The Rough Riders
"The Rough Riders (1899) is the story of the First U.S. Volunteer Cavalry, the regiment Roosevelt led to enduring fame in Cuba during the Spanish-American War. Roosevelt recounts how the regiment was raised from an unusual mixture of hardened southwestern frontiersmen and privileged northeastern college graduates, and how it trained in Texas and then sailed "southward through the topic seas toward the unknown." Writing at a time when war could still be seen as a romantic adventure, Roosevelt describes the confusion of fighting in the jungle; the heat, hunger, rain, mud, and malaria that tested his men; and his "crowded hour" of triumph on the San Juan Heights." "In An Autobiography (1913), Roosevelt recalls his lifelong fascination with natural history, his love of hunting and the outdoors, and his adventures as a cattleman in the Dakota Badlands, as well as his career in politics as a state legislator, civil service reformer, New York City police commissioner, assistant secretary of the navy, governor of New York, and president. Roosevelt writes of his battles against corruption and machine rule, efforts to establish America as a world power, historic achievements in conservation, and his growing conviction that only a strong national government and an energetic presidency could protect the public against the rapacious greed of modern corporations."--BOOK JACKET.
Stats for nerds
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What Hacker News says
- Can one recognize Roosevelt's legacy without defending the most pernicious aspects of the colonization of the americas that occured some 350 years prior? Given you can choose to view literally anything through the labels of oppressor and oppressed, this statue removal has less to do with any actual crimes than hiding examples of leadership and character that would bring shame to current political leaders.
This is a man who literally, and almost single handedly organized a volunteer army, which included a significant number of native americans, and took them to war against the vestiges of a european colonial power (Spain).
Roosevelt was a great and exceptional man, and a leader others followed willingly, often at great risk to themselves, and other than maybe Martin Luther King, or George Patton, he's probably the best political leader America has ever produced. (I recommend his book on the Rough Riders) His original involvemnent in politics was as a crusader against corruption, and he used his wealth for the one thing it should afford, which is to be able to stand by his principles.
People are welcome to do what they want with their cities, but in removing this statue, it will become like all banned art, a symbol of the pettiness and contemptibility of the regime that removed it, and of the individual human greatness they fear most.
- In one of TR's books (perhaps Rough Riders?), he mentions watching Lincoln's funeral precession as a child, from his family home in New York.
- I don't think this opinion has historical justification.
> How am I harmed when one service that charges me nothing offers me ratings written (for free) by other users, but doesn’t show me the ratings provided by an entirely different free service? It would be hard to explain to Teddy Roosevelt that someone receiving something for free is being harmed because of a lack of other (free) options. ...
> Google is not the sort of obvious enemy that Teddy Roosevelt could point at with his sword and run up a hill to attack.
That really seems like using Roosevelt as a prop figure. The Rough Rider was also governor of New York. Quoting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Roosevelt
] As governor, Roosevelt learned about economic issues and political techniques that proved valuable in his presidency. He studied the problems of trusts, monopolies, labor relations, and conservation. G. Wallace Chessman argues that Roosevelt's program "rested firmly upon the concept of the square deal by a neutral state". The rules for the Square Deal were "honesty in public affairs, an equitable sharing of privilege and responsibility, and subordination of party and local concerns to the interests of the state at large". ...
] Chessman argues that as governor, Roosevelt developed the principles that shaped his presidency, especially insistence upon the public responsibility of large corporations, publicity as a first remedy for trusts, regulation of railroad rates, mediation of the conflict of capital and labor, conservation of natural resources and protection of the poor. Roosevelt sought to position himself against the excesses of large corporations and radical movements.
I struggle to believe that Roosevelt would not understand how a monopoly subsidized corporation with large control of a media market could affect a Square Deal. We can see how media control was relevant even in the 1904 presidential race, where the conservative Democrats chose as their party candidate over Parker over Hearst, whose papers pushed trust-busting thus challenging conservative power. Roosevelt later defeated Parker for the general election.
Yes, this is the same Hearst who advocated against Spanish rule of Cuba, and promoted the war that included Roosevelt at the Battle of San Juan Hill.
I'm not even sure that Roosevelt pointed out the attack with his sword. Quoting Roosevelt from "Rough Riders" at https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13000 :
} How Wood escaped being hit, I do not see, and still less how his horse escaped. I had left mine at the beginning of the action, and was only regretting that I had not left my sword with it, as it kept getting between my legs when I was tearing my way through the jungle. I never wore it again in action.
That was at the Battle of Las Guasimas, on June 24, while the Battle of San Juan Hill took place on July 1.
I therefore suspect the author doesn't know enough about Roosevelt to know what he would understand.
- Yeah I would have made it differently for sure. The statue's artist and promoters wanted it to be popular, and Roosevelt was a hero in part for his Rough Riders cavalry unit so I assumer they were trying to hit on that part of his life.
- which book about the rough riders are you referring to? https://www.amazon.com/Rough-Riders-Theodore-Roosevelt/dp/16... ?
