The Education of TR

Abstract

Chapter 1 focuses on the origins of TR’s statecraft. It argues that the formative years of his political career played a key role in shaping his foreign policy. Before becoming president, he honed his ability to garner publicity for himself and his agenda. The most important means for this objective was the press, and this chapter traces the salient elements of TR’s relationship with journalists and editors. The first chapter also examines TR’s political worldview and argues that, in spite of an independent streak, he became a staunch and highly partisan member of the Republican Party and resisted the temptation to become a mugwump, like some other reformist Republicans. All of this had a crucial impact on his career, as TR’s foreign policy was linked to his ambitions for his career and party. The first chapter also examines the origins of TR’s thinking about two crucial great power nations, Britain and Germany, which figured prominently in US domestic politics during his career.