel of a political science textbook, this biography is clearly more focused on Roosevelt’s national political career rather on than anything else.
Pringle also tends to proceed through Roosevelt’s life non-linearly; it is often difficult to place described events in their proper sequence. While the overarching thread is chronological, the book frequently dashes forward or backward in time to capture a moment, or describe a theme, not previously discussed. Many readers will find the book’s flow disjointed.
There is, however, much to like about this early biography of Roosevelt. Rather than falling into the easy trap of incessantly praising Roosevelt, Pringle forces the reader to consider whether TR’s greatest strengths were also his most glaring weaknesses.
And where some biographers may add texture to their narrative by leaning on Roosevelt’s interesting but almost frivolous adventures, Pringle focuses only on the most essential moments of his subject’s life. In the end, there are simply too many nuggets of wisdom in this biography to simply dismiss it.
Overall, Henry Pringle’s biography of Theodore Roosevelt is both insightful and frustrating. It fails to adequately cover much of TR’s life that is essential to understanding him, but some of its criticism is reasonable and well-founded. In the end, this book is most valuable as a companion text to a more comprehensive and penetrating biography of Roosevelt.
Overall rating: 3¼ stars
“Theodore Roosevelt: A Biography” is Henry Pringle’s Pulitzer Prize winning biography of the twenty-sixth president. Published in 1931, just twelve years after Roosevelt’s death, it was considered the definitive biography of Roosevelt for many years. Pringle was a journalist and biographer, and also authored a two-volume biography of William Howard Taft in 1939.
One thing is immediately obvious when reading this biography: the author is not one of Teddy Roosevelt’s most adoring fans. Rather than providing a fawning or worshipful review of Roosevelt’s life, this book sets an early tone that ranges between skeptical and critical.
Far from embracing Roosevelt’s large reputation, Pringle knocks TR off his pedestal, reminding the reader that every silver lining belongs to a cloud. Where his contemporaries remember a decisive leader, Pringle sees snap decisions; where history savors the Panama Canal, historic wilderness conservation and an early move against monopolies, Pringle focuses on his concomitant weaknesses.
One begins to wonder if this could possibly be the same Theodore Roosevelt who historians rank so highly in the Presidential Pantheon. But by the book’s second half the criticism becomes more more balanced and the bias less severe. Pringle never buys into the popular view of TR’s greatness, but his disapproval becomes less strident and far more thought-provoking.
Despite its age – the book is nearly eighty-five years old – its writing style is not stiff and it reads like a much younger book. Though occasionally dense, it is rarely dull and is liberally infused with insightful observations.
But much is missing from Pringle’s work. Despite the fact it is ostensibly comprehensive, there is almost no discussion of Roosevelt’s family. Here, Pringle ignores a critical dimension of TR’s life. The author also rushes past much else: his time in the Dakotas, his early career in Washington and New York City, his “Rough Rider” campaign and his trips to Africa and South America.
While avoiding the look and feel of a political science textbook, this biography is clearly more focused on Roosevelt’s national political career rather on than anything else.
Pringle also tends to proceed through Roosevelt’s life non-linearly; it is often difficult to place described events in their proper sequence. While the overarching thread is chronological, the book frequently dashes forward or backward in time to capture a moment, or describe a theme, not previously discussed. Many readers will find the book’s flow disjointed.
There is, however, much to like about this early biography of Roosevelt. Rather than falling into the easy trap of incessantly praising Roosevelt, Pringle forces the reader to consider whether TR’s greatest strengths were also his most glaring weaknesses.
And where some biographers may add texture to their narrative by leaning on Roosevelt’s interesting but almost frivolous adventures, Pringle focuses only on the most essential moments of his subject’s life. In the end, there are simply too many nuggets of wisdom in this biography to simply dismiss it.
Overall, Henry Pringle’s biography of Theodore Roosevelt is both insightful and frustrating. It fails to adequately cover much of TR’s life that is essential to understanding him, but some of its criticism is reasonable and well-founded. In the end, this book is most valuable as a companion text to a more comprehensive and penetrating biography of Roosevelt.
Overall rating: 3¼ stars
July 2, 2021
I must say that Henry Pringle really brings to life the man who was Theodore Roosevelt in this fact filled and story packed biography of the 26th President of the United States. Not only was Pringle thorough in his writings on the life of the Roosevelt but he was also unafraid to criticize him at times. The author also included details in this text that had been left out of the official autobiography by Roosevelt that were no doubt previously excluded because of the poor light they cast on the former president. There were also a ton of interesting facts and tidbits in this book that made me laugh at how such small things at that time could stand out so much. One fact I did not know, and just to give the readers of this review an inkling of what is in the book, is that many people who met Roosevelt were enthralled by his TEETH. A shock to me but maybe not to others but I just found that quite fascinating. Altogether this was a great read and it is on the lengthier side so be prepared to dedicate some time to this. Certain parts became a little choppy and jumped around chronologically quite a lot which could be confusing to other readers. Nonetheless, I would highly recommend this as the first stop on the reading railroad to anyone wanting to know more about the 26th president.
