Theodore Roosevelt was riding high as the election of 1904 approached.

He had secured the Panama Canal (by helping create the nation of Panama). His only rival for the presidential nomination in 1904 was a sickly Senator. The American people loved his antics, even while establishment politicians feared he was too dangerous a lunatic to be running the country. American children, even though they couldn't vote, pestered their parents to get them a Teddy Bear, created after the President refused to shoot a wounded bear on a hunt in Mississippi.

He only had to convince the establishment Republicans he was safe. He sent Elihu Root, the most establishment Republican in the country, to get the message out. Objections to his candidacy slowly disappeared.

The Democrats nominated Judge Alton B. Parker, a gray, taciturn fellow, to run against him. On the surface, it appeared like the Judge had no chance, but Teddy knew that safe and boring was the only thing that could beat him.

Fortunately, the Democrats made a number of mistakes in the campaign. Their nominee stayed on the sidelines, and when he finally came out to fight, the only arrow in his quiver was a conspiracy theory for which he had no proof.

Theodore Roosevelt was elected in a landslide.

All he had to do now was not put his foot in his mouth in any big way.

On Election Night, without consulting anyone, he made the following statement to the press:

“On the fourth of March next I shall have served three and a half years, and this three and a half years constitutes my first term. The wise custom that limits the President to two terms regards the substance and not the form. Under no circumstances will I be a candidate for or accept another nomination.”
&nbsp;
Well, Mr. President, I sure hope that isn’t a statement you’ll regret someday. And I REALLY hope it doesn’t cause you to do something dangerous and self-destructive in the next few years.
&nbsp;
Fingers crossed…
&nbsp;
On our next episode, we enter the regretful phase of Theodore Roosevelt’s political life as he sits out the election of 1908, grows disenchanted with his appointed presidential successor, and storms the election of 1912 like a bull moose.
&nbsp;
Stay tuned for Teddy Roosevelt’s Third Term, Part IV.

Thanks for listening, and for your support.

Click here to support the History's Trainwrecks podcast!

Sources for this episode:

Britannica.com “Free Silver Movement.” Retrieved August 4, 2021 from https://www.britannica.com/event/Free-Silver-Movement

Morris, Edmund. “Theodore Rex.” Simon &amp; Schuster, 2006.

Roosevelt, Theodore. “Autobiography of Theodore Roosevelt.”

Wikipedia, “Alton B. Parker.” Retrieved August 3, 2021 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alton_B._Parker#Presidential_nomination
&nbsp;
Wikipedia, “Teddy Bear.” Retrieved August 3, 2021 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teddy_bear


008 - Teddy Roosevelt's Third Term, Part III

William Howard Taft was a nice guy who didn’t really want to be President.

Turns out it was his wife, Nellie Taft, who kept getting him to turn down appointments to the Supreme Court, which was his lifelong ambition. She wanted her husband to be President more than her husband wanted to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and she wore the pants in the Taft house. By 1905, it was clear to everyone that Taft would be Theodore Roosevelt’s successor in 1908, and Nellie Taft was already “mentally redecorating the White House.”

Taft was a weak presidential candidate, and Teddy had to do a lot of the heavy lifting. Taft won, and Teddy made plans to leave the country on a year-long African safari. He knew it was best, for many reasons, for him to get out of the United States for a long while.

For many, many good reasons, Theodore Roosevelt went to Africa.
&nbsp;
Ultimately, what would have been best for all concerned was for each man to get his heart’s fondest desire: another (and final) term as President for Teddy, after which he could finally lay down his burdens, knowing that he had done all he could. A seat on the highest court in the land for Taft, where his brilliant legal mind could do what it was always meant to do. Forcing these two square pegs into round holes created an off-kilter situation that could only be resolved through disaster.

