How Theodore Roosevelt and his Rough Riders exemplified "manhood" and
civic virtue.
Below a Cuban sun so hot it stung their eyes, American troops hunkered
low at the base of Kettle Hill. Spanish bullets zipped overhead, while
enemy artillery shells landed all around them. Driving Spanish forces
from the high ground would mean gaining control of Santiago, Cuba, and,
soon enough, American victory in the Spanish-American War. No one
doubted that enemy fire would claim a heavy toll, but these unusual
citizen-soldiers and their unlikely commander--39-year-old Colonel
Theodore Roosevelt--had volunteered for exactly this kind of mission.
In Charging Up San Juan Hill, John R. Van Atta recounts that fateful
day in 1898. Describing the battle's background and its ramifications
for Roosevelt, both personal and political, Van Atta explains how
Roosevelt's wartime experience prompted him to champion American
involvement in world affairs. Tracking Roosevelt's rise to the
presidency, this book argues that the global expansion of American
influence--indeed, the building of an empire outward from a strengthened
core of shared values at home--connected to the broader question of
cultural sustainability as much as it did to the increasing of trade,
political power, and military might.
At the turn of the twentieth century, Theodore Roosevelt personified
American confidence. A New York City native and recovered asthmatic who
spent his twenties in the wilds of the Dakota Territory, Roosevelt leapt
into the war with Spain with gusto. He organized a band of cavalry
volunteers he called the Rough Riders and, on July 1, 1898, took part in
their charge up a Cuban hill the newspapers called San Juan, launching
him to national prominence. Without San Juan, Van Atta argues,
Roosevelt--whom the papers credited for the victory and lauded as a
paragon of manhood--would never have reached a position to become
president.
