The Rough Rider paved the way for the country’s expansion of the Navy to be first in the world.
On Sept. 2, 1901, President Theodore Roosevelt gave a speech at the Minnesota State Fair. Addressing a large crowd about national duties, he said, “Speak softly and carry a big stick—you will go far.”
These famous words summed up Roosevelt’s approach to foreign policy. Above all other things, the most central aspect of this “big stick diplomacy” was his advocacy of naval power.
A Defining Book
“The history of sea power is largely, though by no means solely, a narrative of contests between nations, of mutual rivalries, of violence frequently culminating in war.” This is the wordy opening sentence to Alfred Thayer Mahan’s “The Influence of Sea Power Upon History.” The book, published in 1890, examined how the rise of the British Empire was made possible by naval supremacy.
