WEBVTT - TR Vs. Other Presidents 0:00:00.440 --> 0:00:05.800 History versus is a production of I heart radio and 0:00:06.160 --> 0:00:16.960 mental flaws. Shifty Adroit's logathy, cold blooded, narrow minded, prejudiced, obstinate, timid, 0:00:17.000 --> 0:00:21.599 old psalm singing Indianapolis politician, no more backbone than a 0:00:21.680 --> 0:00:24.959 chocolate eclaire, a flood dub with a streak of the 0:00:25.040 --> 0:00:28.960 second rate, and the common in him puzzle with fat 0:00:29.040 --> 0:00:34.040 head brains less than a guinea pig. Yes, those are 0:00:34.080 --> 0:00:39.480 the words of Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States, author, philanthropist, 0:00:39.560 --> 0:00:43.280 avid reader, and inspiration for the Teddy Bear. He was, 0:00:43.479 --> 0:00:46.720 from most accounts, a kind and sociable man. But if 0:00:46.800 --> 0:00:50.440 Roosevelt found flaws, he was quick to articulate them, a 0:00:50.560 --> 0:00:53.720 fast and furious torrent of put downs, designed to bombard 0:00:53.760 --> 0:00:56.640 the target of his attack with insults that might require 0:00:56.680 --> 0:01:01.360 a dictionary to fully process. Roosevelt didn't unleash these particular 0:01:01.400 --> 0:01:04.960 tirades at just anyone. He reserved them for individuals he 0:01:04.959 --> 0:01:07.319 held to the highest standard, because they held the highest 0:01:07.360 --> 0:01:11.520 office in the land. For Roosevelt, anything less than the naked, 0:01:11.600 --> 0:01:14.080 harsh truth directed at the commander in chief would be 0:01:14.120 --> 0:01:17.640 a disservice to his country. When it came to other presidents. 0:01:17.760 --> 0:01:21.560 Theodore Roosevelt pulled no punches. How ugh did it get? 0:01:22.040 --> 0:01:26.000 We're about to find out. For mental flaws and I 0:01:26.040 --> 0:01:29.040 Heart Radio. This is History Versus, a podcast about how 0:01:29.080 --> 0:01:32.160 your favorite historical figures faced off against their greatest foes. 0:01:32.760 --> 0:01:37.039 This week's episode is t R Versus Other Presidents. Roosevelt's 0:01:37.040 --> 0:01:40.760 famously tempestuous attitude towards politicians may have started with his 0:01:40.800 --> 0:01:44.760 impossible standards. His role model for all things presidential was 0:01:44.800 --> 0:01:48.080 Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth Commander in Chief of the United 0:01:48.080 --> 0:01:50.720 States and one of the few presidents Roosevelt had no 0:01:50.840 --> 0:01:53.920 quarrel with. He grew up in a household where Lincoln 0:01:53.960 --> 0:01:57.400 was revered, at least by his Republican father, Theodore Senior, 0:01:57.560 --> 0:02:01.320 or the His mother, Mitty, a Southern and Confederate sympathizer, 0:02:01.480 --> 0:02:05.360 likely had other feelings. He had worked with Lincoln's administration 0:02:05.440 --> 0:02:07.840 during the Civil War and had even joined Abraham and 0:02:07.880 --> 0:02:11.160 his wife Mary at church after Lincoln was assassinated. In 0:02:12.440 --> 0:02:15.480 his funeral procession ran through New York City from his 0:02:15.520 --> 0:02:19.000 grandfather's mansion in Union Square. Six year old Roosevelt and 0:02:19.000 --> 0:02:21.960 his brother Elliott watched as the president's coffin was carried 0:02:22.040 --> 0:02:25.679 through the streets. Photographer even captured the moment a young 0:02:25.800 --> 0:02:27.840 Theodore appearing out of the window and what would be 0:02:27.880 --> 0:02:31.840 the first of his many eyewitness experiences in history. Here's 0:02:31.880 --> 0:02:35.079 Clay Jenkinson, founder of the Theodore Roosevelt Center at Dickinson 0:02:35.120 --> 0:02:39.040 State University in North Dakota. Lincoln and Rose was the 0:02:39.040 --> 0:02:41.720 savior of the country. He was also a friend of 0:02:41.760 --> 0:02:45.839 his father, and tr worshiped his father and his father's associations. 