In the Time of the Americans

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In the Time of the Americans Page 73

by David Fromkin


  3 The Energies of TR

  1 One of the best-remembered theories of Henry Adams: Adams 1918, 379–90; Samuels 1989, 341–3.

  2 in 1898 the world generated: Tuchman 1962b, 234.

  3 The relative invention rate: Ibid., 235.

  4 “wanted to put an end to all the evil”: Dos Passos 1962, 7.

  5 In 1900 the country produced: Sullivan 1926–35, 1:31.

  6 From then to 1910: Cooper 1990, 82.

  7 Telephones rose 600 percent: Ibid., 136.

  8 the number of motor vehicles: Ibid., 82, 133.

  9 some 40 percent of the country’s industrial output: Ibid., 11.

  10 J. P. Morgan … half as much annual revenue: Chernow 1990, 67.

  11 “the enlargement of the scope … National Government”: Cooper 1990, 61.

  12 “ultimately every European power should be driven out”: Widenor 1980, 109–10.

  13 Henry James privately considered: Edel 1972, 265, 267.

  14 Henry Adams … remarked: Samuels 1989, 351.

  15 Hay told TR: O’Toole 1990, 362.

  16 Taft … horse and buggy: Cooper 1990, 133.

  17 TR … first … President to fly: Ibid., 135.

  18 One day in January 1902: Hodgson 1990, 7–8.

  4 American Lives

  1 “Mrs. Roosevelt … had a connection”: Ward 1985, 37.

  2 “everyone is talking about … Theodore”: Ibid.

  3 “a Delano, not a Roosevelt”: Ibid., 66.

  4 “the key to his own … reticences”: Schlesinger 1957–, 2:578.

  5 thought that Roosevelt was “superficial” … “self-conscious” … “without convictions”: Ward 1985, 315.

  6 TR’s family called him “Miss Nancy”: Ibid.

  7 had called him “the feather duster”: Ibid., 251.

  8 “a good little mother’s boy”: Ibid.

  9 “The joke was on us”: Ibid.

  10 “could not imagine doing anything just for fun”: Isaacson/Thomas 1986, 42.

  11 “the idea of service”: Ibid., 55.

  12 “if … Groton boys do not enter political life”: Ward 1985, 194.

  13 his early life: The text paragraphs that follow are based on James 1970 and Manchester 1978.

  14 The … Santa Fe Trail: National Geographic, March 1991, 98–123.

  15 Historians doubt that he “trudged”: James 1970, 52, and Manchester 1978, 54.

  16 “the most promising student”: James 1970, 60.

  17 “believe in yourself”: James 1970, 65.

  18 Asian tour “was without doubt”: Manchester 1978, 79.

  19 his weight could go up to 320: LaFeber 1989, 241.

  20 retired to his Pullman car and cried: Patterson 1972, 46.

  21 Robert Alphonso Taft: The text follows Patterson 1972.

  22 “What does your father do?”: Ibid., 54.

  23 Dulles: The text follows Pruessen 1982.

  24 contributing $60,000: Lisagor/Lipsius 1988, 41.

  25 at $12.50 a week: Ibid.

  26 “the major benefit I got from Princeton”: Pruessen 1982, 10.

  27 George Catlett Marshall, Jr.: The text follows Cray 1990.

  28 “I was an ardent Teddy fan”: Tompkins 1970, 4.

  29 Eisenhower: The text follows Ambrose 1983–84 and Lyon 1974.

  30 “his heritage was ordinary”: Ambrose 1983–84, 1:13.

  31 “I have found out in later years”: Ibid., 19.

  32 Truman: The text follows Miller 1973 and McCullough 1992.

  33 Byrnes: The text follows Byrnes 1958.

  34 Joseph Patrick Kennedy: The text follows Whalen 1964 and Beschloss 1980.

  35 “128 times”: Beschloss 1980, 39.

  36 “How can we make some money?”: Ibid., 40.

  37 “Every Groton fellow I know”: Brownell/Billings 1987, 20.

  38 “I’m going to be a lawyer”: Ibid., 19.

  39 Harriman … was listed: Isaacson/Thomas 1986, 82.

  40 had danced with … MacLeish: Gentile, 24.

  41 Saltonstall … a mentor: Ibid., 29.

  42 “my heart shrivelled”: Croly 1924, 91.

  43 “the biggest game in the East”: Ibid., 199.

  44 “we had a kind of receivership”: Lash 1975, 7.

  45 “Walter Lippmann was brought up”: Steel 1980, 3.

  46 “the image of a great leader”: Ibid., 4.

  47 TR “was the first President”: Ibid., 64.

  48 Lippmann was … the “most brilliant young man”: Ibid., xiii.

  5 Franklin Roosevelt Comes to Town

  1 “How would you like to come to Washington”: Freidel 1952, 155.

  2 Wilson … turned down someone: Ibid.

  3 “Go, Frank, go”: Ward 1989, 200.

  4 TR wrote a … note: Daniels 1954, 66.

  5 “His distinguished cousin TR”: Ward 1989, 200.

  6 “He’s following in Teddy’s footsteps”: Ibid.

  7 “I am truly glad of your appointment”: Freidel 1952, 158.

  8 [Roosevelt] reminded reporters: Ibid.

  9 “I suppose that I … must follow”: Ibid.

  10 “on a summer sea”: James Bryce, quoted in Widenor 1980, 123.

  11 “not … too small”: Roosevelt 1947–50, 2:200.

  12 “somewhat at sea!”: Ibid., 199.

  13 “It is only once in a generation”: Freidel 1952, 168.

  14 Daniels’s opinions: Ward 1989, 205.

  15 “the funniest looking hillbilly”: Daniels 1954, 54.

  16 Lodge … communicated directly: Freidel 1952, 167.

  17 Roosevelt corresponded with Grew: Ibid., 169.

  18 their alcohol ration: Ibid., 159–60.

  19 “to obtain … information”: James 1970, 117.

  20 “MacArthur was not a member of my command”: Ibid., 123.

  21 “might encourage any … staff officer”: Ibid., 125.

  22 “the greatest war”: Ward 1989, 244.

  23 “nobody seemed the least bit excited”: Ibid.

  6 The Outbreak of the Great War

  1 stream that … ran red: West 1941, 297.

  2 as an English historian suggested: Taylor 1964, 67.

  3 “What are you doing?”: West 1941, 349.

  4 “It is nothing”: Taylor 1964, 73.

  5 publication … of … German documents: By Fritz Fischer, John Rohl, and their colleagues.

  6 “the militant war spirit”: House 1926–28, 1:260–1.

  7 as historians now have shown: Notably, Fritz Fischer.

  8 Moltke … committed Germany: Craig 1978, 323.

  9 “launch an immediate attack”: Rohl 1973, 29.

  10 the “military superiority of our enemies”: Ibid., 31–2.

  11 Moltke assured Conrad: Tuchman 1962a, 522 n192.

  12 “some damned foolish thing”: Tuchman 1962a, 91.

  13 Some evidence uncovered relatively recently: Rohl 1973, 125.

  14 “reproach him … with indecision”: Fischer 1967, 55.

  15 “I haven’t chickened out”: Morton 1989, 279.

  16 “eliminates any reason for war”: Fischer 1967, 71.

  17 “How did all this happen?”: Morton 1989, 313.

  18 “The military keep on urging”: Evans/von Strandman 1988, 121.

  19 “neither London, nor Paris”: Ibid., 102.

  20 “a probability of 90 percent”: Ibid., 115.

  21 “Beaming faces”: Ibid., 120.

  22 “the mood is brilliant”: Rohl 1973, 28.

  7 “… I Was Going to Stop the War”

  1 “I was young and … I hated war”: Brownell/Billings 1987, 39.

  2 “raging mad for war”: Sullivan 1926–35, 5:4.

  3 “ ‘War! War!’ ”: Ibid., 5.

  4 in Munich students were chanting: Ibid.

  5 “half the population of the city”: Ibid., 3–4.

  6 “a howling mob”: Ibid., 5.

  7 “a tomahawk … You’ve got to go in!”: Lash 1975, 17.
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  8 “feeling chiefly very sad”: Ward 1989, 244.

  9 “I started in alone”: Ibid.

  10 no “conception of what a general European war means”: Ibid.

  11 “complete smash up”: Ibid., 245.

  12 “we had been thrown off our balance”: Sullivan 1926–35, 5:46.

  13 “prayer and supplication”: Ibid., 44.

  14 “to repair … to their places of worship”: Ibid.

  15 “if this Republic can live in peace”: Ibid., 45.

  16 “The European ideal bears its full fruit”: Cooper 1990, 221.

  17 “Aren’t the nations of Europe … queer”: Patterson 1972, 68.

  18 “we never appreciated so keenly”: Sullivan 1926–35, 5:32.

  19 “out of the trenches by Chrístmas”: Ibid., 169–70.

  20 “10,000 howling men and women”: Brownell/Billings 1987, 42.

  8 America Quarrels with Both Sides

  1 “it is a singular thing”: Spring-Rice 1929, 2:218.

  2 A poll of 400 newspaper editors: Cooper 1990, 230.

  3 the … financial district “has simply broken into chaos”: Churchill 1969, 3:1993.

  4 “THE CREDIT OF ALL EUROPE”: Chernow 1990, 185.

  5 “read a page … ‘Madison and I’ ”: Dos Passos 1962, 114.

  6 Willard Straight … claimed: Chernow 1990, 187.

  7 “Stettinius … the single most important”: Ibid., 188–9.

  8 “working … for the Allies, but also for money”: Samuels 1989, 448.

  9 “industrial depression, idle capital”: Chernow 1990, 198.

  10 Lindbergh … denounced the “money interests”: Ibid., 192.

  11 “four boys and a dog”: Ibid., 184.

  12 owing about $3.7 billion … owed about $3.8 billion: LaFeber 1989, 273.

  13 6 percent in a poll: Cooper 1990, 234.

  14 A journalist … reported that Lippmann: Smith 1985, 467.

  15 Lippmann wrote to The New Republic correspondent: Blum 1985, 28.

  16 Taft … wrote him to say: Heckscher 1991, 364–5.

  17 “You people are not neutral”: Dos Passos 1962, 128.

  18 Lodge … later claimed: Widenor 1980, 212.

  19 Germany’s ambassador wrote in his memoirs: Ibid., 216.

  20 Bryan had told the Austro-Hungarian ambassador: Dos Passos 1962, 127.

  9 America Prepares—But for What?

  1 League officials addressed 120,000: Rappaport 1962, 61.

  2 Daniels … “ship for ship”: Davis 1971, 392.

  3 “trust to the judgment of the real experts”: Ward 1989, 303.

  4 “We have it in mind to be prepared”: Smith 1985, 478.

  5 if TR had been President: Ward 1989, 303.

  6 “preparedness does not cause war”: Tompkins 1970, 18.

  7 the French … would “throw in every last man”: Horne 1963, 36.

  8 “That’s why … discouraged about Wilson”: Steel 1980, 94.

  9 “Who builds a world”: Reed 1919, xiii.

  10 “a clash of traders”: Ibid., xxvi.

  11 England … “grips the Red Sea”: Ibid., xxvii.

  12 “Russian ideals are the most exhilarating”: Ibid., xxviii.

  13 “I do not suppose … any … fairness”: Blum 1985, 38–9.

  14 “I have come around … to Wilson”: Smith 185, 496.

  15 TR accused the West … White replied: Ibid., 497.

  16 House … told the Allied ambassadors … the German chancellor’s promise: Lowe/Dockrill 1972, 2:238.

  17 “God, God, where’s the rest”: Wilson 1986, 323.

  18 the President learned that the Allies … had met secretly: LaFeber 1989, 275.

  19 “Let us build a navy bigger”: Ibid., 276.

  20 House proposal “was not worth five minutes’ thought”: Lowe/Dockrill 1972, 3:560.

  21 Spring-Rice … warned London: Ibid., 558.

  10 Berlin Decides

  1 having loaned … so much: Brownell/Billings 1987, 54.

  2 “We were broad-minded”: Bullitt 1917, 3.

  3 “hated Amerìca”: Ibid., 4.

  4 “Harvard secretaries”: Ibid., 13.

  5 “scarcely any butter”: Ibid.

  6 “given up … starving”: Ibid.

  7 “the high price of caviar”: Ibid.

  8 no other people … had it “in” them: Ibid., 29.

  9 “their confidence”: Ibid., 139.

  10 “Hoover … the greatest American”: Ibid., 128.

  11 “I wish I knew”: Ibid., 30–1.

  12 “I did not have a hand”: Brownell/Billings 1987, 59.

  13 “the most absurd”: Bullitt 1917, 111.

  14 “It would make us the most hated”: Ibid.

  15 “an even chance”: Ibid.

  16 “I can only pray”: Gentile 1992, 45.

  17 “with absolute certainty”: Brownell/Billings 1987, 61.

  18 “at the present moment”: Ibid.

  19 “a struggle whose outcome”: Ibid.

  20 the October 28 … issue of The New Republic: Ibid., 63.

  21 “our Government should therefore be fully prepared”: House 1926–28, 2:387.

  22 “the American executive”: Fromkin 1989, 253.

  23 “my worst fears”: House 1926–28, 2:412–13.

  24 “for peace at almost any price”: Ibid., 413.

  25 the senator had looked “stunned”: Ibid., 424.

  26 “His Majesty doesn’t understand”: Tuchman 1958, 134.

  27 “What’s troubling him now?”: Ibid.

  28 “had vision but lacked nerve”: Hough 1983, 302.

  29 “if the military authorities consider the U-boat war essential”: Tuchman 1958, 136–7.

  30 “I guarantee on my word”: Ibid., 137.

  31 “We can take care of America”: Ibid.

  32 “I order … unrestricted submarine warfare”: Ibid.

  33 “If success beckons, … we must follow”: Ibid., 136–7.

  34 “the quintessence of a prig”: LaFeber 1989, 278.

  35 “fetid, ignominious”: Ibid.

  36 “brave and timely appeal”: Cooper 1990, 259.

  11 America Finds a Foreign Policy

  1 “I know that it is very serious”: Smith 1985, 511.

  2 “I am finished”: Ibid.

  3 “could not get his balance”: Heckscher 1991, 427.

  4 “had begun to go from west to east”: Ibid.

  5 “ ‘white civilization’ and its domination”: LaFeber 1989, 278.

  6 “to keep the white race strong”: Tuchman 1958, 146.

  7 “greater justice would be done”: LaFeber 1989, 278.

  8 “actual overt acts”: Heckscher 1991, 429.

  9 “We are the sincere friends”: Ibid.

  10 “a very timid man”: Ward 1989, 338.

  11 “something to boast of”: Steel 1980, 110.

  12 “The safety of the Atlantic highway”: Ibid., 111.

  13 an “Atlantic community”: Ibid.

  14 “vital highways”: Ibid.

  15 “the administration … expected”: Blum 1985, 61–2.

  16 “the war is not a first page story”: Johnson 1947, 220.

  17 “pitch me into the ash heap”: Miller 1986, 94.

  18 “I buried him today”: Brownell/Billings 1987, 65.

  19 “loathed in advance”: Samuels 1989, 442.

  20 a “protectorate against the will”: Tompkins 1970, 17.

  21 four-fifths of the … regular army: Tuchman 1958, 101.

  22 “I want history to show … clean hands”: Ward 1989, 338.

  23 “the satisfaction of seeing you Secretary”: Ibid., 337.

  24 The Navy League’s leader was ready: Ibid., 339.

  25 “Lodge was a creature”: Adams 1918, 419.

  26 “no doubt … what your advice is”: Heckscher 1991, 437.

  27 “apathy of the Middle West”: Fromkin 1989, 255.

  28 the British ambassador had report
ed to London: Spring-Rice 1929, 2:254.

  29 “it should be … between us and them”: Fromkin 1989, 255.

  30 “did not wish to be disturbed”: Heckscher 1991, 438.

  31 in an antechamber … he paused to prepare: Ferrell 1985, 1.

  12 A Missed Rendezvous

  1 “Wilson was my President”: Tompkins 1970, 19.

  2 “I do like the Kaiser”: Cook 1983, 99.

  3 “I have tried to say a little of what I feel”: Blum 1985, 63–4.

  4 “My failure to enter the army”: Letter from Taft to Herbert Hoover, October 18, 1918. Taft papers, container 19.

  5 “the greatest revival”: Tompkins 1970, 20.

  6 “an idealistic crusade”: Pruessen 1982, 24.

  7 “I see that you’re another one of those goddamn leaders”: Rogow 1963, 67.

  8 “didn’t appreciate … not going into the war”: Whalen 1964, 59.

  9 “Kennedy confessed”: Ibid.

  10 as he wrote to his brother: Letter from A. Harriman to R. Harriman, April 6, 1918. Harriman papers, container 2.

  11 He was able to launch only one: History Card, August 3, 1918. Harriman papers, container 673.

  12 “an awfully bad record”: Letter from Chas. Schwab to Harriman, August 23, 1918. Harriman papers, container 674.

  13 Harriman wrote (but did not send): Letter from Harriman to Schwab, August 29, 1918. Harriman papers, container 674.

  14 “in no other way could I contribute”: Isaacson/Thomas 1986, 85.

  15 “he had long regretted”: Harriman/Abel 1975, 6.

  16 “That tended to square the balance”: Ibid., 7.

  17 Porter was the most shameless: Schwartz 1977, 46 et seq.

  18 As … Churchill later told the story: Moran 1966, 184.

  19 “You must resign”: Ward 1989, 346.

  20 TR “was always urging”: Ibid.

  21 “You didn’t see me”: Lash 1971, 226.

  22 “deserved a good time”: Ibid.

  13 Focusing on the Peace

  1 “unhappy results … appendicitis”: Brownell/Billings 1987, 67.

  2 The State Department … requested that he not be inducted: Bullitt 1972, xi.

  3 “What I want to do”: Steel 1980, 116.

  4 Lippmann’s memorandum: Blum 1985, 69–70.

  5 “Lippmann is not only thoughtful”: Steel 1980, 127.

 

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