We live in a time when real leaders are hard to find, good examples forgotten, the timeless nature of good – and bad – leaders highly relevant. “Doing” is different from talking. Deep love of nation is different from fighting for popularity. Among the best was Theodore Roosevelt, our 26th President.
Famous for many things, not least turning into the wind, Theodore Roosevelt was quick to sideline doubters and infuse others with confidence. Even in his day, he was a force of nature.
He was also a naturalist, endless energy, love of the wild, founded many of our national parks, revered John Muir, appointed Gifford Pinchot, conservation pioneer, first head of the Forest Service.
Theodore Roosevelt rode horses avidly, like Reagan and our founders, went west, worked as a “cowpuncher” – driving cattle for two years after losing his beloved first wife, Alice. He loved nature, Maine to the Dakotas.
An explorer, he crossed Africa, recorded in “Africa Game Trails,” collecting exhibits for the Smithsonian. He discovering the headwaters of Brazil’s “River of Darkness,” now “Rio Theodoro.”
Father of six, Alice – daughter of his beloved Alice – then four sons and a daughter with Edith, Theodore Roosevelt was a celebrated father, taught his children comfort with themselves and in nature, dawn to dark.
His four sons, Theodore Roosevelt Jr., Kermit, Archbald and Quentin, served in the army. Quentin was killed in WWI, flying against Germany. Theodore Roosevelt Jr. died days after hitting Utah Beach, WWII. Theodore Roosevelt Jr. won the Medal of Honor – and Theodore Roosevelt later did posthumously for heroism in the Spanish-American war. Theodore Roosevelt’s younger daughter, Ethel, was a Red Cross Nurse – and ambulance driver – in WWII.
Where does one begin with Theodore Roosevelt’s life lessons? How can one illustrate what great looks like? Theodore Roosevelt’s breadth – his hunger to live and learn, teach, and lead – was honest, genuine, and breathtaking.
Theodore Roosevelt loved his father, lost him early, and wrote often to his mother. He kept a diary – which I have held in my hands and read front to back; it is moving. He was determined to set the bar high – physically, mentally, spiritually – walk the walk, put himself in hard situations to resolve them.
Opposing New York’s Tammany Hall as a legislator and governor, he was hated, drew energy from that. Finding corruption in New York’s police, he fired 10,000 officers, made them pass physical and moral tests to return, and policed the streets himself.
As an assistant secretary of the Navy, after legislator, cowboy, lawyer, police commissioner, before serving as Garfield’s vice president (1901), Theodore Roosevelt helped Panama become independent of Colombia.
A Republican, Theodore Roosevelt loved free markets, and so…hated monopolists and those who exploited children and women for cheap labor. As president, he broke up the “trusts,” settled major strikes personally, again infuriated powerful interests, was sued for doing so, no matter.
He pushed fair treatment for children and women at work, created the first child labor laws, set in motion the 19th Amendment, women’s right to vote. A traditionalist, unfairness deeply disturbed him. He hunted it out, fought it wherever he found it.
An anti-racist, Theodore Roosevelt shocked the nation, elevated the issue as president, dined privately with Booker T. Washington, the black educator, opened the civil service to Black America – which Wilson reversed.
Theodore Roosevelt was more than this list. As president, he was first to fly, built the trade-changing Panama Canal, personally brokered Russo-Japanese peace, earning the Nobel Peace Prize for his tireless efforts.
Between doing and daring, serving as president when Garfield was assassinated in 1901, winning in in 1904, not running in 1908, then running as a “Bull Mooser” in 1912 – defeating Republican William Howard Taft, who deeply disappointed him, nearly beating Wilson, Theodore Roosevelt wrote 37 books.
Theodore Roosevelt’s impact on America, our national and global identity, was extraordinary. He launched the US Navy, or “Great White Fleet” – painted the color of peace – on a world tour pushing “peace through strength.” He turned America into a global power, was a role model for his fifth cousin…young FDR.
But Theodore Roosevelt’s greatest contributions were to the American character, being a beacon, showing what leaders really are, that they exist. Many recall his “Man in the Arena” speech, which came late, near an assassination attempt. But he had voiced that same sentiment, respect for the doer, far earlier.
“Man in the Arena” was 1910, delivered in Paris, but Theodore Roosevelt wrote similar things in 1891. He was candid, clear and consistent. In 1891, he wrote: “The man who really counts in the world is the doer, not the mere critic – the man who actually does the work, even if roughly and imperfectly, not the man who only talks or writes about how it ought to be done.” That was true at every level, voting to running.
What people should appreciate is that real leaders lead with heart, mind, and experience; they are authentic, obviously and always so. They are doers, learning but consistent, purpose-centered not ego-before-country, about action. Theodore Roosevelt was always there for America. People knew it, loved him. He was real. We need that again, authenticity, doing what is right regardless of cost, love of our nation.
Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, attorney, and naval intelligence officer (USNR). He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (2018), and is National Spokesman for AMAC.
