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Colonel Roosevelt

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If you've read the first two volumes in Edmund Morris' landmark biography of Theodore Roosevelt (The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt and Theodore Rex) you've been waiting for this one. The scholarship is every bit as detailed, the narrative every bit as well-drawn, but I nevertheless found myself enjoying this volume slightly less than the two preceding ones, if only because it describes sadder events, and Morris did such a masterful job of taking us through Roosevelt's Rise and Rule that his necessary decline seems even more poignant in comparison.

This book does contain detailed, authoritative accounts of some of the most dramatic events in Theodore Roosevelt's life -- the assassination attempt he followed with the announcement "Ladies and gentlemen, I don't know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot; but it takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose[,]" and a ninety-minute speech, given with blood spreading slowly across his waistcoat; his hunting safari in Africa; his near-death experiences mapping the then-unexplored River of Doubt in Brazil (now named the "Rio Roosevelt" in his honor). If, like me, you followed reading Morris' prior volumes with Roosevelt's own autobiographical works -- the Autobiography of Theodore Roosevelt,Through the Brazilian Wilderness, and/or African Game Trails -- reading this will give you the details Roosevelt himself chose to leave out, and show you the viewpoints of Rooselvelt's friends, enemies, and family as well.

So, all in all, if you've read the first two volumes, and especially if you've gone beyond them, this one's a necessary read. The problem with it is that, of necessity, this volume is tragedy, not comedy; this last section of Roosevelt's life was a comet in decline, overextended, his powers past their peak or locked into futile struggles that his native pride and will found impossible to decline. The same genius is still there -- both in Roosevelt himself and in Morris' biography -- but it's hard to read of Teddy's doomed-from-inception 1912 presidential campaign, of his near-quixotic determination to map the Brazilian wilderness as an aging man in his fifties, or of his relentless push for a war that we know will kill his youngest son, without feeling an inevitable sadness that caused me to put this book down on more than one occasion.

The comet is still afire here, both in Morris's writing and in Theodore's life; but we know that at the end of this volume, it will go out, and Morris has done such a good job of creating sympathy, affection, and admiration for his subject that there's an inevitable melancholy suffusing this concluding volume.

The publication in 1979 of Edmund Morris's The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt heralded the start of a monumental multi-volume study of our nation's 26th president. Though sidetracked for a number of years by his assignment as Ronald Reagan's official biographer, Morris finally released his second volume, Theodore Rex, in 2001, which chronicled Roosevelt's life during his years in the White House. This book, which recount's Roosevelt's post-presidential years, provides a long-awaited completion to Morris's project. It bears all of the strengths and weaknesses of Morris's approach to his project, now on display in a chronicle of an eventful decade in an already active life.

Morris begins with his subject (whose insistence on being referred to post-presidency as "Colonel Roosevelt" provides the inspiration for the book's title) on safari in Africa, the first leg of a year-long voyage abroad. Designed to give his handpicked successor, William Howard Taft, an opportunity to flourish outside of his long shadow, Roosevelt's trip continued with a triumphal tour of Europe, one that the author recounts in meticulous detail. Returning to universal acclaim, he also confronted a divisive political scene, with the dominant Republican Party torn by increasingly acrimonious infighting between its progressive and conservative wings. After an initial silence, Roosevelt joined the fray, campaigning for a number of progressive Republicans in the 1910 midterm elections. Morris sees the defeat of these candidates as the first blow to his public standing, weakening him at a time when he faced growing calls from Progressives to challenge Taft for the 1912 Republican presidential nomination.

Increasingly disillusioned with his former colleague, Roosevelt entered the race in February 1912. Morris's description of his primary battle against Taft is one of the high points of this book, capturing all of the drama of a former president taking on his party's leadership. Though Roosevelt was the clear choice of the voters, the limited use of presidential primaries at the time and Taft's control of party patronage ensured Roosevelt's defeat at the national convention that June. Undaunted, Roosevelt bolted from the GOP and campaigned for the White House under the banner of the newly-founded Progressive Party. Morris eschews any analysis of the campaign in favor of a narrative that describes his travels across America, which ended with a dramatic assassination attempt by "a weedy little man" who claimed to have been urged to do so by the ghost of William McKinley. Despite the surge of sympathy the attempt generated, Roosevelt fell short in his effort, losing in November.

