Ideology of Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt was born on October 27, 1858, to an upper-class family in New York City. He battled health issues, lost his wife, became a cowboy in the wild west, and served as a New York State Assemblyman, fighting against the corrupt political machines of the late 19th century. He was subsequently able to secure a legacy as America’s first “modern” president, promoting environmental conservation and an expansionist agenda. Even though he advanced the country’s standing in the world on a local, national and more importantly a global scale; Theodore Roosevelt should not be considered a “good president” because his ideologies valued white supremacy and imperialism in addition to the belief that women had an obligation toward society to have children. (Or that he decimated native societies?)(the last point isn’t good(my opinion)and I’m already over the word limit I don’t want to write more oof is dead) Theodore Roosevelt was not afraid of voicing his opinions as regard to his ideas on races. He believed that the Aryan peoples, especially the Anglo-Saxons were superior to the rest of the world, this is a textbook definition of a white supremacist.
This ideology was similar to the Nazis of the Third Reich (1939-1945), which resulted in the genocide of over 20 million innocent people. Politicians that promote this sort of thinking carve paths for these types of totalitarian political parties to be able to form later on. He believed that all other ethnicities should strive to achieve the perfection of Americans and their “sophisticated” way of living. It is argued that Roosevelt was not a racist because he had dinner in 1901 with Booker T. Washington, making him the first president to invite an African American to the White House, even so, Washington had a history of working with white supremacists and thought that African Americans should accept the position (status?) of second class citizens and not seek political or social equality.
Roosevelt did not try to improve civil rights or help to improve the lives of African Americans. His thoughts of racism influenced and spurred on his imperialistic views. “‘He referred to white Americans as ‘the forward race,’ who had the responsibility to raise the status of minorities through training ‘the backward race[s] in industrial efficiency, political capacity and domestic morality.’ He asserted that the white citizenry bore the burden of ‘preserving the high civilization wrought out by its forefathers.’” Roosevelt believed that the native cultures of other countries were “barbaric”, he did not realize that these peoples had their own unique cultures and languages, as well as their own civilization and structure of society. He viewed them as “savages” because they were brown and had a different way of living, as well as assuming that they were “struggling toward civilization” but in reality, they had no interest in adopting “American” ways. He says: “ Barbarism has and can have, no place in a civilized world. It is our duty toward the people living in barbarism to see that they are freed from their chains, and we can free them only by destroying barbarism itself. The missionary, the merchant, and the soldier may each have to play a part in this destruction, and in the consequent uplifting of the people.
Policy of Theodore Roosevelt
Exactly as it is the duty of a civilized power scrupulously to respect the rights of all weaker civilized powers and glad to help those who are struggling toward civilization, so it is its duty to put down savagery and barbarism.” (Roosevelt) Roosevelt was someone who believed that the US was superior to everyone else, thus ‘liberating’ natives from their own ignorance (while ignorring any atrocities committed in the process) to him was ‘good’ and ‘just’ in his “god given” cause. In addition to this, Roosevelt was very open to using force to expand U.S. territory and believed conquest was a way to civilize lesser non-Anglo-Saxon people. The treatment that non-whites felt at the hands of US colonial forces were brutal.
Roosevelt had a direct role in Cuba leading his (infamous?) Rough Riders during the Spanish-American war, “helping” the people fighting against Spain for independence but it ended with the United States having control over parts of Cuban government that had lasting effects. After the Spanish-American war, what to do with the former Spanish colonies was an issue that was debated between the imperialist and anti-imperialists in the government. The anti’s believed that the former colonies were similar to original 13 that the United States had been founded on, and similarly wanted independence from a distant and controlling monarchy.
The imperialists wanted to keep the colonies of the Philippians and Guam as trading ports and military base’s for American intervention and influence in Asia. When the Philippines were conquered they were rounded into concentration like camps and had senseless experiments performed on them, as well as forms of unnecessary torture such as waterboarding. They also were interested in the Caribbean islands of Cuba and Puerto Rico, but in the end, the United States annexed Puerto Rico and prosecuted two near-genocidal colonial wars in Cuba and the Philippines against local groups seeking their Independence after being freed from Spain. Even at home in the United States, Roosevelt displayed hatred toward the Native Americans and was known for that animosity even before he was elected. When he forced the construction of an oil pipeline through the tribal lands of the Osage in Nebraska, and then provided insufficient compensation for their troubles. He even says “I don’t go so far as to think that the only good Indians are the dead Indians, but I believe nine out of every 10 are.” He said and believed demining things like that “the most vicious cowboy has more moral principle than the average Indian.”
Even though he is known for creating the national parks his “seven and a half years in office were marked by his support of the Indian allotment system, the removal of Indians from their lands and the destruction of their culture. Although he earned a reputation as a conservationist—placing more than 230 million acres of land under public protection—Roosevelt systematically marginalized Indians, uprooting them from their homelands to create national parks and monuments, speaking publicly about his plans to assimilate them and using them as spectacles to build his political empire.” Some may ask if Theodore Roosevelt was racist; this is a much more difficult question then a yes or no answer but simply from the point of view of today, yes, he was. And even though in his time (the late 19th century and early 20th) he was “progressive” this ideas were still very backward. Even by the standards of some from his own time, such as Mark Twain, who was an adamant anti-imperialist, considered Roosevelt a “warmongering imperialist,” which basically meant he was a racist among other things.
