Makes getting home sometimes an interesting challenge all the we just a word about the college we actually occupy a building that was built the cornerstone was laid in 1903 by president roosevelt. It was the home of the Army War College until World War Two started. And after the war, the Army War College moved up to carlisle, pennsylvania, and president truman and worked hard get the National War College established as a joint college. Its been a partnership primarily between the military and the state department for the last 75 years and we educate senior Lieutenant Colonels and colonels and equivalent in the state Department Intelligence community and other federal agencies in National Security strategy. So i get to come to work in that building day and we have a number of memorable here throughout history. It is like working in a museum. And Theodore Roosevelts been a big of it. So for a number of years now, ive taught an elective on theodore as a strategic leader, and its a very popular course with our students. They enjoy it a great deal and im drawn from that. Some of the kinds things that we talk about as examples of how Theodore Roosevelt was a leader in ways that dont always make it to the popular canon, which is the theory of the talks this morning. Now, before i actually dive into that, im required to do something here. The remarks im about give and the answers i may say response to any questions are from my personal position and do not represent the official positions of the department of defense. National defense or the National War College. Thank you very much. I retired as a navy judge advocate. So, so, so the rules that are things that i need to do, the other thing is because this is a talk i provide citations the way that we do. If its a published paper, have drawn from a large number. I mean, there is just so much a story about theyre out there about roosevelt that it would be impossible for me to provide a proper citation for for so much of this because you get nibbles from different places but i love to talk about and the history and so you know both the q a and afterwards im happy to talk with anybody who wants to. So what do we know about in the military . We know the first book begun while he undergraduate at Harvard University and published just a couple of years after the naval war of 1812. And that book was a highly technical and, very accurate recounting, not just of the battles themselves, but how the navy was structured and operated during that period of time that would go on to be required reading at the Naval Academy well into the century and. Is today on the shelf of any selfrespecting naval historian. We know that tr served as assistant secretary of the navy for president mckinley and that he resigned position to take a commission as lieutenant. Second in command of the first volunteer cavalry regiment known as the roughriders. In that role, he was involved in the spanishamerican war in cuba and leading the attack on kettle hill, part of the san juan heights. After the war, he was to the Governors Office in, new york, and then to the Vice President and c ascending to the presidency c when, as we all know, president mckinley was assassinated as president. Tr the development of the navy supported reforms. The army that had begun under mckinley and were executed by l who wrote then secretary of war and launched the world cruise of the great white fleet as a demonstrate one of the navys capabilities. Now, thats an appallingly short summary, so ill touch on a couple of a couple of issues, a couple of events that let me about some recurring themes. And those themes are duty, curiosity and, a sense of the theatric, three themes that were very much a part of who tr was throughout his life and how he approached not just these issues, but many of the issues that we talked about and much of weve will learn elsewhere now the. Sense of duty started with teachers. Father Theodore Roosevelt, senior was known not only throughout new york but throughout the country as great philanthropist and a man who took seriously the obligations that those who had privilege in their lives owed to the rest the community. Duties though, come in conflict. And this was the case in his early life. Theodore roosevelt was born, as you know, in 1858. And just three years later, america was embroiled in the civil war. Many of the of both north and south fought in that war. And the roosevelt family was caught in the middle because Theodore Roosevelts mother, martha, both bulloch, was a Southern Belle from a prominent georgian family and an unruly reconstructed southerner. Theodore senior, as a result, to keep peace within the family, bought out his commission, paid a sum of money so that other somebody would go to fight and he would not be called. That saved the peace within the family, but not within theodore. Seniors his own self. His sense duty required him to sacrifice in some way, do something to help the war effort. Now, because of his philanthropic work with the poor and others. Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt senior knew that soldiers were paid in cash. They were paid in cash at their Training Base. Their families were not at the Training Base for some reason very little money would make it from the soldiers at that base to the families. Now theodore senior had gotten to know president lincoln and convinced president lincoln to allow him and two others to be appointed commissioners of allotment. And Theodore Roosevelt senior traveled to the army posts and would get soldiers to sign up allotments where the War Department would send the money would send a portion the money to the family, leaving a smaller amount for them to spend on the things that spend money on. But the bulk it to go home to the family. New york times these what three men can do a lesson of war laying out in a number of articles the good that was being done to provide meant what otherwise could be a real hardship for the families supporting soldiers of the union. And in the first 18 months of this effort, more. 2 million in 18 61 was provided to the families through this allotment process. This was an extremely popular program, but it was not only connection that young Theodore Roosevelt would have with the military in the civil. As i said, his wife his his mother was a southerner, had two brothers, james and ervin, who were both in the confederate navy. James bullock was the confederacys chief agent to the United Kingdom and was stationed in london arranging for the construction of vessels for the confederate navy, including the uss alabama, which was a coastal raider, commerce raider. This plied the european coast looking for vessels either taking union goods to the european markets or money and other material back and would attack those and that vessel managed to do that very successfully for a while until june of 1864, when it met the uss kearsarge off the coast of france was engaged and sunk on on board the alabama was bulloch a very young officer at that time and he took credit for firing the last round out of the alabamas guns before the kearsarge now because of their involvement as officers and their refusal to to really apologize their work. Neither of those officers was granted amnesty as many other confederate soldiers were. So they remained in england. Nevertheless. Tr would learn of them through his mother. He would read. She would letters to them. And when they traveled to europe a little bit later in his life, he got to his uncles and talked with them and they would recount their sea battles. And if you can imagine what any young man thinks hearing about the battles sea made it to entering impression on tr when tr was at harvard, writing the book the naval war of 1812, and afterwards he would call upon his uncles to give advice and information on the construction on tactics on a whole lot of details that he would weave this story. And so not just the fascination of the stories would connect. Tr to the navy and the rest of the military, but also their assistance in a book that that gained fame as an historian long before he would become known as a politician. Now later, when he was in the secretary of the navy position, assistant secretary of the navy, we see another example where tears voracious reading and interest in what we now call in intrusive or disruptive technology. Tr would become with opportunities of new technology for military use. So the letter here that you see is one that he wrote in 1898, march of 1898 to the secretary of the navy regarding the potential use of aircraft Samuel Langley had been doing experiments and had built a number of Unmanned Aircraft called aerodromes at the time that had successfully flown as and in 1996 had started to work on trying to do manned aircraft use. Now nobody had this yet there were some bicycle repairmen who were working on the process as well in ohio. But at this point Samuel Langleys work was the best known. And so tr would write it seems to me worthwhile for this government to try whether or not. It would work on large enough scale to be of use in the event of war. Many years later, the Aircraft Carrier of the us navy would be the uss langley. But in the War Department had similar thoughts and had had explored it as well. But very shortly after this series of correspondence and langleys efforts, both services the army and the navy, became occupied with the spanishamerican war, and it dropped off the front piles of anybodys attention langleys efforts would continue, although as you see in the top picture theyre not always with success in this case, theyre trying to launch it off a ship, and it does an immediate nosedive in into the water. And manned flight was finally accomplished by the Wright Brothers and not by sam langley in 1910, after hed left white house to air, observed the flight of a Wright Brothers aircraft at the Missouri State republican convention. He the aircraft he talked with great with Archie Huxley who was the pilot who was there and in an offhand manner, huxley said, well mr. President , would you like to come up for a ride and Theodore Roosevelt said, of course i would. And so there we see a picture of president roosevelt sitting next to mr. Huxley in the first time that anybody who had occupied the office of the presidency in an aircraft. Now the possibility aircraft might change warfare was not the only innovation that tr advocate did in april of 1898, only a month after writing the letter about aircraft to secretary long tr wrote, recommending that the navy purchase the holland submarine boat. This was the first submarine, the holland to be the first submarine. It was still very much in development, had had a number of problems but his advocacy for