On our next episode, we take a much-needed break from former President Theodore Roosevelt. As his contemporaries knew all too well, Teddy was exhausting, so we’ll leave him to butcher his way through Africa, slaughtering as many wild beasts as he can and go off on a tangent where Teddy only has a walk-on part, but still looms large. Because he just can’t help himself.
&nbsp;
It’s the story of how the escape plan of the richest man in the world was thwarted by his weakness for his favorite food.
&nbsp;
Stay tuned for John D. Rockefeller’s Favorite Cheese.

Thanks for listening, and for your support.

Click here to support the History's Trainwrecks podcast!

Sources for this episode:

Morris, Edmund. “Colonel Roosevelt.” Random House, 2010.

Roosevelt, Theodore. “Autobiography of Theodore Roosevelt.”

Wikipedia, “William Howard Taft.” Retrieved August 9, 2021 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Howard_Taft


009 - Teddy Roosevelt's Third Term, Part IV

The richest man in the world was on the run.

President Theodore Roosevelt’s Justice Department was planning to file an antitrust suit against Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company in 1906, and the states wanted to get into the action before the Attorney General did. Multiple lawsuits were filed against the directors of the company that controlled over ninety percent of oil production in the United States and had, by prevailing accounts, used unfair practices to gain its monopoly in the market.

Once the floodgates of lawsuits against Standard Oil opened, the focus landed on the company’s origins and rise to power, which meant the testimony of the company’s founder was essential. And of course, having the richest man in the world dragged into your courtroom was a pretty big deal. Process servers and newsmen engaged in a massive manhunt to find him and serve him with subpoenas.

But a man with multiple estates and an annual income of over fifty million dollars could hide out anywhere. He wouldn't be found until he wanted to be found.&nbsp;

Unless you followed your nose.&nbsp;

On our next episode, we catch up with “The Most Famous Man in The World” as Teddy Roosevelt returns to America after his African safari and world tour to find that President William Howard Taft has made a real mess of things and just maybe, he will have to do something about it.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Stay tuned for Teddy Roosevelt’s Third Term, Part V.

Thanks for listening, and for your support.

Click here to support the History's Trainwrecks podcast!


Sources

American Experience. “The Cleveland Massacre.” Retrieved August 13, 2021 from&nbsp;https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/rockefellers-south/

Chernow, Ron. “Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.” Vintage, 2007

Ohio History Central. “John D. Rockefeller.” Retrieved August 13, 2021 from&nbsp;https://ohiohistorycentral.org/w/John_D._Rockefeller

Tarbell, Ida M. “The History of the Standard Oil Company: Vol. 1 &amp; 2.” Joe Barta, 2012.

Wikipedia. “John D. Rockefeller.” Retrieved August 13, 2021 from&nbsp;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D._Rockefeller

Wikipedia. “Standard Oil.” Retrieved August 13, 2021 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Oil


010 - John D. Rockefeller's Favorite Cheese

Former President Theodore Roosevelt was in exile.

It was self-imposed, it was him doing the kinds of things he loved—hunting animals in the wild and being out in nature—and it was as far away from the United States as he could get.

He needed to get away from his successor, to whom he couldn’t help offering advice. About the way the public perceived Taft’s penchant for golf, his midday naps, and the appearance that if he moved at all, it was slow. That he should smile more, and get out among the people instead of cozying up to political cronies. “Lacking aggression, all [Taft] wanted was to be loved…he was everybody’s favorite fat uncle from childhood, dispensing coins and lollipops.”&nbsp;

The day after his decisive election, Taft went to play golf. One of his first statements to reporters as President-elect was, “I really did some great work at sleeping last night.” That quick, it became clear that this would be no energetic, proactive presidential administration.

Even though Teddy had anointed Taft President, he couldn’t trust himself to stick around and watch what happened next.

He went to Africa under contract with the Smithsonian, to analyze flora and fauna, and send back exhibits and write scientific papers.

He was also, being Teddy, going to kill some big, scary animals before they got a chance to kill him.&nbsp;

When the trip was over, he looked around for what to do next.&nbsp;

Presidential Retirement Tip Number Two Hundred Fifty Seven: If you are fighting your impulses and ambition to keep yourself from running for president in an election you are pretty sure you can win, do NOT go on a European tour, where you will be treated like a visiting head of state by adoring crowds and European rulers.

A year after his departure from the White House, Theodore Roosevelt went on a European tour, where he was treated like a visiting head of state by adoring
crowds and European rulers.&nbsp;

He saw firsthand the buildup of the German Army and Navy, and the apparent weakness of any European state that might oppose them. At the same time, reports of President Taft's ineptitude showed up in his daily mail.&nbsp;

He came back to New York in 1910, where he was met by a crowd of a million people, who howled "our next President!" at him from the sidewalks along his five mile parade route. One paper wrote that&nbsp;“Never before in the history of America has a private citizen possessed the power which Mr. Roosevelt now holds.”

Teddy went home to Oyster Bay, where he had a lot of thinking to do.&nbsp;

The presidential election of 1912 was approaching, and the next move was his.&nbsp;

***

On our next episode, we’ll take a break from Teddy Roosevelt’s conflicted musings about a triumphant return to power in 1912 and head to the Civil War siege of Petersburg in 1864. General Grant’s attempt to seize the strategically important city had failed, and both sides settled into a stalemate of trench warfare.
Major General Ambrose Burnside, who had been appointed by President Lincoln to replace George McClellan as commander of the Army of the Potomac two years before, needed to revive his military reputation. He had performed badly at the Battle of Fredericksburg in 1863 and the Overland Campaign of 1864, and was looking for an opportunity to get back into Lincoln and Grant’s good graces.

His solution? He was going to blow some stuff up.

Stay tuned for Fire In The Hole.

Thanks for listening, and for your support.

Click here to support the History's Trainwrecks podcast!

Sources

Morris, Edmund. “Colonel Roosevelt.” Random House, 2010.

Morris, Edmund. “Theodore Rex.” Simon &amp; Schuster, 2006.

Roosevelt, Theodore. “Autobiography of Theodore Roosevelt.” 

Wikipedia, “Freedom of the City.” Retreived August 27, 2021 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_the_City
&nbsp;
Wikipedia, “William Howard Taft.” Retrieved August 9, 2021 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Howard_Taft



011 - Teddy Roosevelt's Third Term, Part V

Major General Ambrose Burnside was going to blow some stuff up.

Burnside led troops at the battles of the Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House in a manner described as “reluctant.” He ended up at the Siege of Petersburg, which was the aftermath of Grant’s failed attempt to defeat Lee in a pitched, decisive battle. Both sides dug trenches and waited. Grant knew his opponent had lost men he could not replace, and supplies were running low. But Lee was clever, and Grant worried that the more time Lee had to strategize, the more likely it was that he might escape.&nbsp;
The battles leading up to the siege were bloody and costly for the North, and Grant was called a “butcher” for his apparent willingness to sacrifice his men in inconclusive battles. General Grant had his own experience at the siege of Vicksburg to draw upon, where he had learned that sieges were expensive and bad for morale.

Like Burnside, Grant needed something big to turn things around.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Colonel Henry Pleasants, a mining engineer from Pennsylvania, hatched a plan where he would dig a long shaft under the Confederate trenches, pack it with gunpowder, and blow the whole thing sky-high. This would open a massive hole in the Southern defenses that troops could pour through and attack.

This sounded great to Burnside.

As long as the plan went off without a hitch.&nbsp;

***

Like the show? Subscribe to the podcast and like or follow our&nbsp;Facebook page&nbsp;for more historical trainwrecks and their adventures.

