19123 Roos-evelt as Politician 



"Seizure of the Canal Zone," without consideration 

 of International Law, and the theatrical world cruise 

 of the American navy. The latter was far from 

 harmless, the Japanese interpreting it as a half- 

 veiled threat; 1 the former implanted more deeply 

 the seeds of suspicion in Latin America. 



It is true that Roosevelt was often called an adroit 

 politician. Perhaps he came near believing himself to 

 be such. Certainly he touched with sure finger the 

 pulse of the people, yet not through special skill or 

 subtlety, rather by a frank, buoyant temperament 

 easily understood. When, after his return from Europe, sitter 

 he "cast his hat into the ring" of New York politics, de f eat 

 assured that he would "beat to a frazzle" his oppo- 

 nents, his adversaries joined to "give him a lesson." 

 This they did effectively. Calling on him at the Out- 

 look office soon after the election, I found him cast 

 down and angrily bitter. He had apparently no 

 stomach for a losing fight in which immediate certain 

 defeat should mean ultimate victory for the cause, 

 whatever the fate of its original upholders. 2 



Under the auspices of the World Peace Foundation A eugenic 

 I devoted the summer of 1912 to a study of the bio- suney 

 logical effects of the Civil War in our Southern states. 



1 "Nor was our confidence in American love of peace and justice in any way 

 strengthened by the sight of the American Armada in the Bay of Tokyo fifteen 

 years ago; for we suspected then and we now know that the spectacular cruise 

 of that colossal fleet was undertaken with a view to producing a certain kind 

 of impression upon the upstart nation of Japan." MOTOSADA ZUMOTO, 1921 



2 Says Mr. Dooley: "We build our triumphal arches of loose bricks in order 

 that we may have something to throw at the hero after he passes through." 

 See also Vol. I, Chapter xm, pages 305-312, and Vol. II, Chapter xxix, page 

 126. 



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