Financially weakened, Roosevelt turned to his pen and took to the road once more. After a trip to Arizona with his sons Archie and Quentin, Roosevelt embarked on what he viewed as his last great adventure - an expedition into the jungles of the Amazon. His journey proved difficult and physically demanding, with personality conflicts, a leg injury, and a recurrence of malaria taking its toll on the former president. Roosevelt's return coincided with the outbreak of war in Europe, leaving him chafing with inactivity as Woodrow Wilson first kept America out of war, then left the former president on the sidelines as he led the nation into it. By its end, Roosevelt nursed both the pain of losing his youngest son and an increasing range of physical ailments, a cumulative effect of decades of strenuous activity that left him dead at the age of 60 in 1919.

Morris recounts Roosevelt's life in vivid, occasionally even florid prose. He is a master of presenting the rich drama of Roosevelt's adventures, an easy enough task given the material he had to work with but well done nevertheless. Yet like his earlier volumes, this descriptive account comes with little in the way of context or analysis. There is little here to explain Roosevelt's broader impact on progressivism, his contributions of his journeys to natural history, or the importance of his participation in the preparedness movement. While this diminishes the utility of Morris's work as a study of Roosevelt's contribution to American history, it does not detract from the overall enjoyability of Morris's entertaining, masterful account. Combined with his earlier volumes, it is likely to serve as the standard by which Roosevelt biographies are judged for decades to come

This book covers the last decade of Theodore Roosevelt's life, completing the trilogy begun with The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt (birth to winning the Presidency) and Theodore Rex (White House years). Roosevelt wrote so many books, articles and speeches, and was written about so often by contemporaries, that Morris is almost an editor rather than a researcher or analyst--about 20% of the pages are devoted to notes. Yet the books never turn into recitations of facts, all three are exciting and readable, with the feel of novels rather than historical accounts. They are peppered with vivid descriptions and aphoristic phrasing.

Compared to the first two books in the series, Morris seems to have gained in confidence, or perhaps the sources from this period allow more definitive conclusions. There are fewer qualifications and stronger color in the writing. The other major difference is Roosevelt's position during this time allowed him to participate in world affairs and anything else that interested him, without any restrictions of public office. The first book is the most adventurous, but Roosevelt was not a major global or even national player. The second book is a little less fun to read due to the necessity of describing details of politics and administration. Only in Colonel Roosevelt does his mature personality shine through without cloud.

There isn't much more to say. This is among the greatest popular biographies ever written, about one of history's most exciting characters. I definitely recommend reading the three books in order, but if you will only read one, I think this is the best choice.

What else can one say after completing the third and final volume in Edmund Morris's magisterial trilogy on Theodore Roosevelt. As Morris notes in his epilogue he started this series back in 1979 when Roosevelt was still suffering from the often scathing biographies by liberal academes who tended to view Roosevelt as a bully, a tyrant, a misanthrope and worse. This despite the praise heaped upon him by his "fifth cousin" Franklin Roosevelt, who essentially modeled his political career after TR.

This book covers the Bull Moose's final ten years. Far from being a "comet in decline," Roosevelt kept up a pace that would leave much younger men exhausted and gasping for airs. He didn't seem to lose a moment of his life, pushing himself hard and fast through 60 years of his strenuous life, until finally his grizzled body could take it no longer, quietly passing away in "The House on the Hill" on a cold January evening in 1919, which Morris poignantly recalls in the closing chapter.

Through the course of the narrative we are treated to Roosevelt's Africa Expedition, funded by Andrew Carnegie, his grand tour of Europe that followed, his break from the Republican Party and the formation of the short-lived Progressive Party that seemed would tarnish his reputation among Republicans forever, his journey Through the Brazilian Wilderness and finally his infamous battles with Woodrow Wilson over American neutrality in the great war that would cost the life of perhaps his dearest son, Quentin.

