Roosevelt’s Last Stand

‎“The Last Charge of the Rough Rider: Theodore Roosevelt’s Final Days,” by William Hazelgrove, Lyons Press, 2023, 360 pages, $32.00 (Hardcover), $30.00 (Ebook), $20.99 (Audiobook)
In the last two years of his life, Theodore Roosevelt attempted something no ex-President previously did. He wanted to command troops in battle as a division commander.

“The Last Charge of the Rough Rider: Theodore Roosevelt’s Final Days,” by William Hazelgrove tells that story. An account of the last two years of Roosevelt’s life, from April 1917 through January 1919, it recounts the political duel between Roosevelt and then-President Woodrow Wilson.

Alternating between 1917 through 1919 and flashbacks to earlier and significant periods in the lives of Roosevelt and Wilson, Hazelgrove takes readers through the US entry into World War I. He shows the political duel between Roosevelt and Wilson during that time. Roosevelt wanted the US to join the war; Wilson resisted.

When the US finally declared war on Germany, Roosevelt and his sons determined to participate. Roosevelt wanted to raise a volunteer division, much as he raised the First Volunteer Cavalry Regiment in the Spanish-American War. His sons served in France and Mesopotamia. One son was badly injured in ground combat. Another, Quentin, died in air combat.

Roosevelt’s attempts to lead a volunteer division were ultimately scotched by Wilson and US Army leadership. Wilson viewed Roosevelt as a potential rival for the 1920 election. Army leadership disliked Roosevelt due to jealousies dating to the Spanish-American War.

A fascinating aspect of the book is how modern medicine changed America. Wilson and Roosevelt both were both laid low prior to the 1920 Presidential election. Their incapacitating illnesses are easily treated today. Wilson’s hypertension, which could be controlled through drugs, led to a disabling stroke. Roosevelt died from infections antibiotics available only twenty years later could have easily cured.

Hazelgrove depreciates Roosevelt’s attempt to raise a volunteer formation. He viewed it as antiquated, an artifact of the 18th and 19th centuries. Yet the military history of the late 20th and early 21st centuries shows this to be premature. Volunteer formations proved successful in many wars since 1950, even against the United States. Whether Roosevelt’s volunteer division would have proved useful in Great War will never be answered, yet cannot be dismissed as glibly as Hazelgrove does.

“The Last Charge of the Rough Rider” remains a book worth reading. It is well and entertainingly written. It also offers valuable insights into the United States of 1900 through 1920, explaining why the rest of the century turned out the way it did.

This review was written by Mark Lardas, who writes at Ricochet as Seawriter. Mark Lardas, an engineer, freelance writer, historian, and model-maker, lives in League City, TX. His website is marklardas.com.

I received an advanced readers’ copy of this book from netgalley in exchange for an honest review
This was everything I wanted in a Teddy Roosevelt book. Teddy being when of the presidents that check all the boxes for me- I’ll read anything about him. I had read other books by this author and really enjoyed them. This was that perfect combination of author and subject matter coming together perfectly.
Rather than it being a whole encompassing biography on Roosevelt this centered really between the Spanish American war and the end of WW1. Specifically, the rag tag group that became known as the rough riders and what they accomplished in the Spanish American war and how to get them to Europe for WW1.
The book also did a really good job juxtaposing background on Teddy and then background on Wilson and advancing those stories so you have a really clear picture when they start overlapping. These two as political sparring partners will never be boring. Even how differently the wives cared for their ailing husbands- Read also Madam President by the same author.
I loved this book! I can’t wait for it to be out in physical form so I can add this to my collection

I’ve read more than 60 books on the Roosevelts, with more than half of them focusing on my favorite President, Theodore Roosevelt. In both fiction and non-fiction works on the 26th President, much is made of his early life, the death of his wife and mother on the same day and his retreat into the Badlands of South Dakota. Many say that he would not have been President if he had not been a cowboy for a few years. Others concentrate on Theodore’s time as a Rough Rider in the Spanish-American War as the making of a president. The Last Charge of the Rough Rider seemingly concentrates on the last years of TR’s life, something that has been little explored.

I’m not a fan of how the book was laid out. When I read a biography, I prefer an orderly, chronological study. However, what the reader gets in this book is one that jumps around from 1917-8 back to seminal moments of Roosevelt’s life. And it’s written in a way that reads like speculative fiction, describing what people were wearing and how they were feeling. It didn’t feel like a non-fiction book.

