The History Book Club discussion

Hello Everyone,

This is the discussion for the book Mornings on Horseback: The Story of an Extraordinary Family, a Vanished Way of Life & the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt by David McCullough.

This begins the fourth week's reading in our new Presidential Series group discussion.

The complete table of contents is as follows:

Syllabus

Mornings On Horseback: The Story of an Extraordinary Family, a Vanished Way of Life, and the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt

Table of Contents

Author's Note 9

Part One
ONE: Greatheart's Circle p.19
TWO: Lady from the South p.39
THREE: Grand Tour p.69
FOUR: A Disease of the Direst Suffering p.90
FIVE: Metamorphosis p.109

Part Two
SIX: Uptown p.131
SEVEN: The Moral Effect p.149
EIGHT: Father and Son p. 160

Part Three
NINE: Harvard p. 195
TEN: Especially Pretty Alice p. 218
ELEVEN: Home is the Hunter p. 237
TWELVE: Politics p. 251
THIRTEEN: Strange and Terrible Fate p. 277
FOURTEEN: Chicago p. 289
FIFTEEN: Glory Days p. 316
SIXTEEN: Return p. 351

Afterward p. 362

Notes p. 373
Bibliography p. 413
Index p. 427

The assignment for this week includes the following segments/pages:

Week Five - June 28th - July 4th -> Chapter FIVE p. 109 - 128
FIVE - Metamorphosis

We look forward to your participation; but remember this is a non spoiler thread.

We will open up threads for each week's reading. Please make sure to post in the particular thread dedicated to those specific chapters and page numbers to avoid spoilers.

This book is being kicked off on May 30th. This will be the fifth week's assignment for this book.

We look forward to your participation. Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other noted on line booksellers do have copies of the book and shipment can be expedited. The book can also be obtained easily at your local library, or on your Kindle.

A special welcome to those who will be newcomers to this discussion and thank you to those who have actively contributed on the previous Presidential Series selection. We are glad to have you all.

~Bryan

TO ALWAYS SEE ALL WEEKS' THREADS SELECT VIEW ALL
David McCullough

Hello everyone:

We are beginning to see the TR we know and love. We see him begin to build up his body as his father fully supports. Theodore is molding a boy "in action" so to speak. TR attends John Wood's gym, but Theodore builds one at his home.

We begin to appreciate how interested TR is in natural science. He reads many books, donates specimens to the American Museum of Natural History, and tramps around the outdoors in the Adirondacks and the White Mountains. He even learns taxidermy from John G. Bell, who did work for Audubon. It is a skilled trade and not for the squeamish as McCullough goes into detail on what TR did to stuff an animal.

Two big things occur in the early 1870s: TR gets a gun and eye glasses (he has been near-sighted for quite some time). He begins to shoot down his specimens with gusto. Most of the chapter focuses on a family trip down the Nile in 1872 with 2 other families. They spend 2 months going 1200 miles in luxury. Theodore plans the outings and parties. He also spends time with TR on hunting trips.

However, McCullough does not lose focus on the family. He states the family is changing. Bamie still runs the house, but during this trip, she turns 18 and is also near-sighted. However, Theodore jokes about her glasses and she never wears them. It is also interesting to learn that Bamie is jealous of her mom as Mittie is quite popular with the rest of the party. Theodore's father, CVS, dies and leaves him about 3-7 million dollars, and the entire clan is moving from 20th St to 57th street as 20th is becoming more commercial. After the Nile trip, the family travels to the Holy Land, Vienna, and TR to Dresden, and Mittie and Bamie to Paris.

McCullough states that TR has few if any asthma attacks during his Nile trip. Do you think it has something to do with exercise, climate, or maybe the emotional side? He seems pretty happy on this trip.

Thank you so much Bryan.

Welcome, Bentley, I hope you are enjoying the sights.

Some information on John Bell:

John G. Bell (1812-1889)

Bell was in the prime of his life when he was hired to go with Audubon's group up the Missouri River in 1843. He was paid $500 to be hunter and taxidermist. He was already known as the best taxidermist in the U.S. Bell was hired by Audubon at the urging of Rev. Bachman, who needed well-preserved skins for the mammal book he and Audubon were doing.

Bell's taxidermy shop at Broadway and Worth in Manhattan was a hub for natural historians in the middle portion of the 19th Century. It was a combination social club and on-going seminar. Bell knew the elderly Audubon and the young Frank Chapman, who would found the Christmas Bird Count at century's end. He also knew Baird, Cassin, George Lawrence, Major LeConte, Titian Peale and Theodore Roosevelt.

A keen-eyed hunter, Bell, along with Edward Harris, killed many of the specimens collected on Audubon's western trip. Among them was the first described specimen of Bell's Vireo taken on the Missouri River northwest of Fort Leavenworth. Other birds discovered on the trip: Sprague's Pipit, Smith's Longspur, Baird's Sparrow and LeConte's Sparrow.

In 1849-50 Bell visited California on a collecting trip and discovered four new species, all described by John Cassin: Lawrence's Goldfinch, White-headed Woopecker, Williamson's Sapsucker and Sage Sparrow. Bell shot his first Sage Sparrow near Sonoma. Cassin gave the little bird its Latin name, Amphispiza belli, to honor John G. Bell.
(source: http://www.towhee.net/history/friends...)

All that happened seemed to have followed the decision of Theodore Sr. to tell TR he would have to build himself up. After all those years of catering to Teddy a rather quick turn was guided by the father. Theodore Sr. was quite a man in my view.