0:02:45.960 --> 0:02:49.760 And he regarded Lincoln as somebody who had the moxie 0:02:49.800 --> 0:02:53.000 and the moral strength to do the right thing against 0:02:53.000 --> 0:02:56.760 almost impossible loads. And he knew that Lincoln had paid 0:02:56.760 --> 0:02:59.400 the ultimate price for that, that he had been assassinated 0:02:59.440 --> 0:03:03.880 in part because he grew in office, whereas most presidents, 0:03:03.919 --> 0:03:06.800 as you know, don't grow in office. They decline. But 0:03:07.080 --> 0:03:09.520 Lincoln was one of the few who actually grew in 0:03:09.560 --> 0:03:12.600 a big way during the course of its presidency. Roosevelt's 0:03:12.639 --> 0:03:16.600 admiration for Lincoln endured throughout his life as president. Roosevelt 0:03:16.600 --> 0:03:19.320 referred to him as my great hero, a degree of 0:03:19.360 --> 0:03:22.360 affection he reserved for very few people, aside from his father. 0:03:23.120 --> 0:03:25.360 With Lincoln's portrait hanging both in the White House and 0:03:25.400 --> 0:03:28.640 in his home office at Sagamore Hill, Roosevelt was constantly 0:03:28.680 --> 0:03:32.080 reminded of Lincoln's legacy. I look up to that picture, 0:03:32.120 --> 0:03:34.360 he said, and I do as I believe Lincoln would 0:03:34.360 --> 0:03:37.200 have done. He even kept a lock of Lincoln's hair 0:03:37.280 --> 0:03:41.880 in a ring, which Roosevelt war for his inauguration. It 0:03:41.920 --> 0:03:44.280 was given to him by John Hay, who had served 0:03:44.280 --> 0:03:47.280 in Lincoln's administration and went on to serve in Roosevelt's. 0:03:47.720 --> 0:03:50.720 It was kind of like a Victorian thing, and they 0:03:50.720 --> 0:03:54.520 would make jewelry into them. So that's what Hay does, 0:03:54.760 --> 0:03:56.800 and he keeps these, I think as two of the 0:03:56.880 --> 0:03:59.840 maid and he has them for quite a while and 0:04:00.880 --> 0:04:05.440 gives one the tr Aware as an inauguration. That's Tyler Caliberta, 0:04:05.720 --> 0:04:08.800 the education technician at Sagamore Hill, Roosevelt's one time home 0:04:08.840 --> 0:04:12.240 and now a National Historic site. I think Roosevelt saw 0:04:12.440 --> 0:04:15.720 Lincoln as kind of this incredible president, and I think 0:04:16.360 --> 0:04:19.360 in his own presidency would have liked to been president 0:04:19.440 --> 0:04:23.359 during a time like Lincoln. Nation was in crisis, and 0:04:24.240 --> 0:04:26.520 you know, he had to solve these kind of major problems. 0:04:26.560 --> 0:04:30.200 As president. Roosevelt enjoyed having a memento of Lincoln so 0:04:30.240 --> 0:04:32.680 close to him, but he was not so fond of 0:04:32.680 --> 0:04:34.360 one of the other presidents who would end up on 0:04:34.360 --> 0:04:38.880 Mount Rushmore alongside him. Roosevelt was famously cooled towards Thomas Jefferson, 0:04:39.320 --> 0:04:42.279 blaming the long deceased president for his ineffectual efforts in 0:04:42.279 --> 0:04:44.680 building a military force during the War of eighteen twelve 0:04:45.000 --> 0:04:48.480 and for jefferson subversive opposition to George Washington's policies while 0:04:48.520 --> 0:04:52.080 serving as his Secretary of State. But it was Roosevelt's 0:04:52.080 --> 0:04:55.599 contemporaries that received most of his scorn. That rant about 0:04:55.600 --> 0:05:00.120 a cold blooded, narrow minded, prejudiced, obstinate, timid, olds all 0:05:00.240 --> 0:05:04.960 singing Indianapolis politician that was directed at Benjamin Harrison, our 0:05:05.040 --> 0:05:08.599 twenty three president from eight nine to eight nine, and 0:05:08.640 --> 0:05:11.400 the same man who appointed Roosevelt as a Civil Service 0:05:11.400 --> 0:05:14.640 reform commissioner around the start of his term. Roosevelt had 0:05:14.680 --> 0:05:16.760 campaigned for him when he was on the Republican ticket, 0:05:17.440 --> 0:05:20.520 So where did things go so wrong? For one thing, 0:05:20.600 --> 0:05:24.640 Harrison didn't really want reform for federal employees. The position 0:05:24.760 --> 0:05:28.040 was more of a figurehead role that didn't suit Roosevelt 0:05:28.040 --> 0:05:31.520 in his high standards at all. In his mind, if 0:05:31.560 --> 0:05:34.239 someone was granted a federal job, it should be because 0:05:34.279 --> 0:05:36.800 they deserved it and not because they were out a favor. 0:05:37.360 --> 0:05:40.640 For the six years he held the post Roosevelt was defiant, 0:05:41.040 --> 0:05:44.919 putting laxa daisical civil service workers and departments in his crosshairs. 