The Everything Theodore Roosevelt Book (31 page)

A Fleet in Sheep’s Clothing

There was a great deal of ceremony as the ships left Hampton Roads, Virginia, on December 16, 1907, en route to their first stop, Port of Spain, Trinidad. TR watched from the yacht
Mayflower
as the fleet under the command of Rear Admiral Robley D. Evans, aboard the battleship
Connecticut
, sailed away. As impressive as the sight was, there was an undercurrent of deception involved in the undertaking. All was not as it seemed.

On the outside, the ships were gleaming. The interiors were a different matter. Some of the ships had malfunctioning engines. Two,
Alabama
and
Maine
, had to drop out along the route. They were replaced by
Wisconsin
and
Nebraska
; if any more had been unable to continue, there would have been no substitutes.

The navy sent every battleship it had on the cruise, except for two that were not seaworthy. Even the fleet commander had to be replaced when the fleet reached San Francisco. The ailing Admiral Evans turned command over to Rear Admiral Charles S. Sperry.

Ships and Sailors Battle the Elements

The fleet was composed of sixteen steel-clad, steam-powered battleships, all built after the Spanish-American War, and numerous auxiliary support vessels crewed by 14,000 sailors and marines. Destroyers and other ships dropped in and out along the way as the goodwill tour progressed, with a few diversions.

Ships of the fleet were diverted to Sicily to lend a hand to earthquake victims there. Crewmembers of
Illinois
recovered the bodies of the American consul and his wife among the ruins. In October 1908 the fleet sailed into a typhoon off Formosa. Several ships sustained minor damage; one sailor was lost at sea.

Mishaps, triumphs, and the trials and travails of twenty port stops on six continents ensured that the fleet returned to the United States a bit less white than it had been when it left in 1907. As the ships sailed into Hampton Roads on February 22, 1909, there was TR, aboard
Mayflower
, to greet them, just as he had seen them off.

The cruise was by no means uneventful for the sailors, especially in Brazil. A bar brawl erupted in Rio de Janeiro between sailors from the
Louisiana
and local longshoremen that threatened to create an international incident. But representatives from the navy and Brazil ironed out the misunderstanding and the fleet moved on.

It was one of his final acts as president. The fleet returned just three weeks before TR was scheduled to leave office.

After Action Report

When President Roosevelt sent the Great White Fleet on its worldwide tour, he had several goals in mind: he wanted to test the navy’s readiness, promote international goodwill, and make sure the countries around the globe understood that the United States was a naval power. TR had stated before he dispatched the fleet that he wanted “all failures, blunders and shortcomings to be made apparent in time of peace and not in time of war.” In that respect, the cruise was a success.

The navy learned some lessons and uncovered some glitches and weaknesses in its equipment, strategies, and seaworthiness, which it addressed in due course. The ships’ return answered any doubts TR might have had about the navy’s ability to function under stress. It could—and it would prove it again in the near future.

End of Presidency

TR’s role as U.S. president ended in 1909, but that was not the end of his political career. He made a promise that he would not run for a third term. True to his word, he honored that promise, but insisted on picking a nominee as his replacement.

“I regarded the custom [of not running for a third term] as applying practically … to a President who had been seven and a half years in office as to one who had been eight years in office … in the teeth of a practically unanimous demand … that I accept another nomination, and the reasonable certainty that the nomination would be ratified at the polls … the substance of the custom applied to me in 1908.”

He persuaded the Republicans to nominate his secretary of war, William Howard Taft, for president. Taft won the election easily over his Democrat opponent, William Jennings Bryan. As of March 4, 1909, TR was out of the White House—but not out of politics. He did not rule out another term eventually, since he believed that “the third term tradition has no value whatever except as it applies to a third consecutive term.”

TR proved the truth in that statement after he saw what happened to the United States once he left office. He eventually considered that third term.

QUIZ

12-1 October 11 is a little-known holiday in the bison community. What event do they celebrate on that day?

A. Christopher Columbus saw bison for the first time.

B. The first bison farm was founded.

C. Buffalo, New York, celebrates its anniversary.

D. A herd of bison arrived at an Oklahoma game preserve.

12-2 TR had six locks of Abraham Lincoln’s hair in a ring he wore on his Inauguration Day. Where did he get the ring?