December 15, 2025
I have read quite a few biographies of Theodore Roosevelt at this point, and this was my least favorite by a landslide. It is an older biography, so maybe the writing style just didn't do it for me. I did not care for how it just jumped around from topic to topic - wasn't chronological at least in a way that made sense through his presidency. I didn't like how little his personal life was discussed. I didn't like how the author clearly disliked Roosevelt and had a negative perspective on a majority of his decisions. Just a difficult read to get through for someone who lived such a dynamic life.
June 25, 2025
Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. was born to a well-off family in New York in 1858. He was a sickly child who suffered from asthma and was extremely nearsighted. He wanted to be a naturalist. His mother once ordered the maid to clean the dead mice out of his bureau and he mourned "The loss to Science!"
When other children made fun of him for having an asthma attack, he tried to fight them, but they held him off easily. He determined to get strong and took boxing lessons. He learned to ride and shoot. He also took up taxidermy.
He began attending Harvard in 1876. Teddy wasn't a wild student. He didn't smoke or drink. He was initially awkward around other students, but became more social by the end of his college experience. He was a poor boxer (although he'd later falsely claim he was lightweight champion at Harvard).
When he was almost twenty, he fell in love with a woman named Alice Hathaway Lee. He was insanely jealous of any man she spent time with, sometimes challenging them to duels (although it never came to bloodshed). They married after he graduated and lived with Teddy's widowed mother. Teddy enrolled at Columbia Law School, although he didn't stick with it very long. (Later in life, he'd falsely claim to be a lawyer.)
He got elected to the New York state legislature. Men like Roosevelt who wore clean clothes, had good manners, and spoke using correct grammar, were dismissed as "dudes" or elites. He was considered a joke for speaking in a high voice and wearing eyeglasses on a black silk cord.
Roosevelt was commissioned a second lieutenant in the New York National Guard in 1882. (He would later claim this as valuable military experience, but the NY National Guard at the time was not well-trained or well-organized.)
After giving birth to their daughter, Alice seemed fine, but suddenly died two days later of Bright's disease on February 14, 1884. Teddy's mother died of typhoid fever in the same house on the same day. Teddy didn't mention Alice Lee in his autobiography and rarely spoke of her. His older sister raised his daughter for him until she was three at which point Teddy took custody of her.
Roosevelt left politics and became a dude rancher in Missouri. He stood out from the other cowboys. He didn't smoke or drink. His favorite profanity was "By Godfrey!" He was called Four-Eyes due to his spectacles. The real cowboys were amused by his faux-cowboy costume. He eventually grew on the townsfolk and became a deputy sheriff.
In 1886, while in London, he married his childhood friend Edith Carow with whom he had five more children. When he was 36 in 1895, he was appointed to the Police Board of New York. Teddy liked to prowl the streets at night with a black cloak covering his clothes and a wide-brimmed hat hiding his face. He reprimanded officers for being asleep on the job, drinking on the job, or chatting up sex workers.
To reward Roosevelt for campaigning for him, President McKinley made him Assistant Secretary of the Navy. Roosevelt often said the US needed a war and didn't seem to mind who it was with. At various times, he was in favor of war with Mexico, Chile, Spain, Japan, England, and Canada.
He called for war with Spain over Cuba, mainly because he wanted to try both the Army and Navy in actual practice. While his boss was taking a day off, Roosevelt ordered the fleet to begin "defensive operations" in the Philippines to prepare for war.
When war was declared, Roosevelt's wife, who had recently given birth to their fifth child, was ill, and one of his small boys was sick. Despite this and despite being strapped for cash, he resigned from his job to fulfil his boyhood dream of gaining glory on the battlefield.
He was commissioned lieutenant colonel of the First Volunteer Cavalry (dubbed the Rough Riders by the press). He was worried the war would be over before he had a chance to join it. "It will be awful if we miss all the fun," he wrote to his sister. He picked "There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight" for the Rough Rider theme song.
When they were scheduled to be taken to Cuba, Roosevelt discovered the same boat had been assigned to two other regiments as well. Terrified he'd miss out on the war, he made his men race to the boat to get there before the other regiments. When they finally got underway, Roosevelt was so excited, he gave an impromptu war dance.
When they landed in Cuba, there was a mad dash to kill the Spaniards before the other regiments got there. During the mad dash, two men drowned in the surf. Learning the Spanish had retreated to Santiago, the unmounted cavalry (most of their horses had been left back in Tampa) had to rush if they wanted to be the first to engage the enemy.
The Rough Riders managed to get into a skirmish with the Spanish first, although there later arose controversy regarding whether they'd been ambushed or not. Another controversy arose regarding whether the Rough Riders charged up San Juan Hill or Kettle Hill at Santiago, although it really doesn't matter. In either case, Roosevelt, either brave or reckless, ordered his volunteers to charge the hill ahead of the regular army. "The percentage of loss of our regiment was about seven times that of the other five volunteer regiments," he wrote. Roosevelt himself survived and wrote home, "the charge itself was great fun."
Roosevelt, now a military hero, was elected governor of New York and gave appointments to his Rough Riders over better qualified men. (Later, when he was president, he even appointed one of his Rough Riders in prison for murder to be the warden of that prison!)
He technically wasn't eligible to run for governor since he hadn't been a resident of New York the last few years. He had even signed an affidavit swearing that his residence was in Washington D.C in order to avoid paying taxes in New York. (He'd also signed an affidavit swearing his residence was New York to avoid paying taxes in Washington.) But this tax dodge was swept aside and he became governor anyway.
He then became vice president in 1901 for McKinley's second term. McKinley was assassinated by an anarchist a few months later and Theodore Roosevelt was suddenly president. He was only 43, the youngest president in history.
He made enemies of Southerners by inviting Booker T. Washington to the White House. They were infuriated that he treated a negro as equal to white men. Roosevelt claimed the invitation had been spur of the moment (even though it wasn't) and never invited another black man to the White House again. He once joked, after inviting a white man to dinner, "you need not black your face."
Miners routinely worked long hours, had to put up with unfair prices at the company store, and had to deal with filthy housing accommodations. In 1901, there were 441 fatal coal mining accidents. In 1902, miners asked for a pay increase and a shorter working day, but the head of the coal company ignored them. In May, they began a nonviolent strike.
The price of coal rose. Roosevelt delayed doing anything. On September 3rd, Roosevelt's carriage was struck by a trolley car. One of his secret service agents was killed. Roosevelt was injured. His face was bruised and he walked with a limp. He ignored his leg injury until weeks later when an abscess on his leg had to be opened at a hospital. He'd come close to dying and had to use a wheelchair for a while after.
By October, New York schools had closed due to lack of coal. Roosevelt called upon the military to mine the coal unless the strike was resolved. The operators eventually agreed to a pay increase.
Roosevelt's foreign policy was "speak softly and carry a big stick."
Venezuela was unable to pay its debt to England and Germany. The European powers blockaded Venezuela and fired upon it. They eventually agreed to arbitration. (Roosevelt later claimed he threatened to attack Germany if it didn't withdraw, but official documents don't back up this account.)
In 1904, Roosevelt noticed a dimness of vision in his left eye after exercise. A few days before, he'd been struck in the eye while boxing and had been seeing black spots floating in front of his eye. He was blind in his left eye by 1908, but kept it secret from the general public.
Roosevelt wanted to build a canal through Panama, but Colombia disagreed with the terms that took away much of their sovereignty and paid them too little. Roosevelt prepared to take the isthmus by force of arms. However, before he could, Panama seceded from Colombia. Roosevelt denied playing a part in the Panamanian Revolution at the time, but later claimed credit for it. He did have meetings with Frenchman Philippe Bunau-Varilla who funded the revolution, wrote Panama's new constitution and their declaration of independence.
One of the leaders of the revolution and Panama's future president, Manuel Amador, was an employee of William Nelson Cromwell who was working with Bunau-Varilla. With help from the American-owned Panama Railroad and Steamship Company, and American warships off the coast, the revolutionaries gained their independence from Colombia. Bunau-Varilla became Panama's minister and signed over the right to build the canal before the new president of Panama could haggle over the price.
Conscious of public perception, when Teddy went hunting, he insisted he be the one to shoot the first bear or mountain lion rather than any of his fellow hunters. Roosevelt enjoyed playing tennis, but kept it secret from the public for fear he'd be accused of being too aristocratic.
He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906 for ending the Russo-Japanese War by getting the two sides to negotiate. France wanted to push Germany out of Morocco's markets. War was a distinct possibility. Roosevelt was once again able to get the nations to negotiate and war was averted.
