America's Greatest 20th Century Presidents (5 page)

The Roosevelt family in 1903: (from L-R) Quentin, Teddy, Ted Jr., “Archie”, Alice, Kermit, Edith, and Ethel

Civil Service Commission and New York Police Commissioner

Though Roosevelt had been a tepid supporter of the Republicans' 1884 presidential candidate, he was an enthusiastic advocate for the 1888 nominee, former Civil War veteran Benjamin Harrison.  Teddy campaigned for Harrison across the country that year, and it would pay off. With Harrison's victory in November, Roosevelt was chosen for a political appointment due to his campaign service.  In 1889, Roosevelt was appointed to the United States Civil Service Commission.  The Commission's purpose was to defeat the spoils system and ensure that political positions in the country were assigned based on merit, not political patronage.  That goal obviously made Roosevelt's own appointment to the Commission ironic.

Regardless of how he got there, Roosevelt proved a conscientious and hardworking member of the Civil Service Commission.  The Commission had been created in 1883 in the wake of the assassination of James Garfield by Charles J. Guiteau, an unstable and disgruntled supporter of Garfield’s who felt he was entitled to a job after Garfield won the presidency in 1880. In its early years, the Commission was still highly controversial, and Roosevelt bore the brunt of many attacks against it.  He was also charged with taking on powerful interests throughout the country, including political machines in cities large and small, assignments that would clearly help prepare him as President.  In recognition of the strength of his work, Roosevelt was reappointed by the Democratic President Grover Cleveland in 1892 to continue serving on the Commission. Teddy’s time with the Civil Service Commission began to harden his commitment to progressivism.

In 1895, however, New York City Mayor Lafayette Strong appointed Roosevelt as the city's Police Commissioner. Partisanship was strictly forbidden in Roosevelt's Police Department.  Relying on his knowledge of meritocracy from his time with the Civil Service, Roosevelt applied this fairness to the police department, with his reach extending well beyond the law. As Police Commissioner, Roosevelt was also intimately involved with the New York Board of Health.  To assist his Health duties, Roosevelt met Jacob Riis, the renowned photographer and author of
How the Other Half Lives.
  Together, the two toured some of New York's poorest tenements and neighborhoods.  Of the experience, Roosevelt later wrote, “It is one thing to listen in perfunctory fashion to tales of overcrowded tenements, and it is quite another actually to see what that overcrowding means.”

The Riis-Roosevelt partnership helped crystalize what was to become the Roosevelt legacy of ardent progressivism.  He took on wealthy tenement owners, who insisted that it was unconstitutional to tell them to provide better conditions for their renters.  For Roosevelt, such moneyed interests saw the Constitution “not as a help to righteousness, but as a means for thwarting movements against unrighteousness.”  His time as Police Commissioner solidified Roosevelt's life-long transition from wealthy aristocrat to man of the people.

Jacob Riis would later dedicate a book to his “hero”, Theodore Roosevelt

By the end of his tenure with the New York Police Department, Roosevelt was quickly becoming a household name.  What was once the most corrupt and ineffective law enforcement agency in the nation had transitioned into an example of a police force that worked for the common good.  The city's police were held to higher standards; Roosevelt made sure they were actually patrolling when they were supposed to be, a common problem before his tenure.  And police hostels which had housed policeman while they were supposedly “on duty” were closed.  Roosevelt's strictness and tough policies ensured that the nation's fastest growing city was no longer ridden with crime and insecurity.

Chapter 3: Becoming a National Figure

Assistant Secretary of the Navy

In 1897, newly-elected President William McKinley recognized Roosevelt's strengths and appointed him Assistant Secretary of the Navy after Senator Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts reportedly suggested Roosevelt for the job.  In many respects, the New York Police Commissioner seemed an odd choice for the Navy, and Teddy had no experience whatsoever with ship building. However, back in his college days, Teddy had written
The Naval War of 1812
, a heavily researched and well written account of the naval warfare during that war. Roosevelt dissected all aspects of naval warfare, from the size of ships and guns to the command structures of the warring sides’ navies, and it is still considered one of the most authoritative histories of the War of 1812 today. Teddy’s book undoubtedly helped assure McKinley that he was suited to the task.

When Roosevelt assumed his position as Assistant Secretary, he encountered a Navy that was poorly built and unprepared for warfare.  This was especially concerning because Roosevelt (rightly) believed war with Spain was imminent.  A Cuban revolt had broken out against the Spanish and had disturbed the movement of commerce throughout the Caribbean. Moreover, while the Spanish navy was antiquated and still consisted mostly of wooden ships, Roosevelt thought the United States needed a strong navy capable of taking on great European powers.  It was as Assistant Secretary of the Navy that Roosevelt first envisioned the U.S. strengthening its sphere of influence in the Western Hemisphere, and the creation of the Panama Canal first came to his mind during this time.  To his dismay, however, Roosevelt encountered many in the government who thought preparing for a war would bring on the war itself. 

The Secretary of the Navy was often on vacation, choosing to leave the department to Roosevelt, and when Teddy was left as acting secretary, he did all that he could to mobilize the U.S. Navy for war.  When given the chance, Roosevelt successfully approached Congress asking for the funds and right to recruit sailors and build ships.

The Rough Riders

Such preparations proved instrumental after the explosion of the
Maine
in Havana Harbor on February 15
^th
, 1898, which killed over 200 American sailors. Although it’s likely that the
Maine
exploded due to an internal engine problem, the Spanish were widely blamed for it, and the sensationalized media accounts of the destruction of the
Maine
became the most notorious examples of “yellow journalism”. 10 days after the explosion, Roosevelt ordered the Navy to mobilize for war worldwide.

The U.S.S. Maine entering Havana’s Harbor

War was not immediately declared, however.  The country mulled over the facts of the
Maine
explosion, ultimately coming to the conclusion that the Spanish were to blame.  In hindsight, much of this conclusion has been questioned.  The nation nonetheless decided in 1898 that the only solution was war. 

The Spanish-American War thus began on April 25, 1898.  Thanks to Roosevelt's preparedness, the Navy was ready to immediately begin blockading Cuba from the Spanish, and the U.S. Navy was also able to engage the Spanish on the other side of the world in the Philippines.

Still, Teddy didn’t want to be on the sidelines during the fight. For Roosevelt, the war brought an irresistible urge to venture out into the front lines.  Together with an army surgeon named Leonard Wood, Roosevelt began organizing a regiment to fight in Cuba.  Hoping to find soldiers well-equipped for the warm Cuban climate, Roosevelt sought recruits from the Southwest United States.  The regiment he ultimately formed included both Ivy League graduates and rugged cowboys, a classic show of Roosevelt's personal versatility.  Quickly becoming known popularly as the “Rough Riders,” the regiment was the nation's first all-volunteer cavalry unit. 

Colonel Roosevelt. Teddy would often be referred to as Colonel in the years after his presidency

Originally Roosevelt was commissioned as Lieutenant Colonel of the regiment.  Later, however, he was promoted to Colonel.  With that, he had the opportunity to inspire the nation with the Battle of San Juan Heights.  The Battle involved charging up a hill with little equipment; Roosevelt's horse, Little Texas, had tired and was not able to assist him up the steep incline.  Regardless, the Rough Riders prevailed, and Roosevelt was honored with a nomination for a Medal of Honor.  He did not receive the nation's highest prize initially, but he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor after his death. When his son Ted Jr. was nominated for the Medal of Honor during World War II, Teddy and his son joined Arthur MacArthur and Douglas MacArthur as the only two father-son pairs to both be nominated for the Medal of Honor in American history.