Sources

American Battlefield Trust. “The Crater.” Retrieved August 30, 2021 from&nbsp;https://www.battlefields.org/learn/civil-war/battles/crater
&nbsp;
Wikipedia, “Ambrose Burnside.”&nbsp;Retrieved August 29, 2021 from&nbsp;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambrose_Burnside
&nbsp;
Wikipedia, “Battle of Fredericksburg.” Retrieved August 29, 2021 from&nbsp;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fredericksburg
&nbsp;
Wikipedia, “United States Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War.” Retrieved August 30, 2021 from&nbsp;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Congressional_Joint_Committee_on_the_Conduct_of_the_War
&nbsp;




012- Fire In The Hole

Ernest Hemingway didn’t hate his mother, but he said some mean things about her. 
&nbsp;
He claimed that the money she spent on a summer cottage for herself could have been used to send him to college instead. He once told a friend that if his mother was a bird and flew in a straight line, he wouldn’t hesitate to shoot at her. After his father’s suicide, Hemingway wrote, “My mother is an all time all American bitch and she would make a pack mule shoot himself; let alone poor bloody father.”
&nbsp;
Family Relationship Tip Number Two Hundred Fifty Seven: do not let Ernest Hemingway write your Mother’s Day cards.&nbsp;

He was married four times. His first wife, Hadley, was a supportive and nurturing motherly type. But the other three wives were independent women with careers of their own. His second wife, Pauline Pfeiffer, worked for the magazines Vanity Fair and Vogue in Paris, which is where she and Ernest started the affair that broke up his first marriage. His third wife, Martha Gellhorn, was a writer and journalist who was known as one of the great war correspondents of the twentieth century. She met Ernest in 1936 in Key West, which is where she and Ernest started the affair that broke up his second marriage. His fourth wife, Mary Welsh, was a journalist for the London Daily Express. She met Ernest in 1944 while covering the Second World War, which is where she and Ernest started the affair that broke up his third marriage. 
&nbsp;
A certain pattern starts to emerge here: Ernest Hemingway was fond of independent, self-assured, career women like his mother. 
&nbsp;
He also seemed to enjoy getting sued for divorce on grounds of adultery. 
&nbsp;
Hemingway was a complicated guy.&nbsp;

He was off covering the Spanish Civil War as a correspondent (and starting an affair with future third wife Martha Gellhorn) in 1937. The two had met in Key West the year before, and Pauline, knowing her husband like she did—and having a clear sense of history repeating itself, only with her playing the role of jilted spouse this time—suspected what the two of them were up to. 
&nbsp;
Pauline tore out her husband’s backyard boxing ring and built a massive in-ground swimming pool--24 feet wide and 60 feet long, with a 5-foot shallow end and a 10-foot deep end, all dug by hand through solid coral. There wasn’t enough water to fill it (nearly eighty-one thousand gallons was needed), so it was necessary to drill down to the salt water table to get enough water. It was the only pool within a hundred miles, and cost over $20,000 to build ($365,000 in 2020 dollars). 
&nbsp;
On a visit home, Hemingway was stunned by the cost overruns involved in pool construction. Pauline was likely unrepentant, suspecting what her philandering husband had been up to. Hemingway took a penny and flung it at her. It bounced off her shoulder and landed in the bottom of the pool. 
&nbsp;
“Pauline, you’ve spent all but my last penny,” Hemingway told her. “So you might as well have that.”
&nbsp;
Pauline had the penny encased in plastic and mounted in the floor of the pool, where visitors to Hemingway’s Key West home can see it to this day. 
&nbsp;
But the costs kept coming. The pool had to be drained, cleaned, and refilled as often as every three days, using salt water pumps. 
&nbsp;
Philandering proved quite expensive for Ernest Hemingway: his first wife took the royalties for The Sun Also Rises, and his second wife took a couple years of his writing income to build a pool, then saddled him with the ongoing costs of its maintenance. 
&nbsp;
He would have been lucky to have gotten out of it for just a penny.