Roosevelt had no head for economics did little for financial reform. He was even tricked by the US Steel corporation into letting it purchase Tennessee Coal and Iron for a fraction of its worth, convincing him this was necessary to avoid financial disaster.
White supremacists in Brownsville, Texas resented the presence of a black regiment at Fort Brown. The people of Brownsville claimed to have seen a dozen black soldiers raiding and firing upon the town, even though the soldiers were accounted for at the fort during the time of the alleged riot. Their rifles were inspected and found clean the next morning, meaning they hadn't been fired. Roosevelt dishonorably discharged all 160 soldiers anyway, including six who had been awarded the Medal of Honor. They no longer qualified for pensions and in some cases would be left destitute.
Senator Foraker investigated the Brownsville matter. He didn't believe the witnesses and thought it odd the fired shells were all found in one spot rather than throughout the town as the story would suggest. Foraker thought the residents of Brownsville had scattered the shells to frame the soldiers. Roosevelt refused to admit he was wrong, although he did eventually allow some of the soldiers to rejoin the army.
Roosevelt was only 50 when he retired from the presidency. He picked Taft as his successor and decided to spend a year hunting in Africa. The Smithsonian Institution sent taxidermists along to preserve his kills, although they only kept 50 of the 296 animals he killed which made him angry.
When Roosevelt returned to America, he traveled the country making speeches, supposedly to support the Republican party, but in reality, he was promoting a new way of doing things he called New Nationalism. He called for corporate regulation, worker's rights, an inheritance and income tax to disrupt generational wealth, a non-partisan tariff commission, and conservation of natural resources. He was coming close to becoming the socialist he'd previously despised.
By 1912, Roosevelt was running for president against Taft. Taft won the Republican nomination, so Teddy created the Progressive Party, nicknamed the Bull Moose party. While on campaign in Milwaukee, Roosevelt was shot by a would-be assassin. The bullet entered his right lung. Physicians advised him to go to the hospital, but he ignored their advice and proceeded to make his speech.
"I am going to ask you to be very quiet and please excuse me from making a long speech. I'll do the best I can, but there is a bullet in my body. It is nothing. I am not hurt badly. I have a message to deliver and will deliver it as long as there is life in my body."
The speech was delivered haltingly. Members of the audience begged him to stop. Most people in attendance had no idea what his speech was even about.
Roosevelt split the Republican vote causing Democrat Woodrow Wilson to win.
In 1912, he sued a newspaper editor for calling him a drunk. Although he possessed the ruddy face and bombastic manner of a drunkard, Roosevelt actually drank very little, sometimes having a mint julep after a tennis match or sipping from a wine glass, but not finishing it. He presented witnesses to his sobriety and the newspaper editor had to admit he was wrong. Roosevelt didn't sue him for the money, just the principle of the thing, and only asked for six cents in damages.
In 1914, Teddy explored the jungles of South America. While traveling the River of Doubt, he hurt his leg against a rock. An abscess developed and he got jungle fever. He told his son Kermit to leave him to die, but the members of the expedition wouldn't hear of it. They managed to bring him down the river to safety.
Roosevelt was once friends with President Woodrow Wilson, but began to hate him when Wilson apologized to Colombia for the role of the US in Panamanian independence, Roosevelt's proudest accomplishment. Wilson's legislation was in line with what Roosevelt had been calling for, but Roosevelt railed against his policies anyway. When Roosevelt changed his mind about US neutrality in the first World War, he accused Wilson for being a coward for not joining the fight.
He campaigned against Wilson in 1916. When Wilson was reelected and prepared to join the war, Roosevelt asked if he could lead a division in France. Wilson declined giving Teddy a division, thinking him too unbalanced. Roosevelt was also not physically fit enough for military service, lacked military experience (despite leading a volunteer regiment in Cuba), and lacked military discipline. Roosevelt never would be willing to follow the chain of command.
Angry at being rejected, Roosevelt claimed the reason he didn't get a division was political. He toured the country, encouraging a more aggressive waging of war. His four sons all fought in the first World War. His son Quentin was killed in an aerial battle.
Roosevelt dictated an editorial for the Kansas City Star on January 5, 1919. He died the next morning from a blood clot in the coronary artery. His death came as a surprise since few knew he was seriously ill. He was only 61.
When other children made fun of him for having an asthma attack, he tried to fight them, but they held him off easily. He determined to get strong and took boxing lessons. He learned to ride and shoot. He also took up taxidermy.
He began attending Harvard in 1876. Teddy wasn't a wild student. He didn't smoke or drink. He was initially awkward around other students, but became more social by the end of his college experience. He was a poor boxer (although he'd later falsely claim he was lightweight champion at Harvard).
