Playing Cowboy

I. Death of Wife and Mother

A. Personal devastation--The loss Roosevelt felt from this double tragedy--the loss of both his wife and mother--undoubtedly caused Roosevelt to react in ways difficult to understand from a "rational" viewpoint.

B. Continuation of his political career.

1. 1884 Republican Convention--Roosevelt considered himself a "reformer,'' and therefore was very much opposed to the presumptive Republican candidate, James G. Blaine, "The Continental Liar," former senator from Maine, as well as former Secretary of State in the Garfield Administration.

a. Candidates that Roosevelt and his ally Henry Cabot Lodge attempted to nominate (including John Sherman of Ohio) fell short, however, and Blaine was nominated by the convention to run against the Democratic Party candidate, Grover Cleveland.

b. With this development, Roosevelt "bolted" from the  convention, giving the impression that he was disgruntled and considering "bolting" from the party as well.  When he sent word, through the press, that he  intended to do no such thing, he was labeled by the press as just another politician.

II. Playing Cowboy

A. Ranchmen--Roosevelt, in his writing about his life in the  Badlands of North Dakota, made a distinction between farmers, cowboys, and men like himself--ranchmen.

1.  Farmers--were soon worn  down by the drudgery of trying to raise crops on the prairie, which dulled them as human beings.

2. Cowboys--a step above farmers (and especially farm hands), with an air of simplistic nobility about them, but in the end in need of direction from ranchmen.

3. Ranchmen--had  the physical vigor of the cowboy,  with the ability to appreciate poetry and fine literature on the trail--or to  go off  for weeks at a time on hunting excursions,  as Roosevelt did.

B. Part-time  Ranchmen--Roosevelt spent only parts--and relatively small parts--of 1884, 1885, and 1886 at  his "ranch" in  North Dakota. Much of the rest of those years he spent at home with sister Anna  and  "Baby Lee," his daughter Alice.

1. Corporate rancher--despite the mythology of the life of freedom and independence to be lived out on the lone prairie, these ranches were actually owned by Eastern corporations, and run to supply beef for Eastern markets

2. Rich Squatters--the  Badlands  in North Dakota were an ideal area to raise beef cattle. The geography--particularly along the Little Missouri River valley, where Roosevelt build his ranch--was ideal cattle grazing terrain. The Northern Pacific Railroad had just opened up through the  region, linking ranches  with slaughterhouses in  Chicago. And  the land was all public domain, so these corporate ranchmen paid no one for the right to graze their cattle there.

3. Marquis de Mores--nearly  the long exception to this was a French nobleman.  Mores bought thousands of acres of land, and then had the audacity to fence it to prevent others from grazing on it. Mores also built  a slaughterhouse and leased refrigerated rail cars to ship his beef east, and therefore bypass the growing Chicago Beef Trust (Swift, Armour,  Cudahy, etc.)

a. Roosevelt's  run-in with Mores--while in jail  awaiting trial for killing a  cowboy he accused  of cutting a hole in his fence, the Marquis inquired of Roosevelt why all of his associated  seemed to be involved  his harassing him. Roosevelt took umbrage at what he felt was a slight to his honor, and told  the  Marquis he would gladly fight him in a duel. The Marquis simply ignored this challenge

b. Roosevelt and honor--the above was only one instance of many where Roosevelt responded physically (or offered to respond physically) to a perceived slight to his honor; while in Montana, he sucker punched a drunken cowboy who made fun of his glasses.

C. The Romanticized West--was a place that Roosevelt helped to create, as well  as a place that he inhabited in his imagination.


1. Owen Wister--wrote the first great "western" novel, The Virginian. Wister was a Harvard graduate who actually spent little more time in the West than did Roosevelt, but wrote about it in an enchanting way.

2. Frederick Remington--famous artist, especially of "western" scenes. Many art critics fell that he  captured to "spirit" of the West. In particular, his art helped  to  perpetuate the myth that the West pitted man alone against the forces of nature.

3.  Theodore Roosevelt--his numerous  books on the West, drawn in part from his personal experiences,  gave more weight to these myths. Roosevelt even went so far  as to see himself fulfilling  these myths, which helps to explain his need to dress the part, from the  $100 buckskin shirt,  his pearl-handled revolver, and so on.

D. How the West Changed Theodore Roosevelt

1. Strengthening his body--undoubtedly, removing himself from the coal-sooted skies of New York City helped to  improve his asthma. The strenuous exercise was of great benefit,  as well.

2. Healing his soul--there is also little doubt that the sudden, unexpected deaths of his mother and beloved wife were a severe blow--and being in the West  in the desolate beauty of  the  Badlands  helped  to heal those wounds.

III. Move Back East

A. Re-enters politics--Roosevelt re-entered politics after the winter of 1886-87 cost  him most of his cattle herd and his inheritance, and ended his career as a ranchman.

1. Run for Mayor 1886--ran a distant third in the race behind Democrat Abram Hewit and  Henry George of the United Labor Party.

B. Marriage to Edith Carow

1. Edith Carow a known quantity

2.  Offer to sister Anna--to allow her to continue to raise Alice--but Anna insisted the Roosevelt had to  raise the child in his own family.