Description:

Roosevelt Theodore

T. Roosevelt Preparing for His "The Man In The Arena" Speech

 

Single page typed letter signed on stationary with the letterhead of 'The Outlook, 287 Fourth Ave, New York, 6.5" x 8". Written just one week before Roosevelt presented his most well received and inspiring speech of his career which today is known as "The Man In The Arena" . Dated "August 16, 1910", and signed by Roosevelt as "T. Roosevelt". Accompanied by the original mailing envelope, 5.25" x 3.5". Letter lightly grubby with faded stains, not affecting the bold signature.

 

Roosevelt's letter alludes to preparing for his invitations to speak noting "… I have received literally thousands of similar requests and with the best wishes in the world it has proved impossible for me to accept one in a hundred of these invitations … you have no concept  of the drain it is upon me even to accept the very limited proportion that I am physically able to accept …". And yet only one week later, Roosevelt presented what would become the most widely quoted speeches, and rhetorical triumphs of his career on April 23, 1910, today now known as the "The Man in the Arena". This fantastic letter has Roosevelt alluding to the preparation for this upcoming highly moving speech which is in part quoted below:

 

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood …"

 

The former president—who left office in 1909—had spent a year hunting in Central Africa before embarking on a tour of Northern Africa and Europe in 1910, attending events and giving speeches in Cairo, Berlin, Naples, and Oxford, among others. He stopped in Paris on April 23, and, at 3 p.m. at the Sorbonne, before a crowd that included, “ministers in court dress, army and navy officers in full uniform, nine hundred students, and an audience of two thousand ticket holders,” Roosevelt delivered his speech. In addition to touching on his own family history, war, human and property rights, the responsibilities of citizenship, and France’s falling birthrate, Roosevelt railed against cynics who looked down at men who were trying to make the world a better place. “The poorest way to face life is to face it with a sneer,” he said. “A cynical habit of thought and speech, a readiness to criticize work which the critic himself never tries to perform, an intellectual aloofness which will not accept contact with life's realities—all these are marks, not ... of superiority but of weakness.” Then he delivered an inspirational and impassioned message that drew huge applause:

 

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

 

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