0:05:45.640 --> 0:05:49.680 He advised Harrison to fire George H. Paul, Postmaster of Milwaukee, 0:05:50.040 --> 0:05:53.600 for granting jobs to his friends. His investigation into the 0:05:53.640 --> 0:05:57.160 Baltimore Postal Service, where Roosevelt found workers soliciting money for 0:05:57.240 --> 0:06:00.840 political purposes on government property, which, according to historian and 0:06:00.920 --> 0:06:03.920 Edmund Morris, was against the Civil Service Code, put him 0:06:03.920 --> 0:06:08.120 against Postmaster General John Wanamaker even more directly. I wanta 0:06:08.160 --> 0:06:10.679 Maker tried to run his own investigation into the matter 0:06:10.760 --> 0:06:13.560 and reported that it found that no wrongdoing had occurred, 0:06:14.160 --> 0:06:17.679 But a House investigative committee, acting on Roosevelt's insistence, found 0:06:17.680 --> 0:06:21.760 that Roosevelt was right. Here's Jenkinson, it was just a 0:06:21.880 --> 0:06:24.880 natural instinct of his to read the job as boldly 0:06:24.920 --> 0:06:27.360 as possible, and to make sure that he got himself 0:06:27.360 --> 0:06:29.159 in the newspapers, and to make sure that he was 0:06:29.200 --> 0:06:32.000 on the right side of these questions. And he wasn't 0:06:32.040 --> 0:06:35.720 afraid to take on his own political party. He'd take 0:06:35.760 --> 0:06:38.560 it right up to the edge. And whether they're just 0:06:38.600 --> 0:06:42.200 like so annoyed and disgusted with him because he won't 0:06:42.880 --> 0:06:45.839 he won't play the game. You know. He just couldn't 0:06:45.920 --> 0:06:50.080 play the game. And they wanted him to be a 0:06:50.120 --> 0:06:52.479 figurehead at least, and to be They knew that he 0:06:52.520 --> 0:06:55.360 was like the best stump speaker they had, and that 0:06:55.520 --> 0:06:59.279 he could galvanize an audience, but they wanted him to 0:06:59.360 --> 0:07:02.960 be less tactic and to be less certain of things, 0:07:03.000 --> 0:07:06.480 and to go along more than he did. This wasn't 0:07:06.520 --> 0:07:10.280 how government was supposed to work. Government wasn't supposed to 0:07:10.320 --> 0:07:15.240 be fair. Cynicism and cronyism mandated that politicians did favors 0:07:15.280 --> 0:07:18.840 and the winning team showed support. But Roosevelt didn't care 0:07:18.920 --> 0:07:21.920 what party anyone belonged to. He was on a mission, 0:07:22.000 --> 0:07:24.200 and if Harrison's allies were in the way, he had 0:07:24.280 --> 0:07:28.400 no problem taking them down. That commitment had consequences for 0:07:28.440 --> 0:07:32.000 their relationship. When Harrison and Roosevelt met, Harrison took to 0:07:32.120 --> 0:07:34.800 tapping his fingers, a nervous tick that developed as a 0:07:34.840 --> 0:07:38.920 result of the aggravation Roosevelt caused him. There was, of course, 0:07:38.960 --> 0:07:42.800 the situation with the money soliciting Baltimore postal workers, and 0:07:42.840 --> 0:07:46.320 the fact that Roosevelt went after William Wallace, the postmaster 0:07:46.360 --> 0:07:48.440 of Indianapolis and a man who also happened to be 0:07:48.480 --> 0:07:52.320 Harrison's best friend, for hiring incompetent and corrupt workers because 0:07:52.360 --> 0:07:56.520 they were Republicans. Later, Harrison would say of Roosevelt, the 0:07:56.560 --> 0:07:58.760 only trouble I ever had with him was that he 0:07:58.840 --> 0:08:00.680 wanted to put an end to all the evil in 0:08:00.680 --> 0:08:05.640 the world. Between sunrise and sunset, Harrison's overt displays of 0:08:05.640 --> 0:08:10.200 favoritism needles Roosevelt perpetuating some of his most articulate insults. 0:08:10.800 --> 0:08:13.080 He called Harrison the little gray man in the White 0:08:13.120 --> 0:08:18.200 House and a genial little runt behind his back. Roosevelt 0:08:18.240 --> 0:08:21.120 managed to last through Harrison's term and would end up 0:08:21.120 --> 0:08:24.880 being reappointed Civil Service Reform Commissioner once Grover Cleveland entered 0:08:24.920 --> 0:08:28.720 office in eight. He left his post in eight and 0:08:28.760 --> 0:08:30.960 became president of the Board of Police Commissioners in New 0:08:31.040 --> 0:08:34.000 York City. His next brush with the presidency would come 0:08:34.000 --> 0:08:38.520 when William McKinley ran for the office in eight McKinley's 0:08:38.520 --> 0:08:42.920 campaign had given Roosevelt pause before McKinley's first term Roosevelt 0:08:42.960 --> 0:08:45.920 wrote to his friend and Massachusetts Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, 0:08:45.960 --> 0:08:49.959 that it will be a great misfortune to have McKinley nominated. 