Lion in the White House: A Life of Theodore Roosevelt

By Aida D. Donald and Aïda DiPace Donald

Book Overview

New York State Assemblyman, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, New York City Police Commissioner, Governor of New York, Vice President and, at forty-two, the youngest President ever-in his own words, Theodore Roosevelt ?rose like a rocket.” He was also a cowboy, a soldier, a historian, an intrepid explorer, and an unsurpassed environmentalist-all in all, perhaps the most accomplished Chief Executive in our nation's history. In Lion in the White House: A Life of Theodore Roosevelt, historian Aida Donald masterfully chronicles the life of this first modern president. TR's accomplishments in office were immense. As President, Roosevelt redesigned the office of Chief Executive and the workings of the Republican Party to meet the challenges of the new industrial economy. Believing that the emerging aristocracy of wealth represented a genuine threat to democracy, TR broke trusts to curb the rapacity of big business. He improved economic and social conditions for the average American. Roosevelt built the Panama Canal and engaged the country in world affairs, putting a temporary end to American isolationism. And he won the Nobel Peace Prize-the only sitting president ever so honored. Throughout his public career, TR fought valiantly to steer the GOP back to its noblest ideals as embodied by Abraham Lincoln. Alas, his hopes for his party were quashed by the GOP's strong rightward turn in the years after he left office. But his vision for America lives on. In lapidary prose, this concise biography recounts the courageous life of one of the greatest leaders our nation has ever known.

• Format: Hardcover
• ISBN: 1606710362
• ISBN13: 9781606710364
• Release Date: January 1
• Publisher: MJF Books

Customer Reviews

solid bio

Those who know little about the 26th President of the United States will be surprised by his life pre-Presidency. Much has been said in history textbooks about his terms in office and subsequent attempts to return as a Bull Moose Progressive candidate, but little is mentioned of his impressive rise to power. Author Aida Donald focuses mainly on T.R.'s political life which began in New York, where he would eventually become Governor. He also served as Police Commissioner and Assistant Secretary to the Navy. Hoping to quell his chance at real power, Republicans chose him as the Vice President for McKinley in 1901. However, McKinley was assassinated and Roosevelt found himself at the greatest position of power. Aida describes President Roosevelt as a progressive work horse who busted trusts and built up the military, showing that he seemed to have some foresight about the coming World War. Most interesting is Roosevelt's personal life, full of tragedy-- his first wife and his mother died on the same day. He also ventured out West where he had a ranch in North Dakota and rounded up some of his friends from there to form the famous Rough Riders. Roosevelt was also an accomplished naturalist and author. The biography is brief but provides a good overview of Roosevelt's life and legacy. Donald presents T.R. as a passionate progessive, always fighting for change and working to improve the lives of the working class. His record in busting trusts and improving work conditions support this view. She seems to have chosen to just touch on his conservation reforms in an effort to showcase his many other great accomplishments. Donald believes that T.R.'s break with the Republican Party does not diminish his importance to the party or his place in their history. For those more interested in his personal life, I would recommend The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by a detailed 700+ page account of his life pre-Presidency and it's sequel, Theodore Rex, another 700 page epic of the rest of his life, both by Edmund Morris.

Concise history is excellent

I recently finished "Lion in the White House", referring to President Theodore Roosevelt. While I have read many other books about this fascinating man, "Lion in the White House" is a compilation of other books and extensive research. It is an excellent and concise documentary of events and personalities of the time. A very easy read.

Short, but useful, 3 1/2 stars

It would be pointless for me to criticize this book for being too short, because it was obviously intended to be a quick read that provided an overview of Teddy Roosevelt's life. And it did that. Yes I would have liked to hear more about Roosevelt's insatiable oldest daughter, among other topics, but for the most part, I got what I wanted out of the book. I had never read a TR book before, and I want to read McCullough's "Mornings on Horseback" at some point soon. I felt that to prepare for that book, which does not cover TR's entire life, I needed some background on the man. And "Lion in The White House" provided that. This is the kind of book that you can read in a week and get an understanding of what Roosevelt's goals were as a politician, and what drove him to be as progressive as he was. It did whet my appetite for a more detailed study of the man. But this time, I wasn't looking for a 700-page or multi-volume monstrosity, so I'm glad Donald's book was on the shelf. As long as your expectations are for a short overview of TR, you will be pleased with this book. If you're looking for great depth and detail, you should look elsewhere.

Don't try to cram TR into limited modern political boxes

I always enjoy a read about TR and the original works OF TR, since he's a genuine hero. Lion in the White House is a good, solid, basic biography which adds very little to the scholarship of the extensive biographies of the past decade. The unique thing I really got from it is a reasonable interpretation of TR's intervention in the 1902 Anthracite Strike, reasonable being defined as I agree with it and it's a noble conclusion. (I have a strong Progressive bent. I'm allowed to. It's America - the America that TR believed in and worked for.) Edmund Morris's The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, Theodore Rex, and the (hopefully) to-be-written volume about the post-presidential years remain the gold standard of TR bio's, and H.W. Brands' TR: The Last Romantic runs a close second. Lion in the White House is a great place to start study of TR. The Library of America has published a volume called Theodore Roosevelt: Letters and Speeches, which gives thinking people some original source matter to read for themselves. One recommended and fun (if quirky) TR tome is My Last Chance to be a Boy, by Joseph Ornig, which is a detailed account of the 1913 - 14 Brazilian expedition. The Democrats and Republicans of 1900 wouldn't recognize the parties of today. TR's policies and passions were not shaped around tired but limited modern menus of the stereotypical "right" and "left." For example, he was for open immigration, which would displease many today. He also strongly believed that immigrants needed to speak English and become Americans, rather than something hyphenated, which would displease the rest of modern politicos. Get a grip, we're not going to bring America forward by wrapping ourselves in emptiness, we need to actually READ TR's advice and get off our collective butts, THINK, REASON and ACT: "It is not the critic that 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 short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds."