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Talks With T.R
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1920 edition. ...policemen and some New York newspaper men; the party followed a speech by the Colonel in Bridgeport. The night train service from Bridgeport to New York is not attractive, and whenever the Colonel spoke there he would return to New York by motor, guarded by police. First, however, there would be a little supper at the Stratfield, where a few of the local leaders would meet the Colonel. On the night in question the supper had been disposed of, and the start was about to be made for New York, when the Colonel asked if the men who were to accompany him were those who had been with him during the day. John King said they were. "That must not be," said the Colonel. "These men have been on duty all day. It will be all hours before they can get back. Send them home. We'll get back all right without them." "Nothing doing," replied King. "The men will insist on going. They can sleep to-morrow. It's their day off/' "Very well, then," said the Colonel. "Of course it will be all right for me to give them a little money for breakfast." "No, sir," said King; "you must not give it, and they must not take it. That would never do." "Well," said the Colonel, "it will be all right for me to take them to breakfast with me?" "That cannot be done," I suggested. "So," concluded the Colonel, "between you and King I seem unable to do anything. Now, why can't I take them to breakfast?" "Because Mayor Mitchel closed everything except 'one-arm' lunch-rooms at one o'clock." "By Jove, there is an advantage to a Broadway education, is n't there? It's so long since I've been uptown late I had quite overlooked that change. But is n't...
68 pages, Paperback
First published January 11, 2014
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About the author
John J. Leary Jr.
1 bookJohn Joseph Leary, Jr. was an American reporter and newspaper editor who worked for the Lynn Press, the Boston Adviser and Record, the Denver Times, the Boston Post, the Boston Journal, the Boston Herald, the New York Herald, the New York World and the New York Tribune. He was a 1920 Pulitzer Prize winner for reporting on the labor problems of the coal industry in West Virginia for an editorial entitled Law and the Jungle.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 16, 2023
Leary was one of the few newsmen with personal access to TR. Most of their meetings took place between 1916 and 1919, the year of TR's death. Being a reporter, Leary transcribed their private conversations. After TR died Leary decided to publish his notes so that posterity would have a record of the "real and true" TR. This is that record.
The form it takes is as a collection of short stories. They're not organized in any particular fashion (except roughly chronological I suppose) nor are they connected from one to the next. Each stands alone. Some are only one page long. Others are a handful of pages at most. This format makes for an easy book to grab when you only have a few minutes free.
If you're new to TR, Leary's anthology is not a good starting point. But I would guess that if you have come looking for this book, then you have already read quite a bit about TR (this book is not a chart topper in other words). And in that case, the real value of Leary's work is that it will sharpen the resolution of the picture you already hold in your mind TR. It will add dimensions to his personality which you will not find anywhere else.
For instance: TR has a reputation for craving the spotlight. But what comes through in these stories is that he was actually quite self-aware. He had an acute sense of the commotion that inevitably followed him around. He therefore declined many invitations to events where he thought it unfair to take attention away from others. That is just one example of the nuance conveyed in Leary's conversations. There are many more.
In terms of pure entertainment value, I would only give this three stars. But relative to its purpose—bringing us inside the mind of TR—it's more successful, brief and incomplete though it is.
The form it takes is as a collection of short stories. They're not organized in any particular fashion (except roughly chronological I suppose) nor are they connected from one to the next. Each stands alone. Some are only one page long. Others are a handful of pages at most. This format makes for an easy book to grab when you only have a few minutes free.
If you're new to TR, Leary's anthology is not a good starting point. But I would guess that if you have come looking for this book, then you have already read quite a bit about TR (this book is not a chart topper in other words). And in that case, the real value of Leary's work is that it will sharpen the resolution of the picture you already hold in your mind TR. It will add dimensions to his personality which you will not find anywhere else.
For instance: TR has a reputation for craving the spotlight. But what comes through in these stories is that he was actually quite self-aware. He had an acute sense of the commotion that inevitably followed him around. He therefore declined many invitations to events where he thought it unfair to take attention away from others. That is just one example of the nuance conveyed in Leary's conversations. There are many more.
In terms of pure entertainment value, I would only give this three stars. But relative to its purpose—bringing us inside the mind of TR—it's more successful, brief and incomplete though it is.
Displaying 1 of 1 review