Theodore Roosevelt
On September 6, 1901, a self-described anarchist approached President William McKinley in Buffalo, New York. He fired two shots. Initially surviving his wounds, McKinley died eight days later on September 14th. His forty-two-year-old vice-president, Theodore Roosevelt, became the 26th president of the United States.
Roosevelt went on to serve as president through March 3, 1909. His presidency is marked as the beginning of a broader domestic role for the federal government and a more robust American foreign policy through his “speak softly and carry a big stick” philosophy. He is one of four presidents on Mount Rushmore, alongside George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln. This is principally due to Roosevelt’s establishment of the National Park Service, under which the monument’s land is protected.
Theodore Roosevelt left his mark on American history. Whether it was his involvement in the Spanish-American War through his group called the Rough Riders, his hunting exploits that led to the use of the term “teddy bear” after Roosevelt was photographed next to a wounded bear he refused to shoot, or giving the Executive Mansion the name White House.
However, a complete examination of Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency is not the subject of this article. A little over a year after leaving the presidency, Roosevelt traveled to Paris, France, in April 1910. There, he gave a speech entitled “Citizenship in a Republic,” that became one of his most famous.
The speech embodies Roosevelt’s thoughts on the characteristics needed for the average man or woman to be a good individual citizen. He calls on people to be doers of good, not merely cynics who sit in judgment of others. “The poorest way to face life is to face it with a sneer,” Roosevelt states. After some discussion of the unworthiness of such an approach to life, Roosevelt uses language that is repeated often to this day:
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
In essence, the good citizen is one who actually strives to do public good, not those who only feel good about themselves in the criticism of others. Put more simply – do good, don’t just feel good.
Roosevelt continues to a discussion about the importance of character. “Self-restraint, self-mastery, common sense, the power of accepting individual responsibility and yet of acting in conjunction with others, courage and resolution – these are the qualities which mark a masterful people.”
He confirms that one’s ultimate duty is to themselves and their family, but everyone has a duty to their nation. Citizens should use their gifts and talents towards these aims. Roosevelt specifically singles out two gifts some people possess – money-making and oratory. Neither has any value to Roosevelt if there is no moral quality behind them. He singles out one profession, journalism, as one that can do “great good” or “infinite mischief.”
For Roosevelt, the good citizen possesses two qualities. “He must have those qualities which make for efficiency; and he must also have those qualities which direct the efficiency into channels for the public good.” He is careful to explain that the efficient citizen, or someone who gets their labor or skill out to the public, must be guided by good character and purpose.
He goes back to discuss the idea of a critic further. “Woe to the empty phrase-maker, to the empty idealist, who, instead of making ready the ground for the man of action, turns against him when he appears and hampers him as he does the work!”
Later, Roosevelt discusses the idea of equality and quotes Abraham Lincoln in doing so. Quoting Lincoln, “I think the authors of the Declaration of Independence intended to include all men, but that they did not mean to declare all men equal in all respects.” Roosevelt himself continues, “But the reward must go to the man who does his work well.” A good society levels equality up and should “beware of the evil of leveling down.”
The good citizen and liberty are connected together. “The good citizen will demand liberty for himself, and as a matter of pride will see to it that others receive the liberty which he thus claims as his own.”
The good citizen does not divide along arbitrary lines. “The gravest wrong upon his country is inflicted by that man, whatever his station, who seeks to make his countrymen divide primarily on the line that separates class from class, occupation from occupation, men of more wealth from men of less wealth, instead of remembering that the only safe standard is that which judges each man on his worth as a man, whether he be rich or poor, without regard to his profession or to his station in life. Such is the only true democratic test.”
Roosevelt finishes with a discussion about patriotism and its connection to being a “citizen of the world.” He believes that one’s first obligation is to one’s own country. “In the dim future all moral needs and moral standards may change; but at present, if a man can view his own country and all other countries from the same level with tepid indifference, it is wise to distrust him…” That doesn’t mean one can’t do good outside of their own country, but the “most useful member of the family of nations is normally a strongly patriotic nation.”
There are many aspects of Theodore Roosevelt’s speech that are worth reading. This discussion focused on some of them. For many, this speech is used for self-motivation, and the “man in the arena” language is often cited for this purpose. However, the speech as a whole should make all Americans think about their role as citizens of this great nation.
The entire speech is linked below:
NOTE: Theodore Roosevelt was the 5th cousin to future president Franklin Roosevelt. As president, he walked his niece Eleanor down the aisle at her wedding to Franklin in 1905. Franklin and Eleanor were 5th cousins (once removed).