Morris captures the fervor of Roosevelt's commitment but also his many inconsistencies, not least of all in his unbridled frustration with Taft and Wilson, who he felt were turning back his prized progressive reforms and dragging their feet when it came to hot button foreign issues. Morris notes that Roosevelt was never a true Progressive, but rather one with a small "p" who dearly hoped to keep progressive reform a part of the Republican plank. Failing to do so he launched his own campaign in 1912, but after that sought reconciliation between the "regular" and "progressive" Republicans. His biggest concern were effete Democrats like Wilson, who he felt were co-opting progressive reform without offering any substance to them.

His ultimate disillusion was the way Wilson dragged out American neutrality long after the Lusitania and other passenger ships and freighters were sunk by German U-boats. Roosevelt's constant attacks on Wilson, through his editorials in The Outlook and Metropolitan journals, no doubt had a grueling impact on the Democratic administration, but as Morris noted the public mood was with Wilson, which Roosevelt eventually came to realize, having grown increasingly disappointed with "hyphenated Americans."

This book completes Morris's compelling trilogy which I see will soon be available in a box set. If you haven't read the first two books, I would suggest the trilogy bundle as it offers perhaps the most complete portrait of Theodore Roosevelt other than Roosevelt's own accounts.

And now, at last, the third and final act of one of the greatest accounts of one of the most remarkable lives in American history.

"Colonel Roosevelt" brings to a close Edmund Morris' trilogy on the life of Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States, prolific author, naturalist, cowboy, husband and father. It picks up where the story left off at the end of volume two--Roosevelt's departure from the presidency in March 1909 and closes with his death in January 1919. The last decade of Roosevelt's life was often marked by loss, both personal and professional, but it was a dramatic and momentous one nevertheless, and receives full justice in Morris' masterful hands.

It's all here: the triumphant African safari of 1909-10; the rift with his handpicked successor, William Howard Taft; the unsuccessful attempt to wrest the 1912 Republican nomination from Taft; the stand at Armageddon and the birth of the Progressive Party; the assassination attempt in Milwaukee, when TR insisted on delivering a speech despite the bullet in his chest; the shadows that darkened Europe and Roosevelt's increasingly militant stance for preparedness; the wounding of his sons and death of one of them in battle; and finally, death in his 60th year.

What emerges more strongly in these pages than in the second volume, "Theodore Rex," is a vivid portrait of Roosevelt's inner life--the ongoing struggle between the man of repose and the man of action, between the philosopher and the warrior, between the party regular and the reformer. It's been more than 30 years since the appearance of volume one, and almost a decade since volume two hit the shelves. In this case, it was truly worth the wait. Morris has given us the definitive portrait of TR, one likely to stand for a generation or more.--William C. Hall

I am loving this book but want to mention that the publisher dropped the ball on the Kindle edition -- the text has no footnotes!!! The book is fully footnoted at the end but the only way to read them is to go to the footnote section of the book and start reading. Morris' footnotes can be very enjoyable and illuminating and one of the great things about the Kindle is the way it can hotlink the footnotes; I'm very disappointed that the publisher did not do this.

I am tempted to give it 1 star on account of this alone but doing so would be doing a great disservice to Edmund Morris. The biography is 5 star but I'll take one off of of them due to the lack of footnotes in the text.

Colonel Roosevelt
Edmund Morris' first book on Teddy Roosevelt, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award in 1980. The sequel, Theodore Rex, won the Los Angeles Times Award for Biography in 2002. His latest bio is Beethoven: the Universal Composer.

