Book Reviewed: Theodore Roosevelt for the Defense: The Courtroom Battle to Save His Legacy by Dan Abrams and David Fisher

Teddy Roosevelt’s Libel Trial

On May 22, 1915, after a five-week trial, in the William Barnes vs. Theodore Roosevelt libel suit, the jury’s verdict was in favor of the President. Barnes, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee had sued Roosevelt for $50,000 for an alleged libelous statement “a political boss of the most obnoxious type.” The trial did not begin well for the President, he was frustrated by the proceedings and on the witness stand, he spoke after his attorney’s objections and judge’s use of gavel. While the book is about the other end of Roosevelt’s life. This case threatened the president to humiliate and humble him. He still had big plans to make another run for the president. He was forced to defend his reputation and honor under questioning by the plaintiff’s attorneys. The stakes were high, and this courtroom drama brought the president up close and unscripted to the American public. This was the trial of the century in 1915, and it inspired many modern-day counselors looking for name and fame.

Roosevelt’s rise to power is like trajectory of a rocket. In effect, he was a naturalist, a writer, a lover, a hunter, a ranchman, a soldier, a Nobel Prize winner, and a politician; at the age of forty-two he was the youngest President in American history. He came as a progressive reformer and then committed himself to deep reform in the Bull Moose campaign of 1912. During his life, he chased thieves across the Badlands of North Dakota, and he was a night-stalking police commissioner in New York City. As assistant secretary of the navy under President McKinley, he almost single-handedly brought about the Spanish-American War. After leading “Roosevelt’s Rough Riders” in the famous charge up San Juan Hill, Cuba, he returned home a military hero, and was rewarded with the governorship of New York. Despite all his achievements and monumental contributions in the service of the nation, he was humbled at the end of the trial. The president’s life is a great inspiration and the authors have described in detail the events leading to the court proceedings in Syracuse, New York