TR's Passion for Sea Power Began as a Kid

On 3 September 1901, before a strenuous day of shaking a thousand hands and reviewing Minnesota National Guard troops, Vice President Theodore Roosevelt formally opened the annual Minnesota State Fair in Minneapolis with his rousing “National Duties” speech. While “laughter and applause mingled throughout his address in equal proportions,” both the public and the press seemed to miss its significance.1

Toward the middle of his speech, Roosevelt famously stated, “Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.”2 But neither national newspapers nor the local press deemed the remark insightful enough to include in their highlights of Roosevelt’s speech. It would be insightful soon enough. Just four days later in Buffalo, New York, an assassin shot President William McKinley. Nine days after that, Vice President Roosevelt would become President Roosevelt. And his epigrammatic aphorism would shape U.S. foreign policy for the next century.