In a life full of momentous episodes, Theodore Roosevelt's fifteen-month post-presidential odyssey to Africa and Europe has never been given its due place. A tale of daring adventure, international celebrity, a friendship lost, and a political legacy transformed, Theodore Roosevelt Abroad is the first full account of this important time in history.

In a life full of momentous episodes, Theodore Roosevelt's fifteen-month post-presidential odyssey to Africa and Europe has never been given its due place. A tale of daring adventure, international celebrity, a friendship lost, and a political legacy transformed, Theodore Roosevelt Abroad is the first full account of this important time in history.

The nature of the US political system, with its overlapping powers, intense partisanship, and continuous scrutiny from the media and public, complicates the conduct of foreign policy. While numerous presidents have struggled under the weight of these conditions, Theodore Roosevelt thrived and is widely lauded for his diplomacy. Roosevelt played a crucial role in the nation's rise to world power, competition with other new Great Powers such as Germany and Japan, and US participation in World War I. He was able to implement the majority of his agenda even though he was confronted by a hostile Democratic Party, suspicious conservatives in the Republican Party, and the social and political ferment of the progressive era. The president, John M. Thompson argues, combined a compelling vision for national greatness, considerable political skill, faith in the people and the US system, and an emphasis on providing leadership. It helped that the public mood was not isolationist, but was willing to support all of his major objectives-though Roosevelt's feel for the national mood was crucial, as was his willingness to compromise when necessary. This book traces the reactions of Americans to the chief foreign policy events of the era and the ways in which Roosevelt responded to and sought to shape his political environment. Offering the first analysis of the politics of foreign policy for the entirety of Roosevelt's career, Great Power Rising sheds new light on the twenty-sixth president and the nation's emergence as a preeminent player in international affairs.

Theodore Roosevelt and World Order presents a new understanding of TR's political philosophy while shedding light on some of today's most vexing foreign policy dilemmas. Most know that Roosevelt served as New York police commissioner during the 1890s, warring on crime while sponsoring reforms that reflected his good-government convictions. Later Roosevelt became an accomplished diplomat. Yet it has escaped attention that TR's perspectives on domestic and foreign affairs fused under the legal concept of "police power." This gap in our understanding of Roosevelt's career deserves to be filled. Why? TR is strikingly relevant to our own age. His era shares many features with that of the twenty-first century, notably growing economic interdependence, failed states unable or unwilling to discharge their sovereign responsibilities, and terrorism from an international anarchist movement that felled Roosevelt's predecessor, William McKinley. Roosevelt exercised his concept of police power to manage the newly acquired Philippines and Cuba, to promote Panama's independence from Colombia, and to defuse international crises in Venezuela and Morocco. Since the end of the Cold War, and especially in the post-9/11 era, American statesmen and academics have been grappling with the problem of how to buoy up world order. While not all of Roosevelt's philosophy is applicable to today's world, this book provides useful historical examples of international intervention and a powerful analytical tool for understanding how a great power should respond to world events.

The nature of the US political system, with its overlapping powers, intense partisanship, and continuous scrutiny from the media and public, complicates the conduct of foreign policy. While numerous presidents have struggled under the weight of these conditions, Theodore Roosevelt thrived and is widely lauded for his diplomacy. Roosevelt played a crucial role in the nation's rise to world power, competition with other new Great Powers such as Germany and Japan, and US participation in World War I. He was able to implement the majority of his agenda even though he was confronted by a hostile Democratic Party, suspicious conservatives in the Republican Party, and the social and political ferment of the progressive era. The president, John M. Thompson argues, combined a compelling vision for national greatness, considerable political skill, faith in the people and the US system, and an emphasis on providing leadership. It helped that the public mood was not isolationist, but was willing to support all of his major objectives-though Roosevelt's feel for the national mood was crucial, as was his willingness to compromise when necessary. This book traces the reactions of Americans to the chief foreign policy events of the era and the ways in which Roosevelt responded to and sought to shape his political environment. Offering the first analysis of the politics of foreign policy for the entirety of Roosevelt's career, Great Power Rising sheds new light on the twenty-sixth president and the nation's emergence as a preeminent player in international affairs.

In 1905 President Teddy Roosevelt dispatched Secretary of War William Howard Taft on the largest U.S. diplomatic mission in history to Hawaii, Japan, the Philippines, China, and Korea. Roosevelt's glamorous twenty-one year old daughter Alice served as mistress of the cruise, which included senators and congressmen. On this trip, Taft concluded secret agreements in Roosevelt's name. In 2005, a century later, James Bradley traveled in the wake of Roosevelt's mission and discovered what had transpired in Honolulu, Tokyo, Manila, Beijing and Seoul. In 1905, Roosevelt was bully-confident and made secret agreements that he though would secure America's westward push into the Pacific. Instead, he lit the long fuse on the Asian firecrackers that would singe America's hands for a century.