*At the Dawn Of American Imperialism- The Life and Times Of Teddy Roosevelt- A Film Review

Click on the headline to link to a "Wikipedia" entry for American President Theodore Roosevelt.

DVD Review

Teddy Roosevelt: An American Lion, The History Channel Productions, 2003

A number of American bourgeois political figures, usually presidential, come to epitomize the era that they live in. For example one thinks of Washington as founder of the American bourgeois republic, Jackson as the advocate of the rough-Hew democratic element that built the country and drove it westward, and Lincoln as its war time preserver and extender. The subject of this review, early 20th century President Theodore Roosevelt, readily brings to mind that period when the American republic went from being something of a backwater democratic experiment, an important one to be sure, but still outside of the main currents of world affairs to the first nibbling of its current imperial status. Needless to say that symbols of eras do not have the final say in what their era was about but certainly the life of old Teddy came as close as it could to that end.

If most people were asked one thing about Teddy Roosevelt that one thing would probably be his experiences as leader of the eclectic army unit, “The Roughriders” , that fought in Cuba during the Spanish-American War, a war that closed out the 19th century and ushered in the new age of inter-imperial rivalries. That however, as this three plus hours production, at times painfully demonstrates, is only a small part of the personal story of the man. As usual in this type of documentary production a good number of “talking head” commentators, including Teddy scholars, historians of the “robber baron” era, surviving relatives, and other specialists give their take on the meaning of the man, his influence on history and his role in the creation of the American imperial state.

And what was that role? Part One of this two part production centers on Teddy early sickly childhood, his struggle for health, and his intellectual and physical pursuits. It then moves on to his college career at Harvard, his marriages and family life and all the other sidelights that give substance to these visual biographies. The key though, given his patrician class background, is his magnet-like attachment to the political rough and tumble, first in local New York Republican state politics and then later as campaigner and official in various national Republican administrations in the late 19th century. This segment finishes up with Roosevelt’s above-mentioned war adventure in Cuba that he did so much to encourage, his time as New York Governor, as accidental American Vice President and equally accidental President after McKinley’s assassination.

Part two centers on his presidency which included his fight against the trusts, his fight to save the Western lands for the future, his role in international diplomacy, his creation of a strong navy that he had started earlier in his career as a Navy Department official, and his acknowledged indifference, although not hostility, to the fate of black people in this country at a time when “Jim Crow” was gripping the South (and got reflected by de facto segregation in the North as well). The remainder of the documentary details his post-presidential years including his run as the “Bull Moose” candidate in 1912, his support to Wilson’s war efforts and his last years away from the center of attention. All in all well done, with many good photographs and film clips from the period plus a spirited Teddy narration by actor Richard Dreyfuss. For the Teddy aficionado probably not enough but for the novice a very good primer of what it was like to stand at the head of the American Republic at the dawn of the imperium.