Now, Morris reprises his Teddy Roosevelt series, with the last of the trilogy of the heroic TR as "Colonel Roosevelt," which pays homage to the last ten years of Teddy's life, from 1909 - 1919. The adventures of TR, whether in British East Africa, or politics, throughout WW I, or family life, showed him at his best and worst.
In this, the third and final volume of Morris' trilogy of Teddy Roosevelt, TR is in at least temporary retirement from political office. Only out of his presidential office fewer than seven weeks, he hops aboard a ship leaving for British East Africa, arriving on April 22 and filled with energy. Once there, he renews his adventuring, with his son Kermit, of whom it was said was, "made of more fragile material," often tagging along, but displaying as much heroism as his father. Much to TR's delight, Kermit, he says, "remains utterly cool" in the face of danger.

Morris' Colonel Roosevelt, opens with a prologue of what TR called his year long, "journey into the Pleistocene," in eight safaris across what was then called, British East Africa. His job? Collecting a huge number of specimens for the Smithsonian. In addition, he was to write an incredibly honest, no holds barred serialization of his trip for the popular Scribner's Magazine (Charles Scribner's Sons) to the tune of $50,000 (In terms of 2010 dollars; his $50K would be worth $880,000). He turned down twice that amount from Colliers, which he thought to be "too Slick, a touch bon marché, as Edith would say."

He would also be paid an additional 20% royalty for Scribner's later publication of it in book form. The Bloodshed of African animals, may put some readers off, and his joy when in battle, led some to see him as more a warrior than a man of peace, but keep in mind that TR was the first American to win a Noble Peace Prize, was also a magna cum laude' student at Harvard. When younger, he attended, when not studying at home under tutors; Groton, as later would his younger cousin FDR. TR also wrote 40 books and had a sharp and cutting wit, most of which he aimed at TR. However, he, despite his seeming liveliness, carried always with him the Malaria he earned in Cuba as the swashbuckling chief of the Rough Riders. Never the less, this seemingly same, macho he-man, shed tears of loneliness for his wife when out in the field, whether in war or in his fearless trek through the still Stone Aged jungle lands of British East Africa.

Although TR on the surface, at least, seemed to prefer to avoiding politics on his return to America in 1910, his famous "New Nationalism" speech renewed his heroism in the minds of the public and guided the Republican Progressive Movement. He was, among other things, the spark that ignited in his younger cousin FDR, the New Deal. FDR said more than once that TR was the greatest man he ever knew. TR said of himself, "I have enjoyed life as much as any nine men I know."

The Colonel, Teddy Roosevelt, as do most of us, also had a dark side, lashing out at Taft, perhaps with good reason and Woodrow Wilson over the inclination of Wilson to avoid involvement in WW I. Never the less, Wilson understood. Wilson saw him as a little boy in a man's body. In reading more about TR, one cannot hide from the thing that drove the man. TR's long battle with asthma, which together with a simultaneous struggle with diarrhea at age three nearly killed him, but at the same time made him a morally much stronger man. Suffering things like that at an early age tend to strengthen and motivate and drive people beyond the norm for the rest of their lives. In spite of his heroic life, he never did loose his attraction to the charm and love of toys, games, and sports.

Theodore Roosevelt remains a president with a mystical, magical aura which projects him even larger than a life writ large in words, deeds and expectations, more heroic, of greater magnetism, seemingly, when out of office, than when the Supreme Commander of what was once the moral compass, the heroic superhero nation of Planet Earth.

He remains an icon, and the last of the few swashbuckling national and world leaders, and, he is, in this book, Colonel Roosevelt, once again. The volume, Colonel Roosevelt, seems much a fast moving, book of fiction than a biography, not only for the rapidly paced articulation of it, but as well, for the language, staging, and exuberant continuity of a lifestyle comparable to an early Indiana Jones. TR was an Indiana Jones with a bustling, imaginative, and superior intellect, as well as an Athlete with a brilliant mind.
In encounter after encounter, TR is shone by Morris to have maintained his honorable, brilliant, and forthright political, and common sense instincts. Though mostly respectful of all men and their offices, he kowtows to none, regardless of rank or station in life, whether warrior king or pope. However, near his end he seems likely at any moment to lose his patience more easily at, what to him were incomprehensible world events.