When he was almost twenty, he fell in love with a woman named Alice Hathaway Lee. He was insanely jealous of any man she spent time with, sometimes challenging them to duels (although it never came to bloodshed). They married after he graduated and lived with Teddy's widowed mother. Teddy enrolled at Columbia Law School, although he didn't stick with it very long. (Later in life, he'd falsely claim to be a lawyer.)
He got elected to the New York state legislature. Men like Roosevelt who wore clean clothes, had good manners, and spoke using correct grammar, were dismissed as "dudes" or elites. He was considered a joke for speaking in a high voice and wearing eyeglasses on a black silk cord.
Roosevelt was commissioned a second lieutenant in the New York National Guard in 1882. (He would later claim this as valuable military experience, but the NY National Guard at the time was not well-trained or well-organized.)
After giving birth to their daughter, Alice seemed fine, but suddenly died two days later of Bright's disease on February 14, 1884. Teddy's mother died of typhoid fever in the same house on the same day. Teddy didn't mention Alice Lee in his autobiography and rarely spoke of her. His older sister raised his daughter for him until she was three at which point Teddy took custody of her.
Roosevelt left politics and became a dude rancher in Missouri. He stood out from the other cowboys. He didn't smoke or drink. His favorite profanity was "By Godfrey!" He was called Four-Eyes due to his spectacles. The real cowboys were amused by his faux-cowboy costume. He eventually grew on the townsfolk and became a deputy sheriff.
In 1886, while in London, he married his childhood friend Edith Carow with whom he had five more children. When he was 36 in 1895, he was appointed to the Police Board of New York. Teddy liked to prowl the streets at night with a black cloak covering his clothes and a wide-brimmed hat hiding his face. He reprimanded officers for being asleep on the job, drinking on the job, or chatting up sex workers.
To reward Roosevelt for campaigning for him, President McKinley made him Assistant Secretary of the Navy. Roosevelt often said the US needed a war and didn't seem to mind who it was with. At various times, he was in favor of war with Mexico, Chile, Spain, Japan, England, and Canada.
He called for war with Spain over Cuba, mainly because he wanted to try both the Army and Navy in actual practice. While his boss was taking a day off, Roosevelt ordered the fleet to begin "defensive operations" in the Philippines to prepare for war.
When war was declared, Roosevelt's wife, who had recently given birth to their fifth child, was ill, and one of his small boys was sick. Despite this and despite being strapped for cash, he resigned from his job to fulfil his boyhood dream of gaining glory on the battlefield.
He was commissioned lieutenant colonel of the First Volunteer Cavalry (dubbed the Rough Riders by the press). He was worried the war would be over before he had a chance to join it. "It will be awful if we miss all the fun," he wrote to his sister. He picked "There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight" for the Rough Rider theme song.
When they were scheduled to be taken to Cuba, Roosevelt discovered the same boat had been assigned to two other regiments as well. Terrified he'd miss out on the war, he made his men race to the boat to get there before the other regiments. When they finally got underway, Roosevelt was so excited, he gave an impromptu war dance.
When they landed in Cuba, there was a mad dash to kill the Spaniards before the other regiments got there. During the mad dash, two men drowned in the surf. Learning the Spanish had retreated to Santiago, the unmounted cavalry (most of their horses had been left back in Tampa) had to rush if they wanted to be the first to engage the enemy.
The Rough Riders managed to get into a skirmish with the Spanish first, although there later arose controversy regarding whether they'd been ambushed or not. Another controversy arose regarding whether the Rough Riders charged up San Juan Hill or Kettle Hill at Santiago, although it really doesn't matter. In either case, Roosevelt, either brave or reckless, ordered his volunteers to charge the hill ahead of the regular army. "The percentage of loss of our regiment was about seven times that of the other five volunteer regiments," he wrote. Roosevelt himself survived and wrote home, "the charge itself was great fun."
Roosevelt, now a military hero, was elected governor of New York and gave appointments to his Rough Riders over better qualified men. (Later, when he was president, he even appointed one of his Rough Riders in prison for murder to be the warden of that prison!)
He technically wasn't eligible to run for governor since he hadn't been a resident of New York the last few years. He had even signed an affidavit swearing that his residence was in Washington D.C in order to avoid paying taxes in New York. (He'd also signed an affidavit swearing his residence was New York to avoid paying taxes in Washington.) But this tax dodge was swept aside and he became governor anyway.
He then became vice president in 1901 for McKinley's second term. McKinley was assassinated by an anarchist a few months later and Theodore Roosevelt was suddenly president. He was only 43, the youngest president in history.
