The Warrior and the Priest: Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt - Softcover

John Milton Cooper Jr.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0674947517 ISBN 13: 9780674947511

Publisher: Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University Press, 1985

Synopsis

The colossal figures who shaped the politics of industrial America emerge in full scale in this engrossing comparative biography. In both the depth and sophistication of intellect that they brought to politics and in the titanic conflict they waged with each other, Roosevelt and Wilson were, like Hamilton and Jefferson before them, the political architects for an entire century.

All previous efforts to treat the philosophies and programs of Roosevelt’s New Nationalism and Wilson’s New Freedom have been partial and episodic. Now John Milton Cooper reconstructs in parallel lines the entire range of their ideologies and their struggles―their social identification in terms of class, education, and regional roots; the origins and evolution of their political thought; their party leadership roles; and their psychological characters.

After tracking the shared identities of young manhood, Cooper explains the conflict of their mature years that developed from opposing philosophies of government. Not until 1912, when Wilson ran for president, did they come together partially and briefly on common practical grounds of reform of the political process and efforts to curb big business in the public interest. Later, foreign policy in particular pitted them in a deeper conflict that consumed the rest of their lives.

About this title

About the Author:

Cooper is E. Gordon Fox Professor of American Institutions at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Review:

“An engrossing study... Mr. Cooper is at ease with his subjects and at home in their period, and he puts his learning at our disposal in a clear, active, engaging style.”―The New Yorker

“[Cooper’s] book displays the trained historical mind at close to its professional best. His distinctions are sharp, his insights original, his judgments balanced and his narrative unfailingly graceful.”―New York Times Book Review

“[An] intellectually rich and provocative study.”―New York Review of Books

“[A] superb comparative biography, [and] an important work of historical scholarship.”―Publishers Weekly

“A truly great work of biographical and historical literature... Since Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson were the architects of all important domestic and foreign policies of the United States in the twentieth century, this book will be read avidly by persons interested in how we came to be what we are as a nation in the 1980s.”―Arthur S. Link, Princeton University

“A book that should become a classic in the field. The comparative perspective really works. The two men had enough in common, yet were sufficiently distinctive, for the comparative perspective to add significantly to our understanding of each person.”―Paul K. Conkin, Vanderbilt University

About this edition

• Publisher: Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 1985
• ISBN 10: 0674947517
• ISBN 13: 9780674947511
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 480