Introduction:

“Values” are beliefs and principles that form the basis of our identity and guide our action. Some values, such as bravery, honesty, and responsibility, describe personal characteristics. Others, such as freedom, equality, and democracy reflect abstract ideals. Values like patriotism, loyalty to family, and humanitarianism shape our relationships with the rest of the world. Another set of values, which includes power, justice, truth, recognition, and wealth, may serve as goals and priorities.

While values vary from person to person, societies generally hold a core of shared values that are typically transmitted through their schools, media, and political leaders. In the 1890s, the core values of the United States differed markedly from those of our country today. Theodore Roosevelt, America’s youngest and, in many respects, most energetic president, embodied many of the core values of his time. Although often controversial, Roosevelt enjoyed immense popularity, suggesting that most Americans supported the values he embraced.

Your assignment:

In this activity, you will explore Roosevelt’s values and compare them with the values Americans hold today. Your group has been assigned several selections from Roosevelt’s speeches and letters. First, read the selections carefully and identify the three or four most prominent values Roosevelt conveys. Then, express the values in your own language. For example, consider beginning your sentences with “A person should....” or “It is important to....”.

For each of the 3-4 values identified in your group's reading:

• identify how widely accepted the value is today and,
• if you decide that the value is not widely accepted, write a related value that is commonly held today.

Selections from the Speeches and Writings of Theodore Roosevelt

adapted from materials in Watson Institute for International Studies, Reluctant Colossus: America Enters the Age of Imperialism, (Brown University: Choices Education Project) pp 11-14.

#1	“I would give anything if President McKinley would order the fleet to Havana tomorrow. The Maine was sunk by an act of dirty treachery on the part of the Spaniards... The President has no more backbone than a chocolate eclair.” (Private conversations before the Spanish-American War) “I abhor unjust war. I should never advocate war unless it were the only alternative.” (Roosevelt’s autobiography) “I suppose it will be two or three days before I get off. I am awfully afraid we shall miss the first expedition... It will be awful if we miss the fun.” (Letter written while waiting to be transported to Cuba with his regiment)
#2	“I would regard a war with Spain from two viewpoints: First, the advisability on the ground both of humanity and self interest of interfering on behalf of the Cubans, and of taking one more step toward the complete freeing of America from European domination; second, the benefit done to our people by giving them something to think about which isn’t material gain, and especially the benefit done our military forces by trying both the Army and Navy in actual practice. I should be very sorry not to see us make the experiment of trying to land, and therefore to feed and clothe, an expeditionary force, if only for the sake of learning from our blunders. I should hope that the force would have some fighting to do. It would be a great lesson.” (Private correspondence in November 1897)
#3	“Only those are fit to live who do not fear to die; and none are fit to die who have shrunk from the joy of life. Both life arid death are parts of the same Great Adventure. Never yet was worthy adventure worthily carried through by the man who put his personal safety first. All of us who give service, and stand ready for sacrifice, are the torchbearers. We run with the torches until we fall, content if we can pass them to the hands of other runners. The torches whose flame is brightest are borne by the gallant men at the front, by the gallant women whose husbands and lovers, whose Sons and brothers are at the front. These men are high of soul, as they face their fate on the shell-shattered earth, or in the skies above or in the waters beneath; and no less high of soul are the women with torn hearts and shining eyes; the girls whose boy-lovers have been struck down in their golden morning, and the mothers and wives to whom word has been brought that henceforth they must walk in the shadow. These are the torch-bearers; these are they who have dared the Great Adventure.” (Eulogy written by Roosevelt for his son Quentin, who was killed in World War I)
#4	“It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out where the strong stumbled, or how the doer could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is in the arena, his face marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and falls short again and again: There is no effort without error. But he who tries, who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause, at best knows the triumph of achievement and at worst, fails while daring. His place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.” (Roosevelt’s autobiography)
#5	(Speaking to his aides) I will make this speech or die. It is one thing or the other.” “(Speaking to the audience) It is true I am going to ask you to be very quiet and please excuse me from making a long speech. I’ll do the best I can, but there is a bullet in my body. It is nothing, I am not hurt badly. I have a message to deliver and will deliver it as long as there is life in my body. It matters little about me but it matters about the cause we fight for. If one soldier who carries the flag is stricken, another will take it from his hands and carry it on. Tell the people not to worry about me, for if I go down another will take my place.” (Roosevelt during the presidential campaign of 1912 after being shot in the chest by a would-be assassin)
#6	Question: How did you know that substantial justice was done? Roosevelt: Because I did it, because I was doing my best. Question: You mean to say that when you do a thing thereby substantial justice is done? Roosevelt: I do. When I do a thing I do it so as to do substantial justice. I mean just that. (Testimony in a civil trial, 1915) “I have always been fond of the West African proverb: ‘Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.”’ (Private correspondence, February 1900) “I am interested in the Panama Canal because I started it. If I had followed conventional, conservative methods, I should have submitted a dignified state paper to the Congress and the debate would have been going on yet, but I took the canal zone and let Congress debate, and while the debate goes on the canal does also.” (Speech, 1911) “Dealing with senators is at times excellent training for the temper, but upon my word dealing with these peace envoys has been an even tougher job. To be polite and sympathetic and patient in explaining for the hundredth time something perfectly obvious, when I really want to give utterance to whoops of rage and jump up and knock their heads together — well, all I can hope is that the self-repression will be ultimately good for my character.” (Comment made to French ambassador while mediating the settlement of the Russo-Japanese War, 1905)
#7	“No danger exists of an over-development of warlike spirit; the danger is of precisely the opposite character. A wealthy nation, slothful, timid, or unwieldy, is an easy prey for any people which still retains the most valuable of all qualities, the soldierly virtues. Peace is a goddess only when she comes with sword girt on thigh. The ship of state can be steered safely only when it is always possible to bring her against any foe.” (Speech as assistant secretary of the navy, 1897) “Towards all other nations, large and small, our attitude must be one of cordial and sincere friendship. We must show not only in our words but in our deeds that we are earnestly desirous of securing their good will by acting toward them in a spirit of just and generous recognition of their rights. But justice and generosity in a nation, as in an individual, count most when shown not by the weak but by the strong.” (Inaugural address, March 1905)
#8	“Viewed purely in the abstract, I think there can be no question that women should have equal rights with men. A cripple or a consumptive in the eye of the law is equal to the strongest athlete or the deepest thinker; and the same justice should be shown to a woman whether she is, or is not, the equal of man. A son should have no more right to any inheritance than a daughter should have. Especially as regards the laws relating to marriage there should be the most absolute equality preserved between the sexes. I do not think the woman should assume the man’s name. (Harvard senior dissertation, 1880) “Among all the evils in America the worst is the diminishing birth rate among the old native American stock. [Anyone who does not want to have children] is a criminal against the race, the object of contemptuous abhorrence by healthy people. Willful sterility [birth control] is more debasing than ordinary vice. A boy should be brought up to use his fighting instincts on the side of righteousness; one should punish anything like cowardice. I am the father of three boys and if I thought that any one of them would weigh a possible broken bone against the glory of being chosen to play on Harvard’s football team I would disinherit him.” (Comments made to friends)