If I say that today we are going to talk about Theodore Roosevelt and his participation in the Second World War, more than one person will turn their heads remembering that the 26th president of the United States died in 1919 and, therefore, could not take part in that contest. It is true, but adding a Jr. at the end of his name makes things clear:the protagonist of this article is not him but his eldest son, who had the same name and was not only at the front but was the only general that the Day D landed with the 4th Infantry Division at Utah Beach in Normandy.
Roosevelt, who was a brigadier general to be exact, had insisted that the high command authorize him to accompany the soldiers because he believed that it would reassure them to see their leader with them, it would serve as an example and would be of great help to the officers when they needed help. instructions amidst the confusion. The division commander, General Raymond Barton, after being denied several times, ended up reluctantly accepting, convinced that they were going to kill him.
Thus, a Roosevelt returned to star in a famous war action; in fact there were two Roosevelts, since his son Quentin was a captain and was also at the landing in Normandy, in his case at Omaha Beach. Both in the first wave, the most brutal, with bullets and worse whistling around. It should be noted that Theodore was not a young man, because at that time he was 56 years old and had quite a few health ailments.
He had been born in Oyster Bay, New York, in 1887, when his father was still in the early stages of her political career. Being the first-born of four brothers, a sister and a stepsister, his father placed all her illusions in him, taking him everywhere with her, telling him a thousand and one episodes of history and even initiating him in the use of firearms. That caused the boy's fascination to the same extent that it burdened him with responsibility until it overwhelmed him, as he would admit later. Even more so when they moved to live in the White House.
He graduated from Harvard in 1909, the same year his father was succeeded by William Howard Taft, and began working in business before moving into banking. Between one and the other he won a fortune that led him to consider entering politics, following the family tradition. But he had to postpone it because first he had to face a historical moment:the outbreak of the First World War.
As is known, the US was not a belligerent until 1917, following an isolationist trend that, in part, was based on the fact that the country was not militarily prepared for a conflict of these dimensions. In 1915, with compromise becoming more and more likely, the National Defense Act established a training program to prepare well-to-do young men from high society as NCOs. The promoter of this project was General Leonard Wood, who had accompanied Roosevelt Sr. in the war against Spain in 1898.
Wood founded a camp at Plattsburgh to which three of the Roosevelt brothers signed up, Theodore among them. When Woodrow Wilson finally announced his entry into the war, the armed forces offered jobs to many of those who came out of that initiative and were the basis of the Reserve Officers Corps and the Reserve Officers Training Corps. Roosevelt Sr. asked General Pershing to allow his children to accompany him in the AEF (American Expeditionary Force) that was preparing to head to Europe and he accepted.
This is how Theodore received the commission of major and his brother Archibald that of second lieutenant. The other two, Quentin and Kermit, had enlisted on their own in the fledgling Air Force and in the British ranks stationed in Mesopotamia. But it was the eldest son, Ted, who reached the greatest historical dimension when he entered combat in France and became one of the best battalion commanders, not only for his leadership skills but also for the interest he showed in the care of his men. (once he bought boots for all of them paying for them out of pocket).
He replaced the colonel of his regiment, participated in the first American victory (Cantigny) and was wounded in 1918, just a few months before the end of the war. It was worse for Quentin, who died almost at the same time he was admitted to the hospital. Theodore, who returned decorated with the Distinguished Service Cross and the French Legion of Honor, was the one who had the idea of founding the American Legion in 1919, a body that brought together veterans, with the aim of helping them reintegrate into civilian life. .
They offered him to be his first national commander but he rejected it because he already had in mind to resume the political career that he had to suspend due to the war. He was elected by the Republican Party to the New York State Assembly in 1920 and repeated in 1921, starring in a curious episode by voting against the expulsion of five socialist members, in a context where the implantation of that revolutionary ideology was feared. after the shock of the Russian Revolution.
He later became Assistant Secretary of the Navy under President Warren G. Harding. In that position he experienced his first setback, since he contracted fuel supplies for the Navy while Archibald was president of one of the benefited oil companies. It was what became known as the Teapot Dome Scandal and ended with a Senate investigation of both brothers, who despite being acquitted saw his reputation damaged.