Also, much time is spent focusing on other people, like Woodrow Wilson, and Roosevelt’s youngest son, Quentin, that seem to lose the focus of the book. I understand trying to provide context, but way too much time was spent on other people. Speaking of which, sometimes a name was mentioned and there was no introduction. For those not familiar with Roosevelt and the people in his orbit, this could be confusing.

Roosevelt’s health following his 1914 expedition in South America was horrible at best. The one good thing the book describes is his final years of medical struggles and just how bad they were. It’s not surprising that he died when he was only 60 years old.

I realize I’m in the minority when it comes to this book, but I didn’t appreciate this book the way others have. It crossed the line between fiction and non-fiction too many times for me to appreciate the new information provided about Roosevelt’s final days.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and Lyons Press/Rowan Littlefield in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

I find Theodore Roosevelt one of the most fascinating people in American history, and I've read a good deal about his life and his presidency, so when I saw another book about him, I was skeptical that it would hold anything terribly new. I am happy to say that I was more than pleasantly surprised. While the subtitle says that the book's focus is on TR's final days, it is more focused on his final few years, the years after his presidency and the start of World War 1.

What I liked about the book:

There is a lot of jumping around on the timeline of TR's life from chapter to chapter. While some readers may find this annoying and may even find it hard to follow, I thought it was done fairly well. As I noted above, I have read a good deal about TR, so I was able to follow the author's timeline jumping without any problem as I am familiar with most of the major events in TR's life. I actually enjoyed seeing how past events may have (and probably did) influence him in his later years. The younger Teddy Roosevelt charging up San Juan Hill with his Rough Riders became the older TR pleading with President Wilson to allow him to assemble a volunteer army to charge the Germans on the Western Front. The younger Teddy confused by his father's paying for a substitute in the Civil War became the older TR determined to have his "crowded hour" and determined that his sons would have theirs as well.

Even with the timeline jumping, I thought the flow of the book was very good. The author did a good job of connecting the events of TR's life across the timelines.

More than other biographies of TR that I've read, I thought this one did a good job of truly getting to the human side of him and not just focusing on the myth. The years after he left the White House were very difficult for him, and this book really brings out all the challenges, those last 4-5 years especially. The disintegration of his body, the frustration of not feeling useful, the political disappointments all wear him down, and the author does a good job of making the reader feel all of it. The final few chapters that cover his son Quentin's death and his own are appropriately touching and sad. There is a final dream sequence for TR on the night of his death in 1919 that, though fictitious, was entirely possible given the nature of the man.

It's hard to say that I enjoyed this, but I thought that one specific very human quality that this book highlighted in both TR and in President Woodrow Wilson was the sheer pettiness of their opinion of the other and their opposing stance on the issue of entering the war. They each believed they were right and held the moral high ground...a very human characteristic indeed.

What I thought needed improvement:

There are a number of times throughout the book that people, mostly people in TR's circle, are named with little or no explanation of who they are. My previous knowledge of the topic and the time period meant that I was aware of who they were, but a reader without sufficient knowledge might be confused as to whom the author was referring.

There were numerous typos, wrong words, missing words, extra words, punctuation errors, etc., and these will always jump off the page at me and make me crazy. I had an advanced copy ebook, so it's possible that the final edits had not been made, but there were a lot of them. In one chapter, TR is referred to as "the youngest assassinated president," which is clearly incorrect. His wife is also once referred to as Eleanor, which was also incorrect. His niece was Eleanor (who married TR's fifth cousin, FDR), and his daughter-in-law (married to Ted, Jr.) was also named Eleanor, but his wife (at this time in his life) was named Edith.

Another writing mechanics issue that bothered me was the changing between present and past verb tense, sometimes in the same paragraph. I didn't notice it until late in the book, so I think it only happened in the last 50 pages or so. Again, this could be something that will be corrected in final editing.

The author states in his note to the reader at the beginning of the book that he uses the names Theodore, TR, and Teddy throughout the book interchangeably. In general, this didn't cause me any confusion, but there were times that it was somewhat unclear if he was referring to Theodore, the ex-president or to his son Theodore, Jr.

Overall, these minor issues didn't cause any great distraction from the well-written story.