He made enemies of Southerners by inviting Booker T. Washington to the White House. They were infuriated that he treated a negro as equal to white men. Roosevelt claimed the invitation had been spur of the moment (even though it wasn't) and never invited another black man to the White House again. He once joked, after inviting a white man to dinner, "you need not black your face."
Miners routinely worked long hours, had to put up with unfair prices at the company store, and had to deal with filthy housing accommodations. In 1901, there were 441 fatal coal mining accidents. In 1902, miners asked for a pay increase and a shorter working day, but the head of the coal company ignored them. In May, they began a nonviolent strike.
The price of coal rose. Roosevelt delayed doing anything. On September 3rd, Roosevelt's carriage was struck by a trolley car. One of his secret service agents was killed. Roosevelt was injured. His face was bruised and he walked with a limp. He ignored his leg injury until weeks later when an abscess on his leg had to be opened at a hospital. He'd come close to dying and had to use a wheelchair for a while after.
By October, New York schools had closed due to lack of coal. Roosevelt called upon the military to mine the coal unless the strike was resolved. The operators eventually agreed to a pay increase.
Roosevelt's foreign policy was "speak softly and carry a big stick."
Venezuela was unable to pay its debt to England and Germany. The European powers blockaded Venezuela and fired upon it. They eventually agreed to arbitration. (Roosevelt later claimed he threatened to attack Germany if it didn't withdraw, but official documents don't back up this account.)
In 1904, Roosevelt noticed a dimness of vision in his left eye after exercise. A few days before, he'd been struck in the eye while boxing and had been seeing black spots floating in front of his eye. He was blind in his left eye by 1908, but kept it secret from the general public.
Roosevelt wanted to build a canal through Panama, but Colombia disagreed with the terms that took away much of their sovereignty and paid them too little. Roosevelt prepared to take the isthmus by force of arms. However, before he could, Panama seceded from Colombia. Roosevelt denied playing a part in the Panamanian Revolution at the time, but later claimed credit for it. He did have meetings with Frenchman Philippe Bunau-Varilla who funded the revolution, wrote Panama's new constitution and their declaration of independence.
One of the leaders of the revolution and Panama's future president, Manuel Amador, was an employee of William Nelson Cromwell who was working with Bunau-Varilla. With help from the American-owned Panama Railroad and Steamship Company, and American warships off the coast, the revolutionaries gained their independence from Colombia. Bunau-Varilla became Panama's minister and signed over the right to build the canal before the new president of Panama could haggle over the price.
Conscious of public perception, when Teddy went hunting, he insisted he be the one to shoot the first bear or mountain lion rather than any of his fellow hunters. Roosevelt enjoyed playing tennis, but kept it secret from the public for fear he'd be accused of being too aristocratic.
He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906 for ending the Russo-Japanese War by getting the two sides to negotiate. France wanted to push Germany out of Morocco's markets. War was a distinct possibility. Roosevelt was once again able to get the nations to negotiate and war was averted.
Roosevelt had no head for economics did little for financial reform. He was even tricked by the US Steel corporation into letting it purchase Tennessee Coal and Iron for a fraction of its worth, convincing him this was necessary to avoid financial disaster.
White supremacists in Brownsville, Texas resented the presence of a black regiment at Fort Brown. The people of Brownsville claimed to have seen a dozen black soldiers raiding and firing upon the town, even though the soldiers were accounted for at the fort during the time of the alleged riot. Their rifles were inspected and found clean the next morning, meaning they hadn't been fired. Roosevelt dishonorably discharged all 160 soldiers anyway, including six who had been awarded the Medal of Honor. They no longer qualified for pensions and in some cases would be left destitute.
Senator Foraker investigated the Brownsville matter. He didn't believe the witnesses and thought it odd the fired shells were all found in one spot rather than throughout the town as the story would suggest. Foraker thought the residents of Brownsville had scattered the shells to frame the soldiers. Roosevelt refused to admit he was wrong, although he did eventually allow some of the soldiers to rejoin the army.
Roosevelt was only 50 when he retired from the presidency. He picked Taft as his successor and decided to spend a year hunting in Africa. The Smithsonian Institution sent taxidermists along to preserve his kills, although they only kept 50 of the 296 animals he killed which made him angry.
When Roosevelt returned to America, he traveled the country making speeches, supposedly to support the Republican party, but in reality, he was promoting a new way of doing things he called New Nationalism. He called for corporate regulation, worker's rights, an inheritance and income tax to disrupt generational wealth, a non-partisan tariff commission, and conservation of natural resources. He was coming close to becoming the socialist he'd previously despised.
