Quick Reference
Background
Writing just a month after his youngest son was killed at the Front, Roosevelt proudly mentions that his other two sons have been wounded – and that “there has been nothing finer in our history than the way our young men have eagerly and gladly gone to France to fight for a high ideal.” But as for himself, he will never cease bitterly regretting that he was not allowed to get into the fight; from which, he adds poignantly, he would never expect to come home alive.
But at times it seems almost more than I can bear to have my sons face dreadful danger while I sit at home in ease and comfort and safety. It is a terrible thing that death should come to the young. But it is even more terrible, of course, if the young fear to face death in a great crisis for a great cause.
When the war is over, he says, he and Burroughs (not, at 81, a really old man yet), “will come together… and shake hands over the defeat of the arch foe of civilization.” But although Roosevelt lived to see the armistice declared, he barely survived much longer, dying in the first week of 1919, heartsick at the loss of his boy.
But at times it seems almost more than I can bear to have my sons face dreadful danger while I sit at home in ease and comfort and safety. It is a terrible thing that death should come to the young. But it is even more terrible, of course, if the young fear to face death in a great crisis for a great cause.
When the war is over, he says, he and Burroughs (not, at 81, a really old man yet), “will come together… and shake hands over the defeat of the arch foe of civilization.” But although Roosevelt lived to see the armistice declared, he barely survived much longer, dying in the first week of 1919, heartsick at the loss of his boy.
Typed Letter Signed, with autograph emendations, 2 pages, quarto, on his Kansas Star letterhead, 347 Madison Avenue, New York City, New York, August 14, 1918. To John Burroughs.
Read More
Related to This Manuscript
all pages and transcript
Page 1/2
THE KANSAS CITY STAR
OFFICE OF
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
NEW YORK OFFICE
347 MADISON AVENUE
August 14th, 1918.
Dear Oom John:
I value your letter and I am glad you called my attention to that piece in the Outlook, which I had not previously seen. As you probably know, two of my other three sons have been wounded, one of them being badly crippled. I entirely agree with you that there has been nothing finer in our history than the way our young men have eagerly and gladly gone to France to fight for a high ideal. You are very good in what you say about me; but I shall never cease bitterly regretting that I was not allowed to go to the other side. I would not have expected to come home alive. But at times it seems almost more than I can bear to have my sons face [text is crossed out] dreadful danger while I sit at home in ease and comfort and safety. It is a terrible thing that death should come to the young. But it is even more terrible, of course, if the young fear to face death in a great crisis for a great cause [sic]
Dear Oom John you may be 81 years old, but you are not really an old man yet, and you
OFFICE OF
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
NEW YORK OFFICE
347 MADISON AVENUE
August 14th, 1918.
Dear Oom John:
I value your letter and I am glad you called my attention to that piece in the Outlook, which I had not previously seen. As you probably know, two of my other three sons have been wounded, one of them being badly crippled. I entirely agree with you that there has been nothing finer in our history than the way our young men have eagerly and gladly gone to France to fight for a high ideal. You are very good in what you say about me; but I shall never cease bitterly regretting that I was not allowed to go to the other side. I would not have expected to come home alive. But at times it seems almost more than I can bear to have my sons face [text is crossed out] dreadful danger while I sit at home in ease and comfort and safety. It is a terrible thing that death should come to the young. But it is even more terrible, of course, if the young fear to face death in a great crisis for a great cause [sic]
Dear Oom John you may be 81 years old, but you are not really an old man yet, and you
Page 2/2
THE KANSAS CITY STAR
OFFICE OF
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
NEW YORK OFFICE
347 MADISON AVENUE
- 2 -
and I will come together when this war closes and shake hands over the defeat of the arch foe of civilization. I hope you are entirely well now.
Faithfully yours,
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Mr. John Burroughs,
Woodchuck Lodge,
Roxbury, N.Y.
OFFICE OF
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
NEW YORK OFFICE
347 MADISON AVENUE
- 2 -
and I will come together when this war closes and shake hands over the defeat of the arch foe of civilization. I hope you are entirely well now.
Faithfully yours,
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Mr. John Burroughs,
Woodchuck Lodge,
Roxbury, N.Y.
