Tom Kawczynski - Off the Record

"History is written by the winners," says the timeless adage.  This is true, and it is also true that much is left unwritten by the very same.  I just finished reading a book by James Bradley titled The Imperial Cruise, which is a story about Theodore Roosevelt, a trip in 1905, and full of insight into what would shape the 20th Century in the Pacific theater.

Every nation has myths that they embrace about their goodness and virtue.  America is no exception.  While we have some people who truly live these ideals, most objective students of American imperial history know that the United States government has, at best, a mixed record in its actions abroad.  Although these are sometimes difficult to read and admit, I think we learn to be a better people and a better nation by looking at the past.

In the book, we are introduced to a Theodore Roosevelt who is substantially different than the brave Rough Rider that is lauded by pop history.  We find a sickly child who cultivates an image of himself that belies a largely patrician upbringing (remind you of any current politicians?) of luxury.  We find ourselves enmeshed in a time when the civilizing mission was to kill, breed away, and civilize the lesser races of the world, whether they be Negro, Slavic, Chink, or any other metaphor short of Teutonic.  We see a man in context, no worse than those of his time, but perhaps no better.

We see the Philippines, a nation that tried to create its own democracy, to have it crushed by Secretary (and future President) Taft, claiming that they needed to be civilized by the whites first before they could rule.  We see cynical manipulations between the finest families with sugar plantations in Hawaii and opium runners in China.  Money moves the world, and silver flows from China for these drugs.  A kingdom is lifted for popular sovereignty of the Aryan race.  It can all be researched.

Into this steps Roosevelt, with a series of deals and misunderstandings that would set the stage for so many tragedies of the 20th Century.  It was his words that encouraged Japan to assert its own Monroe Doctrine, to kick the US out of East Asia, even as he secretly gave up Korea to Japanese subjugation.  It was his insistence on belittling the Chinese as less than people, shared by many especially in California, that led to the first national boycott in Chinese history and contributed heavily to the formation of radical nationalism.  It was promises made, outside the Constitution, by someone interested in bringing the burden of civilization that would bring death and dehumanization to many people.

If you believe this story, and the evidence is compelling and overwhelming, this is the history of American intervention in the Pacific at the beginning of the century.  It is not something we would want to think, but it deserves your consideration.  In light of the imperial wars we make these days, in the name of democracy, what does it mean for self-determination?  Who gets rich and what is the purpose?  I wonder.

It's a hard thing for me sometimes because I really enjoy the image of Teddy Roosevelt that I had growing up.  I imagined a man of action, someone unafraid to lead boldly, and he was that.  But he was a man of his time as well, with the prejudices that were assigned to not just American, but all western civilization, about the nature of others.  He successfully rewrote his own history so well that we remember him today as a figure larger than life, and he was that.  Unfortunately, if Bradley is right, we might do better to lament some of his accomplishments.

The book itself is an entertaining narrative that should keep your attention.  We follow the cruise from launch in San Francisco through Japan, Korea, China, the Philippines, to it's conclusion.  The main characters are Roosevelt, Secretary of War Taft (which would be the old equivalent to the Secretary of Defense), his troublesome daughter Alice, and the ambassadors and people impacted by them at many places.  It's a read that makes this history come alive, and that you can enjoy regardless of your viewpoint.

I recommend this book to anyone interested in either American history, Asian history, or who questions how wars are justified.  If you've never read history that makes you question facts that you thought you knew, start here.