The Man in the Arena
“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 them 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, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
- Theodore Roosevelt
In: Quotes · Tagged with: Theodore Roosevelt
Hyphenated Americans
“There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism. When I refer to hyphenated Americans, I do not refer to naturalized Americans. Some of the very best Americans I have ever known were naturalized Americans, Americans born abroad. But a hyphenated American is not an American at all.
“This is just as true of the man who puts “native” before the hyphen as of the man who puts German or Irish or English or French before the hyphen. Americanism is a matter of the spirit and of the soul. Our allegiance must be purely to the United States. We must unsparingly condemn any man who holds any other allegiance.
“But if he is heartily and singly loyal to this Republic, then no matter where he was born, he is just as good an American as any one else.
“The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities, an intricate knot of German-Americans, Irish-Americans, English-Americans, French-Americans, Scandinavian-Americans, or Italian-Americans, each preserving its separate nationality, each at heart feeling more sympathy with Europeans of that nationality than with the other citizens of the American Republic.
“The men who do not become Americans and nothing else are hyphenated Americans; and there ought to be no room for them in this country. The man who calls himself an American citizen and who yet shows by his actions that he is primarily the citizen of a foreign land, plays a thoroughly mischievous part in the life of our body politic. He has no place here; and the sooner he returns to the land to which he feels his real heart-allegiance, the better it will be for every good American.”
- Theodore Roosevelt, addressing the Knights of Columbus in New York City – October 12, 1915
In: Quotes · Tagged with: Theodore Roosevelt
On presidential criticism
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, right or wrong – is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
- Theodore Roosevelt
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Square deal for veterans
“A man who is good enough to shed his blood for the country is good enough to be given a square deal afterwards.”
- Theodore Roosevelt
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Military Milestones from Pickett’s Charge to Roosevelt’s Rough Riders
Originally published at Human Events
This week in American military history:
Lt. Col. Theodore Roosevelt surrounded by his Rough Riders following the Battle of San Juan Heights
June 28, 1776: In what has been described as the “first decisive victory of American forces over the British Navy” during the American Revolution, the garrison at Fort Sullivan, S.C. (today Fort Moultrie on Sullivan’s Island in Charleston harbor) under the command of militia Col. William Moultrie repulse Royal Navy forces under the command of Admiral Sir Peter Parker.
The 12-plus hour battle begins around 9 a.m. when Parker’s ships open fire on the fort; many of the British shells sinking harmlessly into the soft palmetto logs of which the fort is constructed. The ships, on the other hand, (some of which run aground on the harbor’s shoals) are constructed of oak, which Moultrie’s artillerists quickly shatter, sending deadly splinters into the unfortunate British crews.
Moultrie is destined to become a Maj. Gen. in the Continental Army and a S.C. governor. And S.C. will forever be known as the “Palmetto State.”
(Incidentally: This author’s five-times great grandfather, Capt. Thomas Woodward — commanding a company of S.C. Rangers on Moultrie’s extreme left — helps thwart an attempt by Royal Marines to land on the island.)
June 28, 1778: The Battle of Monmouth, N.J. is fought between Gen. George Washington’s Continental Army (including the legendary Molly Pitcher) and British forces under Gen. Sir Henry Clinton. Though tactically inconclusive, the battle is a strategic victory for the Americans who prove they can go toe-to-toe with the British Army in a large pitched battle.
In: Military History · Tagged with: American Revolution, Civil War, Medal of Honor, Pickett's Charge, Spanish-American War, Theodore Roosevelt, W. Thomas Smith Jr.
