“Mornings on Horseback” is more of a character study than a biography. Stretching from TR’s birth until his marriage to Edith Carow, McCullough’s purpose is to cover the factors which molded TR into the man that he became. The book ends when, McCullough believes, TR’s character was formed.
What I found most interesting about this book is not only what is featured, but what is not. McCullough obviously believe that family played a major role I shaping TR’s character. The first, and probably greatest influence on TR was his father, Theodore Roosevelt, Sr., Greatheart to his family. It was his father who was his role model and whose charitable works planted the seeds of TR’s social conscience. It was Greatheart who opened TR’s mind to foreign cultures during the trips across Europe and on the Nile. It was his father’s observation that TR had the mind but not the body which started TR on a body building program to give him a body to match his mind.
Miscast as a business man, Greatheart used his inheritance in philantrophic work, supporting the Children’s Aid Society, the Orthopedic Hospital, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the American Museum of Natural History, living his belief that social status came with accompanying duties. Out of deference to his Georgia born wife, Mittie, Greatheart hired a substitute to take his place in the Union Army, while he initiated programs to help the soldier and his dependents, meeting Abraham Lincoln in the process. This action is often cited as having created a debt which TR sought to pay during the Spanish American War.
Greatheart’s death at age 46 was one of the greatest tragedies of TR’s life. During his first day in the White House, TR felt as if his father’s hand was on his shoulder.
Other significant familial influences on the youthful TR were his uncles, James and Irvine Bulloch. Exiled to England after their service in the Confederate States Navy, James, particularly, played a major role in developing TR’s interest in naval affairs.
McCullough obviously believes that TR’s youthful asthma was a major factor in molding his character. The reader receives a medical education on asthma, including the theory that its attacks are often anxiety driven. McCullough then explains how he believes that TR’s asthma attacks reflect what was happening in his life at the times of the attacks.
Alice Lee, TR’s first wife, completely captured TR’s love before her passing drove him into cattle country exile.
The critical high points in TR’s early political career are well reported. The incidents of his entry into politics, an unseemly profession for most of his class, the challenges and disappointments of his legislative career all lead up to the 1884 Republican National convention, after which TR, frustrated in his efforts to deny nomination to James G. Blaine, chose to stick with party rather than to bolt to the Reformers.
Some of the topics which fill so many pages in standard biographies are deamed to be less important to the theme of this book. TR’s early interest in animals and natural history barely attracts McCullough’s attention, probably because after its abandonment, it had little lasting effect on his character. While attention is devoted to his time in the Bad Lands and his hunting trips, they do not receive the attention that they do in standard biographies.
“Mornings On Horseback” is written in a style which will always hold the readers’ interest. Unlike some books dealing with a subject’s youth, this one focuses on TR’s experiences which had lifelong impacts.
I do not recommend “Mornings On Horseback” as an introduction to TR. I do recommend it as a character study for those who are already familiar with the facts of TR’s life and who desire to develop a deeper understanding of his character. For this it is excellent.
