“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
-Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T. R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909.
As president, Roosevelt emerged as a leader of the Republican Party and became a driving force for anti-trust and Progressive policies.
As a leader of the progressive movement, he championed his “Square Deal” domestic policies, which called for fairness for all citizens, breaking bad trusts, regulating railroad, and pure food and drugs. Roosevelt prioritized conservation and established national parks, forests, and monuments to preserve U.S. natural resources. In foreign policy, he focused on Central America. His successful efforts to end the Russo-Japanese War won him the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize, the first American to win a Nobel Prize.
Roosevelt made the White House the center of news every day, providing interviews and photo opportunities. After noticing the reporters huddled outside the White House in the rain one day, he gave them their own room inside, effectively inventing the presidential press briefing.
Roosevelt’s rhetoric was characterized by an intense moralism of personal righteousness. The tone was typified by his denunciation of “predatory wealth” in a message he sent Congress in January 1908 calling for passage of new labor laws:
“Predatory wealth”–of the wealth accumulated on a giant scale by all forms of iniquity, ranging from the oppression of wageworkers to unfair and unwholesome methods of crushing out competition, and to defrauding the public by stock jobbing and the manipulation of securities. Certain wealthy men of this stamp, whose conduct should be abhorrent to every man of ordinarily decent conscience, and who commit the hideous wrong of teaching our young men that phenomenal business success must ordinarily be based on dishonesty, have during the last few months made it apparent that they have banded together to work for a reaction. Their endeavor is to overthrow and discredit all who honestly administer the law, to prevent any additional legislation which would check and restrain them, and to secure if possible a freedom from all restraint which will permit every unscrupulous wrongdoer to do what he wishes unchecked provided he has enough money.
-Wikipedia
I do not routinely delve this deeply into the history of the people credited with the quotes that I select for my blogs. In this case, however, I wish to demonstrate the difference between a president who exemplified the knowledge, experience integrity, and fortitude required of a man or woman chosen to lead our country… in this case, President Theodore Roosevelt.
He championed justice, equity, and the pursuit of life, liberty and freedom for all citizens of the United States of America.
His domestic policies focused on the creation, improvement, and protection of our natural resources, especially our national parks, our forests which absorb toxic pollutants and provide life-saving oxygen, and the guardianship of fresh, clean, drinkable water without which we and our planet will cease to exist.
He supported and encouraged the freedom of the press, a pillar of our Constitution, whether it praised his policies and efforts or criticized them…he honored, respected and protected the Fourth Estate.
In his message to Congress in 1908, President Roosevelt’s condemnation of the “predatory wealth” which was prevalent in society at the time, as is described above, is worthy of a second or third read…it is reminiscent of the iniquity pervading our country today.
It is the responsibility and commitment of every citizen, especially every Senator and Representative, Republican, Democrat, and Independent in the United States Congress and in every State, to condemn and oppose “predatory wealth” and those who engage in it.
Democracy is too precious and fragile to be lost.
All of our voices must be resoundingly heard.
Do Not Be Afraid.