"The Strenuous Life " was the name of a speech given by Theodore Roosevelt in Chicago, Illinois, on April 10, 1899. Based on his personal experience, he argued that the difficult effort and overcoming difficulties was the ideal to be embraced by people America for the betterment of the nation and the world in the 20th century.
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Roosevelt stated the main point of his speech in his opening address:
I want to preach, not the doctrine of openness, but the doctrine of the hard life, the life of hard work and effort, work and dispute; to proclaim that the highest form of success comes, not for people who only want easy peace, but for people who do not shrink from danger, from difficulty, or from hard work, and who come out of this win a tremendous victory.
Someone who strives hard in his job and not lazy, he said, would be successful. It is the job of someone who is not involved in manual labor for life to devote himself to art or science. He uses Chicago and Illinois citizens as examples of those who embody such spirit. Those who did not embrace a heavy life, however, did not live a meaningful life.
As the speech continued, Roosevelt claimed that a hard life can be beneficial not only for individuals, but also the whole country. He supports imperialism as an extension of a hard life. America must be involved in global affairs, otherwise it will suffer as a nation. America must be a strong country, and the country must use this power if it is deemed necessary. Such a force certainly requires a strong military, and a strong military presence. The words Roosevelt concludes are tied together with the importance of a hard life in individuals and nations:
Above all, let us shrink from no disagreement, moral or physical, within or without the nation, provided that we believe that the dispute is justified, for only through dispute, through hard and dangerous endeavor, that we will ultimately win the goal of true national greatness.
The speech was published in 1900 as part of Roosevelt's collection of writings and other addresses also titled The Strenuous Life .
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Importance
The speech reflects the personality and experience of his own life. Roosevelt was sickly and suffered from asthma as a young child, and had to sleep on a bed or bend over a chair during his childhood. He is in poor physical condition as a result. Roosevelt's father forced young Roosevelt to exercise, including boxing lessons to ward off intruders.
The effect was jammed. After graduating from Harvard University, Roosevelt underwent a physical examination and his doctor advised him that because of serious heart problems, he had to look for work on the table and avoid heavy activities. Roosevelt ignored the suggestion. As an adult, he exercises regularly and takes boxing, tennis, hiking, rowing, polo, and horseback riding. As governor of New York, he packs boxing with his counterparts several times a week, an exercise he regularly keeps on as President until a single blow off his left retina, making him blind in the eye (fact not published until many years later). After that, he practiced jiu-jitsu and continued his habit of dipping the skin on the Potomac River during the winter.
As a result, the phrase "heavy life" has become closely related to Roosevelt's life. Nathan Miller's Roosevelt biography Theodore Roosevelt: A Life , begins by saying that "hard life" is one of those "things that come to mind when the name of Theodore Roosevelt is mentioned."
The speech also reflects the American spirit at the turn of the 20th century. The increasing industrialization and urbanization of America caused many people to fear being weak. Sports colleges are on the rise, as are recreational sports such as cycling. American culture embraces masculinity, patriotism, and nationalism. The problem of masculinity is very dominant during this time, given the various movements of women in that age. Critics and scholars, including writer Henry James, worry about American feminization. The time is ripe for Roosevelt to praise the masculine virtue of a hard life. Roosevelt used a speech to justify American imperialism as well.
In popular culture
- Scott Joplin wrote a lap called "The Strenuous Life".
- Sarah Vowell's collection titled Most Cloudy Patriots includes one entitled "The Strenuous Life." Vowell compares his life to Roosevelt, mainly because he is lackluster, and refers to his speech directly.
- Kathleen Dalton's biography of Roosevelt is titled Theodore Roosevelt: A Strenuous Life .
- A character at Lyonel Feininger's 1906 comic page for the Chicago Tribune, The Kin-der-Kids is named "Strenuous Teddy."
External links
- Speech text from Wikisource
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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