By 1912, Roosevelt was running for president against Taft. Taft won the Republican nomination, so Teddy created the Progressive Party, nicknamed the Bull Moose party. While on campaign in Milwaukee, Roosevelt was shot by a would-be assassin. The bullet entered his right lung. Physicians advised him to go to the hospital, but he ignored their advice and proceeded to make his speech.
"I am going to ask you to be very quiet and please excuse me from making a long speech. I'll do the best I can, but there is a bullet in my body. It is nothing. I am not hurt badly. I have a message to deliver and will deliver it as long as there is life in my body."
The speech was delivered haltingly. Members of the audience begged him to stop. Most people in attendance had no idea what his speech was even about.
Roosevelt split the Republican vote causing Democrat Woodrow Wilson to win.
In 1912, he sued a newspaper editor for calling him a drunk. Although he possessed the ruddy face and bombastic manner of a drunkard, Roosevelt actually drank very little, sometimes having a mint julep after a tennis match or sipping from a wine glass, but not finishing it. He presented witnesses to his sobriety and the newspaper editor had to admit he was wrong. Roosevelt didn't sue him for the money, just the principle of the thing, and only asked for six cents in damages.
In 1914, Teddy explored the jungles of South America. While traveling the River of Doubt, he hurt his leg against a rock. An abscess developed and he got jungle fever. He told his son Kermit to leave him to die, but the members of the expedition wouldn't hear of it. They managed to bring him down the river to safety.
Roosevelt was once friends with President Woodrow Wilson, but began to hate him when Wilson apologized to Colombia for the role of the US in Panamanian independence, Roosevelt's proudest accomplishment. Wilson's legislation was in line with what Roosevelt had been calling for, but Roosevelt railed against his policies anyway. When Roosevelt changed his mind about US neutrality in the first World War, he accused Wilson for being a coward for not joining the fight.
He campaigned against Wilson in 1916. When Wilson was reelected and prepared to join the war, Roosevelt asked if he could lead a division in France. Wilson declined giving Teddy a division, thinking him too unbalanced. Roosevelt was also not physically fit enough for military service, lacked military experience (despite leading a volunteer regiment in Cuba), and lacked military discipline. Roosevelt never would be willing to follow the chain of command.
Angry at being rejected, Roosevelt claimed the reason he didn't get a division was political. He toured the country, encouraging a more aggressive waging of war. His four sons all fought in the first World War. His son Quentin was killed in an aerial battle.
Roosevelt dictated an editorial for the Kansas City Star on January 5, 1919. He died the next morning from a blood clot in the coronary artery. His death came as a surprise since few knew he was seriously ill. He was only 61.
June 22, 2025
Very detailed and well written biography. My problem was that I didn't know enough about the history and people of the time, so I had to Google a lot. :). I can see why it won the Pulitzer, though.
December 18, 2014
Not very good. I did not enjoy this book as much as I was expecting to. It's just not a vary interesting read.
Watch Ken Burns!
Watch Ken Burns!
March 23, 2021
Very old school aka boring style
October 17, 2024
Theodore Roosevelt by Henry Pringle
.
.
.
The man, the myth, the legend .... Theodore Roosevelt. One of America’s manliest men, doer of deeds, man in the arena; if American values had to be summed up in one person it would for sure be Teddy Roosevelt. This guy did it all; New York congressman, New York Governor, NYPD police commissioner, US Army Colonel, US President, author, conservationist, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, explorer, hunter, rancher and family man. TR worked for the common man, busting trusts and controlling large corporations to make life better for common folk, conserving vast swaths of land and forest for future generations, building the Panama Canal, making America strong on the world stage and so much more! A fascinating person to study, not to mention having a truly unique set of qualities for a politician; he was actually honest and had morals! This book, while one of many biographies on TR, is concise and able to put his entire life into just over 400 pages and keeps the readers attention the whole time.
.
.
#theodoreroosevelt #roosevelt #president #usa #usa🇺🇸 #newyork #history #ushistory #read #bookstagram #book #bookrecommendations #bookreview #readersofinstagram #reading
.
.
.
The man, the myth, the legend .... Theodore Roosevelt. One of America’s manliest men, doer of deeds, man in the arena; if American values had to be summed up in one person it would for sure be Teddy Roosevelt. This guy did it all; New York congressman, New York Governor, NYPD police commissioner, US Army Colonel, US President, author, conservationist, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, explorer, hunter, rancher and family man. TR worked for the common man, busting trusts and controlling large corporations to make life better for common folk, conserving vast swaths of land and forest for future generations, building the Panama Canal, making America strong on the world stage and so much more! A fascinating person to study, not to mention having a truly unique set of qualities for a politician; he was actually honest and had morals! This book, while one of many biographies on TR, is concise and able to put his entire life into just over 400 pages and keeps the readers attention the whole time.
