Teddy Roosevelt: T-President

[WTFMonkey]

I was sitting at my desk during my lunch break looking for something to read, when I came across a speech given by Theodore Roosevelt at the University of Paris, Sorbonne in 1910. Think about that for a second. This speech was given 95 years ago, a time in which France was the only other republic on the planet. It is titled “Citizenship in a Republic,” and don’t worry-- I’m not going to paste the entire speech here. The following quotes struck a number of chords in me, and so I thought they’d do the same for at least some of you. What follows is not a political diatribe, but simply some thoughts on how ideals haven’t changed in the last hundred years, but practices have.

Roosevelt is most famous for his personal policy, “speak softly, and carry a big stick,” but I think this quote is more telling of his character: “Don’t hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft.” Here are what I thought were some of the highlights:

In the long run, success or failure will be conditioned upon the way in which the average man, the average woman, does his or her duty, first in the ordinary, every-day affairs of life, and next in those great occasional crises which call for heroic virtues. The average citizen must be a good citizen if our republics are to succeed. The steam will not permanently rise higher than the main source; and the main source of national power and national greatness is found in the average citizenship of the nation. Therefore it behooves us to do our best to see that the standard of the average citizen is kept high…

This is what I think of as Roosevelt’s “Coach Mode.” His argument is almost the same as reasoning that a superstar or two can’t carry a team for very long. The higher the average quality of the team, the better the team will do. This is recognized by good coaches, business men, and managers alike; it is also the biggest argument against decreasing public educational spending.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.

Inspirational Teddy. This quote gets me through funky Ian King routines. It also keeps me in check when I feel like gloating, or when a “bad sportsmanship” moment comes over me. I can almost imagine Teddy saying to me, “Shut the fuck up. Who are you to criticize anybody?”

Still less room is there for those who deride or slight what is done by those who actually bear the brunt of the day; nor yet for those others who always profess that they would like to take action, if only the conditions of life were not what they actually are.

Hmm, “deride or slight what is done by those who actually bear the brunt of the day.” Yeah, I’ve done that. “Well,” I’d say, “At least I’m not a garbage man.” Or, “What?! You want me to get a job sweeping floors?” The truth is this: if all of the web designers in the world went on strike, there would be minor hiccups. Companies might lose a couple bucks. What I now do for a living is not all that important in the big scheme of things. On the other hand, if all of the garbage collectors in the world went on strike, we’d be face to face with plagues and epidemics in a matter of days. This was not an easy realization for me to make, but it’s one that definitely puts the world in perspective.

France has taught many lessons to other nations: surely one of the most important is the lesson her whole history teaches, that a high artistic and literary development is compatible with notable leadership in arms and statecraft. The brilliant gallantry of the French soldier has for many centuries been proverbial; and during these same centuries at every court in Europe the “freemasons of fashion” have treated the French tongue as their common speech; while every artist and man of letters, and every man of science able to appreciate that marvellous instrument of precision, French prose, has turned toward France for aid and inspiration.

With the anti-French “cheese-eating surrender-monkey” attitude being en vogue these days, don’t forget your history lessons. Roosevelt knew, probably better than most, that France had pulled our nuts out of the fire before, so pay respect and give thanks where it’s due.

There is need of a sound body, and even more need of a sound mind. But above mind and above body stands character-- the sum of those qualities which we mean when we speak of a man’s force and courage, of his good faith and sense of honor. I believe in exercise for the body, always provided that we keep in mind that physical development is a means and not an end. I believe, of course, in giving to all the people a good education. But the education must contain much besides book-learning in order to be really good. We must ever remember that no keenness and subtleness of intellect, no polish, no cleverness, in any way make up for the lack of the great solid qualities. Self-restraint, self-mastery, common sense, the power of accepting individual responsibility and yet of acting in conjunction with others, courage and resolution-- these are the qualities which mark a masterful people.

Pretty much sums up what I think of as T-Man ideals.

The speech is long; there’s much more to it, and much of it is as good as (or better than) what I’ve quoted. The entire text is readily available online, as are the rest of his speeches. Reading some of them will give you insight into what it meant to “be a man” around the beginning of the 20th century.

Oh, and that picture up top is a young Teddy Roosevelt in his Harvard sculling outfit. You don’t mess with a man with chops like that…

[naraku]

Teddy was a good man! Some of the stories about this guy are even crazy to this day. The REAL RoughRiders that he lead in the Spanish American war were no thugs for sure.

FDR was also a good man.

To me the Roosevelts are 2 for 2.

[harmonjh]

Teddy is a badass. I’m reading Theodore Rex, his biography starting around the time of his presidency. He never took shit from anyone. Real outdoorsman he was. The remarkable difference I saw was the language spoken in the late 1800s early 1900s compared to today, unbelievable.

[WTFMonkey]

[quote]harmonjh wrote:
The remarkable difference I saw was the language spoken in the late 1800s early 1900s compared to today, unbelievable.[/quote]

I completely agree. It’s almost impossible for me to listen to modern political speeches because nobody has a sense of style anymore. The structure and style of speech a century ago was so much more rich and complex than today’s speech – and therefore more effective. We’ve gotten lazy, that’s all there is to it.

Call me an elitist, but nothing pisses me off more than seeing a post filled with “im fine thx, u?” and “omg lol soo funnay.” We have gotten lazy in the last hundred (seventy? fifty, maybe?) years, and it’s made us fatter and stupider.

If anyone out there wants to better themselves, I suggest learning a new language. Preferably one with a very formal grammar. Learning Latin will teach you more about English than learning English did. Y’know, that might be the biggest problem: no one knows what the hell a gerund is, or what the ablative case is, or the genitive. People use the English language every day, yet don’t know the first thing about the formal grammar. Argh. I’ll stop now, because this isn’t the correct forum for this type of railing, but think about it.

[hedo]

Great president from a fine family. We lost something when we started teaching the young that patriotism and self sacrafice is not important.

As to France. Great history. What a waste. We owed them big after the Revolution. The gunpowder they supplied carried the war for us. The timely blockade sealed the fate of the English. The debt however, has been repaid.

I know a famous French Restaurant owner in Philadelphia. He left in 1970. He said don’t blame the French for their actions these days. The country is no longer French. Real French are a small minority. The politicians cater to the desires of the immigrants these days. Food for thought.