The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism by Doris Kearns Goodwin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
One of the most persistent and pressing problems in recent U.S. history has been the ever widening gap between the rich and poor, the growing power of large corporations at the expense of workers, and the government's inability (or unwillingness) to address the problem seriously. Populist candidates on both the political right and left have gained a great deal of traction by criticizing our current state of affairs. As we face another election where the fate of Progressive politics for the next generation will be on the line, it is good to turn back the clock to a period in U.S. history and see how extraordinary leaders in politics and the press arose to meet a similar challenge. Fortunately, historian Doris Kearns Goodwin does all that in this excellent examination of the lives of Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the muckraking journalists of McClure's that did so much to bolster the Progressive cause of the early 20th century.
Ms. Goodwin starts with the lives of Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft, two men of drastically different temperaments, and how their strong friendship supported each other for much of their careers. As a longtime fan of Theodore Roosevelt, Doris Kearns Goodwin travels some rather well-trodden ground for me. With the exception of Theodore Roosevelt's second wife and longtime friend, Edith Carrow, Ms. Goodwin does not reveal much about TR that you couldn't have already found in other biographies. But when she turns to examining Taft's life, that is where this book really starts to pick up. Sadly, history has not been kind to Taft. Too often he has been overshadowed by his famous presidential predecessor, TR. But Ms. Goodwin does a tremendous job of revealing the true Taft to readers who may not be as familiar with him. The contrasting images of TR and Taft reveal that while TR was more combative, passionate, and stubborn, Taft was far more fair-minded, affable, and efficient even when he procrastinated. Indeed, Taft shines as the far more likable of the two presidents in this book. Ms. Goodwin's charting of their relationship's rise and fall is at the very heart of this book and that eventual fall is just as heartbreaking as you would expect.
While the two presidents make up the bulk of this book, another key element is the Progressive "muckraking" journalists that gathered around S.S. McClure's magazine, McClure's. The famous journalists Ida Tarbell, Lincoln Steffens, William Allen White, and Ray Stannard Baker all played a critical role in exposing the corruption of the different business trusts and political machines that had been choking the civic life out of the nation at that time. Indeed, Ms. Goodwin makes an effective case that, without McClure's and the top-notch investigative journalism it pioneered, TR would not have been nearly as successful as he became. Indeed, she strongly hints that, without McClure's, TR would not have had enough popular support to win the Republican nomination and then the presidency in his own right in 1904.
With these three moving parts, it would be a difficult juggling act for anyone. And, unfortunately, it appears at times to be too much for Ms. Goodwin too. Several times it felt as though these three storylines were disconnected from each other. This is especially true just before the beginning of McClure's golden age in the mid-1900s to the end of that time when S.S. McClure's manic mood swings and extra marital affairs would destroy the partnerships that made McClure and his journalists so successful. On top of that, the heart of this book is TR and Taft's friendship, but Ms. Goodwin rarely gives us any insight into how their relationship became so close despite the fact that these were two men of such vastly different talents and temperaments, though not entirely of politics (which might be a surprise to some). Not until the end does Ms. Goodwin really give us an image of TR and Taft as friends rather than really good office partners. But, when all three of these things do come together right around the middle of the book, when you see the muckrakers digging up and exposing corruption, TR providing the moral clarity and political leadership, and Taft faithfully executing TR's vision, the narrative is dynamite. It makes one nostalgic for a time when journalists were respected and their exposures of corruption were not only more frequent, but could make serious waves in politics.
The 700+ narrative pages may be daunting at first glance. But, for those who are interested in the combination of investigative journalism and Progressive politics, who are looking for solutions to our present predicaments by studying our past, this is a book well worth your time and effort. I highly recommend this book to fans of Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive era or who desire motivation for our current political times.
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