Worse was the family repercussion of that incident, since Franklin Delano and his wife Eleanor, both relatives of another branch of the Roosevelts, harshly criticized the behavior of their cousins, leading to a breakup. The truth is that Franklin and Eleanor were members of the Democratic Party and dedicated themselves to ridiculing Ted's next election campaign (that's what they called him), which caused him to end up defeated by his candidate and break all relations with them, accusing them of denying his last name. . In the end, only Alice, the half-sister, maintained contact between the two houses.
Those years were a good example of the imprint that Theodore Roosevelt Jr. received from his father, the legendary Teddy. Not only did he go from war to politics but in his campaigns he behaved the same way, waving his hat and yelling “Bully!” (Thug!), and he too took part in an exotic expedition. He did not go to Africa, like his father's, but to Asia; but, like him, he shot at anything that moved and has the sad record of being the first known Westerner to shoot a panda.
That was in 1929, the same year that President Herbert Hoover appointed him Governor of Puerto Rico, a position he held until 1932. As that period coincided with the Great Depression, Roosevelt had to adopt measures to mitigate it, applying public initiatives towards the disadvantaged , raising funds among philanthropists and strengthening ties with the US to encourage the island economy, among other measures. His work was so recognized that Hoover then appointed him Governor of the Philippines.
In the archipelago he earned the nickname One shot Teddy (A shot Teddy) for his marksmanship on the hunt. He was actually only there a couple of years. He made a pretense of returning to collaborate in Hoover's presidential campaign because the other candidate was Franklin Delano Roosevelt and he wanted to settle his pending account with him, but the adverse reaction of the press made him finally stay in Manila. Then Franklin won the presidency and relieved his cousin, who returned to the private sector, first in a publishing house and later as a director of American Express.
It was rumored that he would contest the 1936 elections to Franklin but he did not, nor did he return to politics in other positions for which he dreamed (vice president with Alf Landon, governor of New York...). And it is that his cousin seemed well established at the head of a nation that the context was gradually pushing towards a new global crisis, so what he did was embrace the military world again, since he was still an army reservist, assisting to annual training at Pine Camp and taking officer and staff courses.
That's why when World War II broke out he was already a colonel. When the country entered the conflict in 1941, he received command of the corps with which he had fought in the previous conflict, the 26th Infantry Regiment, integrated into the 1st Division. He was promoted to one-star general at the end of the year and was posted to North Africa, where he participated in Operation Torch, attacking Oran in 1942 and winning the French Croix de Guerre.
Another thing he gained was the animosity of Patton, who did not like his habits of dressing in any way and fraternizing with the troops, and even less in the front line (although he admitted that his courage was exceptional). He, too, did not look favorably on the rapport he showed with a military man as unorthodox as Major General Terry Allen, so Patton sent Eisenhower negative reports of both. Nor was General Omar Bradley favorable to those sympathies between commanders and soldiers, due to the relaxing effect they could have on discipline, and he ended up dismissing both Allen and Roosevelt.
He took part in Operation Husky (invasion of Sicily), in the taking of Sardinia and in several subsequent battles for Italian territory, acting as a link between Eisenhower and the French. Thus came Operation Overlord, the landing in Normandy, which we talked about at the beginning. His speedboat veered south, causing him to land - gun in one hand and baton in the other - a mile from the target, but he decided to move on rather than attempt to relocate: "We'll start! the war from here!» was his phrase for posterity.
The general greeted each new wave personally, encouraging the soldiers on the ground as soon as they emerged from the water with poems and anecdotes from his legendary father so that their nerves would not get the better of them. Also, he personally directed tank and truck traffic on site , in the midst of enemy fire, a display of reckless courage that Bradley himself recognized as the most heroic gesture he had ever seen on the front lines. That improvisation worked because he allowed Utah Beach to be attacked from the rear as well.
After the battle, Roosevelt was appointed military governor of Cherbourg, where he went in a jeep that he had christened Rough Rider in honor of the unit led by his father in Cuba. But what German weapons did not do, nature did. Injuries sustained in the First World War, combined with arthritis, forced him to walk with a cane and he also suffered from heart problems that he kept secret so as not to be relieved. A heart attack killed him on July 12, 1944, the very day he had been approved for promotion to two-star general and nominated for the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Bradley and Patton, among other officials, attended his funeral. He was buried in the Normandy American War Cemetery and in 1955 the body of his brother Quentin, the pilot, shot down in the previous war, was moved to his side. In the famous 1962 movie The Longest Day the character of him was played by Henry Fonda.