People of Courage: Theodore Roosevelt

In 1898 voters elected William McKinley as President and Theodore Roosevelt as Vice-President.  Commenting on Roosevelt, a colleague said, “Do you realize that the only thing standing between that madman and the White House is a bullet?”  Within 2 years Roosevelt was our nation’s 26th President following the assassination of McKinley.

• During Roosevelt’s tenure as President his critics …
• Called him a liar for claiming that he charged up San Juan Hill, not Kettle Hill.
• Blamed him for a financial panic, but complimented the bankers who caused it.
• Berated him for supporting a revolution that allowed us to build the Panama Canal.
• Ridiculed him for his “self-serving showmanship.”
• Denounced him for supporting Vice-President Taft’s bid to become president.
• Accused him of trying to establish a “Republican monarchy.”
• Rebuked him for inviting a black, Booker T. Washington, to a White House dinner.
• Scolded him for indicting black soldiers following a race riot in Brownsville, Texas.
• Mocked him for displaying bad manners.
• Condemned him for sending battleships around the world “to threaten other nations.”

All these criticisms were made by one person:  Mark Twain.  He was not alone in criticizing Roosevelt.  But the President had this response for his detractors:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”

Theodore Roosevelt was a person of courage. Leaders are criticized everyday for the the things they say or do, and for what they haven’t said or done. Critics sometimes go beyond the bounds of propriety and use tactics like ridicule, slander, and malicious gossip. Unfortunately, many people believe these untruths and the leader’s reputation is damaged, sometimes beyond repair. It takes a special person to be a leader and withstand the slings and arrows hurled by cruel critics.

Theodore Roosevelt had thick skin, in more ways than one. On October 12, 1912 Roosevelt was campaigning in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As he walked through a crowd, a man standing close by held up a gun, aimed it at Roosevelt’s head, and started to pull the trigger. A bystander saw the gun, grabbed it just in time, and the bullet struck Roosevelt in the right chest. At first Roosevelt didn’t realize he had been shot until he noticed a hole in his overcoat. When he checked under his coat he his fingers were covered in blood. Fortunately, the bullet struck the case for his glasses and the 50-page copy of his speech doubled-over in his jacket pocket. He refused to go to the hospital until he had given an 80 minute speech. He told the crowd, “It takes more than one bullet to kill a Bull Moose!”

Living out your calling will be difficult, and sometimes dangerous. People don’t like change and your calling is all about making changes. You’re likely to face animosity, resistance, and rejection. It takes courage to persevere in the midst of threats, hostility, and persecution.

Theodore Roosevelt stood the test of courage that day in Milwaukee. You, too, can withstand whatever critics throw at you by drawing on the Courage available to you through Jesus Christ. “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline” (2 Timothy 1:7).

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