Theodore Roosevelt Abroad: Nature, Empire, and the Journey of an American President

226 Pages·2010·6.25 MB·English

by  J. Lee Thompson (auth.)

Theodore Roosevelt Abroad
Previous Books by J. Lee Thompson
A Wider Patriotism: Alfred Milner and the British Empire (2007)
Forgotten Patriot: A Life of Alfred, Viscount Milner of St James’ and Cape Town
(2006)
Northcliffe: Press Baron in Politics, 1865–1922 (2000)
Politicians, the Press and Propaganda: Lord Northcliffe and the Great War, 1914–1919
(1999)
T R A
HEODORE OOSEVELT BROAD
N , E , J
ATURE MPIRE AND THE OURNEY OF AN
A P
MERICAN RESIDENT
J. L T
EE HOMPSON
THEODORE ROOSEVELT ABROAD
Copyright © J. Lee Thompson, 2010.
All rights reserved.
First published in 2010 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN®
in the United States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world,
this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke,
Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-349-28719-2 ISBN 978-0-230-10647-5 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230106475
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Thompson, J. Lee, 1951–
Theodore Roosevelt abroad : nature, empire, and the journey of an
American president / by J. Lee Thompson.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-230-10277-4 (alk.paper)
1. Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858–1919—Travel—Africa. 2. Roosevelt,
Theodore, 1858–1919—Travel—Europe. 3. Africa—Description and travel.
4. Europe—Description and travel. 5. Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858–1919—
Political and social views. 6. Nature conservation—Africa—History—20th
century. 7. Imperialism—History—20th century. 8. United States—Foreign
relations—1909–1913. 9. United States—Politics and government—
1909–1913. 10. Ex-presidents—United States—Biography. I. Title.
E757.T47 2010
973.91(cid:2)1092—dc22 2009039961
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India.
First edition: April 2010
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Raymond Ulrich
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Contents
Preface and Acknowledgments ix
Prologue xiii
1 The Old Lion Departs 1
2 The Great Adventure Begins 27
3 A Lion Roars in East Africa 53
4 White Rhino and Giant Eland 75
Gallery 89
5 Down the Nile: Khartoum to Cairo 101
6 European Whirl 117
7 Peace Emissary 133
8 Last Rites: England 151
9 The Old Lion Is Dead: Epilogue and Dramatis Personae 171
Notes 181
Selected Bibliography 205
Index 215
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Preface and Acknowledgments
A century ago, the journalist John Callan O’Laughlin published
From the Jungle through Europe with Roosevelt (1910). Outside TR’s
own African Game Trails that same year O’Laughlin’s work has until
now remained the only other separate book-length study to seriously
chronicle even part of Roosevelt’s fifteen-month post-presidential
odyssey.1 The reasons for this neglect are many. First, hunting has not
been a popular subject for contemporary historians, who also have been
in the main loath to admit the key role played by gentlemen hunters
such as Roosevelt in the founding and preservation of the American
conservation movement.2 In such natural pursuits TR had a long his-
tory, back to his boyhood studies of birds and other wildlife in New
York, further stimulated at Harvard and in his brief, yet formative,
“Cowboy” period in the Dakotas.
The most dynamic president the United States has ever had, TR was
also the first, and sadly only, environmentalist head of state. Roosevelt’s
most lasting domestic legacy as president came in the conservation
of vast tracts of wilderness for the future use and enjoyment of the
nation. When he left the presidency in 1909, TR was well aware that
many African species were already endangered, and he was careful to
mount what was considered at the time a cutting-edge scientific safari.
Stories of bloody Rooseveltian carnage have abounded ever since, yet
out of hundreds of African big game trophies, the number taken for
his personal collection was tiny, with almost all of the specimens going
to the Smithsonian and other collections, where they are still studied
by scientists today.
Another reason TR’s tour has been given relatively little attention
is simply that it represents a calm between the relative storms of
his preceding presidency and the soon to follow 1912 Bull Moose
campaign. Roosevelt attempted to leave politics behind in 1909, and