a military capable that he would have real benefit to the navy and as we know from both world war one and World War Two, the submarine very much transformed naval. It would take until 1900 before the holland was accepted the us fleet as a single prototype. And yet another year before for the outer class of would begin to be built. In 1901. One of these the uss plunger would be brought to Long Island Sound. And. It was going to it was brought to Long Island Sound to provide a demonstration to now president roosevelt. The official plan was for the president to conduct an external inspection of the boat and some drawings that were provided to him and then observe from the relative of the deck of the tugboat apache, which was serving as the submarine tender as the vessel would submerge tootle around the surface vessels and then come up well to the consternation and against the urging of his handlers and probably also to the dismay of his wife, who was there. Tr insisted on climbing the plunger to see how things were going and the hatch closed and then the submarine went off and submerged i from the crew afterwards indicate that once submerged the president was given a tour of the entire which is not that big, if you look at it i was fascinated walt, with all aspects of the Engineering Plant and the torpedo systems. He viewed the other ships in the shoreline from the periscope and even for a brief period took the conn as steering the vessel vessel. As one sailor said, until he was clearly thoroughly acquainted. All the signals and levers at one point, all the internal lights in the submarine were extinguished and the president observed the crew operate the vessel in almost complete darkness. Roosevelt later claimed hed never seen anything so remarkable now we know that he wasnt to do this ahead of time. You can imagine when the crews accounts of had gone on inside, came out, it was almost as much trouble for the Public Relations folks to handle afterwards. Much had been made when the event was announced that actually going into the submarine would be two dangers for the president of the United States to do and congress and the press had both been assured that nothing like this was going to happen. They didnt know if the theodore very well in spite now in, spite of the fact that all was well and reaction from the crew was a extremely positive. The president came under a great deal of fire for having risked his and the security the nation in such a full hearted way. But thats not the end of the story because submariners today owe a debt to Theodore Roosevelt. If you look at that vessel, its small, only about six or eight men in the crew. It was designed to operate very close in to shore. There were no bunks. And so the crews of the submarine lived ashore in post housing. And because of that assignment to a submarine was not sea duty. And so they didnt get sea pay the way their brethren, the Surface Fleet did. Well, the first thing the Theodore Roosevelt did after this was to issue a two part order. First, that all submariners would be entitled to pay while assigned. This would be sea duty. Secondly because actually taking a under the water in. Which as we know from recent isnt always the way that they get underwater. Was so much more hazardous that he directed that they get some of extra pay taking on that risk that pay continues as extra pay. Submarine for those assigned to submarines. Now part of Theodore Roosevelts curiosity would come from his would be manifested in his desire for personal experience as this case is an example this was not the only area where his personal experience would be used to support and even expand the sort of get for hitting not there yet. He worked a great deal of time as assistant secretary of the navy to get the navy ready for what he believed was an inevitable war with, spain. And although he sometimes gets credit for instigating the war, there was a significant proportion of. The National Leadership and in both parties who felt that war with spain was inevitable in large part because of the accounts of spanish atrocities coming from cuba. And the concern that many had over. And as and as we talked about the increasing propensity, the european colonial powers to get a foothold in the western hemisphere. And there was a lot of folks not only see it tr who felt that wrong. And so he felt that war was inevitable. He spent a great deal of time to get the navy ready. But then as soldier on the ground in cuba found out that that had not been the case with the army. And if you look at the chapter about his time, the roughriders in his autobiography he refers to the spanishamerican war as the war of the unready unready. He recounts the lack of logistic, the inability of the army to equip its soldiers with proper uniforms, rifles, ammunition and food, the uniforms be provided were the typical blue uniform Army Uniforms that wed seen made of wool oak for fighting in pennsylvania perhaps or elsewhere. Not in cuba cuba, there were some uniforms available, but the authorization and dispersing regulations called for them to be dispersed to the soldiers many months in advance of any summer expectation that date had passed. Therefore, the quartermaster corps said, no, no, no, if you wanted those, you needed to ask for them three months ago. You cant them now and, as leonard wood would recount, one of these