Theodore Roosevelt was, around the world, without doubt, the most popular, adored and famous man of his era. In fact, if he had won the exciting "Bull Moose" campaign in 1912, outpolling sitting president H Taft, America and the rest of the world might not have engaged in WW I, therefore, neither in WW II.

He most certainly would have been reelected to a third term as president, and been able, then to finish his unfinished business, that project begun in 1901, thereby recreating the United States as a perfect democracy, a social, paradise, a feared, just, respected and near omnipotent militarily presence. He might well have accomplished all of this had he not died relatively young, in 1919, at the age of sixty. His last several years were plagued with a variety of ailments, all of which compounded, weakened him immeasurably.

Edmund Morris here unravels the final chapter of the Teddy Roosevelt era, in a tome that reads like a novel, a sort of drama and staging which reminds one of Gone With The Wind, as the America he and his cousin envisioned for us, took shape in the minds of both of them.
TR's humor, often self-effacing, often filled with humility, often involving a joke upon himself or his opponents, covered his fabled Indiana Jones-like life, with gun-slinging, ferocious, lion-like action, drumming up adventure wherever there was even a minute threat. Nonetheless, there he was, settling feuds, even stopping wars before they have begun. His, "speak softly but carry a Big Stick," served him and America well.

The book covering the last decade of TR's life reveals him as the most famous and popular person of his era and is rife with the things most people only dream of being a part. However, TR was also a man who despite his unusually physical lifestyle was one of the most voracious readers, especially of the classics, of any president.
Morris is not protective in describing his heroic TR. Teddy Roosevelt, with all his faults, his bluster at times, and his iconic, almost satirical self parody, was a man of destiny, of greatness and Morris displays him in his best and worst moments with equal strength. This is a great book, about a great and complex man.

Colonel Roosevelt was a joy to read. I had previously read The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt and Theodore Rex and Colonel Roosevelt was the best of the three books. I have read every book I have discovered about Theodore Roosevelt; those written about him, and those he penned himself. Colonel Roosevelt, by Edmund Morris, is easy to read and portrays Roosevelt in the latter years of his life. I teach history and Theodore Roosevelt is my favorite president; but to be truthful, I do not think I would have liked him as a person, if I had ever had the chance to meet him. He was an egomaniac and so full of himself that I do not see how any one could stand to be in the same room with him, but that's what fascinates me about Theodore Roosevelt, his personality. Even to the night of his death, he seemed to be planning for another presidential run in 1920. Edmund Morris is an outstanding writer, and I have thoroughly loved each of his volumes on Theodore Roosevelt. In Colonel Roosevelt, I was fascinated by Roosevelt's relations with William Howard Taft and Woodrow Wilson. Colonel Roosevelt inspired me to purchase a biography of Woodrow Wilson by John Milton Cooper, Jr., which I am currently reading. I was also inspired to purchase a biography of William Jennings Bryan and cannot wait to read this book also. Colonel Roosevelt is an easy and enjoyable read and I recommend it highly to anyone who is interested in the 1910s.

One of the most amazing things about Theodore Roosevelt is that no matter how many biographies I read of "the most interesting man in America," I still learn something new about him. Colonel Roosevelt is Edmund Morris' final installment in his Roosevelt trilogy (his first two books were The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt and Theodore Rex - both also highly recommended). Like its predecessors, Colonel Roosevelt is very sympathetic towards its subject, but not hesitant about confronting the truth when necessary. These three books represent the best written, most in-depth biography of TR and will probably be regarded as the definitive addition for quite some time. Unlike other recent accounts of TR's post-presidential life, such as Patricia O'Toole's When Trumpets Call: Theodore Roosevelt After the White House, Colonel Roosevelt covers every part of this time period comprehensively, from big events like the African safari to TR's race for chairmanship of the New York Republican Party in 1910 (something often skipped by other biographies). I do wish Morris had added more of his voice and analysis into the book. I think it would have been helpful to hear more of the debate about TR's decisions, particularly why he lost the 1912 race (Lewis Gould provides several interesting explanations in Four Hats in the Ring: The 1912 Election and the Birth of Modern American Politics (American Presidential Elections)). As it stands, Colonel Roosevelt stands as a recitation of the facts, with relatively little controversy. Still, this is a fitting tribute to a great man.

