Note: Theodore Roosevelt wrote regularly for the Kansas City Star during World War One. And by regularly, I'm mean regularly. He often had an editorial that was published every few days, showing a blistering output of writing (not that this was atypical for Roosevelt.).
So this article wasn't unusual, but it did contribute to the American political discourse a lasting quote about criticizing the President. I've highlighted that below. Interestingly, a very similar quote had appeared just a year ago from Robert LaFollette whom we would not normally put in the same political ballpark with Roosevelt.
Theodore Roosevelt in 1918, showing a much aged and aging TR.
SEDITION, A FREE PRESS, AND
PERSONAL RULE
MAY 7, 1918
THE legislation now being enacted by Congress
should deal drastically with sedition. It should also
guarantee the right of the press and people to speak
the truth freely of all their public servants, including
the President, and to criticize them in the severest
terms of truth whenever they come short in their
public duty. Finally, Congress should grant the
Executive the amplest powers to act as an executive
and should hold him to stern accountability for
failure so to act, but it should itself do the actual
lawmaking and should clearly define the lines and
limits of action and should retain and use the fullest
powers of investigation into and supervision over
such action. Sedition is a form of treason. It is an
offense against the country, not against the President. At this time to oppose the draft or sending
our armies to Europe, to uphold Germany, to attack
our allies, to oppose raising the money necessary to
carry on the war are at least forms of sedition, while
to act as a German spy or to encourage German
spies to use money or intrigue in the corrupt service
of Germany, to tamper with our war manufactures
and to encourage our soldiers to desert or to fail in
their duty, and all similar actions are forms of undoubtedly illegal sedition. For some of these offenses
death should be summarily inflicted. For all the
punishment should be severe.
The Administration has been gravely remiss in
dealing with such acts.
Free speech, exercised both individually and
through a free press, is a necessity in any country
where the people are themselves free. Our Government is the servant of the people, whereas in Ger
many it is the master of the people. This is because
the American people are free and the German are
not free. The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants.
He should be supported or opposed exactly to the
degree which is warranted by his good conduct or
bad conduct, his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able, and disinterested service to the Nation as a whole. Therefore it is absolutely necessary
that there should be full liberty to tell the truth
about his acts, and this means that it is exactly
necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to
praise him when he does right. Any other attitude
in an American citizen is both base and servile. To
announce that there must be no criticism of the
President, or that we are to stand by the President,
right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile,
but is morally treasonable to the American public.
Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him
or any one else. But it is even more important to
tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him
than about any one else.
During the last year the Administration has
shown itself anxious to punish the newspapers which
uphold the war, but which told the truth about the
Administration s failure to conduct the war efficiently, whereas it has failed to proceed against
various powerful newspapers which opposed the war
or attacked our allies or directly or indirectly aided
Germany against this country, as these papers up
held the Administration and defended the inefficiency. Therefore, no additional power should be given the Administration to deal with papers for
criticizing the Administration. And, moreover, Congress should closely scrutinize the way the Post
master-General and Attorney-General have already
exercised discrimination between the papers they
prosecuted and the papers they failed to prosecute.
Congress should give the President full power for
efficient executive action. It should not abrogate
its own power. It should define how he is to reorganize the Administration. It should say how large an
army we are to have and not leave the decision to
the amiable Secretary of War, who has for two years
shown such inefficiency. It should declare for an
army of five million men and inform the Secretary
that it would give him more the minute he asks for
more.
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