0:08:50.640 --> 0:08:53.440 If I could tell you all I have learned since 0:08:53.480 --> 0:08:57.080 his campaign has progressed, you would be as completely alarmed 0:08:57.120 --> 0:09:01.000 over the prospect of his presidential nomination as I am. 0:09:01.040 --> 0:09:03.079 When it seems like McKinley would soon be named the 0:09:03.120 --> 0:09:08.160 Republican nominee, Roosevelt dashed off a letter to a sister baby, McKinley, 0:09:08.240 --> 0:09:13.240 whose firmness I utterly distrust, will be nominated, and this 0:09:14.040 --> 0:09:18.880 I much regret. Roosevelt didn't dislike McKinley. He noted he 0:09:18.960 --> 0:09:22.200 was an honorable man, of very considerable ability and good 0:09:22.200 --> 0:09:25.760 record as a soldier and in Congress. But where Roosevelt 0:09:25.760 --> 0:09:28.400 felt Harrison was politically savvy, he caught the impression that 0:09:28.480 --> 0:09:32.440 McKinley was without a spine. He is not a strong man, 0:09:32.760 --> 0:09:37.000 Roosevelt said, unless he is well backed, I should feel 0:09:37.120 --> 0:09:41.320 rather uneasy about him. In a serious crisis, whether it 0:09:41.360 --> 0:09:44.479 took the form of a soft money craze, a gigantic 0:09:44.559 --> 0:09:49.800 labor riot, or danger of foreign conflict. Roosevelt's tune changed slightly. 0:09:49.800 --> 0:09:53.439 When McKinley was elected G. I. R. Was an ardent Republican, 0:09:53.640 --> 0:09:56.760 and he could never stray from the Republican camp, and 0:09:56.800 --> 0:09:59.000 so that was dictated a lot of what he did. 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:04.360 Kinley appointed Roosevelt Assistant Secretary of the Navy, but the 0:10:04.440 --> 0:10:09.319 piece didn't last long. He thought that McKinley was unimaginative 0:10:09.880 --> 0:10:15.800 and unnecessarily cautious, and and that McKinley was timid about 0:10:15.840 --> 0:10:20.600 going to war against Spain in and tr really went 0:10:20.720 --> 0:10:26.840 on somewhat questionable campaign to sort of force McKinley's hand 0:10:27.440 --> 0:10:30.240 to declare war against Spain. When McKinley said, you know, 0:10:30.240 --> 0:10:34.359 we've had one big war during my lifetime, I hesitated 0:10:34.400 --> 0:10:40.200 to begin another one. But tr read every possible story 0:10:40.240 --> 0:10:42.760 coming out of Cuba in the way that made the 0:10:42.800 --> 0:10:46.280 Spanish look worst. Made it sort of a righteous issue 0:10:46.360 --> 0:10:50.040 of whether we stand for anything, especially after the sinking 0:10:50.080 --> 0:10:52.960 of the main So that's why he called McKinley names 0:10:52.960 --> 0:10:55.520 and said that he had the backbone of a chocolate eclaire. 0:10:56.000 --> 0:10:59.920 He would later campaign extensively for McKinley second term. By 0:11:00.080 --> 0:11:03.079 this point, Roosevelt was more than just a supporter. After 0:11:03.120 --> 0:11:05.480 a two year term as Governor of New York. He 0:11:05.559 --> 0:11:09.079 was a vice presidential candidate on the McKinley ticket. Roosevelt 0:11:09.160 --> 0:11:13.520 campaign for McKinley in a really big way in against 0:11:13.520 --> 0:11:17.960 William Jennings. Bryan McKinley didn't leave his home in Canton, Ohio. 0:11:18.320 --> 0:11:24.440 He ran that front porch campaign and sent out this valuable, hectic, crazy, 0:11:24.720 --> 0:11:28.760 energetic vice presidential candidate to do all the work on 0:11:28.840 --> 0:11:31.640 the stump. And Roosevelt, of cards, threw himself into it 0:11:31.960 --> 0:11:33.840 just head and shoulders, and had the time of his 0:11:33.920 --> 0:11:38.680 life and took on Brian and I probably McKinley would 0:11:38.679 --> 0:11:41.360 have won anyway, but it's Roosevelt who did the heavy 0:11:41.400 --> 0:11:46.280 lifting in the campaign and really found his voice in 0:11:46.360 --> 0:11:49.360 the American West. While doing that, he said a horrible 0:11:49.400 --> 0:11:52.319 things about Brian. He said he was a human trombone, 0:11:52.360 --> 0:11:56.160 which is virtually my favorite thing, that my favorite Roosevelt 0:11:56.600 --> 0:12:00.640 insult of all. So he believed that McKinley was sound economically, 0:12:01.160 --> 0:12:07.480 and he realized, especially after that McKinley could be manipulated 0:12:07.800 --> 0:12:11.960 or managed, let's put it, to pursue a more vigorous 0:12:12.000 --> 0:12:16.319 American role in the world than he might instinctively have intended. 