Sources

Hemingwayhome.com. “Our Pool and Garden.” Retrieved August 31, 2021 from https://www.hemingwayhome.com/our-architecture
&nbsp;
Hutchisson, James M. “Ernest Hemingway: A New Life.” Penn State University Press, 2016.
&nbsp;
Wikipedia, “Grace Hall Hemingway.” Retrieved August 31, 2021 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Hall_Hemingway
&nbsp;
Wikipedia, “Martha Gellhorn.” Retrieved August 31, 2021 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha_Gellhorn
&nbsp;
Wikipedia, “Mary Welsh Hemingway.” Retrieved August 31, 2021 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Welsh_Hemingway
&nbsp;
Wikipedia, “Pauline Pfeiffer.” Retrieved August 31, 2021 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pauline_Pfeiffer
&nbsp;




013 - Ernest Hemingway's Last Penny

President Grover Cleveland was a terrible role model.

He had won the presidency in 1884 and 1892 (he also won the popular vote in 1888, but the Electoral College went to Benjamin Harrison), making him both the 22nd&nbsp;and 24th&nbsp;President of the United States.

He proved that it was possible to serve a term in the White House, take some time off, and then win again. The Democrats even tried to run him again in 1904, as if serving two terms in a row was for rank amateurs like James Monroe and Ulysses S. Grant.

When confronted by the notion that he couldn’t leave the White House for four years and then come back, Theodore Roosevelt had Grover to point to as an example. So maybe the debacle of the election of 1912 could have all been avoided if Grover had just stayed home after leaving the White House.

Not really. What happened in 1912 was all Teddy.

As usual when conflicted, Teddy was capable of enormous damage: “He wanted to destroy Taft because Taft had failed. He wanted Taft to succeed because Taft was an extension of himself. He knew he was no longer President, but he was seen as presidential…Although he was not running, he was running. Even as he maintained his vow of silence, he was shouting from the hustings.”
Before too long, Teddy could only resolve his regret about promising not to run again for President in 1904 one way--by running for President in 1912.

“My hat is in the ring,” he said. “The fight is on and I am stripped to the buff.”

Doughy old William Howard Taft, instead of seeing his inevitable loss as an opportunity to step aside in return for his coveted Supreme Court seat, picked this moment to show some backbone.

“I fear things are going to become very bitter before long,” the President said. “But…I am going to defeat him in the convention.”

1912 was shaping up to be one rip-roaring year.&nbsp;

Sources
Morris, Edmund. “Colonel Roosevelt.” Random House, 2010.

Morris, Edmund. “Theodore Rex.” Simon &amp; Schuster, 2006.

Roosevelt, Theodore. “Autobiography of Theodore Roosevelt.” 

Wikipedia, “Grover Cleveland.” Retrieved August 29, 2021 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grover_Cleveland
&nbsp;
Wikipedia, “William Howard Taft.” Retrieved August 9, 2021 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Howard_Taft



014 - Teddy Roosevelt's Third Term, Part VI

The Roman Republic was a mess.
&nbsp;
Wealth and power did what wealth and power usually does: it corrupted the political system. Rome’s money troubles, prevalent in the time of Cato the Elder (234-149 BCE) were over. The final defeat of Carthage in 146 BCE paved the way for further conquest in the Mediterranean, and the cash came rolling in.
&nbsp;
Upper class Romans got land and slaves and money and seats in the Senate, which they used to consolidate their power and make sure that they stayed high while the lower classes stayed low. The excesses of the rich—sex scandals, wild parties, and the occasional recreational slave execution—earned them plenty of enemies among the lower classes.
&nbsp;
There was a very clear sense that Rome was on the wrong track.&nbsp;

Appointing a dictator seemed like one possible answer, but it ended up as these things usually do - with severed heads on pikes in the Forum. Rome needed an emergency brake. 

Enter Cato the Younger. Plutarch says that, “even from his infancy, in his speech, his countenance, and all his childish pastimes, he discovered an inflexible temper, unmoved by any passion, and firm in everything.”

Just the kind of guy to become a thorn in the side of an autocrat.

Reign of Terror Safety Tip Number Two Hundred Fifty-Seven: Despots do not like persistent nagging.

