viii Introduction 



there is the orderly and the deliberate expression that 

 results from orderly processes of thinking, and there 

 is the assured and confident tone that reveals a stead 

 fast mind seldom tormented by doubts or misgivings. 



Again, it is to be noted that these addresses are 

 patriotic rather than partisan, and that where they 

 deal with matters of controversy they show a spirit 

 as little contentious or polemic as possible. While 

 the President believes in the utility of the party sys 

 tem, he speaks always as President of the whole 

 country and not merely as the chief of a party. His 

 speeches, in short, are the utterances of a man who 

 embodies the national spirit more broadly and fully 

 than almost any other man of his day; and he ex 

 presses himself upon a wide range of topics with a 

 larger fund of experience and direct knowledge than 

 is possessed by any other conspicuous public man 

 of either party. 



It is only through some understanding of the ca 

 reer that led up to his assumption of the Presidency 

 that the richness, the fulness, and the authoritative 

 quality of his observations on many varied themes 

 can be appreciated. Mr. Roosevelt's life has, amid 

 much variety, possessed great unity. While still in 

 college at Harvard, his mind became centred upon 

 the study of American life, American history, and 

 American government and policy. Whatever he 

 undertook after leaving college added steadily to his 

 understanding of the people of his own country and 