individuals would say, i cant believe how this is fouling up my system. But nevertheless roosevelt and roosevelt and wood were able to work as a team to get not just uniforms, but the right rifles and ammunitions, the ammunition that was going to be provided was not that of a smokeless kind, but cartridges that when you fired would emit this large cloud of smoke. Not that different than what we see at civil war. Revolutionary war demonstrate actions and that cloud of smoke was very handy for the opposition cannons and riflemen to use. So tr and wood would use various contacts and Political Savvy to get the roughriders equipment that few of the other units regular volunteer or militia would able to get. Food was also an issue for the army. The canning meat was at the time a very imperfect science. Its a very imperfect science any place but military contracting system didnt handle this all that well, there was corruption there as weve always unfortunately seen in some military and the food was often preserved with. Which gave you know the nickname embalm beef. Well put that on the vessels and let them sit in harbor of tampa for a few weeks before you get off, because of the other logistics problems and much of the food was completely inedible and it was very difficult for roosevelt and the other commanders to find decent for the men because nothing that had been by the meat packing folks turned out to be of any value to the soldiers as well. Fast forward a few years and Sinclair Lewis publishes his book, the jungle, which takes on the meatpacking industry. And in one of tr letters of the time, he goes to Great Lengths to compare Sinclair Lewis for his invest negative journalism. There recounts that he had the poor quality of that meat while in with his men and a result threw his whole support behind lind, the 1906 pure food and drug act and, Meat Inspection acts tr. Would see in this case that his personal experience and his sense of duty extended not to his men, but this is a case where the military experience translated to a duty to the nation as a whole. Now another observation that tr took away from the war, his time as assistant secretary was the effect that the Promotion System in place at the time was less than optimal. Promotion was through seniority and your officers would be promoted only when those more senior died or resigned. The retirement system was nearly what it is today and so many Senior Officers elected to stay on active duty until they passed. Few resigned this. This resulted in two deficiencies men forced to remain at junior, sometimes for decades, and the more and many of the more talented leaving the service and this is a problem weve had all throughout our history that the best sometimes seemed to leave. Why because theyre lured away by better conditions. But in this case, it was luring away many who could developed into outstanding officers and those who were still around would be elderly, not in the kind of shape you would from combat commanders. I we saw a picture of of one example earlier. We pictures of general shafter and general wheeler indicated that really none of those fit the kind of image of a combat commander. No. Jim mattis in that in those physiques. So as present in tr undertook an effort to correct not just because of his observations on the effect on the surfaces of the officer corps, but also because his selfimage and the sense of duty that come with being an officer in the military is reflected in his image of what these men should be now vigorous and less athletic his athleticism had been a part of his persona for of his life. How could the men who lead in his military be any different . So tr instituted fitness tests, not just fitness in terms of ability to command, but also fitness in terms of physical fitness and being a cavalryman himself that instituted writing competition in a timed course, these officers would have to ride five miles within time, or they would be relieved from service. And he thought this would be a good standard. Well, were not sure whether its he did set the standards too low out of sheer ordinariness of officers. But when the officers to the washington barracks and the War Department did their ride they all passed and the New York Times wrote it to et, walked trot and galloped over washington roads all made a strong finish only casualties. Two pairs of split writing breaches, lots of fun being made at tr expense as to the the the just the silliness of this test and folks thought okay hes learned his lesson hell back off. No what he did instead was increase it from single ride to a three day ride covering not less than 90 miles. And at this the response an outcry from the senior officer corps. This is absurd. Its too far. We cant reasonably expect officers to ride 30 miles a for three consecutive days tr took that bet and he some of his closest friends and they went to do this trek but did it in a single day now they were worn out when they got back and weather had not been exactly kind but tr had made his point and the Senior Officers to deal with it. Now the Junior Officers thought this was a wonderful idea because they really did see this as a way to get these men out and off and open up again. Some of these captains had been in the military for 15 or 20 years already and didnt see the options. So they were really hoping that this would start