I think this is a worthy addition to the literature on the life and legacy of Theodore Roosevelt and would recommend it to readers interested in TR, World War 1, or American history in general.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Rowan & Littlefield for providing me with an advanced copy to read and to provide my honest review. #TheLastChargeoftheRoughRider #NetGalley

Wouldn't it be grand to have a president like Teddy Roosevelt back in the White House?!?!? I loved learning about this great man that I knew relatively little about. Most remarkable (to me) was that after being shot in the chest, he still proceeded to provide a 90 minute speech while on the campaign trail. (The bullet was slowed by passing through a steel eyeglass case and his 50 page speech) but the bullet was still lodged in his chest and his shirt seeped with blood during the speech.

This book bounced around a bit between the Woodrow Wilson and the Battle of San Juan Hill and the Spanish-American War; but I can see why the author presents the story in this fashion.

I really enjoyed and recommend The Last Charge of the Rough Rider. Thank you to NetGalley for (yet again) introducing me to a "new to me" author. And for approving my request to review the Advance Review Copy in exchange for an honest review. Also many thanks to William Hazelgrove the author and Globe Pequot, Lyon Press the publisher for approving my ARC request.

Theodore Roosevelt didn’t want to die a quiet death. He fervently sought a hero’s death on the battlefield. Disgusted by President Woodrow Wilson’s lack of martial enthusiasm for joining the war raging in Europe, TR not only criticized his political rival, but relentlessly sought permission to resurrect the Rough Riders, believing they would soon win WWI.

So what if the men he had recruited twenty years ago were old and untrained. So what if TR’s body was struggling with a multitude of health issues incurred over an active and risk-taking life. So what if war no longer was fought with horse and saber, but tanks and gatling guns and U-boat torpedoes and poison gas.

The Last Charge of the Rough Rider covers TR’s last two years, with flashbacks to his earlier life. TR encouraged his sons to enlist, only to be brokenhearted with Quentin’s heroic, but tragic, death. The book also gives insight into President Wilson’s own tumultuous life while in office: Wilson lost his first wife, became despondent, fell in love and married a younger women, and suffered his own health crisis, all while seeking to keep America out of war and trying to broker peace in Europe.

The book is written in a lively, narrative style, never dry. It was interested to read quotes from TR’s letters. A vivid portrait of the aging lion emerges.

I received a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbaised.

I want to thank the publisher, Rowan & Littlefield, author William Hazelgrove and NetGalley for making an ARC of this book available to read and review. What follows is my own unbiased review of The Last Charge of the Rough Rider.

I'm a big fan of Presidential Biographies and in particular Theodore Roosevelt, who is my favorite President of all time. My choice for TR is based on reading many different biographies and books about the Gilded Age and the time period of the late 1800s-1920. In my opinion, the late Edmund Morris' trilogy on Theodore Roosevelt is the gold standard of biographies on Presidents, but I enjoyed reading The Last Charge by author Hazelgrove.

As the author points out in his foreword the book is about the last five years of the life of TR. And what a life it was for this giant of a man who was greater than life itself. TR had numerous accomplishments and accolades during his career, but the last few years of his life were particularly painful in a physical sense and demoralizing in so many ways.

TR was the youngest President to serve at age 42 after the assassination of William McKinley. TR announced he would only serve one other term as President, meaning he would be done by age 50. That was probably his biggest mistake. Roosevelt left office immensely popular and would easily have won a third term (second elected term) had he ran in 1908. But he didn't because of his pledge, and William Howard Taft succeeded TR in office. If he would have ran he might well have won 3-4 consecutive terms. But it was not meant to be.

Taft was a disappointment, and many Republicans urged TR to run again in 1912--which he did but eventually as an Independent, That decision handed the presidency to Woodrow Wilson, with TR and Taft splitting the rest of the vote. TR would grow to despise Wilson over the rest of his life. It's worth mentioning this as Wilson plays an important role in this book.

The author does a wonderful job capturing the spirit of Teddy Roosevelt and his desire to organize a division or two of Rough Riders to take on the Germans in WWI. But Wilson the pacifist waited until he had no choice but to go to war with Germany. The last thing Wilson would allow was for TR to head to Germany with a bunch of "old" rough Riders to get destroyed by German tanks, machine guns and mustard gas. If he lived, TR might be a candidate again in 2020--even Wilson recognized the possibility. Much of the work focuses on the political machinations of Wilson over the request by Colonel Roosevelt to organize a volunteer division.

