Theodore Roosevelt was the
twenty sixth President of the United States. His accomplishments many. Before, during and
following his Presidency.
Roosevelt became known as the
phrase maker. He was the first to call the White House "a bully
pulpit." He recognized the White House was a great stage to be heard from
around the world.
Regarding trusts and
corporations, his attitude was to "speak softly and carry a big
stick."
He viewed political extremists
as the "lunatic fringe."
When asked if he was going to
run for President, he said "my hat's in the ring." A statement out of
the old west. A boxer would throw his hat in the ring signifying he would take
on all comers.
Roosevelt was visiting The
Hermitage in Tennessee, the home of Andrew Jackson. He was given a cup of
coffee. Finishing it, he exclaimed "good to the last drop." The
coffee was generally served at the Maxwell House in Nashville. Turned into a
national coffee brand with a great advertising component: Maxwell House....Good
to the last drop.
An author, his first work The
Naval War of 1812 was acclaimed.
A war hero. Roosevelt led the charge
up San Juan Hill in Cuba during the Spanish-American War. He later said it was
"the greatest day in my life."
He served as assistant Secretary
of the Navy under President McKinley. He later was Vice President of the United
States when McKinley died from an assassin's bullets.
Roosevelt was for a time a cattle ranger
in the Dakotas. He also was an African hunter and an Amazon explorer.
Trusts/corporations had become
too strong by the time Roosevelt became President. He curbed their power.
He is known as the man who saved
football. College football had become dangerous. By the time Roosevelt became
President, more than one hundred players had died from football
incurred injuries. The public called for an end to college football.
Roosevelt was a sport
enthusiast. He called a meeting in Washington of those who ran college
football. He told them shape up or he was going to ban football. He
wanted football made a clean game.
They listened. New rules
came into being. One, the forward pass. It was thought the forward pass
would lessen the power crunch in the center. The forward pass was adopted, even
though many considered it a radical idea.
Roosevelt's face adorns Mount
Rushmore, together with those of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and
Abraham Lincoln.
He was awarded the Nobel Peace
Prize in recognition of his efforts in ending the Russo-Japanese War. Some were
against his receiving the award. They said Alfred Nobel was probably turning
over in his grave. The reason being that Roosevelt had completed the conquest
of the Philippines. Many felt his actions in that regard militaristic and
imperialistic.
Roosevelt was obviously a
great man. He had one short coming, however. He could not spell.
There was no word check to help
him.
Roosevelt issued an Executive
Order in 1906. Henceforth, all White House documents would be printed with the revised spelling
of three hundred words. The words having been proposed by spelling reformers.
Roosevelt's Order required words
to be spelled as spoken. Simple. Through became tru. Dropped, dropt.
Congress went crazy. The House
voted 142-24 to repeal Roosevelt's Order. British newspapers were outraged
at the mockery being made of the English language.
The London Sun responded to Roosevelt's actions
by writing an editorial containing the new spelling espoused by Roosevelt:
"We ventur to think that even Prezident Ruzvelt mite
manage to get along very wel with the language that was gud enuf for
Shakespeare and Milton."
Roosevelt saw the handwriting on
the wall. The whole world was against him. He backed off. The issue
never to be heard again, except in historical perspective.
No comments:
Post a Comment