0:12:17.080 --> 0:12:19.480 One wouldn't think that Roosevelt would exert a little more 0:12:19.520 --> 0:12:22.920 patience with the guy on his campaign ticket. But it's 0:12:22.960 --> 0:12:26.760 Theodore Roosevelt we're talking about here. For one thing, Roosevelt 0:12:26.800 --> 0:12:29.640 didn't really want to be vice president. He thought the 0:12:29.679 --> 0:12:33.520 office was ineffectual and constricting. I would a great deal 0:12:33.720 --> 0:12:38.040 rather be anything, say, professor of history, than vice president. 0:12:38.320 --> 0:12:42.559 He said, here's Caliberta, there's a man who cannot set still, 0:12:42.640 --> 0:12:45.839 and you put him in the vice presidency, which we 0:12:45.920 --> 0:12:49.080 just regarded as an idol officer. But Roosevelt's friends knew 0:12:49.080 --> 0:12:52.480 it was a step closer to the presidency. Senator Lodge 0:12:52.600 --> 0:12:55.200 urged him to take it on and stick by McKinley side, 0:12:55.520 --> 0:12:59.640 declaring it invaluable for his future in politics. So why 0:12:59.640 --> 0:13:02.400 would Akinley select him as a running mate. It was 0:13:02.440 --> 0:13:06.880 more indifference than anything. Supporters buzzed in McKinley's ear that Roosevelt, 0:13:07.080 --> 0:13:09.160 then the governor of New York and a war hero, 0:13:09.480 --> 0:13:13.040 would bring some much needed fire into the campaign. Plus, 0:13:13.320 --> 0:13:16.559 the New York Republican Party machine desperately wanted him out 0:13:16.559 --> 0:13:19.280 of the state, and so McKinley and Roosevelt became the 0:13:19.280 --> 0:13:23.640 Republican hopefuls of nine Ohio Senator Mark Hannah, who viewed 0:13:23.679 --> 0:13:27.240 Roosevelt as a loose canon, was not a fan. Don't 0:13:27.240 --> 0:13:29.480 you realize? He said that there is only one life 0:13:29.520 --> 0:13:33.720 between this madman and the White House. Roosevelt's concerns about 0:13:33.720 --> 0:13:38.120 the role proved accurate. McKinley never consulted him on policies 0:13:38.160 --> 0:13:40.320 and refused to let him interact with the Senate as 0:13:40.320 --> 0:13:43.199 a liaison, as he had done with his previous Vice President, 0:13:43.240 --> 0:13:48.960 Garrett Hobart. Roosevelt meanwhile, found McKinley's glacial decision making process infuriating, 0:13:49.880 --> 0:13:52.720 but he wouldn't have to endure it for long. On 0:13:52.800 --> 0:13:56.800 September six, McKinley was shot in the stomach by anarchist 0:13:56.880 --> 0:14:00.080 Leon shul Gash. He died of gang green only a 0:14:00.080 --> 0:14:03.199 little over a week later. According to an eyewitness, when 0:14:03.280 --> 0:14:06.200 Roosevelt heard the news of McKinley shooting, a look of 0:14:06.280 --> 0:14:10.280 unmistakable anguish came to his face and tears immediately filled 0:14:10.280 --> 0:14:14.199 his eyes. Well, tr was was in upstate New York. 0:14:14.240 --> 0:14:16.680 He had presided over the Senate for I think five 0:14:16.800 --> 0:14:19.520 days before they adjourned, and now he was sort of 0:14:19.600 --> 0:14:23.960 just wandering and giving speeches and going hiking and camping 0:14:24.000 --> 0:14:27.640 and writing and doing all the things that Piotore Roosevelt does. 0:14:28.240 --> 0:14:30.760 And he got the word that McKinley had been shot, 0:14:31.040 --> 0:14:35.720 and he made an emergency trip to Buffalo to be 0:14:35.800 --> 0:14:39.560 at McKinley's bedside. And then he realized McKinley was probably 0:14:39.560 --> 0:14:42.720 going to recover, so he went back. He thought it 0:14:42.760 --> 0:14:46.760 was unseemly for him to hang around um the sixth 0:14:46.800 --> 0:14:49.400 Man's bed, and so he went back to upstate New York. 0:14:49.960 --> 0:14:52.960 And he was on mom Marcy, the highest point in 0:14:53.000 --> 0:14:55.880 the state, when he a messenger came running up the 0:14:55.880 --> 0:14:58.200 path and informed him that the President was going to 0:14:58.240 --> 0:15:02.000 die that night. Roosevelt race to Buffalo to be by 0:15:02.080 --> 0:15:04.440 McKinley's side, although he would be too late to see 0:15:04.480 --> 0:15:07.720 