The author's book is that TR wants to die in battle. Maybe TR did have a death wish. My feeling he was called to serve, regardless of age. TR wanted to go to Europe along with his four sons and helped defeat the Germans. Ultimately Roosevelt's request is refused, leaving him a bitter and broken man in many ways. But a lot of this brokenness was also due to a range of health issues that plagued TR. All four sons did make it to Europe, but only three came home. Read the book to get the details.

That's a quick summary of the book and its thesis. I appreciated the new perspectives brought out by the author.

Let me close with two things that I didn't like about the book. The first was the ARC version I received, which was a PDF file that had a lot of formatting issues and was incomplete in some respects. I'm sure all of this will be cleaned up prior to publication.

The big issue for me was the back and forth narrative to tell TR;s story. In one chapter he is leading the Rough Riders up San Juan Hill to victory over the Spainards. Then the narrative jumps to 1917 when the war is going strong and America is on the sidelines. Then jumps back to when TR lost his first wife and mother on the same day, leading him to head West as a cowboy for several months learning the ways of the West. It is this back and forth that made the book a bit hard for me to follow as I would have preferred a simple chronology. But that's a personal preference. I don't fault the author, the structure was just not my cup of tea.

Still, I enjoyed reading about TR in his final years and gained some new insights that were not taken up in the Morris trilogy or in other books.

Theodore Roosevelt was an amazing President and patriot. He packed as much life in his 60 years on earth than most people do in a full lifetime. How we could use a man of his stature and leadership today.

As a history buff I have read many books about Theodore Roosevelt. The author researched his subject well. I especially liked the letters written by the subject and those of his family and acquaintances. I knew TR was not a fan of President Woodrow Wilson but never realized how he hated him. He blamed President Wilson for keeping him from forming his Rough Riders again to go to Europe to fight in WWI. TR had no idea that fighting had changed so much in warfare. He believed the Rough Riders could fight against the Germans while on horseback..
TR never wanted to admit that things had changed so much. He wanted so much to die a glorious hero's death. When President Wilson turned down his offer TR sent his four sons to war believing they would all come back to a hero's welcome. Tragically this was not true.
I thoroughly enjoyed this biography of Theodore Roosevelt and would highly recommend to those who love historical biographies.

The Last Charge of the Rough Rider is a book which transitions back and forth between the years 1917-1918 and earlier years in Roosevelt's life. At its core, it deals with Roosevelt's efforts to re-form the Rough Riders and have one more gallant charge in the battle fields of Europe. Such important periods as his life as a sickly child, the period of time out west after the death of his first wife and his mother on the same day, his life as a NYC Police Commissioner are discussed. Surprisingly, little of substance is discussed about Roosevelt's White House years other than his swimming nude in the Potomac and the antics of his children. Much is discussed about his asthma and all of the injuries he suffered during a very active life.

His nemesis Woodrow Wilson is discussed chiefly in the context of his medical problems, his marriage to a younger woman and his use of recreational activities to ease the stress and lower his blood pressure. Hazelgrove also discusses the well known role Wilson's wife had in running the country.

Roosevelt's desire to go to Europe to fight is a pretty slender reed to hang a whole book on, ergo the switching back and forth in time among various periods of Roosevelt's life. It would have been interesting to hear more about Wilson's racism when Roosevelt's famous dinner with Booker T Washington was mentioned. Wilson's use of the Sedition Act to curtail free speech would also have been worthy of mention.

Hazelgrove does include several instances where he can only imagine what certain people were thinking e.g. Roosevelt's final dream while he is dying or what his son Quentin was thinking on his final flight. I do appreciate being given this ARC by Netgalley and Lyons Press.

Thank you NetGalley, William Hazelgrove, and Globe Pequot for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book.

This was the first and only book I have read about Theodore Roosevelt. It was well-written and well-researched, which made the read through all the better. I appreciated the author mentioning glimpses of Roosevelt's earlier life towards the beginning of the book. I learned a lot and will look for more books about him.

I highly enjoyed this book and I learned so much more about him. This was very good, well written and well researched. I think this is a great book. I really became interested in Teddy Roosevelt and the rough riders when I was in the bar where he assembled them in San Antonio Texas. After that I really wanted to read all I could.
I just reviewed The Last Charge of the Rough Rider by William Hazelgrove. #TheLastChargeoftheRoughRider #NetGalley
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