Edmund Morris - Colonel Roosevelt (2)

I finish the third and concluding volume of Morris's fabulous biography of Theordore Roosevelt. So many biographies have been written of TR over the decades. This is the best comprehensive recapitulation of his life for our time.

This volume traces TR's life after he left the Presidency in March of 1909. He preferred to be called "Colonel" from his San Juan Hill charge days rather than "Mr. President" as is the custom today.

TR went a massive safari with his son Kermit shortly after abandoning the White House. He killed dozens of "specimens" for scientific purposes. The record of this animal slaughter is nauseating to the modern sensibility. I do not understand how TR or anybody else could slaughter innocent animals in Africa.

He and his son Kermit went on a dangerous months long journey down a river called The River of Doubt in South America in 1913/1914. TR and his party were literally out of touch with the outside world for months. This is incomprehensible to the modern sensibility. Roosevelt almost died in South America. At one point, racked with malaria, he begged his party to leave him to die. The journey weakened him considerably, and most likely contributed to his demise at the age of 60.

TR maintaned his absorbing interest in politics. The journey in South America came after bolting the GOP in 1912 for the most successful third party bid for the presidency. This split the Republican Party and led to the election of Woodrow Wilson.

TR was an early proponenet of preparedness long before it happened and American entered World World I. He glorified war and seriously wanted to led a volunteer force in Europe, but he was sensibly turned down by Wilson.

Just months before he died, TR lost his youngest son Quentin whose plan was shot down over France. TR most certainly died of a broken heart at the age of 60 on January 6, 1919.

Theodore Roosevelt was the most amazing person to occupy the office of President. He was a naturalist, an author of more than 20 books and about 150,000 surviving letters, and by far the most accomplished intellectual in Presidential history. He far surpasses Thomas Jefferson.

Morris's work will be the definitive traditional biography of TR for our time.