This wonderful volume is the final installment of the Edmund Morris trilogy of one of our greatest Chief Executives. The series started with "The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt", which dealt with TR's young life, up to the time he learned of his pending ascendancy to the Presidency; and continued with "Theodore Rex", which gives an exhaustive and enthralling treatment of his momentous seven and a half years in the White House. The present work provides a captivating and detailed look of approximately the last decade of TR's life. Even in these years, in which one could discern his progressive physical decline - although TR was a relatively young man when he died, he was undoubtedly plagued with severe cardiac damage, secondary to childhood rheumatism - TR's was a surreally active life of letters, politics, family, exploration, hunting, and diplomacy. The book reads like a novel in its fluid exposition and clever prose, yet it is meticulously documented with copious footnotes. I do believe that the trilogy will carve out and keep a place in the pantheon of great American Biographies.

If there is any value in reading History, it is of course in the possibility of drawing lessons from the past which might be of use in the present day. With this in mind, I would only make the following comments: As is generally wellknown, TR made a third party run at the presidency in the 1912 national election. He very much wanted to run as the Republican nominee, but was barred by the existing party machinery, put in place by the old school party bosses who wanted nothing to do with TR's progressive tendencies. (If the primary system had instead been completely adopted, TR would have taken the Republican nomination fairly easily). Consequently, he was compelled to run as the nominee of the famous Bull Moose party. So it was, in a feat as remarkable to contemplate then as it is now, he finished in second place, running far ahead of the Republican nominee and incumbent, William Howard Taft. Although TR was crushed by Woodrow Wilson - who had appropriated many of TR's progressive ideas - in the electoral vote, if one wades through the raw numbers, he or she will perceive that TR was not so far behind statistically.

In recounting this historic election Mr. Morris, deliberately or not, makes the following point: Immediately before and during his Bull Moose campaign, TR was raising some of the very same issues that we are still grappling over today. One such issue is the role of government in policing the behavior of Corporations. President Taft, although being the very large embodiment of oligarchy, seemed to favor wholesale application of the Sherman Antitrust Act. Indeed, his adminstration brought forward (by the pound) many more anti-trust suits than TR's ever did. But TR thought that such prosecutions were potentially disruptive of the American economy, as well as potentially unfair; and so favored instead an ongoing oversight. "Throughout [TR's] presidency he had exhorted Congress to create an independent agency that would constantly regulate, rather than sporadically punish, the doings of trusts - most of which were law-abiding, and all of which were entitled to be as big as they liked, as long as they did not monopolize their sector of the economy. 'Size in itself does not signify wrong-doing.'"

Even more controversial is the issue of dealing with federal judges who legislate de facto from the bench, in open defiance of established law or precedent. In particular, TR was infuriated by reactionary or "Bourbon" judges who ignored the progressive legislation he had so proudly passed during his presidency. TR's extremely controversial (then and now) remedy was the recall of such recalcitant judges: "...either the recall will have to be adopted or else it will have to be made much easier than it is now to get rid, not merely of a bad judge, but of a judge who, however virtuous, has grown so out of touch with social needs and facts that he is unfit longer to render good service on the bench." It hardly needs to be said that in the present day, the question of just what to do with overweening federal judges has yet to be answered.

I would also make mention here of Mr. Morris' very effective device of, during the last part of the book, mirroring TR's life with the doings of the Wilson administration. Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt were pluperfect antagonists; "The Professor as President" versus the "The Man of Action". Consequently, Mr. Morris' treatment of their clashes and ripostes, especially concerning America's role in the Great War, is utterly gripping. Again, I do not know if it is just happenstance that Mr. Morris has given President Wilson such a prominent part in the story. In any case Woodrow Wilson is very much in the public mind these days, inasmuch as his domestic policies and the "messianic vision" of his presidency have drawn frequent comparisons to that of the present Administration.

In short, Mr. Morris' book is a winner.