WHEN TRUMPETS CALL: THEODORE ROOSEVELT AFTER THE WHITE HOUSE
BY PATRICIA O’TOOLE
SIMON & SCHUSTER, 494 PAGES, $30
ONE look at Mount Rushmore and it’s obvious Theodore Roosevelt’s presence looms large in the pantheon of U.S. presidents. His elevated stature as the 26th president was earned for his many accomplishments – creating national parks, boosting America’s international prestige and fighting monopolies so that American ingenuity could flourish by everyone having a “square deal.”
But as Patricia O’Toole’s “When Trumpets Call” reveals, Roosevelt also loomed large in the administrations of two subsequent presidents – and often in a meddlesome way.
After using his immense popularity to pass the political baton to William Taft, Roosevelt felt hoodwinked that his heir failed to continue his policies and retaliated by challenging Taft for the Republican nomination in 1912.
When Taft won, Roosevelt felt it was his calling to form the Bull Moose Party and ran for president on a third ticket that split the Republican vote and cleared the way for Woodrow Wilson’s victory, marking the first time a Democrat had won in 20 years.
Once Wilson was in office, Roosevelt used his pulpit as a columnist to roar against the administration’s pacifist leanings at the dawn of World War I and tried again, unsuccessfully, to charge into the presidency.
What makes this book such a compelling read is that O’Toole, who teaches writing at Columbia University, shows the complexity of Roosevelt both affectionately and critically. Like a skilled surgeon, she draws blood but does not overdo it.
Roosevelt, she writes, “never grasped the immensity of his need for power, and would often mistake the call of personal ambition for a call to serve his country.”
This brisk, fact-filled narrative is part history lesson, part psychological study. Roosevelt failed to see that Taft’s inertia was not a personal attack on his policies – quite the contrary. Taft sought his former boss’ approval but was handcuffed by his natural aversion to conflict. He was better suited as lieutenant.
The book also brings to life peripheral characters who struggled with divided loyalties, including the honorable military aide Archie Butt, who wrestled with his duty to serve Taft and his affection for Roosevelt (he later perished on the Titanic). Then there’s Roosevelt’s daughter Alice, the wife of Rep. Nick Longworth, whose family supported Taft.
O’Toole understands that readers are also interested in the intimacies and rhythms of family life and shares heartfelt exchanges between this close-knit clan.
Each page is infused with a humanity for the subject and a realization that it is very difficult for the powerful to relinquish it – even those with the best intentions. As Roosevelt once wrote to his son Archie, “I often feel fairly sick with impotent rage at my inability to make the authorities show wisdom and efficiency.”
At 42, Roosevelt was the youngest president in history and when he left office after two terms, he still ached to have an impact. He died in 1919 at 60, and O’Toole suggests that his ending saw him still doing what he did best – ready to fight wrongs both perceived and real.
Jill Brooke is a writer for Forbes FYI and the author of “Don’t Let Death Ruin Your Life.”