RICKY JAMES
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
(1858 – 1919)
 26TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
 LIEUTENTENANT COLONEL OF THE ROUGH
RIDER REGEMENT DURING THE SPANISHAMERICAN WAR
 VIEWED PRESIDENCY AS “STEWARD OF THE
PEOPLE”
 WON THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE FOR MEDIATING
RUSSIO-JAPANESE WAR
 STRONG CONSERVATIONIST
 STRESSED STRONG FOREIGN POLICY
THE STRENUOUS LIFE
(1900)
MAIN POINTS
 MAN SHOULD NOT BE IDLE; HE SHOULD STRIVE TO WORK
HARD AND EARN WHAT HE HAS ACCUMUMLATED, NO
MATTER IF HE IS WEALTHY OR POOR, HE STILL HAS AN
OBLIGATION TO WORK: “YOU WORK YOURSELVES, AND
YOU BRING UP YOUR SONS TO WORK. IF YOU ARE RICH
AND ARE WORTH YOUR SALT, YOU WILL TEACH YOUR
SONS THAT THOUGH THEY MAY HAVE LEISURE, IT IS NOT
TO BE SPENT IN IDLENESS..” HE RECOMMENDS WORK IN
“SCIENCE, IN LETTERS, IN ART, IN EXPLORATION, IN
HISTORICAL RESEARCH” FOR THE WEALTHY.
 HE STRESSES NOT ONLY A GOOD WORK ETHIC, BUT ALSO
MORAL OBLIGATIONS: “WE ADMIRE THE MAN WHO
EMBODIES VICTORIOUS EFFORT; THE MAN WHO NEVER
WRONGS HIS NEIGHBOR, WHO IS PROMPT TO HELP A
FRIEND, BUT WHO HAS THOSE VIRILE QUALITIES
NECESSARY TO WIN IN THE STERN STRIFE OF ACTUAL
LIFE.”
 HE RELATES MEN AND WOMEN’S ROLES IN SOCIETY: “THE
MAN MUST BE GLAD TO DO A MAN’S WORK, TO DARE
AND ENDURE AND TO LABOR; TO KEEP HIMSELF, AND TO
KEEP THOSE DEPENDENT UPON HIM. THE WOMAN MUST
BE THE HOUSEWIFE, THE HELPMEET OF THE HOMEMAKER,
THE WISE AND FEARLESS MOTHER OF MANY HEALTHY
CHILDREN.”
 ROOSEVELT IS AN EXPANSIONIST AND BELIEVES THAT FOR
AMERICA TO REMAIN STRONG AND TO BE THE WORLD’S
MOST POWERFUL COUNTRY IT MUST SPREAD
DEMOCRACY, STRIKE DOWN TYRANNY, AND NOT BE
AFRAID TO DO SO: “WE CANNOT AVOID THE
RESPONCIBILITIES THAT CONFRONT US IN HAWAII, CUBA,
PORTO RICO, AND THE PHILLIPINES.” “...WE MUST BUILD
THE ISTHMAIAN CANAL, AND WE MUST GRASP THE
POINTS OF VANTAGE WHICH WILL ENABLE US TO HAVE
OUR SAY IN DECIDING THE DESTINY OF THE OCEANS OF
THE EAST AND THE WEST.”
 HE STRESSES MILITARY BUILD-UP TO ENSURE AMERICAN
DOMINATION: “OUR ARMY NEEDS COMPLETE
REORGANIZATION, - NOT MERELY ENLARGING, - AND
THE REORGANIZATION CAN ONLY COME AS THE RESULT
OF LEGISLATION.”
 HE FEELS THAT BY SPREADING AMERICAN DEMOCRACY BY
FORCE, AMERICANS ARE DOING THEIR DUTY TO HELP
WORLDWIDE SOCIETY IN BRINGING THE UNCIVILIZED INTO
CIVILIZATION: “THE PHILIPPINES OFFER A YET GRAVER
PROBLEM. THEIR POPULATION INCLUDES HALF-CASTE
AND NATIVE CHRISTIANS, WARLIKE MOSLEMS, AND WILD
PAGANS. MANY OF THEIR PEOPLE ARE UTTERLY UNFIT
FOR SELF-GOVERNMENT, AND SHOW NO SIGNS OF
BECOMING FIT.”
 ROOSEVELT FEELS BY MEN AND WOMEN ADHERING TO
THEIR RESPONCIBILITIES BY BEING STRONG AND WORKING
HARD, THIS WILL TRANSCEND INTO A LARGER FEELING OF
WORTH NOT JUST FOR THE INDIVIDUAL BUT FOR THE
ENTIRE NATION: “AS IT IS WITH THE INDIVIDUAL, SO IT IS
WITH THE NATION……FAR BETTER IT IS TO DARE MIGHTY
THINGS, TO WIN GLORIOUS TRIUMPHS, EVEN THOUGH
CHECKERED BY FAILURE, THAN TO TAKE RANK WITH
THOSE POOR SPIRITS WHO NEITHER ENJOY MUCH NOR
SUFFER MUCH, BECAUSE THEY LIVE IN THE GRAY
TWILIGHT THAT KNOWS NOT VICTORY NOR DEFEAT.”
 HE STRESSES THAT TO ACCOMPLISH HIS GOALS OF
BECOMING AND REMAINING THE WORLD POWER, NOT
ONLY INDIVIDUALS, BUT THE NATION AS A WHOLE, NEED
TO BE PREPARED TO WORK HARD, BECOME INVOLVED,
AND MAKE THE NECESSARY SACRAFICES, BECAUSE IF
AMERICAN’S DO NOT UNDERTAKE THIS GREAT
RESPONCIBILITY, ANOTHER COUNTRY WILL. “I PREACH TO
YOU, THEN MY COUNTRYMEN, THAT OUR COUNTRY
CALLS NOT FOR THE LIFE OF EASE BUT FOR THE LIFE OF
STRENUOUS ENDEAVOR. THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
LOOMS BEFORE US BIG WITH THE FATE OF MANY
NATIONS. IF WE STAND IDLY BY, IF WE SEEK MERELY
SWOLLEN, SLOTHFUL EASE AND IGNOBLE PEACE, IF WE
SHRINK FROM THE HARD CONTESTS WHERE MEN MUST
WIN AT HAZARD OF THEIR LIVES AND A THE RISK OF ALL
THEY HOLD DEAR, THEN THE BOLDER AND STRONGER
PEOPLES WILL PASS US BY, AND WILL WIN FOR
THEMSELVES THE DOMINATION OF THE WORLD.”