.
.
#theodoreroosevelt #roosevelt #president #usa #usa🇺🇸 #newyork #history #ushistory #read #bookstagram #book #bookrecommendations #bookreview #readersofinstagram #reading
September 15, 2023
Reading this book during its published year in 1931 and potentially for 2 decades afterwards would merit a higher rating. In 2023 to much time has passed for this to be a valuable or entertaining read at all. Yes you learn of the man Theodore Roosevelt and get a sense of who he was, however the process of reading this biography, even after 3 additional revisions is a painful experience. The timeline continuously jumps back and forth making keeping track of an order of events impossible. The names of the historical figures outside of a few, again in 2023, are widely unknown, making the opportunity to relate to the instance difficult without historical research.
I assume the same can be said for most biographies 90 years after their original print. In todays age, go ahead and get the spark notes version and save yourself hours.
I assume the same can be said for most biographies 90 years after their original print. In todays age, go ahead and get the spark notes version and save yourself hours.
September 3, 2023
I read the book “The Big Burn” recently about Theodore Roosevelt and his role in creating the forest service. It portrayed Roosevelt as a larger than life character and I was interested in reading more about him. I found this biography at a used book sale. It had won a Pulitzer Prize so I assumed it would be good.
In my opinion it is boring and bland. I am not going to finish it. The author failed to breathe any life into his subject with the exception of parts about his youth.
The book was not written in chronological order when he was president. Chapters dealt with various issues Roosevelt encountered as a politician. The chapters themselves didn’t follow the issues in chronological order. That would be okay if the book wasn’t boring.
In my opinion it is boring and bland. I am not going to finish it. The author failed to breathe any life into his subject with the exception of parts about his youth.
The book was not written in chronological order when he was president. Chapters dealt with various issues Roosevelt encountered as a politician. The chapters themselves didn’t follow the issues in chronological order. That would be okay if the book wasn’t boring.
April 28, 2025
it's awesome that America has its own don quixote and he was our greatest president.
this book shows its age and ass constantly. 3 paragraphs dedicated to TR biggest legacy of conservation. 1 paragraph dedicated to Gifford and the destruction of the foresters. I've never seen anyone dick ride for Taft so much. Taft is a fucking loser and his relatives today should walk around in shame never making eye contact with their fellow Americans. This book just ends completely disrespectful. its one thing to be objective and steer clear of TR as the mythological American. its another thing to go out of your way to try to destroy his character and paint him as a power hungry socialist? this book honestly sucks.
this book shows its age and ass constantly. 3 paragraphs dedicated to TR biggest legacy of conservation. 1 paragraph dedicated to Gifford and the destruction of the foresters. I've never seen anyone dick ride for Taft so much. Taft is a fucking loser and his relatives today should walk around in shame never making eye contact with their fellow Americans. This book just ends completely disrespectful. its one thing to be objective and steer clear of TR as the mythological American. its another thing to go out of your way to try to destroy his character and paint him as a power hungry socialist? this book honestly sucks.
July 8, 2022
One of the best biographies of T.R. I have read. Edmund Morris clearly drew inspiration from Pringle when he compiled his three book trilogy on T.R. While Morris wrote a masterpiece, it was also dry and drawn at times. Pringle avoided this by keeping his biography relatively short. While there is some bias, as there always is, the novel is still an outstanding read.
For anyone interested in T.R. but maybe not willing to invest the time reading the Morris trilogy, Pringle delivers.
For anyone interested in T.R. but maybe not willing to invest the time reading the Morris trilogy, Pringle delivers.
August 31, 2023
Really appreciate Pringle’s writing and the huge personality he has to tackle here. Informative, but not dry.
July 12, 2015
An interesting biography of TR first written in the 1930s, which gives the book a unique perspective. The author uses a roughly chronological framework to tell the story of TR's life, but he isn't afraid to jump forward or backward in time when a certain event sheds light on another period.
I learned quite a bit about TR from this book--he was a complex character with a fascinating life--but I'm left wanting to read another more modern, perhaps broader take on the man.
I learned quite a bit about TR from this book--he was a complex character with a fascinating life--but I'm left wanting to read another more modern, perhaps broader take on the man.
Read
August 8, 2008We read this in American Studies in high school. I remember really liking it, but wonder what I would think if I read it today. I didn't realize it was written such a long time ago...
January 13, 2015
Very good comprehensive biography. Does not follow chronological order.
October 8, 2018
A very thorough biography. A bit dry and long, but tells you much of his life and public roles.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews