41 Clearing skies Cherrie, Dark Trails, 298; TR, Works, 6.278 and passim.
42 On 27 March Cherrie diary, 27 Mar. 1914 (AMNH); TR, Works, 6.xx, 281–82, 296.
43 Twelve years before Morris, Theodore Rex, 141–49. In September 1908, TR told KR that his shin had never really healed. Kermit Roosevelt, The Long Trail, 37–38.
44 in the summer of 1910 See 610.
45 three black vultures Cherrie diary, 27 Mar. 1914 (AMNH); Cherrie, Dark Trails, 308.
46 There was a KR diary, 28 Mar. 1914 (KRP); Cherrie, Dark Trails, 308; TR, Works, 6.282–83.
47 The Americans overruled Rondon, Lectures, 99–100; KR diary, 28 Mar. 1914 (KRP).
48 Roosevelt kept TR, Works, 6.283. TR gave his spare pair of shoes to KR, whose own fell apart because of constant immersion in the river.
49 Cherrie accompanied Cherrie, Dark Trails, 305–6. According to Cherrie, TR “had been ill intermittently” since about the middle of Mar., when he began to suffer from fever and dysentery. KR’s diary makes no mention of these earlier ailments, but he too began to worry about the condition of TR’s heart. It was characteristic of TR himself to say nothing of his 27 Mar. bruise except that “the resulting inflammation was somewhat bothersome.” (TR, Works, 6.296.) He was equally reticent about his later sufferings.
50 Together at TR, Works, 6.284; Cherrie diary, 29 Mar. 1914 (AMNH). The phrase “arrow of light” is Cherrie’s.
51 When they descended Cherrie diary, 2 Apr. 1914 (AMNH); Cherrie, Dark Trails, 301.
52 As if in TR, Works, 6.283–86; KR diary, 30–31 Mar. 1914 (KRP).
53 By the time Rondon, Lectures, 101; TR, Works, 6.263.
54 The following day’s Rondon, Lectures, 104; TR, Works, 6.287–88.
55 “Worried a lot” KR diary, 2 Apr. 1914 (KRP).
Biographical Note: Archibald Roosevelt, Jr., in conversation with the author in 1988, speculated that TR “probably had—was born with—a bicuspid aortic valve like Cousin Kim’s [Kermit Roosevelt, Jr.], instead of the normal tricuspid. People with that problem often overcompensate for it in early life, but they get a telltale heart murmur—which is probably what TR’s doctor at Harvard heard when he warned him to lead a sedentary life. They also are susceptible to oral bacteria, which can lead to very high fevers and even endocarditis if the bloodstream is infected.” Both ABR, Jr., and KR, Jr., began to suffer from calcium buildup close to the aortic valve at approximately the same age as TR developed heart trouble on the Dúvida. ABR, Jr., interview, Apr. 1988 (AC).
56 The next morning Rondon, Lectures, 104; TR, Works, 6.290.
57 Rondon took some men The following incident is reported by TR in Works, 6.290–93, and Rondon in Lectures, 105–6, as well as Vivieros, Rondon, 416–17. Supplemental details come from Cherrie diary, 3 Apr. 1914 (AMNH).
58 He was a known For an earlier knife-wielding incident involving Julio, see Millard, The River of Doubt, 91–92.
59 “We must go after” Vivieros, Rondon, 416 (trans. author).
60 “Paixão is following” TR, Works, 6.293. TR spelled Paixão phonetically as “Paishon.”
61 The murdered man TR, Works, 6.295–96.
62 Late the following Cherrie’s memoir of the expedition has caused some confusion among later writers as to when this attack took place. He dates it just after Rondon’s 28 Mar. announcement that the canoes were going to have to be abandoned. However, Cherrie’s diary makes no reference to TR becoming ill before the heart problems that afflicted him on 2 Apr. Millard cites an official report by Dr. Cajazeira stating that TR’s fever struck him around 2:30 P.M. on 4 Apr. (The River of Doubt, 295–96). Rondon and KR confirm that the fever mounted that evening, and that TR lapsed overnight into delirium. (Rondon-Naylor interview, The New York Times, 6 Jan. 1929; Rondon, Lectures, 108; KR diary, 4 Apr. 1914 [KRP].) See also TR, Works, 6.296.
63 He had to endure Cherrie diary, 3, 4 Apr. 1914 (AMNH); Rondon, Lectures, 108; TR, Works, 6.296. Cherrie gives TR’s temperature this night as “39.8° (Centigrade).”
64 He became delirious KR diary, 4 Apr. 1914 (KRP); Kermit Roosevelt, Happy Hunting Grounds, 47; Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “Kubla Khan, or a Vision in a Dream” (1797).
65 The doctor laced him Millard, The River of Doubt, 295–96.
66 In terror Kermit Roosevelt, Happy Hunting Grounds, 47. The pathetic fallacy implicit in KR’s reference to the “rushing river” and overnight deluge may owe something to his reading of Edgar Allan Poe’s fable “Silence.”
67 “The expedition cannot” Vivieros, Rondon, 418 (trans. author). See also Cherrie, Dark Trails, 253–54 and Rondon-Naylor interview, The New York Times, 6 Jan. 1929. TR told Charles Washburn in Jan. 1915 that he would have shot himself if he felt completely unable to go on. Wood, Roosevelt As We Knew Him, 261.
68 the sunless gorge The adjective, borrowed from “Kubla Khan,” is TR’s.
69 “Bôa Esperança” Rondon, Lectures, 109.
70 Dr. Cajazeira noted Millard, The River of Doubt, 323; KR diary, 5 Apr. 1914 (KRP).
71 “Am in a” KR diary, 4 Apr. 1914 (KRP).
72 “Tenente!” Rondon, Lectures, 114. Reminiscing in old age to Esther Vivieros, Rondon gave Julio’s cry as “Senhor Coronel!” (“Mr. Colonel!”). His early recall is more likely to be accurate.
73 The sound of Rondon, Lectures, 114; Vivieros, Rondon, 417; see also TR, Works, 6.294–95.
74 After a record Rondon, Lectures, 110–11.
75 “The expedition is” Vivieros, Rondon, 417–18 (trans. author). See also Rondon, Lectures, 114–15. The earlier account is much more discreet.
76 “Shut up!” Vivieros, Rondon, 417. TR’s explosion is quoted in English.
77 “the duty of” Rondon, Lectures, 114. An ailing Kermit, in his diary entry for this day, states that Rondon and Lyra had been “in a blind rage to kill” Julio three days before. If so, Rondon may have imputed some of his own excitement to TR when relating the incident to Vivieros. But all sources agree that after discovering Julio’s dropped rifle, Rondon declined to pursue him.
78 “Let the law” Vivieros, Rondon, 418. See also TR, Works, 6.294–95.
79 Julio did not show Rondon, Lectures, 115.
80 It was pleasant TR, Works, 6.298–99; Vivieros, Rondon, 418. The phrase “gleam like tossing silver” is TR’s.
81 Roosevelt ate little Cherrie diary, 8 Apr. 1914 (AMNH); Cherrie, Dark Trails, 305–6.
82 Rondon doubted Rondon, Lectures, 110, 113; Millard, The River of Doubt, 322; Cherrie diary, 8, 10 Apr. 1914 (AMNH); TR, Works, 6.307. “There were a good many days,” Cherrie remarked afterward, “… when I looked at Colonel Roosevelt and said to myself, he won’t be with us tonight: and I would say the same thing in the evening, he can’t possibly live until morning.” Cherrie in TR, Works, 6.xix.
83 Maple buds TR, Works, 6.301–2, 307.
84 “How I longed” Ibid., 6.300.
85 On 14 April Rondon, Lectures, 118; TR, Works, 6.303.
86 he had a violent Rondon, Lectures, 117; Millard, The River of Doubt, 332–33; KR diary, 14, 15 Apr. 1914 (KRP).
87 an old black fisherman Rondon, Lectures, 119; Cherrie diary, 15 Apr. 1914 (AMNH).
88 “But is he truly” Rondon, Lectures, 119. (Retranslated from the Portugese original, 100.)
89 When Roosevelt Rondon, Lectures, 119.
90 Dr. Cajazeira was Millard, The River of Doubt, 322–23; KR diary, 16 Apr. 1914 (KRP); Kermit Roosevelt, Happy Hunting Grounds, 48; TR, Works, 6.306; Cherrie diary, 21 Apr. 1914 (AMNH).
91 It took another Cherrie diary, 26 Apr. 1914 (AMNH).
92 Early in the Rondon, Lectures, 67–68.
93 The lieutenant had Rondon, Lectures, 167; Cherrie diary, 26 Apr. 1914 (AMNH); TR, Works, 6.318–19. Pirineus was the officer who lost part of his tongue to a piranha, in the anecdote told by TR on 309.
94 It was agreed Despite Rondon’s efforts, the Rio Roosevelt quickly became known as the “Rio Téodoro,” which was easier for Brazilians to pronounce. TR himsel
f preferred the more informal name, and allowed it to be engraved in the map of South America prepared for his book Through the Brazilian Wilderness. See the frontispiece to TR, Works, 6. The river’s official name remains Rio Roosevelt.
95 The dedicatee seemed less moved KR diary, 26 Apr. 1914 (KRP).
96 When the American Vivieros, Rondon, 421; Cherrie diary, 28 Apr. 1914 (AMNH). He added, “Col. Roosevelt does not improve nor gain strength as rapidly as we had hoped.”
97 Roosevelt’s estimate TR, Works, 6.320; TR to Anthony Fiala, 8 July 1915 (AMNH).
98 “some small achievement of worth” See 346.
99 At 2:30 P.M. Cherrie diary, 29, 21 Apr. 1914 (AMNH); KR diary, 28 Apr. 1914 (KRP). According to Rondon, TR was in such pain during this voyage that he spent most of it lying facedown—“not a position in which he could write his notes.” Vivieros, Rondon, 421.
100 Each man to his TR, Works, 6.308.
101 Roosevelt did not Vivieros, Rondon, 421–22; KR diary, 29 (actually, 30) Apr. 1914 (KRP).
102 “Father about” KR diary, 30 Apr. 1914 (KRP).
103 Arrangements were made Ibid., 1, 5 May 1914 (KRP); The New York Times, 6 May 1914.
104 Before leaving Cherrie diary, 1 May 1914 (AMNH); The New York Times, 19 May 1914.
105 Dear Arthur TR, Letters, 7.761.
106 two abscesses TR tended to belittle his ailments. KR speaks of “a veritable plague of deep abscesses,” and Rondon describes them as “numerous.” He was also suffering from malnutrition, and the lingering aftereffects of malaria.
107 We have put on the map TR, Letters, 7.761. See ibid., 7.759–60, for TR’s telegram from Manáos to Lauro Müller, tersely summarizing the trials and triumphs of the Expediçào Scíentifica Roosevelt-Rondon. KR did not accompany his father back to New York, but remained in Belém preparatory to departure for Madrid.
108 He was profoundly Rondon appears to have chartered, or commandeered, the Cidade de Manáos to get him to Belém ahead of TR. Cherrie diary, 2–3 May 1914 (AMNH).
109 “I hope and pray” Vivieros, Rondon, 422 (trans. author).
CHAPTER 17: A WRONG TURN OFF APPEL QUAY
1 Epigraph Robinson, Collected Poems, 231.
2 The first published Middletown (N.Y.) Times-Press, 20 May 1914; The New York Times, 20–21 May 1914. The Times printed side-by-side photographs to show how dramatically TR had aged since leaving the United States six months before.
3 He claimed that The New York Times and The Washington Post, 20 May 1914. George Cherrie reported TR’s fever attack.
4 The President had WW to TR, 23 May 1914 (WWP); TR to WW, 23 May 1914 (TRC).
5 At three o’clock The Washington Post, 27 May 1914.
6 Wilson had been Morris, Theodore Rex, 18.
7 Roosevelt had always “Woodrow Wilson is a perfect trump.” TR, Letters, 3.275.
8 “What is” D. H. Elletson, Roosevelt and Wilson: A Comparative Study (London, 1965), 61; Link, Papers of Woodrow Wilson, 12.262.
9 When Wilson became Link, Papers of Woodrow Wilson, 12.454; Heckscher, Woodrow Wilson, 76–77; “Dr. Woodrow Wilson Defines Material Issues,” The New York Times, 24 Nov. 1907.
10 Roosevelt’s reciprocal TR, Letters, 8.836; Sullivan, Our Times, 4.137. “No American ever knew where he was during the many months I have been on this coast,” Sir Christopher Cradock, the local British naval commander, wrote Cecil Spring Rice from Vera Cruz on 30 May 1914. “They stand fools to the world” (CSR).
11 “morality and not expediency” WW at Mobile, Ala., on 27 Oct. 1913, quoted in The New York Times, 28 Oct. 1913. See also Cooper, Woodrow Wilson, 140–41.
12 So he had lifted Cooper, Woodrow Wilson, 242.
13 Wilson had gone before The New York Times, 21 Apr. 1914.
14 Chronic wrongdoing Fourth Annual Message (Dec. 1904), TR, Works, 17.295, 299.
15 In a development Thomas A. Bailey, A Diplomatic History of the American People, 8th ed. (New York, 1969), 558–59.
16 Roosevelt had thrilled According to Rondon, the ailing TR had been avid to get home in case of war, exclaiming, “Oh, Mexico! Oh, Mexico!” Rondon-Naylor interview, The New York Times, 6 Jan. 1929.
17 For a while Henry J. Forman oral history, “So Brief a Time” (1959–1960), conducted by Doyce B. Nunis, Young Research Library, UCLA, 228. In 1914, Forman was a reporter for the New York Sun, covering the White House. See also Cooper, Woodrow Wilson, 243–45.
18 “I never went” Speech at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, 11 May 1914, The New York Times, 12 May 1914.
19 Booth Tarkington’s Penrod Tarkington had once been a student of WW’s at Princeton. Penrod was a bestseller in 1914, and gave rise to many sequels and cinema adaptations. TR was seen absorbed in it, one foot tucked under him, on his train journey south, while hovering Progressives competed for his attention. (The New York Times, 27 May 1914.) There is also an amusing photograph in TRC of him reading the book with an intensity that threatens to scorch the pages.
20 the Colonel’s latest Life-Histories of African Game Animals (New York, 1914), is not included in any of the editions of TR’s collected works. Advertised as the first categorical survey of the large fauna of any continent outside the United States, it was praised for its readability in The New York Times Book Review, 24 May 1914. “Latin binomials do not clutter the book with italics.… The treatment [of zoological data] is especially direct and lucid, and the vast amount of information which he [TR] has gathered at first hand [is] of inestimable service to our all too small fund of knowledge of animal psychology.” The book received scientific sanction in a major review by C. Hart Merriam in American Museum Journal, 16.3 (Mar. 1916). It proved to be a disappointment to Scribners, slowly selling only 2,000 copies. Publisher’s memo to William H. Bell, 1933 (SCR).
21 When Roosevelt rose The Washington Post and The New York Times, 27 May
22 “He is a great” Joseph P. Tumulty, Woodrow Wilson As I Know Him (New York, 1921), 287–88.
Historiographical Note: This first meeting of TR and WW in the White House has escaped the attention of historians. Consequently, the President’s famous remark, quoted by Tumulty, has always been ascribed to TR’s second call upon him, in the spring of 1917. Tumulty was present at both meetings, but when writing his memoir in 1921, remembered only the later, which he called the “one and only.” He said, further, that it took place entirely in the Red Room. The author believes that Tumulty simply forgot about the first, and conflated his memories. The secretary was wrong, e.g., in stating that in 1917, TR and WW “had not met since they were political opponents in 1912.” That could only be true of their encounter in the spring of 1914. Tumulty was far more likely to have asked the President then what he thought of his visitor, and WW more inclined to have found TR irresistible then than three years later, when their relations were strained. It is a matter of record that TR, on the earlier occasion, was in a boyish mood (vide the hat-bopping incident, and the copy of Penrod in his pocket). Tumulty was, however, correct in recalling that the substance of the 1917 visit was TR’s desire to command a division of volunteer troops in World War I. See 486–87.
23 It was still hot The Washington Post and Middletown (N.Y.) Times-Press, 27 May 1914; The New York Times, 7 May 1914. See also Millard, The River of Doubt, 337–39.
24 Veteran observers Trenton (N.J.) Evening Times, 27 May 1914.
25 “I’m almost regretful” A stenographic transcript of TR’s address was printed in The Washington Post and other major newspapers on 27 May 1914.
26 Again and again The Washington Post, 27 May 1914.
27 a pium-like swarm Gus Karger of the Cincinnati Times-Star attended TR’s meeting with the Progressives and got the feeling that “in cold blood … he was contemplating the best method of ‘dumping them’ if their canine loyalty should become uncomfortable to himself.” Quoted in O’Toole, When Trumpets Call, 258.
28 Edith Roosevelt, who Sylvia Morris, Edith Kermit Roosevelt, 403: “The reason for her not going is obscure.
Analysis of the evidence available, from thyroid pills and frequent depressions, indicates that [EKR] was undergoing menopause.” Another factor may have been the fact that Belle was the daughter of a prominent Democrat, EKR being politically much more partisan than her husband. Belle, in addition, like countless brides before and since, had to compete with a mother’s passion for a favorite son.
29 Their initial meetings For an awkward hour the previous day, TR and Alfonso had breakfasted back-to-back on the same train from Paris to Madrid. There had been no qualified intermediary to reintroduce them, so they pretended to be unaware of each other. The New York Times, 9 June 1914.
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