Nice tribute on President's Day. I just invoked his name/accomplishments the other day as I was completing my "5 calls" to my Republican senators/rep, reminding them that Roosevelt was also a Republican and was critical in the preservation of these great lands and they have a duty to honor him by protecting our parks/monuments, not gutting protections, etc, etc.
A very smart way to frame it for your calls. If I'm being fully honest, I have no doubt there are plenty of places to trim our nation's budget. Some of those cuts may be quite harsh, and no doubt every cut affects someone in one way or another. But removing protections for our nation's natural treasures should be a last, desperate resort, not a first cut.
(My proposal is that they turn the White House into an AirB&B first). (Only sorta kidding).
I think his expeditions, especially in other countries leave much to wrestle with too. This is colonial in nature and exploitation and also set up extractive relationships within conservation. Over 500 big game animals killed on this expedition. When does scientific “collections” cross the line?
I’m fascinated by the guy and his legacy too, but it definitely benefited an elite few w also high population costs.
You raise an excellent point, and I really appreciate your perspective. Roosevelt’s legacy is a complicated one—his passion for conservation left us with an extraordinary system of public lands, but it also carried the marks of its time, including extractive practices and an elite-driven approach to conservation. The scale of his expeditions, particularly in Africa, is difficult to reconcile through a modern lens, and as you pointed out, they had significant ecological and ethical costs.
At the same time, we have the benefit of hindsight that Roosevelt and his contemporaries did not. The very idea of conservation was still evolving, and while his methods reflected the norms of his era, they also helped shape a movement that has since grown to be more inclusive and sustainable. His legacy is worth wrestling with, because it reminds us that even well-intentioned efforts can have unintended consequences—and that the way we approach conservation today must be shaped by the lessons of the past.
He was by many measures an important man and the antithesis of the current administration. Conserving our country’s natural wonder and curbing the monopolists and robber barons.
My great grandfather worked with him and traveled with him on his last campaign. We still have TR’s desk in the family.
Yes, I was waiting for the attack against the “so-called robber barons”.
The great producers who created wealth and products that never existed before, to sell freely to a public that for centuries barely were able to scrape out a living.
TR should go down in history as one of the first great destroyers of capitalism, the free marketplace, Americanism and individualism.
I thank the memory of John D. Rockefeller every time I gas up my truck, thank you very much.
He’s rolling in his grave on this Presidents’ Day, if only everyone in power had his foresight and respect for our wild lands. Great read!
Nice tribute on President's Day. I just invoked his name/accomplishments the other day as I was completing my "5 calls" to my Republican senators/rep, reminding them that Roosevelt was also a Republican and was critical in the preservation of these great lands and they have a duty to honor him by protecting our parks/monuments, not gutting protections, etc, etc.
A very smart way to frame it for your calls. If I'm being fully honest, I have no doubt there are plenty of places to trim our nation's budget. Some of those cuts may be quite harsh, and no doubt every cut affects someone in one way or another. But removing protections for our nation's natural treasures should be a last, desperate resort, not a first cut.
(My proposal is that they turn the White House into an AirB&B first). (Only sorta kidding).
Good call Karen. Back when "conservative" and "conservation" were part of the same root thought process.
I think his expeditions, especially in other countries leave much to wrestle with too. This is colonial in nature and exploitation and also set up extractive relationships within conservation. Over 500 big game animals killed on this expedition. When does scientific “collections” cross the line?
I’m fascinated by the guy and his legacy too, but it definitely benefited an elite few w also high population costs.
https://www.vox.com/2015/7/29/9067587/theodore-roosevelt-safari
You raise an excellent point, and I really appreciate your perspective. Roosevelt’s legacy is a complicated one—his passion for conservation left us with an extraordinary system of public lands, but it also carried the marks of its time, including extractive practices and an elite-driven approach to conservation. The scale of his expeditions, particularly in Africa, is difficult to reconcile through a modern lens, and as you pointed out, they had significant ecological and ethical costs.
At the same time, we have the benefit of hindsight that Roosevelt and his contemporaries did not. The very idea of conservation was still evolving, and while his methods reflected the norms of his era, they also helped shape a movement that has since grown to be more inclusive and sustainable. His legacy is worth wrestling with, because it reminds us that even well-intentioned efforts can have unintended consequences—and that the way we approach conservation today must be shaped by the lessons of the past.
I’d be curious too if you ever come across much about either of his wives or eldest daughters.
I sure wish we had a transcript of that exhange with John Muir!
I believe he lost his wife and mother on the same day just two days after his first daughter was born.
Yes, I think I have read that too. He remarried.
He was by many measures an important man and the antithesis of the current administration. Conserving our country’s natural wonder and curbing the monopolists and robber barons.
My great grandfather worked with him and traveled with him on his last campaign. We still have TR’s desk in the family.
Yes, I was waiting for the attack against the “so-called robber barons”.
The great producers who created wealth and products that never existed before, to sell freely to a public that for centuries barely were able to scrape out a living.
TR should go down in history as one of the first great destroyers of capitalism, the free marketplace, Americanism and individualism.
I thank the memory of John D. Rockefeller every time I gas up my truck, thank you very much.
Hey, but each to his own hierarchy of values.
Oh dear. I guess cruelty has become an ideology.