Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. - Seeming Contradiction of His Avoidance of Military Service

Seeming Contradiction of His Avoidance of Military Service

Despite all these works by Thee for his country and for the northern soldiers, one aspect of his life always remained a source of regret by his son and future president, Theodore (TR). Thee never personally served in the military. Instead, Thee paid for another soldier to take his place. This was perfectly legal, but something was the one seemingly contradictory aspect of his character that Theodore Jr. could never really accept. It would influence his son's own decision to actively seek a combat role in the Spanish-American War with a volunteer cavalry regiment, that the press would call the "Rough Riders."

This lack of military service needs to be understood within its context. Thee was married to a true southern belle, the former Martha "Mittie" Bulloch a beautiful and wonderfully gay woman at her best of times, not unlike Margaret Mitchell's fictional Scarlett O'Hara of whom Mittie was probably one real-life source; Mitchell had interviewed Mittie's childhood friend and bridesmaid, Evelyn King, for a story in the Atlanta Journal newspaper in the early 1930s. In that interview Martha's remarkable beauty, charm and fun-loving nature was laid out in detail. Mittie was terrified for her brothers, James and Irvine Bulloch who were both involved in the Civil War on the Confederate side. James was a confederate agent in Britain and Irvine was the youngest officer on the CSS Alabama, supposedly firing the last gun before the ship sank in battle off the coast of France. These emotional crises were mitigated somewhat by the incredible maturity and management abilities of the eldest daughter, Bamie, who often stepped into a leadership role, especially when her father, "Thee" was often out of town in Washington, visiting Lincoln and lobbying Congress for programs to support the northern troops in the field and their families back home. Nevertheless, had Thee left his delicate home situation to literally fight against his wife's brothers and her southern kinfolk, the emotional consequences to his family would probably have been catastrophic.