Clay Risen's latest book is The Crowded Hour: Theodore Roosevelt, the Rough Riders, and the Dawn of the American Century.From the transcript of his interview with NPR's Steve Inskeep:
INSKEEP: Well, were [Roosevelt's Rough Riders] hugely famous when the United States organized an army and invaded Cuba in 1898?The Page 99 Test: A Nation on Fire.
RISEN: Absolutely. You know, there was this moment in 1898 where I think - and this is the significance of the war - is that it changed how America thinks about its military and about its role in the world. And it gave a positive spin to the idea that American can have a military and should go out into the world to intervene, to bring freedom.
And for a lot of people, even at the time - and editorialists wrote about this. They said the Rough Riders are emblematic of that new America, of this idea that we have this power and we have this - the strength and these values at home. And now we're going to arm them and take them out into the world. And to me, that resonates throughout the 20th century. Time after time, we do that same sort of thing.
INSKEEP: So let's note this is the beginning of the idea of America going out into the world to make the world a better place by force when that seems to make sense to Americans. But there's also the identity of the individuals themselves. What did the personnel of the Rough Riders suggest to Americans about who America was?
RISEN: Well, this is one of the ironies because one of the things that Roosevelt talked about and one of the things that he valued about the Rough Riders was this was not just his idea about American masculinity but also what in his mind was diversity, but within a very narrowly prescribed idea about what diversity was. They were all...[read on]
Visit Clay Risen's website.
--Marshal Zeringue