Brian Bautista History 111 Book Review George E. Mowry author

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Brian Bautista History 111 Book Review George E. Mowry author of The Era Of Theodore Roosevelt and many others; is very high respected in his field of study. As spending the majority of his life teaching other students at the University of Los Angles California the importance of history, and how it plays an important role in all of are lives, Mowry has became a superb author and thinker. He grew up in a suburb near Los Angels, and also lived out his day final days there. Ever since Mowry was a young boy it seems he has always had a very profound intrest in learning American history. Mowry graduated at the top of his High School class.

The motive Mowry decided to write this book is because: he respected Roosevelt very highly, and wanted the public to see for them self's on paper what great accomplishment Roosevelt did while he was in office.

He figured if he's going to teach UCLA students the importance of Roosevelt's era, why not educate and inform the general public also?.

The structure Of the book The Era Of Theodore Roosevelt was written such as a time table from 1900-1912. Talking about many of Roosevelt's masterstroke accomplishments in order. Starting Theodore was interested in running for the 1900 presidential election, but the Republican party wasn't ready to put a 42 year old President into office. So, Teddy decided to follow his party's wishes and run as McKinley's running mate. McKinely won and many people were happy that things were going to slow down, especially the conservative Republicans. But to everyone's suprise, on September 6, 1901, William McKinley was assassinated in Buffalo, New York. Teddy Roosevelt became the youngest President of the time at age 42.

Many things changed with Roosevelt in the White House. For one thing, there were kids in the white house. All of the Presidents before this were too old to have young children. Teddy also brought with him an arisocratic touch to the White House. Teddy also formed a group of close friends and people he could trust for advise that he called the "Tennis Cabinet". He would have an informal meeting with these people whenever he had to make an important decision. Many famous people such as James R. Garfield, Leonard Wood, and Jean Jules Jusserand were a part of the Tennis Cabinet.

Roosevelt also once invited his friend, Booker T. Washington to a dinner in the White House. It was very controversial at the time, and many southern politicians had a big problem with it. But Roosevelt defended himself against everyone's racism.

Other people accused Teddy Roosevelt of imperialism, because it seemed like he always got in other country's business. But Roosevelt was never interested in terretorial expansion, he was just interested in what's best for U.S. business. A popular quote of his was - "Speak softly and carry a big stick". Usually, it meant that if a country's problem was getting out of control, the U.S. would threaten them with not trading anything with them, or with war. It worked very well with the Latin American countries.

When the idea of a canal that connected the Atlantic and Pacific oceans together got to Roosevelt, he was very interested. He sayed it would increase world trade, and help the U.S. Navy to work more efficiently. When we offered the deal to Colombia, they refused it, wanting a suprising $10 million just as an initial payment. Roosevelt was offended and refused the deal. When the Panamanian started rebelling against the Columbian government, we decided to stay out of it, expecting to eventually work with Panama. After a few days of fighting, the U.S. recognized Panama as a country and helped defend it from angry Columbia. The Panamanians were largely in favor of the canal, and work was immediately started.

In the election of 1904, Roosevelt wanted to win this election for himself. He ran against conservative Alton B. Parker of New York. It was a fairly easy win with 336 of 476 electoral votes. Roosevelt started his second term with improving the meat industry. In his military adventures 5 years ago, he had complained about the meat that was being served. Now that he was President, he took action and convinced the Congress to pass the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906.

Roosevelt was always keeping a close eye on the other powerful nations. In the middle of the Russian-Japanese War, Teddy was able to negotiate peace between the two countries and one the Nobel Peace Prize of 1906.

In 1905 Germany's Kaiser William II suprised everyone by visiting Morocco, and teaming up with them. France and Brittain always thought Morocco was on their side. This teaming up of nations was becoming a big focus of attention. Roosevelt called together a conference of the nations and peace was still assured. Forseeing the European problems that could eventually happen, Roosevelt assembled the Great White Fleet that was to sail all across the world.

As easy as winning his 3rd term could have been, Theodore Roosevelt honored his pledge he made at the beginning of his second term, and decided not to run another term. William Howard Taft, his successor, convinced Roosevelt that he was a loyal supporter of Roosevelt, and Teddy willingly gave up the throne.

After his presidency, Teddy decided to go on an African safari to pursue his personal interests. After his safari and his European tour, he came back to the United States with a warm welcome. Many people were disappointed with Taft and wanted Roosevelt to run in the 1912 election. Another reason Roosevelt was interested in running for the next election was Taft's decision to dissolve the U.S. Steel Corporation. Roosevelt took offense to this because during his presidency, he approved the plan to end the Panic of 1907. On February 21, 1912, Teddy told America - "My hat is in the ring".

Theodore Roosevelt set up his own personal political party called the "Bull Moose Party". He made a terrible mistake splitting the Republican vote. It gave the Democratic runner, Woodrow Wilson, a definite advantage. Regardless, Teddy was sure he could get enough Republican votes to give Wilson a run for his money.

On October 14, 1912, Theodore Roosevelt was shot while giving a speech in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The bullet hit him in the right lung, but amazingly, he was able to finish his speach before being rushed to the hospital. Fortunately, he survived this attemptive assasination still fully functional. Although the Republicans got a majority of the votes, because they were split fairly equally between the two, Wilson won the election.

What a life huh? Most of the reviews I found were all very positive, but Edward Wagenknecht of the Chicago Sunday Tribune said "The study of his book is based on vast reading, and its almost overwhelming bibliography will be of its value, particularly for its remarkable survey of manuscript material..and there are a few inexplicable factual errors, and more then a few desperate sentences." The New York Times raves that George E. Morwry has succeeded in giving us an important and highly interesting account both of Roosevelt, the politician and statesman, and the political forces that swirled about him. And this is a tightly packed book, compressing a great deal of material into a relatively small place.

The San Francisco Chronicle suggests: that although it tends to rely somewhat too heavily on contemporary magazine articles-and it does convey a good idea of a background against which Roosevelt wrought many of great changes which have occurred in American life after the turn of the century. "The bibliography is particularly useful." Even though it took me three weeks to finish I enjoyed every page of the book. I thought it had very useful information, and facts that I did not know about Roosevelt. I suggest to anyone wanting to seek knowable and information about one of are greatest presidents ever to take office to read this book. Morwry speaks with great wisdom and experience to constitute this well crafted book. This book does not only focus on his Presidency it focuses on his days before and after.