the president before he passed. Though they had their differences, 0:15:07.800 --> 0:15:12.920 the tragedy overshadowed any political divide. Following McKinley's assassination, it 0:15:13.000 --> 0:15:15.120 was time for Roosevelt to step into the role held 0:15:15.120 --> 0:15:18.440 by men he had often criticized. The so called Madman 0:15:18.640 --> 0:15:22.200 was now in the Executive Mansion. With that experience afford 0:15:22.240 --> 0:15:24.280 him a new perspective on the challenges of the job. 0:15:24.840 --> 0:15:27.800 Of course, when it prompt him to bite his tongue 0:15:27.800 --> 0:15:32.280 when it came to his successor probably not, We'll be 0:15:32.360 --> 0:15:37.320 right back. Imagine what it would be like to disappoint 0:15:37.360 --> 0:15:41.600 someone with the standards of Theodore Roosevelt. Just think about 0:15:41.640 --> 0:15:45.080 that for a moment. William Howard Taft didn't have to 0:15:45.120 --> 0:15:50.080 think about it. He experienced it firsthand. Taft was Roosevelt's 0:15:50.080 --> 0:15:53.600 secretary of War. When Roosevelt left office, he selected Taft 0:15:53.640 --> 0:15:57.040 as his choice for the presidential nomination. Taft was named 0:15:57.080 --> 0:16:00.760 the nominee in and Roosevelt believed he would welcome advice 0:16:00.760 --> 0:16:05.400 with an open ear. Mhm. Not quite. Roosevelt felt Taft 0:16:05.480 --> 0:16:08.440 was a little too careless with his image, seeing Taft 0:16:08.480 --> 0:16:11.320 fishing and golfing instead of shaking hands and kissing babies. 0:16:11.640 --> 0:16:15.280 He urged Taft to put yourself prominently and emphatically into 0:16:15.280 --> 0:16:19.840 this campaign of his recreational activities. He said, I am 0:16:19.880 --> 0:16:23.120 convinced that the prominence that has been given to your 0:16:23.240 --> 0:16:26.720 golf playing has not been wise, and from now on, 0:16:26.760 --> 0:16:29.520 I hope that your people will do everything they can 0:16:29.920 --> 0:16:33.080 to prevent one word being sent out about either your 0:16:33.160 --> 0:16:37.880 fishing or you're playing golf. Roosevelt had very particular ideas 0:16:37.880 --> 0:16:40.240 about how a president should behave and what kind of 0:16:40.280 --> 0:16:43.920 image they should project. Presidential candidates weren't supposed to be 0:16:43.960 --> 0:16:48.640 seen enjoying themselves. I never let friends advertise my tennis 0:16:49.040 --> 0:16:52.480 and never let a photograph of me in tennis costume appear, 0:16:52.760 --> 0:16:55.920 he said. And Roosevelt believed that Taft should allow his 0:16:56.000 --> 0:17:00.520 constituents to see him smiling always, because I that your 0:17:00.640 --> 0:17:05.879 nature shines out so transparently when you do smile. You big, generous, 0:17:06.040 --> 0:17:10.640 high minded fellow. According to caliberta Tear had tight control 0:17:10.680 --> 0:17:14.119 over his public image, very much a thing with politicians today, 0:17:14.160 --> 0:17:17.159 but a new concept in TRS time. It's one of 0:17:17.200 --> 0:17:19.919 the things that made him the first modern president. He 0:17:20.000 --> 0:17:22.879 was very aware that you are going to be written 0:17:22.880 --> 0:17:26.399 about newspapers, your image is going to be broadcast or 0:17:26.720 --> 0:17:29.480 you know, through newspapers, people are going to see you, 0:17:30.160 --> 0:17:32.720 even the ones that you don't interact with. So if 0:17:32.720 --> 0:17:36.800 you're playing golf, like William Howard, tafted, that has its 0:17:36.840 --> 0:17:39.199 certain own connotations. If you're playing tennis, that has its 0:17:39.200 --> 0:17:41.479 own connotations. Roosevelt thought it was feminine. You didn't want 0:17:41.520 --> 0:17:45.000 to be seen as feminine, so he doesn't allow anyone 0:17:45.040 --> 0:17:48.560 to photograph him playing tennis. If it sounds like Roosevelt 0:17:48.600 --> 0:17:51.720 was acting as an image consultant for Taft, well he was. 0:17:52.440 --> 0:17:56.640 He was Roosevelt's handpicked successor, and his success or failure 0:17:57.080 --> 0:18:01.080 would in some way reflect back on Roosevelt's legacy. According 0:18:01.119 --> 0:18:04.160 to Jenkinson, Roosevelt was right to lecture Taft about golfing 0:18:04.200 --> 0:18:07.480 because average people back then couldn't afford to