to go now, not all officers in the army and certainly not the navy have to ride horses. So. Tr his response that was 50 mile what the army calls ruck march a 50 mile walk with pack a three day period of time. This too got some complaints, but they adapted it and i dont have any. I wasnt able to really find out long. These tests remained, but i can attest the influence that theyve had on our officer corps because our daughter is a senior enlisted in the army. And about a year ago i get an email from her that, says her Company Commander had just read the morris biographies and they come up with it was saying that there was something that tr that a 50 mile ruck march was a good idea and surely had gotten it wrong. Well sorry dear no your ceos got it right and so in fact did a three day, 50 mile ruck march. But they all they all passed it. Now, all of these kind of events are covered by the press, both positive and negative. And one of the things that tr was very good at doing was even turning negative to his advantage. Okay, you poked fun at me. Thats great. Ill either see your mirth and raise you one or maybe ill rethink what im doing. But the point was he an understanding of the press that was far beyond his time, and he would use that in ways connect what he wanted to do with the military, not necessarily for military aims. In terms of the military, but in accomplishing other. Now, i had talked earlier his willingness to explore to his voracious appetite for and among the books that he is recounted to have read in the mid 1890 fives book that came in 1895 called the crowd are a study of the popular mind by gustav le bon, a french sociology est. There was a lot work. The social sciences were a new field and so there was a lot of interest. What these went this book focused on how affect popular opinion not just in small groups but in large groups and shape the broader popular opinion. Professor Laurie Lynn Bogle from the Naval Academy writes about this and how roosevelt saw in this affirmation of things he believed to be true and, had seen on a small scale. So three events in his presidency would illustrate as all of these had some level of diplomatic and military applications, but also supported with tr as well as other president s before and since have found a very difficult task Getting Congress to appropriate the sufficient funds for shipbuilding, which is never. In 1905 tr sent secretary of war william taft on a diplomatic tour to hawaii, japan, korea, the philippines and hong kong to lay the groundwork for some diplomatic agreements that would guarantee the u. S. Navys access to the western pacific region. Taft would have to do the detailed diplomatic work and given the sensitivity of this work, especially with with russia and the other colonial powers, often needed to be done outside of the open view. Tr could not go on because leaving the country even just to go down to panama had had raised a bit of a ruckus. But he had at his advantage somebody who also had tr skill at holding the publics attention, sometimes to tears, dismay, but almost always to his admiration daughter alice, always in the limelight, sometimes in a manner that would lead tr to say, i can be of the United States or, i can control alice, but you cant me to do both at the same time. Alice had her mothers and her fathers intellect and Political Savvy, and she understood the role assigned to her often referred at the press as princess alice. She undertook a very popular pr campaign at every stop, garnering the attention of the press and the locals and some of the photographs that you see here resulting in these photographs hitting the american press, laying the groundwork for the administrations emphasis on the diplomatic work that taft had done, the role of the navy as a diplomatic tool and helped to keep pressure up for continuing funding of the the next year. Another opportunity presented itself, americas first naval hero John Paul Jones had emigrated to europe after the america its independence and he served as an admiral in the russian navy under catherine the second he would leave the russian navy after a few years, moved to poland briefly and then to france. He served as consul to algiers and died in paris. 1792 at the end of at the time of his death, he had been mummified and placed in a lead lined casket buried in a churchyard but that churchs property had been sold and nobody knew where the casket had ended up. In 1905, a team organized by the u. S. Ambassador to france discovered where the coffin was. It was exhumed and. Two forensic doctors declared that fact. They were confident that it was John Paul Jones, an arrangements were made to return jones to the United States with tr support. The American Embassy in france began the preparations for the return. The casket was given a heros parade through paris and sent on his voyage to america and arrangements were then to insure the body on the grounds of. The Naval Academy in with the hope that the crypt would become significant site of respect and admiration and not simply for jones as, a leader, but for the navy that tr and others felt continued. Joness joness joness legacy of patriotic heroism. Professor articles on this provide great analysis of teachers use of the social science, literature of the time to orchestrate a masterpiece of pageantry from the time the remains began their