January 2011

It is a theory of democracy that a free society will produce men fitted for leadership when leadership is needed. It does this sometimes in unlikely ways. No one could have foreseen, for instance, that frontier Illinois would bring forward an Abraham Lincoln, or that the narrow Knickerbocker society of New York would send up a Theodore Roosevelt, at the precise moment when such men were wanted. But it does happen; not invariably, but often enough to make all the difference.

How this happens is a mystery. Men get hammered into shape, somehow. Occasionally the process is painful, with greatness coming out of what looks like a succession of failures. At other times it looks like nothing more than the simple progression, in a job or profession, of a rather ordinary person who is trying to do nothing much more than make an honest living. Then, when a man of special talents and stature is needed, suddenly there he is.

Between the career of Stimson and that of Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts there is a striking contrast. One was a man of immense solidity, moving slowly to his tragic moment of decision, aware that what seemed to be a choice for good might also be a choice for undying evil; the other was all flame and arrogance, sure of his own wisdom, plagued by no doubts, plunging ahead with the unshaken conviction that what he was doing was just and righteous altogether. Yet each man helped take his country into a decision of enormous consequence whose implications would go on echoing for generations to come. If the meaning of Stimson’s life came at last to be embodied in what the nation did about the bomb, the meaning of Sumner’s was wrapped up in what the nation did about slavery. Helping to lead the country, each man in his own way partly reflected it.

Neither the profound sense of reaching forward into the unknown nor the bitterness of unbridled passion attaches to the career of Judge David Davis of Illinois; yet this man’s life, too, is worth examining, even in the context set by the examination of the lives of Secretary Stimson and Senator Sumner. For Judge Davis had a great deal to do with the purely political decision that made Abraham Lincoln President, and this was possibly the most momentous choice the electorate ever made. Like all political decisions, it did not just happen. An expression of the popular will, it was nevertheless managed; behind the scenes, someone was pulling the strings. Judge Davis was the man who pulled most of the strings.

Sir,—In obedience to your Excellency’s commands, I marched on the evening of the 18th inst. with the corps of grenadiers and light infantry for Concord, to execute your Excellency’s orders with respect to destroying all ammunition, artillery, tents, &c, collected there....

I think it proper to observe, that when I had got some miles on the march from Boston, I detached six light infantry companies to march with all expedition to seize the two bridges on different roads beyond Concord. On these companies’ arrival at Lexington, I understand, from the report of Major Pitcairn, who was with them, and from many officers, that they found on a green close to the road a body of the country people drawn up in military order, with arms and accoutrement, and, as appeared after, loaded …

ROOSEVELT, Franklin (born 1882)—President of the U.S.A. From 1907—an active Democratic [party] leader. Became a member of the New York State Senate in 1910; Assistant to the Secretary of the Navy, 1913-21; Governor of the State of New York, 1928-32. Became President of the U.S.A. in 1933. Roosevelt was the spokesman of those strata of the American bourgeoisie which, under the conditions of economic crisis and acute class struggle, considered it imperative to grant sizable concessions to the working class and the farming masses. Roosevelt proclaimed the so-called New Deal, consisting of the passage of a number of laws designed to regulate industrial and agricultural production. He was responsible for establishing the National Industrial Recovery Administration (NIRA), the purpose of which was to create “class peace” in the U.S.A. by fixing maximum hours and minimum wages for all branches of industry. In foreign affairs, Roosevelt’s most outstanding achievements were the establishment of normal diplomatic relations between the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R.

ROOSEVELT, Franklin (born 1882)—outstanding American statesman. From 1907—an active Democratic [party] leader. Became a member of the New York State Senate in 1910; Assistant to the Secretary of the Navy, 1913-21; Governor of the State of New York, 1928-32. Became President of the U.S.A. in 1933. Having become President under conditions of a severe economic crisis that had greatly affected the American economy, Roosevelt proclaimed the socalled New Deal, consisting of the passage of a number of laws designed to regulate industrial and agricultural production, and in the creation of a number of organizations aimed at combatting the aftereffects of the crisis (NIRA and others). In foreign affairs Roosevelt’s most outstanding achievements were the establishment of normal diplomatic relations between the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R. (November 16, 1933), and the proclamation of the Good Neighbor policy toward Latin American countries. Roosevelt’s measures met with the approval of the American people, thus assuring his re-election in 1936.

In early 1954, the subscribers to the Large Soviet Encyclopedia received a letter from its publishers, which ‘“recommended” that certain pages in Volume II be removed, “with scissors or razor blade,” and that in their place “the enclosed pages containing a new text” be inserted. The pages to be removed contained a biography of “the great son of the Georgian people,” Lavrentii P. Beria (who in July, 1953, had turned from a “son” into an “enemy”), and the new pages featured an article on the Bering Strait.

ROOSEVELT, Theodore (1858-1919), American statesman, President of the United States in 1901-09, belonged to the Republican party. He was Assistant Secretary of the Navy in 1897-98, and Governor of New York in 1899-1900. In 1901 he became Vice President of the United States and, after the assassination of President McKinley in September 1901, President of the United States. In 1904 he was elected to the Presidency. Roosevelt was one of the most influential representatives of the United States monopolies (primarily of the Morgan financial oligarchy), and one of the ideologists of American imperialism. He was one of those who were mostly responsible for the imperialistic Spanish-American War which the United States unleashed in 1898. He conducted an armament-race policy. While voicing antitrust slogans for demagogic reasons, Roosevelt in fact conducted a policy which made possible the expansion and enrichment of the monopolies.

The Russians’ description of Theodore Roosevelt proves once again that you don’t have to resort to outright lies to be a good prevaricator. There are few factual errors in their story, but they achieve their objective of picturing him as a typical capitalist warmonger by selection and omission, not by direct falsification. Shrewdly, they concentrate their fire on Roosevelt’s attitude toward big business and his handling of foreign affairs. Both subjects provide material admirably suited to Soviet purposes.