golf. That 0:18:07.600 --> 0:18:10.200 was a rich man's sport. Takes time, it takes money, 0:18:10.240 --> 0:18:12.879 it takes privilege. Rose said, if you want to be 0:18:13.000 --> 0:18:15.679 the leader of the people, you have to narrow the 0:18:15.760 --> 0:18:19.960 distance between yourself and the common man, not accentuated by 0:18:20.000 --> 0:18:25.280 being photographed in an aristocratic copy. Roosevelt had incredible political 0:18:25.320 --> 0:18:29.080 instincts now. He wanted to be photographed climbing a mountain, 0:18:29.400 --> 0:18:32.200 or being lowered on a rope in front of a waterfall, 0:18:32.320 --> 0:18:35.600 or killing something, because then that would be something people 0:18:35.640 --> 0:18:39.240 could really respect. But if you're photographed doing something that 0:18:39.320 --> 0:18:42.879 only the privilege to get to do, then you're sending 0:18:42.880 --> 0:18:45.439 the wrong signal to the country. It's not hard to 0:18:45.480 --> 0:18:49.840 imagine that Roosevelt's nagging irritated Taft. The presses spin on 0:18:49.920 --> 0:18:52.480 things may have also rubbed him the wrong way. They 0:18:52.520 --> 0:18:55.160 decided that his last name could be an acronym short 0:18:55.240 --> 0:18:59.000 for take advice from Teddy Taf to beat Democrat William 0:18:59.040 --> 0:19:01.800 Jennings Bryan, and Year was sure his successor would continue 0:19:01.840 --> 0:19:05.320 his legacy of reform. Roosevelt left on a hunting trip 0:19:05.359 --> 0:19:08.119 to Africa for a year, allowing Taft a chance to 0:19:08.160 --> 0:19:11.440 make his own market office. So tr was not as 0:19:11.480 --> 0:19:14.680 good a judge of character as his wife. He did. 0:19:15.240 --> 0:19:18.120 He loved Taft, and Taft was an incredibly able man, 0:19:18.680 --> 0:19:20.919 but Taft really wanted to be the Chief Justice of 0:19:20.960 --> 0:19:24.240 the Supreme Court, and that's when he was well suited 0:19:24.280 --> 0:19:27.320 to And it was his wife, Belly, who forced him 0:19:27.359 --> 0:19:30.840 to accept the presidency. He didn't really want it, but 0:19:30.920 --> 0:19:34.919 she was ambitious for him, and so tr thought the 0:19:34.960 --> 0:19:38.960 Taft would continue his policies. What he didn't realize is 0:19:39.000 --> 0:19:42.080 that Taft was not strong. He was big, but he 0:19:42.160 --> 0:19:45.119 wasn't strong. And so in the Republican Party at the time, 0:19:45.880 --> 0:19:49.800 there was the progressive wing of people who wanted reform 0:19:49.840 --> 0:19:52.640 and to end child labor and to lighten the burdens 0:19:52.640 --> 0:19:55.439 of the poor and clean up our food supply and 0:19:55.440 --> 0:19:58.639 so on. And then there was the standpat wing of 0:19:58.760 --> 0:20:01.199 rich capitalists had just lot of government to either be 0:20:01.240 --> 0:20:04.320 their handmade and get out of the way. And Roosevelt 0:20:04.359 --> 0:20:07.720 was able to hold those two tribes, those two factions 0:20:07.760 --> 0:20:10.320 of the Republican Party together, because he was a war hero, 0:20:10.560 --> 0:20:13.439 because he was our first cowboy president, and because he 0:20:13.560 --> 0:20:17.280 was Roosevelt. But tafted wasn't able to do it. He 0:20:17.320 --> 0:20:21.360 didn't have enough firepower, enough charismas. Taft had to choose, 0:20:22.040 --> 0:20:24.879 and he chose to move back towards the old stand 0:20:24.920 --> 0:20:29.879 Pat JP Morgan Rockefeller wing of the party. Taft didn't 0:20:29.920 --> 0:20:33.720 live up to Roosevelt's lofty expectations. He found it easier 0:20:33.760 --> 0:20:36.800 to be complacent with existing laws than to become combative. 0:20:37.480 --> 0:20:40.080 A former lawyer, he wanted to remain within the boundaries 0:20:40.119 --> 0:20:42.960 of office, whereas Roosevelt was keen on exerting as much 0:20:43.000 --> 0:20:47.679 control as he could. Taft possessed none of Roosevelt's firebrand policies, 0:20:48.040 --> 0:20:51.280 none of his aggressive attitude towards improving the country. At 0:20:51.280 --> 0:20:53.360 the end of the Africa trip, he wrote to Roosevelt 0:20:53.359 --> 0:20:56.040 to complain, I do not know that I have had 0:20:56.119 --> 0:20:58.600 harder luck than most presidents. But I do know that 0:20:58.640 --> 0:21:01.880 thus far I have succeeded far less than others. I've 