I agree, Vince, and I think we are now beginning to really appreciate why TR looked up to him so much. Theodore says to TR, "Theodore, you have the mind, but you have not the body, and without the help of the body, the mind cannot go as far as it should." (p. 112)

I'm reminded of Jefferson. He believed in this too, and even at the age of 70 or 80, he'd ride his horse or take walks. They knew the body and mind are connected.

We're seeing in Mornings on Horseback that the child Teedie was like all boys. He thrilled at dressing up like a Zouave regimental soldier ("Are me a soldier laddie?" - chapter 3) the way a lot of us played soldier in our neighborhoods (or at least played with G.I. Joes).

That enthusiasm never shut off, though. As president, Roosevelt responded to the tonnage of the White Fleet the same way boys today react to Thomas the Tank Engine. His visit to the Panama Canal Zone found him practically playing on the construction machines. He liked to get dirty. As a Rough Rider, he appreciated the aesthetic effect of mud on pantaloons as much as he did in his expedition along the Nile in this chapter. And as president, Roosevelt exasperated foreign diplomats and members of Congress by insisting on vigorous rides in the wilderness surrounding Washington, boxing matches, and frigid swims in the Potomac.

This kind of pyroclastic enthusiasm is simply a feature of Theodore Roosevelt's personality. There must have been times, immediately following this "metamorphosis" moment when someone (likely Mittie being the first) sighed exhaustedly and turned a furrowed brow toward Theodore Senior for "encouraging" Teedie. One can imagine the inexhaustible Teedie wearing out each and every family member in succession. And Theodore Senior's little man to man talk was the start of it all.

Great post, Patrick, thanks. Yeah, I can see Mittie saying "help" to her husband. McCullough mentions how one of his sisters saying he went full tilt on a donkey while in Egypt. It never disappeared!

Another interesting topic that McCullough brings up is politics. We discover that Tweed is taking control of NY politics and that TR's uncle runs and wins a seat in Congress.

It seems Theodore sees politics as a lowly profession. I think we forget how long this viewpoint goes back, probably back to ancient times.

Bio on Robert Roosevelt, a one-term Congressman:

a Representative from New York; born in New York City August 7, 1829; completed preparatory studies; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1850 and commenced practice in New York City; fish commissioner of the State of New York 1868-1888; for several years edited the New York Citizen; elected as a Democrat to the Forty-second Congress (March 4, 1871-March 3, 1873); appointed by President Cleveland as Minister to The Hague and served from 1888 to 1890; treasurer of the Democratic National Committee in 1892; member of the Board of Aldermen of New York City; served as trustee representing the city of New York for the New York and Brooklyn Bridge from 1879 to 1882; died in Sayville, Suffolk County, N.Y., on June 14, 1906; interment in Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, N.Y.
(source: http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/...)

I think the seemingly casual mention of Tweed-style machine politics was not actually casual at all.

This chapter is titled "Metamorphosis." Since McCullough himself has inserted some foreshadowing, I don't feel like I'm necessarily spoiling anything by pointing out that the Roosevelt patrician identity will undergo a distinct metamorphosis in coming chapters. Both Theodores will be forced to confront their biases of politics as a "lowly profession."

It will be one of the best parts of the book. (This is not my first time to read Mornings.)

Thanks for the encouragement, Patrick. I think McCullough titled this chapter quite well.

Here is a little blurb on William Tweed:

TWEED, William Marcy, a Representative from New York; born in New York City April 3, 1823; completed preparatory studies; learned the trade of chair maker; alderman in New York City in 1852 and 1853; elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-third Congress (March 4, 1853-March 3, 1855); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1854 to the Thirty-fourth Congress; school commissioner in 1856 and 1857; member of the board of supervisors for New York County in 1858; defeated as the peace candidate for sheriff in 1861; deputy street commissioner 1861-1870; elected to the State senate in 1867 and 1869, serving four years; again elected in 1871, but was not permitted to take his seat; commissioner of the department of public works in 1870; tried in 1874 on charges of official embezzlement, found guilty, and sentenced to twelve years’ imprisonment; escaped in December 1875 and was captured in Spain; brought back to the United States on a man-of-war; again confined in prison in New York City from November 23, 1876, until his death, April 12, 1878; interment in Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, N.Y.
(source: http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/...

Thanks Brian - I never knew so much about boss Tweed

Your welcome, Vince. I forgot he was sent to jail for stealing millions. With him around, I can see how the Roosevelts had a hard time with politicians.

"Theodore, you have the mind, but you have not the body, and without the help of the body, the mind cannot go as far as it should."

TR was obviously a child born with great natural curiosity, intelligence and love of adventure. In his early youth, these qualities were partially suppressed beneath his childhood illnesses. In addition, I suspect the family's perception of him as being a weakling, influenced him, however subtly. The man-to-man talk with his father appears to be the catalyst that allowed his natural qualities to begin surfacing in earnest. His father's wise philosophy toward children is repeated with Elliot when, against all advice, Elliot is sent off to the wilderness to learn the manly skills of the outdoorsman.

This reminds me again of the passage in the author's notes "If I could have one wish for you the reader, it would be that you come away from the book with a strong sense of what a great man Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. was." - David McCullough.

Think of what our perception of TR is today: a bigger-than-life, bold, courageous, adventurer, outdoorsman, environmentalist, and successful President of the United States ... the picture of health.

It was Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. who set that transformation in motion.

Quite right Marje, Sr. had a huge role to play in developing his science and passions. I think he might have gotten his romantic sensibilities from his mother.