Duncan, Mike. “The Storm Before the Storm:&nbsp;The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic.” Public Affairs, 2017.

Goodman, Rob and Soni, Jimmy. “Rome’s Last Citizen: The Life and Legacy of Cato, Mortal Enemy of Caesar.” St. Martin’s Press, 2012.

Wikipedia, “Cato the Elder.” Retrieved September 14, 2021 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cato_the_Elder.

Wikipedia, “Sulla.” Retrieved September 14, 2021 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulla

Wikipedia, “Gaius Marius.” Retrieved September 14, 2021 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaius_Marius


015 -Stubborn Nags of Ancient Rome, Part II

The 1912 convention was not the Republican Party’s finest hour. Tensions were high as one of the party’s most beloved and successful leaders was pitted against a certain loser come the fall. Roosevelt’s fired-up supporters tried to drown out the proceedings with cheers of “Roosevelt! Roosevelt!” The speaker at the lectern said wearily, “You need not hesitate to cheer Roosevelt in my presence. I cheered him for seven years, and I am just trying to take a day off, that is all.”

Screaming matches and fistfights became distressingly normal, each disturbance another harbinger of defeat in November. By the end of the roll call, Taft had 567 delegates to Teddy’s 507. Ultimately, he was nominated with 561 votes.

Roosevelt’s supporters bolted to Orchestra Hall, where Teddy gave a speech that were the birth pains of a new party—the Progressive or Bull Moose Party. President Taft’s supporters were mute in their victory. The Republican split essentially guaranteed the Democrats would take the White House in the fall.

All that was left to do now was count the votes in November.&nbsp;

Sources
Morris, Edmund. “Colonel Roosevelt.” Random House, 2010.

Roosevelt, Theodore. “Autobiography of Theodore Roosevelt.”

Wikipedia, “1912 Republican Party Presidential Primaries.” Retrieved September 11, 2021 from&nbsp;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1912_Republican_Party_presidential_primaries
&nbsp;
Wikipedia, “William Howard Taft.”&nbsp;Retrieved August 9, 2021 from&nbsp;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Howard_Taft



Teddy Roosevelt's Third Term, Part VII


Herbert Hoover’s name was mud.

By 1930, the Great Depression was in full swing. Fortunes had been lost, savings had been wiped out, and four million Americans were unemployed (a rate of nearly nine percent). President Hoover was widely perceived as being tone-deaf to both the gravity of the economic catastrophe and the suffering of average Americans.

A lot of things got named for Herbert Hoover. “Hoovervilles” were the shanty towns built on the outskirts of cities where homeless unemployed men and their families lived. There was a big one right in New York’s Central Park. The nation’s largest Hooverville, in St. Louis, had an unofficial mayor and built its own churches and other institutions.


There were also “Hoover blankets” (sheets of old newspaper used as blankets), “Hoover flags (empty pockets turned out), “Hoover leather” (cardboard placed in the soles of shoes to cover the holes) and “Hoover wagons” (automobiles hooked to teams of horses, their engines removed).

There was also, awkwardly enough, Hoover Dam.



For more stories like this, check out The History's Trainwrecks Podcast at the links below and this episode in the embedded players:

For a great historical novel about the Hoover Dam, take a look at Ragtown by Kelly Stone Gamble. The first three episodes are free on Kindle Vella:
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Sources
American Experience, “The Controversial Naming of the Dam.” Retrieved August 22, 2021 from&nbsp;https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/hoover-controversy/
Gamble, Kelly Stone. “Ragtown.” Retrieved September 19, 2021 from&nbsp;https://www.amazon.com/kindle-vella/story/B094DXDLTC
Wikipedia, “Herbert Hoover.” Retrieved August 22, 2021 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Hoover
Wikipedia, “Hoover Dam.” Retrieved August 22, 2021 from&nbsp;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoover_Dam
Wikipedia, “Hooverville.” Retrieved August 22, 2021 from&nbsp;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hooverville





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