journey in france to the final reinterprets ceremony. Annapolis parades at every opportunity speech is about how John Paul Jones demonstrated that a strong navy was necessary a free nation and roosevelt in the following year undertake another mission that provided a demonstration of the navys capabilities for not defense, but also diplomacy around the world and here at home. In 1907, the leaders of norfolk, virginia opened something theyve been preparing for a long to celebrate the tricentennial the establishment of the colony at jamestown the jamestown exhibition required massive construction skills point with buildings representing each state. Piers and festival ground. Part of the commemoration was to be a naval review, and of course the president would be an honored visitor and speaker at the event. Tr went a step further, assembling what is now to as the great white fleet an impressive collection of the newest, largest and most powerful vessels the navy had to offer. Tr announced that this fleet would embark from Hampton Roads on a trip around the world to demonstrate the navys ability to be not simply a defensive force, but one that was capable of projecting american power. Wherever american interests required it, that congress had not appropriated funds for such a venture, and many in congress refused to do so at the in or in time for the vessels to depart. Roosevelt was not dissuaded. He had enough money in the navys budget to send the fleet halfway around the world, he said. And if congress wanted the fleet to come home, they would have to find the money to do. Although jamestown exhibit was a financial failure for norfolk, virginia, the 14 month voyage of the great white fleet was a popular and diplomatic triumph. 15 nations were visited by the primary. The Large Capital vessels of the fleet as it sailed around south america, across the pacific to asia india, through the suez canal, to the mediterranean, before returning to Hampton Roads in february of 1909. Some of the smaller vessels would make calls in ports of nations not generally any attention by the great powers. And this was it. This, too, was a significant diplomatic coup for the roosevelt administration. The voyage also provided what roosevelt had hoped was the operational experience valued in logistic planning to make the voyage itself and an Observer Missions collected all the way along the way that would later enhance ship design, cold economy and quite frankly, the value to both morale, the Ships Company and the diplomacy of port calls these observations all proved to be of great value. Less than a decade later, america would find herself embroiled in the great war in europe. Now these are only a sample. The ways that tr would use the military to advance his interests. He would always find ways to use the for Public Relations and diplomatic purposes. And it was in this latter role as a credit able force behind the diplomatic, often the quiet diplomacy that tweeted mentioned in that was most proud of it is often a misquote in his reference to use of the big stick because it fails to note he would start that off with the to speak softly and carry the big stick and that was it his use of the military was always as the threat implied behind the diplomatic effort and his tweet said he was he was effective in his deterrence that he never actually had to do this. Mckinley, roosevelt and others harkened back to george. Forgotten maxim that to be prepared for war is the most effectual means to preserve peace. Tr committed to that principle and he saw preparation for war as a duty, not just for himself, as an individual, as a leader, but for all countrymen, a sense of duty to the greater good, as we know, been inherited from fathers example, an emphasis that those who enjoyed the privilege of their lives had a great duty to the nation and their fellow men and women then is now it was not uncommon for children to follow in the examples of their parents many of us who are veterans have children who serve in case that got that order. It was his four sons, all four of his sons who would answer the call of duty. Quentin, the youngest, would pay the ultimate price, but no one returns from war unscathed unscathed. This duty also came in effort that tr would do partnership with leonard wood before america had entered, but after war had begun, preparation was necessary and so leonard wood and Theodore Roosevelt opened a camp up in plattsburgh, new york, where men could come and engage in a period of physical fitness and, other training. So that should the need arise they would be prepared. That camp spread a Preparedness Movement that actually existed well into the 1920s. The effort, perhaps not the success they provisioned, capped the reforms that under elihu roots leadership and provided a core of officers for world war one. These are just some of the examples that show roosevelts interaction with the military and that these fanned a great deal more than the popularly recounted ones such as his service, the roughriders, and the launching the great white fleet. Tr would use his own sense of duty and his experiences and the power of the press to achieve an attitude and level of diplomatic success technically innovation, and ultimately military preparedness that continues to shape u. S. National security. Today, it is examples like these that we bring that i