How to teach this
Analysis sheet
 © Getty Images, used with permission |
 American Memory: [Colonel Roosevelt and his Rough Riders at the top of the hill which they captured, Battle of San Juan] / by William Dinwiddie, 1898. By Popular Demand: Portraits of the Presidents and First Ladies, 1789-Present Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. Digital ID: cph 3a10269 |
Historical Background: By expanding the military power of the United States, Teddy Roosevelt believed he could ignite America's pioneer spirit. In a letter to a friend, he wrote, "In strict confidence... I should welcome almost any war, for I think this country needs one." (quoted in PBS: Crucible of Empire)
Secretary of State John Hay wrote, "It has been a splendid little war, begun with the highest motives, carried on with magnificent intelligence and spirit, favored by that fortune which loves the brave." (quoted in the S. F. Chronicle 3/30/03)
His "big stick" foreign policy led American "Rough Riders" to victory in Cuba during the Spanish-American war and resulted in US dominance of the Caribbean and the Pacific.
Current Connection: Bob Woodward reports that on December 28, 2000, two years before February 18, 2003 when the above photograph was taken, President Bush had just read Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris...
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"...a glowing portrait of President Teddy Roosevelt and his
'big' stick diplomacy of the early 20th century.
Even a casual reader of the 555-page text, even one
inclined to skim, as Bush might have been, could not
miss the message: Teddy Roosevelt dominated and defined
his era by exercising presidential power decisively,
acting, insisting on results and doing it with a
personal style that was optimistic and exuberant, even
assured to the point of being overbearing and
arrogant." Plan of Attack by Bob Woodward (p.52) |