0:21:01.920 --> 0:21:04.600 been conscientiously trying to carry out your policies, but my 0:21:04.680 --> 0:21:08.399 method of doing so has not worked smoothly. Poor Taft 0:21:08.440 --> 0:21:11.760 bemoaned that he couldn't even lose weight. In some ways, 0:21:11.840 --> 0:21:14.560 Taft was like a sibling looking up to a bigger 0:21:14.560 --> 0:21:17.960 brother for approval. He invited Roosevelt to the White House, 0:21:18.000 --> 0:21:21.680 but Roosevelt refused. I don't think it well for an 0:21:21.720 --> 0:21:24.720 ex president to go to the White House, or indeed 0:21:24.760 --> 0:21:27.919 to go to Washington, except when he cannot help it, 0:21:28.320 --> 0:21:31.560 he sniffed. Time and again. Taft would make advances and 0:21:31.720 --> 0:21:35.640 Roosevelt would rebuff them. Taft would later say Roosevelt's chili 0:21:35.680 --> 0:21:39.679 demeanor deeply wounded him. Taft was also faced with a 0:21:39.720 --> 0:21:42.919 fight between his Secretary of the Interior, Richard Ballinger, and 0:21:43.000 --> 0:21:45.920 his chief forester, Gifford pin Show, who had helped create 0:21:46.000 --> 0:21:50.879 Roosevelt's conservation policy. The result was pin Shows firing, and 0:21:50.960 --> 0:21:53.440 it felt that he had assurances from Taff the Taft 0:21:53.480 --> 0:22:00.280 would continue the progressive initiatives, particularly on conservation questions, and 0:22:00.440 --> 0:22:06.520 when Taft didn't Roosevelt felt angry, betrayed, and somewhat righteous 0:22:06.520 --> 0:22:09.159 and vindicted. Plus I mean, it's just the case that 0:22:09.280 --> 0:22:12.240 Roosevelt couldn't stand not to be in power. He just 0:22:12.280 --> 0:22:14.639 couldn't stand not to be the guy he was the 0:22:14.720 --> 0:22:18.600 youngest former president. Because he was the youngest president and 0:22:18.960 --> 0:22:21.280 made a stupid mistake by renouncing a third term, he 0:22:21.359 --> 0:22:24.119 left at the height of his powers before he had 0:22:24.119 --> 0:22:26.960 finished all that he wanted to do. The friction grew 0:22:27.000 --> 0:22:30.359 worse when Taft finally made a sweeping change, advising the 0:22:30.400 --> 0:22:33.960 government to sue the monopolistic U. S. Steel, an industrial 0:22:34.000 --> 0:22:37.240 behemoth Roosevelt had tacitly approved of in n in order 0:22:37.280 --> 0:22:41.200 to avert financial panic. Not only was Taft slow to act, 0:22:41.240 --> 0:22:43.160 but when he did, it was to try and reverse 0:22:43.200 --> 0:22:47.000 one of Roosevelt's decisions. And I rate Roosevelt actually penned 0:22:47.160 --> 0:22:50.880 entire published essays devoted to separating his policies from those 0:22:50.880 --> 0:22:55.359 of his one time friend. The problem. Roosevelt's decision in 0:22:55.359 --> 0:22:59.120 the U. S. Steel situation was probably a mistake. According 0:22:59.119 --> 0:23:02.000 to Jenkinson, the key players in the merger concealed their 0:23:02.000 --> 0:23:05.800 true motivations from the president. Economics was not to our 0:23:05.840 --> 0:23:08.439 strong suit, and he acted quickly to stave off the panic. 0:23:09.040 --> 0:23:10.639 But if he had more time to read up on 0:23:10.720 --> 0:23:14.679 his options, he might not have approved the merger. Still, 0:23:15.160 --> 0:23:17.960 nothing stopped him from defending the decision he had made, 0:23:18.600 --> 0:23:21.680 and it became abundantly clear that he had been manipulated 0:23:21.760 --> 0:23:25.800 and that it was probably an unnecessary thing and maybe 0:23:25.840 --> 0:23:28.280 an unethical thing for him to have done. He just 0:23:28.320 --> 0:23:30.680 got more and more and more righteous about it. And 0:23:30.760 --> 0:23:34.600 the same was true about Panama. When the Wilson administration 0:23:34.640 --> 0:23:38.240 gave them um Colombian government twenty five million dollars, he 0:23:38.320 --> 0:23:42.160 threw just a gigantic hissy fit over that and broke 0:23:42.200 --> 0:23:45.840 with the Wilson administration. A poison pen was not Roosevelt's 0:23:45.880 --> 0:23:49.080 only come back. He decided to challenge Taft. In the 0:23:49.160 --> 0:23:53.040 ultimate arena of the presidential election, Roosevelt announced he was 0:23:53.080 --> 0:23:57.320 returning to run in vying for the Republican nomination against Taft. 0:23:57.960 --> 0:24:00.840