bring Theodore Roosevelts professional life to help provide examples for the students of the National War College in hopes that they find them useful as they prepare for their assignments as strategic leaders. And i hope that you it useful and maybe even a little entertaining. Thank you very much you you. Just kept the schedule. Good for you. We have time for some questions sir. Hes coming with the microphone. Im curious your thinking this may be a little bit more political to the military, but and its a two part question. One, Theodore Roosevelt early on in his presence when was elected president , realized he going to accept a second term. What kind of counseling did he have in that decision for himself and how did that thinking go into his preparation for the military, recognizing he wasnt going to be there in 1912 . And do you think the world might have been a little bit different had he been president until 12 in terms of potentially world war one . So. Tr felt very. That the two president s he needed to model his professional life after his especially once he achieved the white house was George Washington and Abraham Lincoln and washington wins refusal to accept a third term was the norm. It was expected it wasnt written in law any place. And it wasnt after another roosevelts that that began. Take a look at writing Something Like that into, an amendment. But it was very much the norm expected. Norm, i and so right. He was elected on his own right. In 1904, he indicated that he would follow washingtons rule and not seek a third term. Everything read indicates that that was a spontaneous decision he made on his own. His wife, edith, is is reported to have said at that moment you have gasped when he said it and commented that he would live to regret that. And theres some indication that in 1908 he did regret it, but he would go back against he had made that pledge he wouldnt go back against it. He would then go off and was not happy the way that taft ran white house afterwards while he was overseas during his africa tour and the european tour, Africa Safari in the african tour, he would receive no small amount of correspondence from folks who that tafts administration was undermining a lot of the work was not as effective if not undermining the work relations with clifford pinchot was the force of the United States as head of the forest service, quite frankly, even archie butz, who had succeeded to be military aide to president taft, was really more on tr side in this argument. So tr was lobbied for the entire Taft Administration that you had to come back and you had to. The problem we face in 1908 was the same that he always did. It was. The republican establishment against his. And so he didnt run. In 1908, he decided to he didnt run for a third term. In 1908. He decided to run in 1912. Unfortunately, we saw there the effect that a third party has in our system he i think its still true that. He took a larger percentage of the vote of any Third Party Candidate before or since. But what it ended up doing was throwing splitting the republican vote and throwing it to wilson. Would it be different . I little doubt that we would gotten into world war one almost immediately. The issue with the venezuela conflict rosa felt much of the United States in the late 1890s was not quite did we like who did we like better england or germany and there were a lot german immigrants in america there was a large german american, a lot of favor for germany. But what roosevelt and this comes out in some of his letters, he became convinced that the kaiser was not entirely rational in his Decision Making and could very likely bring the world to war. So on the other side was very much of an anglophile and a number of connections. So he would have been very clear clearly on the side of england in his writings. And i just got a copy of the book, a collection of his essays that were written at the period of time very much in favor of the free the free anglosaxon have got to stand up against german. So i have little doubt that we would have gotten into the war much sooner. What would that have done . We were no more ready to do that in 1914 than we had been at the beginning of the spanishamerican and stakes and the equipment and the types of weaponry we would have faced was would have been much more. So i also dont know what the outcome would have been, but we would have gotten in sooner than did under wilson. Sir, just interesting technical question. Are you familiar with the legacy, the crusade . Newport news. Im not the first newport news. Oh yeah, please. The im sorry. And repeat the question. Im sorry. The the newport news. There were two newport news. And i think tweet its worth noting the first newport news was the spanish american war decisive the spanishamerican war. Newport news, world war one, and then the late 1930s, fdr. Decommissioned the first newport news historic. Then came the second newport news World War Two, korea and vietnam. And the extraordinary test i was a marine officer in vietnam, the South China Sea saw the newport news in action. It was extraordinary. But i think, of history going to the basically spanishamerican war, the legacy of the newport news, one and two was worth noting. Thank you. Thank you very much. See, i like coming here because. I learn new things too. All right. Well, thank you very much. Thank you