A. at a Washington, D.C., pawn shop

B. as a birthday gift from Abraham Lincoln

C. from John Hay

D. his father left it to him

12-3 The “Great White Fleet” sailed around the world between December 1907 and February 1909. How many miles did it cover during its voyage?

A. 1,492

B. 113,642

C. 75,000

D. 43,347

12-4 Ironically, the Nobel Peace prize is named after the inventor of:

A. noble gases

B. dynamite

C. the Nobel cannon

D. the atomic bomb

ANSWERS

12-1. D: On October 11, 1907, a healthy herd of bison comprising six bulls and nine cows shipped by rail from the New York Zoological Park to Oklahoma arrived and took up residence in the plains and mountains of Wichita National Forest and Game Preserve.

12-2. C: John Hay purchased the hairs removed from President Lincoln at his autopsy for $100 and placed them into the ring.

12-3. D: The trip was broken into three legs: Hampton Roads, Virginia, to San Francisco (14,556 miles); San Francisco to Manila, Philippine Islands (16,336 miles); Manila to Hampton Roads (12,455).

12-4. B: Dynamite is often used for some decidedly nonpeaceful purposes.

CHAPTER 13

Conserving Natural Resources

“What the Reclamation Act [of 1902] has done for the country is by no means limited to its material accomplishment. This Act and the results flowing from it have helped powerfully to prove to the Nation that it can handle its own resources and exercise direct and business-like control over them.”

TR was an ardent conservationist. He collaborated with whatever individuals and organizations were willing to work to protect the nation’s natural resources for their own and future generations. TR was especially active in his seven and a half years as president, during which he confronted opponents of conservation, such as business people and Congress, with steely resolve. He and his collaborators saved millions of acres and protected wildlife for the American people. His conservation legacy is still being felt today, and no doubt will be for generations to come.

A “Bully Pulpit”

TR told Congress in his seventh annual message on December 3, 1907, that “The conservation of our natural resources and their proper use constitute the fundamental problem which underlies almost every other problem of our national life.” He had a perfect platform from which to deliver that message.

The White House provided the pulpit; he delivered the sermons. But he did more than sermonize. TR practiced what he preached. He began by coining the phrase “bully pulpit.”

TR first used the term “bully pulpit” to describe the presidency. He said, “I suppose my critics will call that preaching, but I have got such a bully pulpit!” “Bully” had been one of his favorite words for years. He used it to describe something great. All he did was combine it with pulpit and a new phrase was born.

Conservation was not a new issue for TR when he assumed the presidency in 1901. He had been pushing it for years. As a child, TR had learned the need to treat animals with respect and maintain a balance of nature to conserve their numbers for the benefit of hunters and society. It was a natural extension of that belief to press for conservation of natural resources.

His egalitarian motives for conservation were evident in this passage from “Wilderness Reserves; The Yellowstone Park”:

It is entirely in our power as a nation to preserve large tracts of wilderness, which are valueless for agricultural purposes and unfit for settlement, as playgrounds for rich and poor alike, and to preserve the game so that it shall continue to exist for the benefit of all lovers of nature, and to give reasonable opportunities for the exercise of the skill of the hunter, whether he is or is not a man of means
.

TR began his conservation efforts long before entering the White House, albeit in a limited fashion. As a member of the New York State Assembly, he was too involved in fighting graft and corruption to address conservation issues. But TR did donate a large part of his Roosevelt Museum of Natural History to the Smithsonian Institution.

TR learned early in life that hunters needed to be conservationists. After all, needlessly slaughtering animals was counterproductive to their hunting activities. TR saw the need for a code of ethics among hunters as a step to ensuring a steady supply of wildlife. As usual, when he saw a need for something, he acted.

Early Efforts

His experiences in the Badlands reinforced in TR’s mind a need for conservation, especially in the West, where weather conditions were harsher than in the East, water was at a premium, and some animals, such as the buffalo, were being hunted to extinction for commercial purposes. Alleviating these conditions became a primary goal for TR. He began to push for conservation shortly after his return from the Badlands.

In 1887, Roosevelt and a large group of concerned conservationists founded the Boone and Crockett Club to implement such a code. They established other goals: to work for the elimination of industrial hunting, the creation of wildlife reserves, and a conservation-oriented regulation of hunting.